I guess it's not just harvest in the vineyard, it's harvest in everyone's garden. Our neighbors dropped off some extra zucchini from their garden in one of the best contactless deliveries to date (my Ring doorbell didn't even go off) and there's only so much grilled zucchini, baked zucchini and zucchini fritters a girl can make. I ended up making this chocolate zucchini bundt cake, but I swapped the flour for some 1:1 gluten free flour. Zucchini creates the perfect balanced chocolate cake, without introducing any extra flavor, promise. I also made it in my new bundt pan with the gorgeous swirl, 'cuz I'm #quarenshopping for useful toys. I need to uninstall the Amazon app from my phone. I combined it with some leftover cherry compote and this whipped cream cheese frosting (I'm currently obsessed with forcing liquids into "stiff peaks." For some reason, sublimation in baking makes me giggle, the way the whisk just transforms the weak liquid into a solid. I am here for it) for a slightly healthier, deconstructed version of Black Forest cake. I think I'll call it Pink Plateau cake from the light run off from the cherry compote. If you swap the white sugar for monk fruit and the brown sugar for palm fruit, you could even make this cake one-third of your daily veggie and fruit requirements. Not quite, but maybe!
Anyway, I ended up trying this with three of our reds, because I: a) am a chocolate addict; b) made it the night after RBG died so slightly, well...; and c) am dedicated to experimentation in the name of science for you (it's a sacrifice, but I fall into the glass for YOU). The first one, the 2013 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was great with the cake. Its like the flavor sat around each other, neither having too much to say, but it was almost ltheyike said to each other, you are chocolate and you are wine, we'll sit on our sides. The second one, the 2014 Estate Meritage, was a little too much of Like Canceling Like - sweet on sweet, if you will. The fruits loved on each other, but the third! Oh, the third. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. My favorite - the 2014 Estate Cabernet Franc set off the cake perfectly. Something about the spice in the Franc and the sweet richness of the cake just made both spark perfectly. Of course it did. Could it be that Franc is so delicious for chocolate lovers BECAUSE it pairs perfectly with chocolate? Hmmm...I don't know. Ugh. I'm going to have some more to confirm.
