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Chocolate Zucchini Cake combines deep, double chocolate flavor with a subtle touch of zucchini throughout. Did you know that zucchini makes this recipe extra moist? Each bite is indulgent, soft and tender!
Cocoa powder and dark chocolate team up to make this fudgy chocolate zucchini cake a chocolate-lover’s dream! The zucchini serves a distinct purpose: it makes the cake extra moist and tender. Your guests will be so enamored with the soft richness of the chocolate cake, they’ll be surprised when you tell them there’s a veggie in it at all!
I love sneaking vegetables into sweet treats like carrot cake cupcakes, but chocolate dessert recipes are my favorite. So basically, this cake is everything I could ever need. And it helps me use up excess zucchini! I bring this cake to picnics all summer long, along with my berry crumble, lemon blondies, and old fashioned peach cobbler!
Table of Contents
Why you will love this chocolate zucchini cake recipe:
- No need to squeeze your zucchini, it keeps the cake moist. No excess vegetable oil or butter. Melt-in-your mouth goodness with the power of zucchini!
- A healthy twist without an overwhelming vegetable taste. This is a double chocolate cake. Full stop. You get a hidden serving of veggies, and the zucchini flavor subtly blends into the batter. You come away with a rich chocolate taste!
- A versatile and fun dessert for any occasion. This recipe has been developed by a pro chef, so you have all the tips and tricks to make it fool-proof for picnics, birthdays, or a weekend baking project!
Professional Tips for Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake:
- Choose the right pan. This cake is too moist to be baked in a decorative bundt pan. There are those cakes that make a nice thick crust from the sugar and flour (chocolate pound cake or chocolate bundt cake), but this cake is not it. Use a regular bundt pan or a cake pan lined with parchment.
- Grate the zucchini. You don’t even have to peel it! Choose the smallest size on your box grater and go with it! This will help the zucchini distribute evenly throughout the batter. Nobody wants a giant piece of zucchini in their chocolate cake.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Your batter will mix more evenly if your ingredients are at room temperature, especially your dairy and produce. A more even batter means a more consistent crumb and a better rise! Tender cakes here you come!
- Thoroughly grease and cocoa your pan. I used cocoa powder to avoid white patches on my cake from flour. But, whatever you do, prepare your pan so that it’s easy to unmold. You also need to be sure to allow the cake to cool before trying to unmold it. If you put pressure on a warm cake, it weakens its structure! A weakened structure will be even harder to get out of the pan, trust me. {If all fails, your glaze will hide imperfections. I won’t tell anyone.}
What is chocolate zucchini cake made of?
- Unsalted Butter
- Granulated Sugar
- Light Brown Sugar: Using light brown sugar adds sweetness along with a little moisture. This will keep the cake softer while adding a nice, rich molasses flavor.
- Whole Egg: The eggs are here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cake moist. Eggs also emulsify the batter and keep everything texturally perfect.
- Vanilla Extract
- Dark Chocolate: I like to use between 60-75% melted dark chocolate for this cake, just a little darker than I use in my easy chocolate pie.
- All-purpose flour
- Cocoa Powder: I use dutch-process cocoa powder in this and in my Glazed Chocolate Donuts. That just means it has been treated with an alkaline solution. This neutralizes the acidity, so it will not react with baking soda or baking powder. It has a rich, deep flavor and a darker color than other types of unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Kosher Salt
- Baking Powder
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is essential for the texture of this chocolate cake just as it is in my sour cream pound cake! It has just enough moisture to hydrate the flour and cocoa powder, and enough fat to inhibit the gluten formation. I almost always bake with full-fat dairy because the fat adds to the texture and intensity of flavor.
- Heavy Cream
- Zucchini: You will need about 1 ½ cups of shredded zucchini for this recipe. Save any extra zucchini for a savory dish like my baked zucchini and ricotta casserole!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- There’s no such thing as too much chocolate. Add up to a cup of chocolate chips to the batter before baking for extra chocolate, like I do in these double chocolate banana muffins. And then drown the cake in chocolate fudge glaze, my professional chocolate ganache, or even some chocolate frosting!
- Jazz up your glaze. This chocolate zucchini cake would be phenomenal with a vanilla donut glaze, salted caramel sauce, professional chocolate ganache recipe or a cream cheese buttercream. Give it a unique twist, like the bourbon glaze from my mardi gras king bundt cake!
- Use a loaf pan. Be aware that a standard loaf pan only holds about 6 cups, so it would be best to halve this recipe. You can follow all other instructions as detailed, but your bake time will be slightly different as you do not have the middle tube in a bundt pan to help bake the cake. However, it would be less batter to bake! While you have your loaf pan out, whip up a batch of zucchini bread or nutella banana bread as well!
- Mix it up with spices. Add a little bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamom to the batter for cozy warmth! You could even garnish the top with some fleur de sel or sea salt like I do on my mini chocolate tarts and chocolate bourbon truffles.
How to Serve
You could dust your chocolate zucchini cake with confectioner’s sugar or cocoa powder, or glaze it with a chocolate fudge glaze like I do in the pictures. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a spoonful of crème anglaise, or a generous dollop of crème fraîche whipped cream to really bring out the chocolate notes! This cake is simply exquisite with fresh berries and hot fudge. Raspberries and strawberries do well to balance the richness of the cake. I also enjoy a peanut butter-chocolate moment, why not try the peanut butter icing from these Reese’s Peanut Butter Blondies?
How to Make Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!
Make cake batter:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325°F (convection or standard) and prepare your pan. Spray it with cooking spray and then dust it with cocoa powder, tapping the cocoa powder around until every inch is covered.
This recipe is for a 10 cup bundt pan. You can 1.5x it for a large bundt pan.
Step 2: In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a different bowl, whisk together sour cream and heavy cream. Set aside.
Just this tiny amount of baking powder will react with the acid in the sour cream. This reaction will add just the right amount of leavening!
Step 3: In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until slightly lightened.
Step 4: Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Add the vanilla extract in with the last egg.
Step 5: Add all the chocolate and beat well to incorporate.
Step 6: Switch the mixer to low, and alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture. Mix until it is barely combined before the next addition. Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in the zucchini just until distributed.
I don’t wait until all the flour has incorporated until I add the next batch. I just keep adding with two hands. Pro-style. I do stop the mixer to add the last of the sour cream because I like to scrape it all out with a rubber spatula.
Bake:
Step 7: Pour into the prepared pan. Bake in a preheated oven until a cake tester or toothpick comes out with a few clinging crumbs. Mine took 45 minutes.
Step 8: Let the cake cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Then loosen the edges with a paring knife and turn it out onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely.
If you cut your cake when it is still too warm, it will not have enough time to set its crumb.
Step 9: Once the cake is cooled, dust with cocoa powder or drizzle a glaze over the top. I recommend my chocolate fudge glaze or a chocolate sauce! After the glaze has set, slice and enjoy!
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
Check this cake about halfway through the bake time. Checking too early will not allow enough time for the crumb to set, will cause a sudden drop in temperature, and could result in a sunken cake! I gently press on the center-most part and when it provides a little resistance I will double check with a cake tester or toothpick. Sometimes it’s extra hard to tell with this cake, because the zucchini adds moisture. The tester should come out with only a few clinging crumbs but no streaks of batter. WIth bundt pans, it’s important to be sure that the tester goes into the center of the cake!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store chocolate zucchini cake well-wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen. Zucchini cake will keep 5 days at room temperature, two weeks refrigerated, or 3 months frozen. For optimal freshness, serve within 2 days of baking or freeze for longer term storage.
No, do not drain your zucchini for this cake! This is not a zucchini fritter or a carrot cake where you want to squeeze out all that excess moisture from the vegetable. No, no, you want all that moisture to be in the cake. That is what makes it so tender and moist. That is why it is even better the second day! This is the gift that zucchini gives us!
Cucumbers cannot be substituted for zucchini in baking. They have different textures, flavors, and moisture contents. Cucumbers would not taste as good in baked goods like cakes and quick breads. Don’t do it!
Zucchini adds moisture while only adding a very mild flavor. Its ability to add moisture in baked goods helps to make cakes and quick breads tender, and reduces amounts of butter or other oils needed. Zucchini’s texture also helps cakes have a soft crumb.
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened but still cool to the touch
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 ½ oz dark chocolate 60-75%, melted
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 ½ cups grated zucchini
- cocoa powder for coating pan and dusting cake (optional)
Instructions
Make cake batter:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (convection or standard) and prepare your pan. Spray it with cooking spray and then dust it with cocoa powder, tapping the cocoa powder around until every inch is covered.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a different bowl, whisk together sour cream and heavy cream. Set aside.
- In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until slightly lightened.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Add the vanilla extract in with the last egg.
- Add all the chocolate and beat well to incorporate.
- Switch the mixer to low, and alternately add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture. Mix until it is barely combined before the next addition. Remove bowl from stand mixer and fold in the zucchini just until distributed.
Bake:
- Pour into the prepared pan. Bake in a preheated oven until a cake tester or toothpick comes out with a few clinging crumbs. Mine took 45 minutes.
- Let the cake cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Then loosen the edges with a paring knife and turn it out onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely.
- Once the cake is cooled, dust with cocoa powder or drizzle a glaze over the top. I recommend my chocolate fudge glaze or a chocolate sauce! After the glaze has set, slice and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed cake recipes or easy chocolate desserts next!
