What to do with a bundt pan...

A couple of friends, Tina and Laura were chatting earlier about bundt pans and just what to do with them. It got me thinking about one of my favorite cakes... So, I went in search of the cookbook amid a sea of cookbooks around here. I love cookbooks. I pick them up everywhere...garage sales, auctions, family and friends, Amazon, and thrift stores. I love to flip through them and read them cover to cover and mark pages and add post-its to recipes I would like to try. This recipe is from a book titled Recipes and Reflections. It is a good old church cookbook (gotta love 'em) that happens to be older than I am.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. soft butter
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. grated orange peel (I don't always add this, I do if I have it and usually more like 1 tsp.)
2 c. coursely shredded zuccini
1/2 c. milk
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts (I normally leave these out)

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. Beat together the butter and sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel and zucchini. Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition. pour batter into a greased and flour-dusted (I always dust with cocoa powder, you won't get weird looking flour marks on the outside of your cake that way) 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then turn out on a wire rake to cool completely.

Glaze (I never make the glaze, the cake is yummy with out it)
2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all together until smooth. Drizzle glaze over cake.

I have substituted grated pear for the zucchini and it worked great. This cake also freezes well. I have never froze it whole, but sliced it up then froze it. I make this a lot in the summer when I have zucchini from the garden coming out of my ears and who doesn't like chocolate cake!

I'm remembering a beer bread like recipe that I've made in a bundt pan before too. I will post that when I remember it.

I'm off to the spa in a little while...just waiting on the babysitter...my mom! I'm looking forward to a day away, but am already sad about leaving the girls, especially the baby. I have never left her before (and not looking forward to the pumping involved by not having the baby with). Wish me luck! And on a side note, this is my 99th post...thinking I should do something special for number 100...not sure what yet...any ideas?

God bless!