It's amazing that most of the zucchini bread and cake recipes I find have between 1-2 cups of oil, and at least 1 1/2 -2 cups of sugar!  I promise your zucchini treats don't need to be so rich! In fact, the less sugar you can get away with, the more your kids will learn to love more natural flavors, and not artificial-super-charged sweetness.

So, for todays post, I wanted to combine these fun pans I just inherited from my grandma:

Plus, these oversized zucchini I found in the garden.

And we ended up with some tasty Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake!

Erica took my 3 year old nephew on a backyard picnic to eat it, under a very pink umbrella.

The key to quick breads is to NOT over mix!!  I can not stress this step enough. The only way to ensure the ingredients are properly combined, is to mix dry and wet ingredients separately, so they can be folded into each other with minimal mixing.

Our recipe we use for this delicious- somewhat healthy- cake is:

• 1 cup Wheat Flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

In a separate bowl:

• 3 Large eggs
• 1/2 sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups shredded zucchini.

With the wet ingredients mixed, and the dry mixed in a separate bowl, combined them just till moistened.

Then, pour batter into two well greased loaf pans, or one large bundt pan.  Bake at 325 for 45-60 minutes, depending on how small your pans are.  Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick or knife and if it comes out clean, it is done.

If this cake isn't sweet enough for your family, you can always add a sugar glaze by using 1 cup powdered sugar, and 2 tsp of milk (maybe 3 tsp until it is wet enough to drizzle)

Why include Zucchini in your families diet???  World's Healthiest Foods states:

Recent research has shown that the polysaccharides in summer squash include an unusual amount of pectin - a specially structured polysaccharide that often include special chains of D-galacturonic acid called homogalacturonan. It's this unique polysaccharide composition in summer squash that is being linked in repeated animal studies to protection against diabetes and better regulation of insulin. We expect to see future studies on humans confirming these same types of benefits from consumption of summer squash.

In real words: Even though zucchini is 85% carbohydrate, it does not raise blood sugar the way a food (junk food) with a similar composition would.

We love our zucchini!!

My kids even thought this tasted like donuts!