TEN YEARS BLOGGING! Gluten Free Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Hello, Everyone!  Would you believe it’s been 10 years since I started my blog!  Ten Years!  That’s so crazy to me.  Even crazier—I started my blog just before my baby turned one.  Yep, he’s almost 11 years old!  I keep wishing I could take the time to share things with you like I used to way back when.  Times have changed.  Blogging isn’t the same.  My boys aren’t the same and I think I’m definitely busier with three teenagers and a 10 year old.  My health isn’t the same.  So much change.  In my heart though, I’m the same—I still love food (treats especially) and want to share my favorites here with a good dose my life and family.  Sigh.  So here I am, blogging sparingly, but still here nonetheless.

I still have this idea to revamp some of my favorite treats into healthier and gluten free versions, so I’ve done it again today with this Gluten Free Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake—which I’ve taken from this heavenly Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  Took a few tries, but THIS recipe I’m sharing here today is great!  It’s not as healthy as it could be, but it’s still gluten free and refined sugar free and I’m happy about that.  I will work on another version that is grain free and maybe dairy free, but I’ve sure decided with baking lately and trying to make things vegan for one of my sons, that baked goods benefit greatly from eggs and butter!

Never, ever would someone even guess this decadent chocolate cake has a vegetable.  You cannot tell there is zucchini in it. 

Gluten Free Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend

6 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan powder (even if your flour blend has some, add this extra)

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup coconut sugar

6 tablespoons raw honey

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)

1 cup finely grated zucchini, liquid squeezed out in a tea towel

½ cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Ganache—

3 ounces heavy cream

4 ½ ounces Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with non-stick foil (optional, but I love doing this for easily removing the baked cake from the pan), spray with cooking spray (here I prefer the no-propellants coconut oil spray). Set aside. Add gluten free flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan and salt to a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Cream the butter, coconut sugar and honey in mixer for 3-5 minutes, until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat another couple minutes, scrape the bowl to make sure all is combined. Add the zucchini and mix together. While the mixer is going, add part of the dry ingredients, then some of the milk, then more dry ingredients, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Beat it in the mixer for 3-5 more minutes. Since it is gluten free, it will be fine! Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean with just moist crumbs. Let cake sit on a wire rack to cool.

Make the ganache. In a glass microwave safe bowl, heat the cream in 20-30 second intervals until it’s bubbly around the sides (this can also be down in a pan on the stove). Pour the chocolate over the cream and let sit for a minute. Slowly stir the chocolate and cream until smooth. Remove cake from pan with the foil edges. Carefully remove the foil from the bottom, let cool completely while ganache cools more and thickens slightly. Spread the ganache evenly over the cake. Store in an airtight cake holder. Cut into nine squares and serve. (Next I’m going to bake this cake in a 9x9 inch pan for the cake to ganache ratio to be a little better!)

Here’s what’s happening with my family lately--

Scott proposed marriage to his girlfriend!  He told us on Christmas, even though he asked Diana to marry him back in August.  Little sneak!  They are happy and plan to get married in a couple years after they get things more set financially. ; )

Parker has been busy with his first job at Target during the holidays.  He works at a thrift clothing store right now, but plans to go back to Target when they hire him back in March.  He’s also busy with school trying to get enough credits to graduate a year early.  He’s ready to go places!

Taylor is busy in 8th grade with percussion and loves drumming!  He’s actually taking drum lessons on the side through someone Kevin knew at UVU.  It’s nonstop drumming around here, on drums and drum pads and counters and anything!  He was selected with a couple others to be in the school drumline and they got to go to all the home boys’ and girls’ basketball games and play during timeouts and halftime.  He loved it!  I enjoyed going and watching him and recording lots of his beats!  He’s actually written a couple of his own cadences.

Sam recently “earned” a trip to Disneyland with me, so we went and had a blast for two days with my friend, Bonnie, and her four girls.  Sam had never been to Disney or California.  We flew over in a flash and played hard and it was over before we knew it.  Sam LOVED Guardians of the Galaxy at California Adventures (me, not so much).  He also loved the Raging Waters ride.  That one WAS pretty fun—and wet.  My favorite at C.A. was Soaring Around the World.  So awesome!  It was fun to see Mickey and a bunch of other characters and lots of fun hanging with friends!

You might be wondering about my health.  My MS (multiple sclerosis) is 100% stable and I’m doing well!  I’m super blessed and the medication I get (by a two hour infusion every 36 days) seems to be doing it’s job of keeping the MS in remission.  Lots of prayers and fingers crossed!  Again, I cannot believe ten years have passed since I started this blog.  It breaks my heart to not be doing as much as I used to with it, but we just go with the flow of life and do what we can, right?  I’m still going to keep updates around here from time to time and hope to keep sharing my healthier changes to the treats and desserts I make.  I still make “regular” things as well.  When I have something to share, I hope to get it done.  February 17, 2018—can you believe it?