Glutton's Heaven (aka Chocolate zucchini cake)

I had prepared a long rant before I wanted to share the recipe. Now, it is all forgotten.

Why, you ask?

Let me tell you why.

Because I just ate a slice of what seems the most wonderful cake in heaven, hell, Earth, Middle Earth and the Universe, that’s why.

I’m in glutton’s heaven and the world is at peace. Birds are chirping, the breeze is swaying the curtains and wonderful smell of spices fills my house.

Because I’m up to my elbows covered in cocoa, chocolate and spices.

Because I was able to forget my troubles for blissful couple of minutes and enter a different dimension, preceded by explosion of flavours on my tongue. A feast for all senses allright. Almost, just almost as good as s*x.

And now, I’m not going to taunt you, but will share the recipe for:

Chocolate zucchini cake

Ingredients for the cake:

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup of light muscovado sugar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
½ cup of yogurt
2 cup of all-purpose flour

½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of espresso powder
2 cups of  grated zucchini
½ cup of dark chocolate chips (70% cocoa)

seeds of 6 cardamom pods, ground with a mortar and pestle

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Ingredients for the ganache:

1 cup of heavy cream
1 ½ cup of chocolate chips

generous knob of butter at room temperature

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease your baking pan and dust with cocoa. Shake the excess.  In a bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the oil, sugar & vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Stir in the yogurt alternately with the flour mix. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder and the spices, mixing well until smooth.

At the end, fold in the zucchini and the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the baking dish. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the dish and transfer the cake on a wire rack.  Cool for hour or so before pouring the ganache.

To prepare the ganache, scald the cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until completely combined and glossy. Add the knob of butter and let it cool.