Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I have more than my share of zucchinis right now.  Being a savvy gardener, I only planted ONE plant, knowing how prolific a single plant can be.  And I swear, I could time lapse the growth of one, they grow SO rapidly.  One day you have normal 12" or under zucchini, and two days later, you have Zukezilla...really!  Some people don't believe me, but it happens all the time!  My Romenesco plant is very happy in it's fertile, well mulched soil and is churning out 1-2 new zucchinis a day, so of course I have to use my imagination to put all this beautiful veg to use.  I have made some delicious things, but of course, the time is not always ripe to whip out the camera and attempt to capture the scrumptious results for the purposes of my blog!  I have made some Zucchini Chips that were pretty amazing, and a zucchini casserole that made me swoon....and now this lusciously moist treat: chocolate zucchini cake.  Here is one time I know, my middle child will have NO problem eating some veggies!  Rich dark chocolatey taste with a moist crumb..got to love it!  If you would like to make this easy to pack in a lunch box, I suggest instead of frosting, mix in a cup of chocolate chips...it will be cleaner AND easier! This time around, I knew my girls would be tickled to death about the frosting, so I went for it.

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cups cane sugar
3/4 cup palm sugar or brown sugar or more cane sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
(or 2 cups whole wheat pastry or all-purpose flour)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted if lumpy!)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini, packed    *Tip - is you have any veggie-phobes in your household, you could puree the zucchini in a food processor so it is not detectable.

Frosting:
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted if lumpy)
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups corn-free powdered sugar
1/4 cup any milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9 x 13 pan.  In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugars, and vanilla.  Add in the remaining ingredients minus zucchini.  Stir to combine well, mixture will be dry and crumbly.  Stir in the zucchini.  The moisture from the zukes should bring the whole batter together like a typical brownie/cake batter on the thick side.   Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.  I had to bake mine a little extra.

Let cool for about 10 minutes and then invert on a cooling rack.  At this point you can make the frosting for the cake. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the dairy free margarine.  Remove and mix in the cocoa powder, then the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.