Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Eating your vegetables never tasted so sweet.
I’m not much of a sweets person, but when done right they’re simply too delicious to resist. This recipe doesn’t have as much sugar or oil as some other similar recipes, but I promise you there’s no lack of moist sweetness or flavour. I also like to keep this cake as a single layer, but you can easily split the batter and make a two-tier confection with frosting layered in the middle.
Over the years I’ve topped this cake with a traditional buttercream frosting, a salted caramel topping, and recently I developed a sugar-free chocolate cream cheese frosting I particularly like. It gives the cake a salty sweet profile that’s just about perfect in my books, but I know the real sweet-toothed kids out there will likely want something more decadent, so I’ll leave that to you. Any way you enjoy this cake, be sure to cut yourself an extra big slice and save one for me. —CFG
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp espresso powder -OR- instant coffee
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup neutral oil (vegetable/avocado/grapeseed)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups shredded zucchini (~3 medium)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-2 cups frosting of your choice
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease two 9”×2” cake pans -OR- one 10”x10 pan and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, blend together 2 cups of flour, 3/4 cups of cocoa powder, 2tsp of baking soda, 1/2tsp of baking powder, 1tbsp of espresso powder/instant coffee, and 1/2tsp of salt. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer and paddle attachment or handheld mixer and large bowl, mix together 3/4 cup of oil, 3/4 cup of white sugar, 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar, 4 large eggs, 1/3 cup of plain Greek yogurt, 2 tsp of vanilla extract, and 3 cups of shredded zucchini until fully combined.
Transfer the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and blend together on medium speed until ingredients are fully incorporated.
Add 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the mixture and stir together.
Pour the batter into the greased pan(s). For two pans bake for 25-35 min or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes clean; for a single pan bake ~40-45min.
Allow the cake(s) to cool completely before frosting/assembling.
Once cake is fully cooled, frost with your topping of choice, serve and enjoy.
