Last month I saw a cake on my blogging buddy Em’s site. This cake caught my eye not only because of its amazingly moist and rich appearance, but also because it contained zucchini. I have never made a dessert that contained zucchini besides the typical zucchini bread, so I decided to make it that weekend.
When I started to assemble my ingredients, I realized I was completely out of Dutch-Process Cocoa. What to do…what to do? I contacted Em and she directed me to the King Arthur Flour site to ask them the question directly. They have a live help chat which is exactly what I did and had my answer in about one minute!
Here is the deal on the conversion: For every 3 TBS of natural cocoa you need to add an additional 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda… pretty simple, right? Math is not a strong area of mine, so this definitely took me a hot minute to figure out, but no worries, because I have included the conversion below for this recipe!
This cake was far beyond my expectations and once it chilled in the fridge overnight, it became one of the moistest and most decadent chocolate cakes to ever cross my lips! I followed Em’s recommendation for the ganache which pushed this cake into the realm of pure bliss! If you have a bunch of zucchini in your garden, make this recipe and if you don’t, run to the market to grab some!!!
Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
adapted from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups (12 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream or yogurt
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounce) Dutch-Process Cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder, optional but tasty (I left this out)
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10″ zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips
**NOTE/CONVERSION: If you are using regular natural cocoa powder, add and additional 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda!
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs. Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing till smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, till the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set. Cool on a rack.
Yield: 24 servings.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
6 ounces of heavy cream
9 ounces of chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
Directions
To prepare the frosting, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Wait 3-5 minutes then stir to combine. It may take a few minutes of stirring for the ganache to come together… but it will 
It will thicken as it cools… when warm (but not hot) pour over cake and smooth with offset spatula. Allow frosting to set for about 30 minutes before serving.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, that looks rich! Great way to get your veggies, right?
That looks incrediby delicious and rich and chocolately. YUMMY!!!
This looks amazing!
I need to try this again!
I just got done picking about 20 lbs. of zuchinni from my garden this afternoon- I'll definitely give this recipe a try!
Looks great, I also recently blogged about a chocolate chip zucchini bread recipe that the kids go gaga over and never know it has veggies. I serve it as a breakfast treat!!
http://stayingclosetohome.blogspot.com/2009/07/zucchini-from-mars.html
I'm so pleased that so many food bloggers have made this after I posted it a few weeks ago. I'm even MORE pleased that it's worked out so well.
Glad you liked it – and glad you utilized the KAF Baker's Hotline. I tell ya, those folks are THE BEST!
Your cake looks just perfect
I made this recently too and it is very yum! Thanks for letting me know about the KAF live chat. Too cool!
That looks so luscious!
That has to be the most incredible piece of cake Ive seen with zucchini! YUM!!
I can totally see why this cake is so captivating.
That is one decadent looking cake!
~ingrid
I made this, too, after finding Em's cake and it really was an amazing chocolate cake. I thought it was great the next day, too, AND the ganache–awesome!
http://kevnkoi.blogspot.com/2009/08/zucchini-chocolate-cake-and-awesome.html
By the way, I forgot to say, YOUR cake looks fabulous as well! Love the photo!
I have never baked with zucchini before but this sounds (and looks) intriguing. Thanks so much for sharing.
Glad we were able to support you in adapting this recipe. Check in anytime. Frank @ KAF, baker/blogger.
Awesome pictures of a fantastically enticing cake!
O Yes, I have died and gone to food heaven.
thank you so much
linda
This is one awesome cake.I usually hide the fact that the cake has zucchini within from my kids. This they would gobble up even if I yelled 'IT'S GOT ZUCCHINI INSIDE'! It's gorgeous & so are your pictures!
Looks sinfully delicious!
That looks soooooo super chocolatey and sinful!
Guess what I am eating at this very moment? Oh yeah- that cake. I need to buy more zucchini and freeze a few cakes. Goodness!
Zucchini does really add a fabulous moistness to cake. This is one gorgeous cake! And that frosting! Wow! I so want a slice of this. Just stunning!
I made this cake recently too and oh man, was it ever delicious! I never would have known there was zucchini in it. Yours looks perfect!
FABULOUS and I did a couple things differently….
I used coconut oil for the vegetable oil and instead of zucchini I used grated and drained APPLE. It was great!
I also make this from KA flour. Like Joan I use coconut oil instead of veggie and I only had half stick of butter so I added extra yogurt, it was fine. I also use 2 packed heaping cups of zucchini- it’s soooo moist and wonderful. I made it 3 times this summer. We have a thing for cream cheese frosting so I did that, then I did a yogurt (using Fage) frosting that was great.
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