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. How well zucchini hides itself elsewhere is in my collection of zucchini recipes for baking.
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, a job that chestnut puree takes over in my vegan chestnut cake with almonds once the garden is finished for the year. 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, a supporting role the fruit swaps for the lead in my moist vegan orange loaf. 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.
