WE’VE BEEN MAKING THIS HEALTHY CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE (and chocolate zucchini muffins) every week.
Each time I pluck a couple of zucchini from our garden, they’re shredded and bound for batter. The recipe is easy, delicious and packed with veggies, which is more than you can say for most cakes, right?
It’s a riff on the double chocolate zucchini cupcakes in Mom’s Kitchen Handbook, which are obviously wonderful. It’s hard to go wrong with “double chocolate” anything and these beauties are no exception. But I wanted to make something that work world as muffins for breakfast (healthy) and snacks and a straight-up cake (decadent). This is it.
PrintHealthy Chocolate Zucchini Cake
This recipe works for muffins (makes 18), a 13×9 pan (which is what I used here) or a 9×9 pan. See cooking times below.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare pan with butter, cupcake liners (if using muffin pan) or spray oil.
- Put shredded zucchini into a large section of paper towel and squeeze over the sink to release excess water. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add yogurt, oil, sugar and vanilla then beat again. Then add dry ingredients plus zucchini. Mix until just combined. Pour into pan.
- EDITED: Cooking times: cake: 9×9 = 30-35 minutes, cake: 13×9 = 40-45 minutes mini-cupcakes/muffins: 10 minutes, regular cupcakes/muffins = 12 minutes. *Use a toothpick in center to test doneness, which will vary according to ovens and exact amount of zucchini you put in.
Yum! Thank for sharing.
You’re welcome, Megan! Hope they turn into a favorite in your house too. I’m making another big batch this weekend.
My husband and I love the cake so much that I am making another one right now! I am impressed at the low sugar content. We top the cake with dark chocolate chips.
Awesome, Megan! I did pretty much the same thing the first time I made it, went back and made it again and again! So glad it’s a hit.
Sounds delicious! And I love that they use whole wheat flour–we’ll definitely be adding these to our line-up!
Hi your cake looks great—I would like to make it soon and was wondering, is it necessary to squeeze the water out of the zucchini. I have read other recipes where it says not to do that because the water does add moistness to the cake.
Thank you!
Hi Anna! Yes, for this recipe it’s best to squeeze it out. There’s quite a bit of zucchini here (some recipes only use about half as much) and it’ll just be too much moisture. The cake will never bake in the center before the outsides are too crispy. It’s worth it though. Delicious!
Can I use a bundt pan? If yes, what would the cooling time be approximately?
Hi, any way to replace the yogurt? can i leave it out? just dont have any at the moment.
thanks
x
Possibly sour cream. Or buttermilk (and to make buttermilk you can add freshly squeezed lemon juice to regular milk and let sit for a few minutes.). If you give either a try, do let us know how it goes!
I have tried kefir and almond milk. When I didn’t have plain yogurt and both turned out great.
Can you use plain greek yogurt?
Absolutely!
Thumbs up even from the skeptical ones in the family. First time, I used plain yogurt and it had more tang than I’d like. Second time, I used up some “lite” vanilla yogurt (which we bought by accident and hate) and it was great. I believe the cooking times are a little long and would recommend starting to check the center at about 2/3 of the recommended times.
nice and light.
I used a 9×13 and only baked 30 minutes so I think your times are off.
It raised good but I would use 9×9 next time
Nutriition information
This came out GREAT! I used honey & maple syrup instead of refined sugar, whole wheat einkorn flour, and almost 2 packed cups of very finely shredded & totally squeezed out of all liquid zucchini. I only needed to bake it for 20mins in my 9×13 pan, & it came out so chocolatey yummy, lightly sweet, w/a great fine crumb. Nobody would guess it’s packed w/veggies & whole wheat flour!
How much honey and maple syrup?
Typically you can use about a 1 to 1 ratio of honey or maple syrup in place of sugar UNTIL you get to a cup. Then bring it back a bit, about 3/4 cup of honey/syrup to 1 cup sugar. That’s because honey and syrup are actually sweeter than white sugar. Also, add a few minutes’ cooking time because of the extra liquid. Good luck!
I made this recipe with almost twice as much zucchini as it called for and I did NOT squeeze out the extra and it turned out great! My zucchini was fresh from my garden. I also cut back on sugar and used a ripe banana. It fully baked in the recommended 40 min. Delicious recipe, thanks!
Sorry, this is supposed to say I did NOT squeeze out the extra liquid from the zucchini and it still turned out great!
One of the best zucchini cake recipes I’ve found. I made it gluten free using 1 cup gf all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup ground oatmeal. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly. Came out soft and fluffy and so delicious.
What is the nutritional information on this recipe
I made this cake almost exactly as stated, (used white whole wheat flour) in 9 by 9 inch pan which was baked by 35 minutes. The batter was very thick when I mixed it . While it is chocolatey, the cake is very dry. I did squeeze out a lot of the water from the zucchini, I thought as described. Not sure what would happen if I left some in . I made the granache frosting which turned not sweet enough so I added some confectioner’s sugar, but it is still quite on the bitter side. I’m just not sure what this is supposed to taste like, and if I could have done something differently to improve both the cake and the frosting.
I’ve been making this recipe for about 8 years now for my kids and they enjoy it. I switch things up a bit sometimes, replacing the oil for coconut oil if that’s what I have one hand, switching out some of the flour for rye or spelt or white. Always seems to turn out! Great for school lunches.
We LOVED It!
Thanks a lot for sharing!