New and improved. Originally posted here (Aug 2010).With frosting, this time around, for good measure.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Chocolate and Zucchini is the best combination! This recipe uses both to make the most moist and delicious cake in minutes!
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, unsalted
- ½ cup vegetable oil or coconut oil
- 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar or a mixture of 3/4 brown and 1 cup granlated sugars
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups zucchini, grated*
- ½ cup buttermilk*
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- Whipping cream, or frosting (recipe below)
Frosting:
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- dash salt
- milk or cream to thin, about 2-3 tablespoons
Instructions
- Cream together butter, oil and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, beat.
- Add flour, cocoa, cloves, cinnamon, soda and salt and beat for additional 2 minutes.
- Add grated or blended zucchini and buttermilk. Blend well. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes (check with a toothpick).
- Best when served slightly warm with fresh whipped cream or top with frosting.
- Frosting: Beat all ingredients with mixer in bowl until smooth. Frost cake when cooled.
Notes
-You may also bake in two-9 or 10 inch pie plates.
-The original recipe calls for peeling and seeding the zucchini, I leave the peel on and don’t seed. And I usually pulverize the zucchini in a blender with about 1/4 cup of water. The total amount used in the recipe is 2 cups, meaning I place the zucchini in a blender with about 1/4 cup of water and pulverize the zucchini until it looks like baby food. Then I measure out 2 cups. If it turns out to be a little less than 2 cups, no big deal. 1 3/4 is fine!
-To make buttermilk substitute: Pour 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a 1/2 cup measure. Fill with milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir and use in recipe as directed. If you have Greek yogurt, you may also use 1/2 cup of plain unsweetened Greek yogurt in place of buttermilk.
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. I’d love to see a photo, tag @abountifulkitchen on Instagram!
The Childs
Made it, SO good! I was worried it might be dry or otherwise very "cakey" but it was deliciously moist and was gobbled up served with chocolate whipped cream!
abountifulkitchen
Lisa, Glad you loved this. It is one of our favorites! I love that you are so young, and yet constantly cooking! Hooray for young people cooking!!!
Christine
Si, thanks for posting this recipe! I made it, using a bundt pan, and baked it in my grill. Yep, my grill. It's delicious!
abountifulkitchen
Now that's getting creative with cooking methods! Curious, did you use your grill to avoid turning on the oven inside? And thanks for letting us know about the bundt pan option as well!
Christine
Yes, I totally did it to avoid the oven. (Hate turning it on when it's 90+ outside).
FYI–the grill stayed about 350 and the cake took 50 mins. to bake in the bundt.