seagreen92The secret ingredient of these moist cakes isn’t pudding mixes or dairy. The secret ingredient is grated zucchini. The zucchini melts away into the cake so you can’t even tell it is in there.
My five-year-old has a summer birthday. I thought he wanted a chocolate cake and started grating zucchini for a chocolate zucchini cake, but he picked out a boxed spice cake mix. Since I already grated zucchini, I decided it was time to experiment.
Success!
I prefer cakes made from scratch over cakes from cake mixes, and adding the zucchini helps give it the “made-from-scratch” richness. For his birthday, we had spice cake with maple-flavored frosting. AMAZING.
Here is a chocolate cake mix made with zucchini. I sprayed the pans with oil and dusted them with granulated sugar before pouring the batter in. The sugar gives it a nice crust on the bottom–especially in these fun long bundt loaf pans.
With a white cake mix, I would definitely peel the zucchini–unless you are looking for a green speckled St. Patrick’s Day cake.
Easy Moist Cake (from Cake Mix)
1 cake mix (dairy-free)
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini*
Preheat oven to temperature listed on cake mix box. Mix all ingredients. Spray the pan with a non-stick cooking spray. Cook ingredients as box suggests, with the addition of a little extra time if needed. Check with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean.
*If your zucchini is a little overgrown, you might want to scrape out the seeds before grating it. The seeds will still be visible in your cake after it is cooked. (The taste is fine though, it is just for appearances and texture.)
Great idea!