This “rich” cake is so moist, it does not even need frosting! …and the secret ingredient is…Zucchini…lots of it! Even I cannot believe how much I snuck in there! I can frankly say “snuck” because you wouldn’t know they were there. The grated zucchini just “melt” inside the cake batter when baked and the result is pure rich moistness! These also make wonderful little cupcakes for a birthday party (I also have a vegan version of this recipe here). Kids have no idea they are eating their vegetables!!
Dark Chocolate Cake
Cuisinicity Tip: for a gluten-free version that is amazingly just as moist and dense, I replace the whole wheat pastry flour with the same amount of Bob’s Mill gluten-free all purpose flour + 1 tsp of xanthem gum powder, and make sure to use gluten-free baking powder.
Author: Catherine Katz
Serves: 12 slices
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 large eggs (omega-3)
- 1 cup organic expeller pressed canola oil
- 1¼ cups white sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 3 medium zucchini)
Instructions
- Grease (I use a little smart balance) and flour a bundt cake pan
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Sift flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon together in a bowl and put aside.
- Beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl of an electric mixer.
- Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well (it will be thick and that’s OK!)
- Add the grated zucchini (with their juice”) to the bowl abd beat again until well combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before unmolding.
Just made it and loved it (also got praise from my husband for it). You could still see some little green spots from the zucchini in there if you looked closely but no one asked me about it. Looking forward to having the leftovers for breakfast (a bit decadent to have cake for breakfast but given the low amount of sugar in it it’s probably better than a lot of breakfast options that are marketed as healthy).
Hi, it must be a very tasty cake, but it shouldn’t be labelled “healthy” due to sugar and wheat. Apart from gut permeability caused by these ingredients, and it’s consequences, this cake is high glycemic load and people should be advised accordingly. It especially shouldn’t be recommended for kids.
Hi Voja, it is indeed delicious and it is indeed a dessert where some sugar–and of course as in all my dessert recipes considerably less than any standard dark chocolate cake, can be expected. I have written about this before:
https://cuisinicity.com/put-sugar-in-its-place-2/
I have many other non-chocolate dessert recipes that have none. As for the wheat comment, I beg to differ!
https://cuisinicity.com/wholesomeness-grains/
Hi Catherine, I just found your website and I am in loooove! Thanks for all those wonderful recipes that are but don’t necessarily taste ‘healthy’! Quick question, Is the canola use you mention very much superior to Coconut oil? Do you think i can replace on a 1:1 ratio?
thanks,
AWWWW Monica, what an absolutely lovely thing to say!!! Yes, the organic cold pressed canola oil (with omega 3) I recommend is vastly superior nutritionally to coconut oil. I have a post devoted to that here:
https://cuisinicity.com/verdict-canola-oil/
I can’t really answer your question knowledgeably about replacing one for the other 1:1 because I rarely, if ever, use coconut oil, but I think you can safely assume that and start testing that ratio. 🙂 I hope that’s helpful to you!
This is a winner! I used unsweetened dark cocoa powder, but otherwise followed your recipe exactly. We ate it a bit warm with fresh raspberries and wow is it ever good! I am pleased to report that this cake production is also featured in my first ever Snapchat Story! (My son is proud of me for that haha.)
Using MyFitnessPal, I loaded the recipe ingredients (with title “Dark Chocolate Cake (Cuisinicity)” and the app says one slice has 416 calories: 25.1 g Fat (58.5 mg cholesterol), 48.1 g Carbs (25 g Sugar), 5.8 g Protein, 5.2 g Fiber, 178.6 mg Sodium, 22.1% RDA Iron, 9.7% RDA Calcium.
This is a treat I am happy to account for! (And now I’m going for a walk ?)
❤️, Teresa
THANK YOU Teresa!! What lovely feedback! (I also use unsweetened dark cocoa powder, so I am not sure what you meant there) but I am just absolutely delighted that it was a hit! (WOW snapchat story and all!!! BRAVO!).
I actually remade the cake again just to check how many slices it served and it’s actually more like 12 nice slices so I think the nutritional analysis is probably inflated a bit, because I had called it for 10 slices originally. Still this is just fantastic!! 🙂
Just put this in the oven!! Dessert for the picnic tonight!
YAY Greg!! Let me know how it went! Also what appetizer did you end up making?
I would use stevia instead of sugar, coconut oil instead of canola and almond meal instead of flour. I am diabetic and have not had any wheat, gluten products in my house since 2011. Sugar and wheat spike my blood sugar, also coconut appears to lower my blood sugar.
What other vegetable can be used in place of Zucchini. I am a cake lover who wants to be healthy and Zucchini is so rare in my part of the world?
Hi Star, I suppose you could use bananas but then it would change the flavor very much. I have many other cake recipes on Cuisinicity that do not have zucchini that you may also enjoy. What part of the world are you from?
Would carrots work?
Hi Linda, nice suggestion that could also work but I am not sure because carrots are not as moist as zucchini, but definitely worth a try! 🙂
Hi Nancy!
Nice suggestion and the answer is, not for this particular cake as I have done that on numerous occasion for other cakes, muffins and cookies and my conclusion has been that they often end up tasting too obviously “healthy” if you know what I mean! Cuisinicity is about finding just the right balance between the nutrition and the culinary side so that that the nutrition is the best it can be while not hindering the texture or taste of the final product. Having said that, I would love to find out how you like it if you do replace the oil with applesauce, and I may suggest it for those who are really trying to lower the calories and fat altogether.
Re: dark chocolate cake – have you ever tried replacing some of the canola oil with homemade applesauce??
My son requested a chocolate cake for his birthday this week. I can’t wait to make this for him! I’m always tweaking recipes to make them healthy. Thank you!
That’s wonderful! I love love love that cake! perfect for a birthday!
Thank you Greg! I love Delish!! It’s the best compliment I could ask for!
This recipe is delish!
I suggest everyone try it out – wonderful and healthy!
I really want to make this – probably this week – just wondering if there is a certain type/brand of canola oil you recommend? Thanks. Greg
Wonderful! I hope you love it! Any type/brand of canola oil will do! Do let me know how it goes!
Oh OK, I have read where sometimes organic or expeller-pressed is recommended – just pulled the zucc last night!
Organic or expeller-pressed is indeed better, certainly for the environment, and that’s of course important but I also want my recipes to be accessible to all and not have that be a hindrance to some, which is why I didn’t specify. In this case, for example, I prefer regular canola oil over organic butter even, because of its nutritional profile. So, if you are able to use organic or expeller-pressed canola oil in this cake, great! Go for it!
Thanks- the accessibility is just is just one of the things I like about your site! The public is bombarded with what to eat/how to eat/and there is a different food group every other week that will cause disease – wheat and sugar being the two current attractions – makes it all complicated. Your recipes/website and your husband’s recent book are excellent guides – leading us out of the web of nutritional confusion – thanks again!