Fountain Valley News - Your Hometown Community Newspaper

"You can have your cake and eat zucchini, too," said 24-year-old Josh Plank when I wandered over to a landscaping project he was digging in in my neighbor's yard. I knew he had a garden of his own, so I eagerly asked what I should do with three humongous 18-inch-long zucchini that dominated my veggie garden while I was on vacation. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Bake a chocolate zucchini cake."

What? "Yep, a cake," he said. "It's the ultimate dessert my mom made when I was a kid. An Austrian neighbor gave it to her and said to pass it on. And that's what she did. Now I make it and shar...