Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe (2024)

My Gram's Chocolate Zucchini Cake is filled with flavor and love. It might just become a family recipe at your house too!

❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe

• The addition of zucchini makes this the best chocolate cake. It is such a moist cake!
• It is a delicious cake with rich chocolate flavor.
• This is the perfect way to use your garden zucchini which is sure to get rave reviews.

🧂 Ingredients

• salted butter
• vegetable oil
• white granulated sugar
• pure vanilla extract
• buttermilk
• all-purpose flour
• eggs
• baking soda AND baking powder
• salt
• natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• ground cinnamon
• zucchini, grated
• semi-sweet chocolate bits, if desired
• chopped walnuts, if desired

🔪Instructions

1. Grease and flour a 9x12 pan, then preheat oven to 325-degrees F.
2. Soften butter in the microwave.
3. Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl.
4. Grate the zucchini into a medium bowl. For best results, I suggest draining off any excess moisture from the zucchini using a colander.
5. Crack and gently whisk eggs into a separate bowl. Do not beat.
6. Add the softened butter, eggs and the rest of the wet ingredients (except for the chocolate chips and walnuts if you are using them) to the dry ingredients.
7. Pour cake batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle chocolate chips and walnuts on top if you want.
8. Bake 45 minutes until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
9. Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Equipment

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• 9x12 OR 9x13 Baking Pan
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Whisk
• Box Grater
• Measuring Spoons
• Liquid Measuring Cup

⭐ Tips

Here are some tips my grandmother gave me for making this cake:

• If you're a little light on the zucchini, grate up some carrot to get to the full 2 cups.
• You can grease the pan with butter, shortening or coconut oil. Be sure to also flour the pan. too.
• For best results, I suggest draining off any excess moisture from the zucchini using a colander.
• 'Always remember to use pure vanilla, it makes a difference!' Gram never skimped on quality ingredients!
• If you don't have buttermilk, you can make a quick substitute... just add ½ teaspoon of lemon juice to the milk and let it stand five minutes before adding it to your cake mixture.

⏲️ Storage

This cake will keep at room temperature for about 1 week in an airtight container. (These are my favorite airtight containers.) However, if it is very hot or humid, I suggest storing it in the refrigerator.

📖 Variations

• You can substitute half of the zucchini with a grated carrot or apple.
• For a slightly healthier cake - that's an oxymoron right?? - substitute half of the vegetable oil for a fruit puree like banana, pumpkin or applesauce.
• For the topping, use any combination you like of dark, semi-sweet or even white chocolate chips.
• You can add ½ cup of your favorite chopped nuts to the batter if you like.
• This cake can also be made in a bundt pan if you like. It looks beautiful dusted with powdered sugar. You can also make it in two round cake pans. Obviously, the time will change a bit for different-sized pans.

More Zucchini Recipes

If you have tons of zucchini in your garden (or just really love it!) try one of these other great zucchini recipes next time:

• Chocolate Zucchini Bread
• Lemon Zucchini Bread
• Easy Zucchini Hush Puppies

See more Zucchini →

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