high-bar baking

If you haven’t figured out yet that I’m particular about chocolate cakes, you’re on the wrong blog. 

Or you’re on the right one! Step into my office and let me convert you. 

It matters. 

K, so it’s a short conversion pitch. Along the lines of Lou Holtz: “For those who understand Notre Dame, no explanation is necessary. For those who don’t understand Notre Dame, no explanation will suffice.”

You’ll know it when you taste it. And this cake is it. Zoë’s Best-Ever Chocolate Zucchini Cake lives up to the hype. It’s also a convenient recipe to have around in the summer, when it feels like people throw zucchinis at you left and right. For the love of God’s green Earth, can people stop planting zucchini plants?! If you do not have a concrete (concrete!) plan for how you are going to use all those zucchinis, you have no right to grow them. Even if you think you like zucchini, it is never acceptable to plant more than one plant. Unless you are the world’s biggest zoodle-er, I don’t want to hear it! 

But I got one in a friend’s CSA box this afternoon, so I made this cake. I was worried I over baked it, because I set the timer for exactly an hour like the recipe said instead of going a little bit under for safety. I had to sneak in a shower, ok? My hair doesn’t just happen. But Zoë said in all caps not to over bake the cake. It was still singing when I took it out of the oven, though, so I think we’re all going to make it. 

It pulled away from the center just enough after the ten minutes in the pan, too, which is a relief. It always crawls a little higher up the sides than I expect it to, and cutting cake off the center ring of a bundt is never as easy as you want it to be. Any leeway is always appreciated. That’s an indicator of done-ness, by the way. Cake pulling away from the side of the pan. Depends on the cake. But it can be a helpful thing to look for.