cake and sweet treats

I planted four zucchini plants in my garden. One died. Two shriveled up, but with lots of water, they are growing more leaves, although they still have a ways to go. The fourth zucchini plant thrived and is producing. So what's a girl to do? Make cake.

Four cups of shredded zucchini, along with some other ingredient are about to be mixed together.

I know a lot of people probably have online recipes and things saved in "favourites", but I'm still old fashioned. Even if I save a recipe from some place on the internet, if I like it, I will still write it up on a recipe card. I wish I could give credit to someone for this recipe, but I can't remember from where I got it.

I made it into two cakes this time, instead of one big 9 x 7 pan. I froze the little one to have on hand, just in case. This cake doesn't get iced. Cakes that you don't put icing on, and that you eat while still warm remind me of Duncan Hines Snack n Cakes. Do you remember those? My mother would keep one or two boxes on hand for a quick fix.

The cake ends up being pretty moist and dense. Without the chocolate chips, it would be rather boring and not too sweet at all, so I always add the chocolate chips. I remember my in-laws always saying about dessert, "Well, you wouldn't want it too sweet." And I would be thinking in my head, "Actually, that's exactly how you would want it. Isn't dessert supposed to be sweet??" Honestly, I don't think I've met a dessert that wasn't "too sweet"!!

I have a serious sweet tooth. My drug of choice is almost always chocolate, my favourite being chocolate covered almonds, or peanuts. The other night, we were in town because the husband and I had to look at some things at Home Depot for the bathroom that is now/still under construction (remember that??), and then he went to Princess Auto where he likes to be alone, so the kids and I went to a dollar store type place and got some treats. My son chose Nibs. If you don't know what Nibs are, they are little bite sized red pieces of licorice. But they taste like all of the most horrible cherry flavoured cough syrup moments you have ever had. He kept trying to tempt me to eat one. I can't even stand the smell of them. I told him I would only eat one if I was in a life and death situation, where I would most certainly die if I didn't eat one. Only then, would I eat a Nib.

It's funny how people have different tastes and preferences when it comes to treats and desserts. My daughter was remembering how when we were at my parents' home (Grandma and Grandpa) my father would offer them candy and she always wanted the blue one (and at this point, my son chimed in with the same sentiment) and she would always try it, and it would always be the same disappointment. She was talking about Licorice Allsorts, my father's favourite candy. The 'blue ones' were the little bead covered candies that were jellified licorice (i.e. black licorice flavour) on the inside. Both kids ended up laughing over that shared memory of childhood letdown. Oh, how they suffered...