Hello lovelies, today I'm sharing a real heart's favorite with you: my zucchini chocolate cake. When summer rolls around and the zucchini grow faster than we can eat them, one almost always ends up in a cake here – and this is the one my girls ask for most often. The best part: you don't taste a hint of the vegetable, only moist, deeply dark chocolate.
That's exactly the little magic trick. The finely grated zucchini releases its moisture into the batter, and instead of a cake that dries out quickly you get a crumb that stays soft for days. I used to bake it with butter and eggs – since I make it vegan with spelt flour, coconut blossom sugar and oil, it has become even moister.
Zucchini
Zucchini is one of the most rewarding baking ingredients there is. 250 g (8.8 oz.) finely grated disappears completely flavour-wise, yet brings exactly the moisture that makes a chocolate cake irresistible. You don't need to peel it – the only thing that matters is that after grating the zucchini draws out water, and I always squeeze that out well before folding it in, so the batter stays light instead of heavy.
For the chocolate side I work on two levels: cacao in the batter for depth, and 50 g (1.8 oz.) of roughly chopped dark chocolate that melts into little pockets while baking. A few chopped almonds add a gentle bite, and the zest of half an orange rounds it off. That subtle citrus note is the icing on the cake for me – I simply love the combination of the tart orange and the sweetness of the chocolate.
If you want to turn the cake into a real showstopper, coat it with a thin chocolate glaze and decorate it with home-dehydrated blood orange slices. I dry them thinly for a few hours at a low temperature until they are almost translucent. It isn't necessary – dusted with a little powdered sugar it's just as delicious – but on a coffee table it looks especially beautiful this way.
It bakes at 180°C (356°F) for about 40 to 50 minutes. I like to take it out a touch earlier, because we love it when the middle is still really fudgy and moist. The next day, once it has settled, it tastes almost even better – if there's any left at all.
If you love this zucchini chocolate cake, you'll adore my other zucchini-and-chocolate ideas: for a fruity twist reach for my chocolate cake with zucchini and cherries, if you prefer something smaller and bar-shaped bake the zucchini blondies with chocolate, and for the orange-chocolate pairing in its purest form I recommend my chocolate brownies with an orange chocolate mousse. I'd be so happy if you bake this cake – let me know how it turned out for you.
