Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

After my first bake using zucchini, I was happy enough with the cake to try more. I was searching online when I came across Paula Deen's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. You can't go wrong with chocolate chips, can you? Besides, I had already bought three zucchinis last week and I might as well go ahead.

Fresh from the oven.

Pauls Deen's recipe makes 2 loafs of zucchini bread and I had to scale it down to only one. And I decided to experiment. The texture of the zucchini bread I baked previously was on the dense side. Not that there is anything wrong with that but I prefer a lighter texture. That's when I decided to add yogurt to the batter as yogurt has never failed to give me fluffier muffins. It ought to work the same way with zucchini bread.

Another thing I did was to use butter instead of oil. I love the buttery aroma of butter cakes and I figured that a yummy zucchini bread ought to have that same quality. And as if I was not "kay poh" (busybody) enough, I decided to take the extra step of creaming the butter and sugar. This I did using a hand whisk and it was not too difficult at all. I have seen Rachel Allen do that with a wooden spoon on her TV show.

What is nice about this recipe is the addition of orange zest and that made a lot of difference. The cake smelt fantastic and it elevated the taste of the other ingredients in particular the chocolate chips.

My previous zucchini bread may have been slightly overbaked. The top had already browned and the center was still raw at 50 minutes. This time round, I tented the cake pan and baked it covered for the first 30 minutes. Then I baked it uncovered for another 30 minutes and it was nicely done by then. The yogurt had given this cake a nice rise and it rose much higher than the first bake.

I only sliced into the cake the next day and I was very pleased with the texture. It was moist and not so dense compared to the first cake. I think I like this one better. Besides chocolate chips, I used raisins and cranberries. You can also use chopped pecans like in Paula Deen's original recipe or any of your favorite nuts or dried fruits. 

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Recipe source : Adapted from Paula Deen

Ingredients :

- 125g butter at room temperature

- 50g brown sugar
- 200g self-raising flour

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

- 2 eggs

- 140 ml plain yogurt

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- zest from 1 orange

- 1.5 cups grated zucchini

- 1/2 cup chocolate chips

- 1/2 cup raisins

- 1/2 cup dried cranberries

- extra chocolate chips, raisins and cranberries for topping

Method :

1. Mix flour with cinnamon and sift. Set aside.

2. Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add yogurt, vanilla, orange zest and eggs and mix until well combined.
4. Add zucchini and stir to combine.
5. Add flour and fold gently until just combined (do not overmix)
6. Fold in chocolate chips, raisins and cranberries.
7. Pour batter into a lined 4" x 9" x 3" loaf pan. Top with extra chocolate chips, raisins and cranberries.
8. Bake in preheated oven at 160C for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool.