Earlier this week a coworker showed me a recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake. He didn’t ask me to make it, but rather just showed me the recipe saying something along the lines of “isn’t this interesting”. Of course, he figured once he put the bug in my ear I’d make it. Some of my colleagues know me quite well ;) As luck would have it two things came into play… 1) I had two gorgeous zucchini in my fridge just waiting to be used for something special and 2) this coworker is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met – for him I’d make pretty much anything he wanted. Unfortunately I did not bookmark the recipe and when I went back to make it couldn’t find the site it was from. I turned to the internet figuring it would be easy to find… I mean, chocolate zucchini cake? Who ever heard of that? But I was surprised to see just how many Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipes are out there – trust me, a lot! After reading thru a whole bunch I decided on this one from the King Arthur Flour company. Back when I first started baking, I tried many of KAF’s recipes… and called their “baker’s helpline” (as I call it) many times with what I’m sure were extremely elementary questions. Yes, I was a total newbie and not ashamed to admit it… if only anonymously… and over the phone ;) At this point I’ve lost count of just how many recipes I’ve tried from King Arthur Flour. The results are pretty darn consistent and this is just one more that didn’t let me down ! This cake is rich, moist, chocolatey, fudgy, dark and… and… and absolutely delicious.
This cake received uber-raves from all who tried it. There’s two full cups of grated zucchini in the recipe and not one person could tell… they all asked me if I was sure about the zucchini. The only change I made to the KAF recipe was the icing – I chose to go with a pourable ganache. Other than that I made it as written. I did grate the zucchini pretty darn large and then press between layers of paper towels to remove the moisture. But that’s the only thing I did which wasn’t expressly written.
The kids loved it – DH loved it – my colleagues loved it – and me… me who isn’t a big fan of chocolate?… I thought it was very very good! It’s extremely moist and verrrrrrry chocolatey!
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
… for the cake
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups (12 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream or yogurt
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounce) Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional but tasty
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10″ zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips
… for the icing
6 oz heavy cream
9 oz chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 9″ x 13″ pan with baking spray
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.
Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing till smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack.
To prepare the frosting, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Wait 3-5 minutes then stir to combine. It may take a few minutes of stirring for the ganache to come together… but it will :) It will thicken as it cools… when warm (but not hot) pour over cake and smooth with offset spatula. Allow frosting to set for about 30 minutes before serving… or not ;)
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Well, I had a sampling of the “zucchini cake” and my taste buds could not find the smallest hint of zucchini. My wife likes fried zucchini and when we have a jones for fast food she will normally get a small order of the green stuff, I have a few and I’m done with it. So I know what zucchini taste like. What I had today was chocolate cake, my close friend and co-worker claims it had that green veggie mixed in, so, I have to believe it had some green stuff. Bottom line, I had the four basic food groups and I enjoyed it. Life’s good…..bring on more health stuff that taste like that…. Thank You !!!!!
Oh my goodness that has to be the most decadent looking chocolate cake I have ever seen in my life. I think this will make it in to this month’s dessert rotation.
Damn…that looks good and I am not a chocolate lover either…my co-workers would swoon over this for sure! Thanks for sharing!
This cake looks amazing… and I do love chocolate. I’ve seen a lot of cake recipes with zucchini as well… I think it helps to make the cake moist. I’m going to have to try this at some point — when my boyfriend isn’t home to see me put the zucchini in it! (That way he’ll still eat it.)
Yum that looks amazing!
AWESOME! Just in time since I too have two huge zucchinis in my fridge and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it. Hmmmmmmmm…very tempting! Hope all is well!
EM!!! That is the fudgiest, most decadent looking chocolate zuke cake I have EVER seen! I have to curb myself from viewing your blog, as I always want everything you make/bake! Another bookmark! My bookmarks are filled with blog recipes like you wouldn’t believe, and yours takes up quite a column!
My boss and I were just talking about chocolate zucchini cake no more than an hour ago…and what do I find here? Chocolate zucchini cake! I think it’s a sign…
That looks over the top rich and decadent! It’s also one of those chocolate desserts that has me questioning if my taste in chocolate has changed.
Happy Friday, Em!
~ingrid
Hi Em! That chocolate zucchini cake looks dark enough that I may have to give that type of cake another chance. I’m curious if there was an “aftertaste”? That last few recipes I’ve tried there always seems to be a weird aftertaste from the zucchini.
Also, I have a little something for you over at my blog: http://jilliciousdiscoveries.blogspot.com/2009/08/nice-surprise.html
Have a great day!
Jill
Hi Jill,
Absolutely NO aftertaste whatsoever… no one who ate it said anything about an aftertaste and I sure didn’t have one at all. I’m heading over to your site to see whatcha have for me :)
Thanks for stopping by!
that looks amazing!!!
Wow, it is the first time that I’ve seen chocolate and zucchini, sounds and looks delicious…so moist, really yummie!
I love chocolate zucchini cake. It’s the first recipe I ever blogged about and I make it several times a year. I just made it last month for my mom’s birthday- it’s her favorite! I make mine in a bundt pan though.
This looks great. I mught have to give this version a try!
Your cake looks delicious. I love chocolate zucchini cake, but I have never seen one as dark and fudgy as yours – I will be trying this next time!
I want a piece of it ! I’ve never tasted chocolate and zucchini cake but now I want to ! Your cake is gorgeous and looks so yummy !
Hi Em – Now you remind me what to do with the burgeoning zucchini – even though we’ve had a gray-gray-RAINY-gray-RAINY summer, zucchini soldiers on. Glad you liked the recipe, and thanks for reminding me abut it – PJ Hamel, King Arthur Flour baker/blogger
all of your cakes are sooooo beautiful. Love baked goods with zucchini, usually very moist.
Wow! This looks great. I have a zucchini in the refrig that needs to meet this chocolate cake ASAP! And I get new cook books in the library “conveniently” placed on my desk with post-its in it as “inspiration” from my co-workers!!! :) – mary the food librarian
So delicious! I have to try this!
I think that has to be the darkest, richest chocolate zucchini cake Ive ever seen! YUM!!!!!!
I made chocolate zucchini cake last year from a different recipe and it also was fantastic – it looks just like yours – my kids couldn’t detect even the slightest hint of zucchini in it! Compare the ingredients here.
Now that is some cake – even if you hadn’t mentioned the zucchini, it would be worth making it looks so dark and rich. But with zucchini coming in my garden like gangbusters, this one is a keeper.
That looks incredibly delicious. I might have to go buy some squash just to make it.
I still haven’t been able to gather up the courage to make a zucchini anything! But the cake looks delicious, doesn’t seem like it has any of it in it!!
Hi Em,
This looks totally and completely wonderful!! I’m curious, though – if you can’t taste the zucchini, what’s the point of putting it in the cake? I’ve always wondered about that. Is it in place of a more fattening ingredient? Does it add extra moisture or something? I hope this isn’t sounding rude – I definitely don’t mean it that way – I’m genuinely curious! Thanks a lot! Love, love, LOVE your blog! :-)
-Amy
Hi Amy,
The question isn’t rude at all =) Sadly, though, I really can’t answer that. I got the recipe from King Arthur Flour company… and there are tons of other recipes for it all over the net. I’m thinking the zucchini provides moisture because this is suuuuuuper moist… and stays that way for days! There were two pieces that I used for this post… one to photograph and the other was “backup”… after I was done, I wrapped the plate with plastic wrap, stuck them in the fridge and promptly forgot about them for three days. This morning the kids found them, took them out of the fridge, sat them on the counter for a while to bring to room temperature and they were STILL super moist! So I’m thinking the zucchini is for moisture… but I really just don’t know! LOL
Thanks for stopping by AND for the kind words about my site :)
Thanks a lot!! I bet you’re right – it’s probably the moisture thing. Good to know – I will most definitely be trying this. I’m a huge fan of KA Flour recipes (especially their brownies!), so I know this will be fantastic! Thanks again!
Amy
That looks decadent! :) We just started growing vegetables in our garden this summer and one of the most successful plants is zucchini. Mom and I have been fighting over them. She wants to use them in stir fry and pasta, and I want to make zucchini loaves and cakes! This looks great!
Just made this and it is delicious! FABULOUS!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the recipe!
Oh yay! I’m so glad it worked out well for you!
Thanks for stopping by to let me know =)
i’ve been seeing a lot of zucchini chocolate cake posts floating around the blogosphere…but since i have a couple of carrots in the fridge, i ended up making chocolate carrot cake…i am sure the carrot/zucchini element made the cake absolutely moist, with no hint of carrot/zucchininess. yours look a lot more handsome than mine though :) well done!
This recipe is really making me wish I had some zucchini growing in my garden!
This looks so lucious! :-)
I made this today! It was yummy…but my cuts were all over the place. Should post next week. Thanks for posting…what a great way to use zucchini. The co-workers and I said it is in the “Vegetable” category! ;) – mary
Hi,
A fellow TWD baker here. I went searching for things to do with zucchini today and ran into this amazing cake. I made it this afternoon and holy cow–it’s amazing. Thanks. Yours looks fab with that ganache on top. I’ll be posting mine late tonight and linking over to your blog.
Yep, vegetable = healthy! ;)
I’ve seen this photo on Tastespotting or Foodgawker (or was it both?) recently and thought, wow, that is an amazing photo! I didn’t think to click on it at the time to see where the recipe came from, but I stopped by your blog and there it was! I am definitely making this – maybe I can even trick my husband into eating vegetables :)
So I made this recipe this evening because I am overwhelmed with squash. (Just so you have a sense–I had 4 cups already grated in the fridge and 5 more squash sitting on the counter waiting for something to be done with them). I used a mix of zucchini and summer squash and there is no difference in taste or texture. Also…YUMMM. Thanks for the recipe. I’m new here and I’m definitely going to follow your posts with apron at the ready.
That’s a sinfully beautiful cake.
Ok, so how do you not get pieces of grated zucchini in your cake?!!! Yours looks smooth. Mine has pieces of zucchini in it…..
Hi Mel,
I don’t really know… I grated the zucchini using a box grater and pressed as much water out of it that I could. I don’t really think that should impact the size of the resulting pieces after being baked, though. Mine definitely still had zucchini pieces in it after baking.
Thanks for stopping by!
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thank you for sharing the recipe. made it yesterday and it turned out beautiful. moist and deliciously chocolatey. my boyfriend declared it as a keeper. thank you again :)
I have come back twice to see these photos! I will be making this as soon as I can hunt down some DP cocoa. Its not so easy to find and I don’t want to monkey around with a substitution on this recipe as I want to taste just what everyone is raving about!
I used Ghiradelli Unsweetened Cocoa, it was awesome! Also Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate chips.
Wow beautiful cake..just love the texture. Cheers Olivia
yum -but where’s the recipe?
I’m not sure what you mean… the recipe is printed out in the post.
I made this as a birthday cake (2 round layers) with the expresso. Best chocolate cake ever was the vote. I keep grated zucchini in the refrigerator during the season. Makes cooking with is so easy! It lasts for 10 days! A keeper!
I live in France but am American so this recipe is right up my alley. But I dont think my French family will go for it – too exotique and too rich. The French can be quite conservative in their tastes. But I’ll make it someday and keep it for myself. It looks wonderful. Thanks for the recipe. Cynthia in the French Alps
While I am writing to you the cake is still in the owen. What a smell, I am eager to eat it. For the icing, I did not decide yet, will it be a ganache or a cream cheese icing? that is the question!
Suzanne
[...] Repressed Pastry Chef adds a Chocolate Ganache [...]
I am curious about the aftertaste of the zucchini…wonder what that’s like. Also, I wonder if if could be done as a whole birthday cake?!?! Either way it sounds absolutely delicious!
this. looks. deeevine.
GREAT CAKE!!! I’m bringing it for my farewell at the gym…my clients will LOVE it. I tried keeping it even more healthy :P by using unsweetened apple sauce instead of oil and I ensured to use unsalted butter, but also chose low fat yogurt. Another suggestion would to use raw sugar/brown sugar/splenda instead of refined white sugar. Thank you much for this delicious recipe :)
This is definitely the best chocolate cake I have ever had! I used shredded yellow crookneck (since the zucchini aren’t ripe yet), but otherwise everything else was the same as written. The author is right – no one will ever taste the zucchini (or even guess that it’s in there unless they catch sight of a big chunk). Absolutely delicious!
I’ve always wanted to try and make one of these. Do you think that you prefer this over a regular chocolate cake? Love the site by the way! I’m going to add it to my blogroll if you don’t mind!
-Chasingjamesbeard.com