Zucchini Chocolate Cake

Still got Zucchini? Make a Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I’m doing a better job of keeping up with my zucchini this year. But then, I’m being more creative—adding zucchini to pasta dishes and stir fries. But what I really like is chocolate. Good chocolate and zucchini are outstanding. Zucchini makes it moist and fudgy but doesn’t compete with the chocolate. 

In this post, you will find scratch recipes and recipes from a mix for:

Chocolate Zucchini Pound Cake

Both of these recipes deliver. With the first, add zucchini to a mix. That makes it quick and easy.

From a Cake Mix

We used our Fudgy Baby Cake Mix and patterned this after the Cinnamon Chip Zucchini Bread Recipe. The fudgy cake mix comes with mini chocolate chips in the mix so it is very similar to the zucchini bread with cinnamon chips.

Get a Fudgy Baby Cakes Mix

From Scratch

We baked this cake in a bundt pan. It makes a great cake but we had trouble with it sticking even in our nonstick bundt pans. We solved the problem in three steps:

  1. Grease the pan well with shortening,
  2. Dust the pan with cocoa to help it release,
  3. Use a soft-bladed silicone spatula to break the sides loose from the pan.

Bundt cakes tend to be fragile, especially while still warm. As they cool, the cake sets and is less fragile. We let the cake cool for ten minutes before remove the cake from the pan. I would suggest setting your timer for ten minutes.

The recipe calls for dry buttermilk powder. You do not need to reconstitute the buttermilk but can add the dry buttermilk to the mix. The water comes later.

Chocolate Zucchini Pound Cake from a Mix Chocolate Zucchini Pound Cake from Scratch Chocolate Zucchini Pound Cake from a Mix

Ingredients:

  • 1 Fudgy Baby Cakes Mix
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups freshly grated zucchini

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

  1. Prepare a 9 x 5 inch bread pan by greasing and flouring or lining with parchment paper.
  2. In your stand-type mixer, beat the cake mix, oil, eggs, and zucchini for about three minutes. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 58 minutes or until done. Let the loaf cool for 20 minutes in the pan and then remove it to a wire rack. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

 

Chocolate Zucchini Pound Cake from Scratch

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a standard 9 1/2-inch bundt pan.

  1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and powdered buttermilk together in a medium bowl.
  2. With your stand-type mixer, mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and water. Mix in about half of the dry ingredients and then the vegetable oil. Add the remainder of the dry ingredients and mix.
  3. Fold in the grated zucchini, pecans, and about half of the chocolate chips.
  4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the batter. Bake for 55 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack for ten minutes before removing the cake from the pan.

Chocolate Zucchini Layer Cake

The chocolate zucchini layer cake that we posted last week was remarkably good but we wanted a larger layer cake. We used Dad’s Favorite Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix which is a larger cake mix, quite a bit bigger than the mixes that you find in the store and denser and moister. And it has chocolate pieces in the mix. We added nuts and zucchini.

When we developed this recipe, we kept increasing the zucchini and decreasing the liquids until we had it loaded to the max with zucchini. The zucchini disappears into the chocolate cake but the more zucchini, the moister and denser it is. And when you get it to the max, there is so much zucchini that it doesn’t hold together well and you can’t make a shapely layer cake. We dropped back a half cup from the max and had a perfect two-layer cake.

We put Bavarian cream between the layers. With the Bavarian cream between the layers, the cake was incredibly moist and yet held its shape and was attractive. We used pecans and frosted it with premade fudgy frosting. The folks in the store loved it.

Chocolate Zucchini Layer Cake from a Mix Chocolate Zucchini Layer Cake from a Mix

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

  1. Prepare two nine-inch pans by greasing or lining them with parchment paper.
  2. In your stand-type mixer, beat the cake mix, oil, eggs, and zucchini for about three minutes. Fold in the pecans. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.
  3. Bake for 27 to 30 minutes or until done. Let the cake cool in the pans on a wire rack.
  4. To fill and frost the cake, place one layer on a cake stand. Squeeze and spread a layer of Bavarian cream about 1/4-inch thick onto the cake layer. Place the second layer on the Bavarian cream. Frost the cake.

Chocolate Zucchini Sheet Cake

This cake is made in a 10 x15-inch pan. It’s very good and made with Ramstadt Breda Rich Dark Cocoa which has three times the cocoa butter of the most popular store brand.

Get the cocoa. Read the reviews. It makes a world of difference.

Kelli’s Old-Fashioned Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Kelli Tracy, who used to work in our test kitchen, has been making this chocolate zucchini cake for years.  It’s a hand-me-down recipe and has been around for years.  She was generous enough to share this with us.  It is dense, almost like brownies. 

Click the link above for the recipe.

Chocolate Zucchini Sheet Cake from Scratch Chocolate Zucchini Sheet Cake from Scratch

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Ramstadt Breda dark cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
    1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk powder
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

  1. Grease a 10 x 15-inch baking pan or line with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
  3. In your stand-type mixer, cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and zucchini.
  4. Starting with the dry ingredients, mix in dry ingredients alternately with the water in two or three additions.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
  6. Bake until done, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Frost as desired.

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(Updated from September 1, 2015)

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