Dark chocolate zucchini cake
I was browsing on the Pinterest, looking for something sweet with chocolate and of course zucchini, when I found chocolate zucchini fudge cake recipes. Then I decided to bake something based on these recipes (my recipe is mostly based on King Artur flour's recipe). This dark chocolate zucchini cake tastes great, is moist and not at least is healthy too.
Eating zucchini has never been so tasty and chocolatey. Nobody will notice we hide two cups of shredded zucchini in this tasty cake. The veggie has no flavour and is invisible, so it's a good way to eat more veggies without knowing it. Also, it's a good use of zucchini to bake it into the cake to keep it moist.
This cake is moist, full of cocoa and dark chocolate and has a tasty chocolate buttercream frosting. The cake was made with Greek yogurt, butter, flour, eggs, cocoa, dark chocolate, sugar and zucchini. For a better taste, I added vanilla and a teaspoon espresso coffee.
For frosting, I prepared chocolate buttercream. It was the first time I prepared this frosting and honestly I worried about it because it seemed to be too washy, but after 5 minutes of resting the cream was almost solidified.
When you want a healthy cake, zucchini and chocolate combination is always a good choice. This dark zucchini cake looks good and has a fabulous taste as well. After we have tasted this, we were amazed how good it is. We (me and my other half) definitely recommend this cake, it's dark, moist and delicious, but not so sweet, you have to try it! :)
Level: medium
Cost: low
Calories: medium
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 35 mins
Total time: 55 mins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini shredded - about 2 1/2 cups
- 120 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 120 ml (1/2 cups) vegetable oil
- 350 g (1 3/4 cups) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 120 ml (1/2 cups) Greek yogurt
- 320 g (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 100 g (3/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 handful chocolate chips
- 100 g shredded dark chocolate
- 2 teaspoons espresso
- a pinch of salt
- <strong>For the frosting:</strong>
- 120 g unsweetened butter
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 50 g melted dark chocolate
- 300 g (1 1/2 cups) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 -5 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 355°F. Grease a medium baking pan.
- In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugar, vanilla and oil until is smooth. Add the eggs and beat it until are incorporated.
- In another bowl mix the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder and the cocoa powder.
- Spoon by spoon add the flour to the butter mixture, alternately with the Greek yogurt (or sour cream). Stir it well, then add the chocolate chips and the shredded dark chocolate. I grated dark Belgian chocolate using a cheese grater.
- Stir it until is smooth. Finally, fold in the grated zucchini.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place the cake in the oven and bake it 30-35 minutes, it is ready when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cool it covered with a clean kitchen towel. Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
- <strong>Chocolate buttercream frosting:</strong>
- In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugar and vanilla using a hand mixer.
- Melt the dark chocolate in 10 seconds into the microwave.
- Add the melted chocolate and the cocoa powder to the butter and stir it carefully using a spoon.
- Spoon by spoon add the milk and stir it, then using a mixer beat the cream until is smooth.
- Spread the buttercream on top of the totally cooled cake using a knife. Put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.