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My chocolate zucchini cake is super moist, fudgy, and has a tender crumb. Packed with rich chocolate flavor, it uses wholesome and simple ingredients and bakes in under 40 minutes.
It’s no secret I love to add zucchini to my desserts, but none are as impressive as my chocolate zucchini cake recipe. It looks like any good cake out there, but it packs in some sneaky ingredients that make it almost healthy enough for breakfast!
The cake is moist and rich and layered with a creamy chocolate frosting. It’s one of the easiest cakes to make and needs very little prep. Don’t fret, though- you won’t taste any zucchini whatsoever!
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- Hidden nutrients! Adding zucchini to a chocolate cake is a sneaky way to hide some greens, adding extra moisture to the cake (and fiber, too!).
- No zucchini taste. Seriously, and you won’t be able to see it, either!
- Perfect texture. The texture is super moist, with a tender crumb.
- No eggs, butter, or oil. This uses pantry staples, so you have no excuses not to make it.
Want more zucchini dessert recipes? Try my healthy zucchini muffins, healthy zucchini bread, and zucchini brownies next.
★★★★★ REVIEW
“Wonderful cake, I have made it for many parties, and everyone wants the recipe. They loved it. It’s easy to make, and I can switch up the frosting too.” – Ali
Key Ingredients
- Milk and vinegar. Mixed and set for 5 minutes to create a mock buttermilk. I used unsweetened almond milk, but any milk works.
- Oat flour. A wheat-free alternative to traditional white or wheat flour. Skip the store-bought and packaged options and make my homemade oat flour.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder. Dutch processed cocoa powder. For a richer flavor, you can use dark cocoa powder.
- Arrowroot powder. Holds the cake together and helps achieve a moist crumb.
- Baking powder and soda. Both leavening agents are used to give the cake structure and stability.
- Unsweetened applesauce. Helps keep the cake moist while adding minimal calories and fat.
- Coconut sugar or light brown sugar works. Avoid using white sugar or unrefined sugar, as these can affect the moistness of the cake.
- Shredded zucchini. With most of the moisture removed. You don’t need to peel it beforehand.
- Salt. A pinch of salt to balance out the sweet ingredients.
- Vanilla extract. A must for any good cake recipe.
- Chocolate frosting. Not optional! I used my famous 2-ingredient dairy free frosting but any frosting works. I’ve had success with my healthy frosting, too.
How to make chocolate zucchini cake
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Step 1. Mix. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl until combined.
Step 2- Make batter. Whisk the buttermilk, applesauce, and sugar. Add the dry and mix until just combined. Fold in the zucchini.
Step 3- Bake. Pour the batter into the two cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out mostly clean.
Step 4- Frost. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting, slicing, and serving.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Do not overbake the cake, as it will continue to bake as it cools. Unlike a traditional chocolate cake, you must be careful, as oat flour can dry out goods easily.
- Squeeze out some of the moisture from the zucchini, but not all of it. Some of the moisture helps keep the cake moist and soft. I like to let them sit on a paper towel.
- Brown sugar or coconut sugar is necessary to balance out the other ingredients. If you want to use a sugar-free substitute, you’ll need to add fat to it.
- Intensify the chocolate flavor by adding some chocolate chips throughout.
Storage instructions
- To store: Store at room temperature, covered, for up to three days. If you’d like the cake to keep longer, Place slices of the cake in a sealable container and store it in the fridge.
- To freeze: Place the baked, cooled, and frosted cake in an airtight container and store it in the freezer.
More chocolate cakes to try
- Keto chocolate cake
- Almond flour chocolate cake
- Flourless chocolate cake
- Death by chocolate cake
- Healthy chocolate cake
If you tried this Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipe or any other recipe on The Big Man’s World, please rate the recipe and let me know how it went in the comments below. It really helps others thinking of making the recipe.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk any milk works
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 3 cups oat flour
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup zucchini shredded
- 1 cup chocolate frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans and set aside.
- Add the milk and vinegar in a bowl and whisk together. Let it sit to curdle.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the oat flour, cocoa powder, arrowroot powder, baking powder, and baking soda and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk mix, brown sugar, and applesauce. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until combined. Fold through the zucchini.
- Distribute the batter amongst the two cake pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer come out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool completely. Once cool, frost them, layer them then slice and serve.
Notes
- For a richer cake, swap out half the applesauce with olive oil, butter, or vegetable oil.
- Swap out the oat flour for either all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour.
- For a low carb cake, replace the oat flour with blanched almond flour, use allulose as the sweetener, and swap out the applesauce for full-fat yogurt.
- Swap out the applesauce for either plain yogurt or sour cream.
- Gluten Free– Use gluten-free oat flour.
- Make a bundt cake by baking the batter in a bundt pan.
Hi I was wondering if they would make good cupcakes? How long would you cook them?
Thank you!
I haven’t tried but you are welcome to experiment and see
I made this cake for my birthday and it was spectacular- like a bakery cake. I’ll definitely be making this again! I used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Made ganache frosting . Wish I could post a picture.🥰
Great! All of my 9 guests (3 needed gluten free) gave this rave reviews. Thank you!
Can I add a lot more zucchini? Would it sub for the applesauce? Or should anything come out when adding it in? I’m just trying to use a bunch of zucchini at once.
I don’t see why not but I’d probably omit some of the applesauce.
I absolutely LOVEEEE your recipes! Thanks for sharing with us all 🙏🏻☺️. Really , so grateful 😇
What can u substitute the arrowroot flower with?
Try cornstarch
why do you advertise this as vegan when obviously it’s not, having 3 eggs?
Because it is very clearly written in the body of the post. The vegan option. (and also clearly stated in the recipe card).
Thousands of my vegan followers have made this cake, enjoy.
Hey just pointing out that these are not vegan as mentioned – eggs?
Feel free to read the body of the post that has the clearly written out vegan version 🙂
The recipe is called “ Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Cake (Keto AND vegan!)”, how can it be vegan if there are 3 large eggs on the list of ingredients?
Check out the body of the post, vegan option written out there
I’m just getting back to the gluten/sugar free (keto) way of eating, and must admit, it was a shock to the taste buds! LOL I have a plethora of zucchini and figured this was the best way to get my feet wet – knowing it should be moist and/or dense due to coconut flour. IMO, coconut flour baked goods are always best from the 2nd day forward. The item needs time for all those liquids and flavors to kind of come together. Plus, as time goes on, it also becomes more dense! But back to the recipe. (next morning after baking) It’s very chocolatey (in a very good way), not as sweet as you might think it would be and actually came out perfect! I only made 1 layer and cut into squares. Mainly because I only have 1 6″ cake pan. It did not have a lot of “rise” to it, but, again, it’s also dense and not expecting “rise” with coconut flour. I will definitely make it again and do layers for a cake. Back to my taste bud shock. Even though I’ve tried to limit my sugar intake during my drunken fall of the wagon over the last few years, I’ve still gotten more used to it than I had hoped. This is not sweet like the crappy sugar/flour cakes you are sued to. But, this too shall pass and the lower sweet expectations will become my normal again. Very moist though – and that’s a huge win. Not easy to accomplish moist in GFSF recipes. I’ll be back for more recipes. Thank you for all your hard work in developing these recipes!
Amazingly yummy!
I made these as zucchini lemon nut muffins. I substituted rice flour for the cocoa powder. Cut the sweetener in half and added a teaspoon of lemon extract and some chopped pecans. Baked for 20 min in a muffin tin. They are delicious
I made these a muffins. Made 9 nice size ones. Baked for 25 min. Delicious
Can I use regular granulated sugar? Is it the same amount as listed for the monk fruit sweetener?
Do you think coconut sugar would work as the sweetener? Can’t wait to try this!
of course 🙂