Is that a zucchini in your pocket?

I am quite notorious in my house for sneaking in “surprise” ingredients into mine and my future husband’s food. I’ll often present him with an odd coloured smoothie, funny shaped muffin or an exotic new dish and enthusiastically announce “Guess what’s in it!”

He’s had turkey meatballs instead of beef, wombok cabbage omlettes and random wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, raw, vegan cheesecake made with silken tofu (which he couldn’t even tell the difference)!

So this Christmas we are in charge of dessert and I remember having a sensationally decadent chocolate cake in North Fitzroy one night and wanted to try and recreate it... Oh yeah and it had ZUCCHINI in it!!

Here is the recipe we’re using from naturopath Petrea King’s cookbook Food for Life:

Ingredients
· 300g dark Lindt chocolate. Chopped
· 200g unsalted butter
· 5 eggs, separated
· 1 cup raw or brown sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 2 cups hazelnuts, whizzed in a food processor until fine
· 1 cup zucchini, grated
· 1 cup wholemeal flour
· 1 teaspoon baking powder
· Chopped hazelnuts, grated chocolate to serve

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC.

2. Brush a 22cm round cake tin with melted butter or coconut oil. Line the base with baking paper.

3. Gently melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan stirring until smooth.

4. Using electric beaters, whisk the egg whites until stiff.

5. Place the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a medium-size bowl and using the electric beaters (no need to wash from whisking the eggs), whisk until creamy.

6. Fold the hazelnuts and zucchini through the chocolate mixture until well combined.

7. Fold in the flour and baking powder, then using a metal spoon, fold through the stiffened egg whites and pour into the prepared cake tin.

8. Bake for 1¼ hours or until skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

9. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

10.Decorate with chopped hazelnuts and grated chocolate.

Merry Christmas boys and girls xx