A Delicious Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe Awaits!
If you are looking for a slightly different take on your usual chocolate cake – add in some shredded zucchini! Chocolate zucchini cake is a big favorite in our house.
This super moist cake – because of the zucchini – is perfectly chocolaty and goes great with a chocolate glaze icing, a cream cheese-based icing, or even just a simple dusting of powdered sugar.
This is another recipe (like many on this side) that we have a deeper connection to. This recipe is a modified version of the chocolate zucchini cake Lisa’s grandma used to make for her growing up.
It was her favorite, and her Grandma would make it especially for her on her birthday! Years later, Lisa still loves it – and Eric is a huge fan it it now, too!
Overall, this cake is relatively simple to make and not all that different from other traditional cakes you’d bake up. If you’re looking for other easy to make cakes, have a look at our German apple cake, easy lemon cake, or our classic marble cake.
The obvious addition to this recipe is zucchini, which is a fairly versatile ingredient used in baking. Similar to apple sauce (because of the water content), it can be a great way to ensure that what you bake turns out moist.
Half the time, you don’t even taste the actual zucchini because it has such a mellow flavor to begin with.
We also like this cake because it keeps well and allows us to enjoy it for days after baking. Just put it in a container or wrapped it in tin foil and store it in a cool and dry place.
If you don’t have a place like that you could keep it in the fridge – but you have to keep an eye on it because if your fridge has too much moisture, the cake can get soggy.
We don’t usually have much left after about 2 days but it’s just something to keep in mind for storage. We hope you enjoy this awesome chocolate zucchini cake!
Related Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe for zucchini cake, here are some more great cake recipes that you may want to try out!
- Mohnkuchen (Poppy Seed Cake)
- German Strawberry Cake
- Vanilla Pudding Cake (From Scratch)
- German Butter Cake (Butterkuchen)
Moist Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
The Cake
- 1 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
- 4 medium-sized eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup oil
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- a pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup milk
The Glaze (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar, approximately
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 6 tablespoons whipping cream, approximately 35% fat
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Grease (butter or oil) and flour your baking pan or line it with parchment paper.
- Separate the eggs – put the egg whites into a medium-sized mixing bowl and the egg yolks into a larger mixing bowl.
- Beat the egg whites with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes until they are stiff. You can test this by turning off your mixer and slowly raising your beaters. If the egg whites create little "mountains" where you raised your beaters, it is stiff enough. Set the egg whites aside.
- In a different bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract, and oil with your hand mixer until you have a smooth batter.
- In a third bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir the ingredients together before slowly adding them to the egg yolk mixture in small increments interchangeably with the milk. During this time, you should be using your electric mixer on the lowest setting so the flour doesn’t make a mess. Keep beating the mixture until the batter is smooth. It will be quite thick.
- Once your batter is mixed well, set your hand mixer aside and stir in the shredded zucchini with a spatula or a spoon. Afterward, slowly and carefully fold in the egg whites.
- Pour the batter into your baking pan and smooth it out with a spatula. Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for approx. 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Since every oven is different, your baking time may vary.
- When your cake is done baking, take it out of the oven and let it cool.
- Optional: In the meantime prepare the glaze by mixing powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and whipping cream together. You shouldn’t add all of the ingredients at once. Instead, go in increments until you have reached the desired sweetness and amount. Your glaze should have a pretty thick consistency.
- Once the cake has cooled sufficiently, remove it from the baking pan. Carefully pour the glaze over the cake and quickly spread it out with a spatula. Let the glaze harden before serving. Alternatively to this glaze, you can also serve the cake with powdered sugar or with a chocolate ganache using actual chocolate.
Notes
- We used a 13.5 x 9.5-inch baking pan. If your pan has very different dimensions, you will have to adjust the recipe accordingly.
- If you want the zucchini to be less noticeable in the cake, then you can always peel it before you shred it.
- It’s important that you are gentle when folding the egg whites into the batter as this is what makes the cake fluffy. If you are too harsh with the folding, the egg whites may deflate and the cake will be more dense.
Nutrition
This nutritional information has been estimated by an online nutrition calculator. It should only be seen as a rough calculation and not a replacement for professional dietary advice.
