Chocolate Zucchini Cake/Cupcake

I was in the mood for some chocolate cake, but I also wanted to bake something that was somewhat healthy.  So I decided to bake some chocolate zucchini cupcakes.

Mini Zucchini Cake (cupcakes)

You can see little bits of green

The cake turned out moist, soft and somewhat spongey.  The taste of my zucchini cake is similar to devil's food chocolate cake, however the texture's much lighter.  I prefer eating this over the zucchini-less chocolate cake.  This cake was very good even my Grandmother approves!

Here's the recipe I used - Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe 

Even though this recipe contains zucchini's I felt that the amount of oil and sugar in this recipe is a bit excessive.  So I decided to reduce the amount of oil and sugar.   

Here's what I did different:

*  Used only 1 cup of sugar instead of 2 cups

*  Used 3/4 cup of oil instead of 1 1/2 cups

*  Added 1/2 cup more of zucchini (because I thought it would make the cake more moist)

*  Added 1 tsp of vanilla extract (because lots of cake recipes use vanilla)

*  Added chocolate chips instead of walnuts (because I didn't have walnuts)

*  Added some hazelnut butter (because I had some around, and the combination reminded me of nutella)

I heard you can add apple sauce to this recipe and use less oil, I might try that next time.  Apple sauce would probably make the cake more moist.  Most of the fun that comes from cooking/baking happens when you experiment with ingredients to change textures, and enhance flavors.  So go experiment, and happy baking!

*  I'm categorizing this as healthy, because it's probably much healthier than the typical chocolate cake!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake/Cupcake

I was in the mood for some chocolate cake, but I also wanted to bake something that was somewhat healthy.  So I decided to bake some chocolate zucchini cupcakes.

Mini Zucchini Cake (cupcakes)

You can see little bits of green

The cake turned out moist, soft and somewhat spongey.  The taste of my zucchini cake is similar to devil's food chocolate cake, however the texture's much lighter.  I prefer eating this over the zucchini-less chocolate cake.  This cake was very good even my Grandmother approves!

Here's the recipe I used - Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe 

Even though this recipe contains zucchini's I felt that the amount of oil and sugar in this recipe is a bit excessive.  So I decided to reduce the amount of oil and sugar.   

Here's what I did different:

*  Used only 1 cup of sugar instead of 2 cups

*  Used 3/4 cup of oil instead of 1 1/2 cups

*  Added 1/2 cup more of zucchini (because I thought it would make the cake more moist)

*  Added 1 tsp of vanilla extract (because lots of cake recipes use vanilla)

*  Added chocolate chips instead of walnuts (because I didn't have walnuts)

*  Added some hazelnut butter (because I had some around, and the combination reminded me of nutella)

I heard you can add apple sauce to this recipe and use less oil, I might try that next time.  Apple sauce would probably make the cake more moist.  Most of the fun that comes from cooking/baking happens when you experiment with ingredients to change textures, and enhance flavors.  So go experiment, and happy baking!

*  I'm categorizing this as healthy, because it's probably much healthier than the typical chocolate cake!

Benkei Ramen

If your looking for a quick ramen fix, try heading towards Benkei Ramen, for a nice bowl of tasty Ramen.   What I like about Benkei is the fast service, consistency, and the value of the Ramen.  You can pretty much enjoy a meal for less than $10. 

Miso Ramen with Egg - The eggs delicious!

Pork Gyoza

Benkei Ramen definitely beats instant ramen by a mile.  

Benkei Ramen

If your looking for a quick ramen fix, try heading towards Benkei Ramen, for a nice bowl of tasty Ramen.   What I like about Benkei is the fast service, consistency, and the value of the Ramen.  You can pretty much enjoy a meal for less than $10. 

Miso Ramen with Egg - The eggs delicious!

Pork Gyoza

Benkei Ramen definitely beats instant ramen by a mile.  

Food in Detective Stories

In a conversation today, I mentioned that I had written several posts about food in detective stories, but that the posts were buried among many others. So here's a partial list:

• The Empty Tureen
• Aurelio Zen eats a hamburger
• Commissario Brunetti Eats Lunch
• What did Colombo eat?
• Real Nero Wolfe, Black Orchids and Corned-Beef Hash and Secret Recipes (about Nero Wolfe)
• "The Janissary Tree"
• Murder -- with recipes? about The Body in the Ivy by Katherine Hall Page
• The Inspector's Dinner Party about Martin Beck books by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
• Inspector Montalbano Identifies Himself and "The Snack Thief" about the works of Andrea Camilleri
• P. D. James
• "A Bitter Feast" and "Reflecting the Sky" (about S. J. Rozan)
• Fabulous Book about The Last Chinese Chef
• "An Instance of the Fingerpost"
• What do members of the Yiddish Policemen's Union Eat? about Chabon's book and some of the borscht-belt food that he invokes.
  
• Tuna-Noodle Casserole, Literary Version about Robert Parker's detective stories and one particular example of his pretensions about food.
• Elmore Leonard's Kitchen about one mystery where several key scenes take place in the kitchen, and where food is quite central to the characters' development.
  
• Dining with Exotic Policemen and Weird Food and not for Halloween about Chinese author Qiu Xiaolong’s mystery novel Death of a Red Heroine and the exotic foods eaten by the detective, including snake.
  
• Tony Hillerman (link to his obituary)
• and my guest posts at the blog "The Hanged Juror" about Hillerman, Agatha Christie, and others.

Note: to see all the posts, click on the label "Food in Detective Fiction" at the bottom of this post.

Food in Detective Stories

In a conversation today, I mentioned that I had written several posts about food in detective stories, but that the posts were buried among many others. So here's a partial list:

• The Empty Tureen
• Aurelio Zen eats a hamburger
• Commissario Brunetti Eats Lunch
• What did Colombo eat?
• Real Nero Wolfe, Black Orchids and Corned-Beef Hash and Secret Recipes (about Nero Wolfe)
• "The Janissary Tree"
• Murder -- with recipes? about The Body in the Ivy by Katherine Hall Page
• The Inspector's Dinner Party about Martin Beck books by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
• Inspector Montalbano Identifies Himself and "The Snack Thief" about the works of Andrea Camilleri
• P. D. James
• "A Bitter Feast" and "Reflecting the Sky" (about S. J. Rozan)
• Fabulous Book about The Last Chinese Chef
• "An Instance of the Fingerpost"
• What do members of the Yiddish Policemen's Union Eat? about Chabon's book and some of the borscht-belt food that he invokes.
  
• Tuna-Noodle Casserole, Literary Version about Robert Parker's detective stories and one particular example of his pretensions about food.
• Elmore Leonard's Kitchen about one mystery where several key scenes take place in the kitchen, and where food is quite central to the characters' development.
  
• Dining with Exotic Policemen and Weird Food and not for Halloween about Chinese author Qiu Xiaolong’s mystery novel Death of a Red Heroine and the exotic foods eaten by the detective, including snake.
  
• Tony Hillerman (link to his obituary)
• and my guest posts at the blog "The Hanged Juror" about Hillerman, Agatha Christie, and others.

Note: to see all the posts, click on the label "Food in Detective Fiction" at the bottom of this post.

Food in Detective Stories

In a conversation today, I mentioned that I had written several posts about food in detective stories, but that the posts were buried among many others. So here's a partial list:

• The Empty Tureen
• Aurelio Zen eats a hamburger
• Commissario Brunetti Eats Lunch
• What did Colombo eat?
• Real Nero Wolfe, Black Orchids and Corned-Beef Hash and Secret Recipes (about Nero Wolfe)
• "The Janissary Tree"
• Murder -- with recipes? about The Body in the Ivy by Katherine Hall Page
• The Inspector's Dinner Party about Martin Beck books by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
• Inspector Montalbano Identifies Himself and "The Snack Thief" about the works of Andrea Camilleri
• P. D. James
• "A Bitter Feast" and "Reflecting the Sky" (about S. J. Rozan)
• Fabulous Book about The Last Chinese Chef
• "An Instance of the Fingerpost"
• What do members of the Yiddish Policemen's Union Eat? about Chabon's book and some of the borscht-belt food that he invokes.
  
• Tuna-Noodle Casserole, Literary Version about Robert Parker's detective stories and one particular example of his pretensions about food.
• Elmore Leonard's Kitchen about one mystery where several key scenes take place in the kitchen, and where food is quite central to the characters' development.
  
• Dining with Exotic Policemen and Weird Food and not for Halloween about Chinese author Qiu Xiaolong’s mystery novel Death of a Red Heroine and the exotic foods eaten by the detective, including snake.
  
• Tony Hillerman (link to his obituary)
• and my guest posts at the blog "The Hanged Juror" about Hillerman, Agatha Christie, and others.

Note: to see all the posts, click on the label "Food in Detective Fiction" at the bottom of this post.