Moist, chocolatey, and perfectly sweet, you have to try this chocolate zucchini cake! A hidden vegetable, easily adaptable dairy-free, and decadent this is your feel-better-cake!
If you intend to sneak some vegetables, go ahead, this is your opportunity! You will NOT taste the zucchini in this chocolate cake. The zucchini will replace the butter and create moisture in your cake.
If you love chocolate cakes like my chocolate almond flour one or the chocolate lava cakes, you will LOVE this one. And, if sneaking a fruit or veggie is your thing, you should also give a chance to these vegan chocolate tartlets.
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Why you will love this Chocolate Zucchini Cake:
- EASY to prepare (kids can bake it)
- HIDDEN vegetable
- So MOIST and DECADENT for chocolate lovers
- Adaptable to be DAIRY-FREE
🥣 Ingredients Needed
Let's gather the ingredients and measure them before starting to bake. Mise-en-place always makes the process faster and easier!
- Chocolate: When recipe testing, I did one with only dark chocolate. It was too strong for the kids. I came up with half dark, half milk chocolate and it is a good balance. If you like dark bitter chocolate, go for the full dark recipe!
- Granulated sugar: Brown sugar can also be used for this recipe.
- Zucchini: It only calls for one, but a big one otherwise, 2 smalls work too.
- Baking powder: Don't skip it, it is your leavening agent.
- Milk (not photographed): Can be cow milk, dairy-free, or nut milk.
👩🏻🍳 Preparation
The steps to prepare this recipe are pretty simple. You will need a mixing bowl, a whisk, and a cheese grater.
First, in a mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Then, add the sugar and whisk until fully combined (picture 1).
Next, add your dry ingredients: the baking powder and the flour (Picture 2).
Then, melt the chocolate and add it to the batter. Incorporate until it is just one colour (Picture 3). Next, grate the zucchini with a cheese grater, place it on a paper towel and squeeze the water out of the vegetable (Picture 4).
TIP: Use the larger side of the cheese grater to be faster or use the smaller one to really hide well the zucchini. With the larger side, you might see some tiny pieces of green in the cake.
Lastly, it is ready to bake: Pour the batter in a greased oven dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
I like to use a square (9"x9") dish so I can cut the cake into cute bites.
📋 Variations and Substitutions
Depending on your dietary restrictions or taste, this recipe can be adapted and here a few suggestions:
- Dairy-free: You may use a plant based milk instead of the cow milk.
- Gluten-free: Swap the all purpose flour for a gluten-free one.
- Chocolate: Do you want more decadence, add half a cup of mini chocolate chips into your batter. Or, add a spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to accentuate the bitterness of the dark chocolate.
- Add-ons: For an extra flavour, add in some vanilla extract, espresso powder or a swirl of Nutella.
- Presentation: The baking dish used can be square, rectangular, round or even a bundt pan. You can add some toppings such as a drizzle of melted chocolate or caramel, a layer of chocolate frosting or even some nuts.
💭 Recipe FAQs
No! This is a bonus vegetable in your dessert without any taste from it.
You should not. The water content in the zucchini is high so you are still keeping just enough for chocolate cake with the perfect moisture and texture.
You may keep it for 3-4 days in an air-tight container at room temperature or in the fridge.
Absolutely, make sure your cake has fully cooled down before doing so. You can either wrap the whole cake or individual slice. Allow to thaw overnight in the fridge and enjoy!
More Decadent Chocolate Dessert
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating on the recipe card below & and a comment about your experience. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, thanks!
Decadent Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Equipment
- 1 Oven dish 9" x 9"
- 1 cheese grater
Ingredients
- 3 eggs medium size
- 1 cup sugar 125g
- ½ cup flour 100g
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate 80g
- ½ cup milk chocolate 80g
- 1 shredded zucchini one big zucchini
Instructions
- Prepare and weigh all the ingredients.
- Preheat the oven at 400F.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Add the sugar and mix some more
- Add the baking powder, whisk some more.
- Add the flour. Mix until smooth.
- Cut the chocolate into small pieces and melt in the microwave (30 seconds at the time) or in a pot on a water bath (place chocolate in a small pot and place this pot into a bigger one that has about 2 inches of water. Place on a the stove on medium high and the chooclate will melt without burning)/
- Pour it over the mixed batter. Mix until smooth.
- Shred the zucchini and drain the excess water out of it with a paper towel. Add it to the batter and mix.
- Grease the oven dish of your choice with butter or olive oil if you wish.
- Bake for 30 min at 400F or until your knife come out dry when you pinch the middle.
- It's ready! Enjoy and store in a container for a few days...
Notes
- Store 3-4 days in an air-tight container at room temperature or in the fridge.
- Freezer friendly: make sure the cake has fully cooled down before placing it in a container.
- Add more chocolate with chocolate chips in the batter or a drizzle of chocolate on top.
Carsten says
OMG... this is so amazing. I am not an expert baker - okay a beginner - and this was so easy and turned out to be great. The family made me bake it already again.
Tiia Birkenbaum says
Thanks, @bonappeteat!
This dessert is delicious. Thumbs up from my family of four! Baking more this weekend. YUMMMM.
Mélanie says
Merci Tiia!