Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing.
Chocolate zucchini cake may be the only way I’ll eat something green for dessert.
Oh hi!!
I’m here with another sheet cake. This one has vegetables! Does that mean we can eat it for dinner? Maybe pretend it’s good for us?
Yes let’s try.
So! I’ve done wacky things with zucchini before. This whole wheat zucchini snack cake is excellent! It’s different from this in that it’s not quite as rich, though the topping could give this a run for its money.
A few years ago I did make chocolate fudge zucchini cupcakes with avocado fudge frosting. Those are deeeelish. Unbeatable!
This is kind of like that, but made in cake form.
And with, OF COURSE, cream cheese frosting. Yes, it’s the only frosting I deem worthy of eating at the moment. It’s just so darn good. You could also use mascarpone in its place. I’m making it with mascarpone on instagram stories today – go take a peek!
Can you believe I didn’t really care for zucchini bread (or anything like that) when I was a kid? In my defense, it wasn’t because of the vegetable – it was because of the nuts. Pretty much all zucchini breads I was served as a child had nuts in them. And I am a strict no-nuts in desserts type of person.
You know?
Okay, that has changed slightly. I mean, I just showed you a dessert with nuts on top. But still! You know what I mean. I don’t really want nuts in my classic cookies or brownies and certainly not my quick breads. No thank you.
Eventually I did come around. I was served theeeee absolute best slice of zucchini bread and it just flipped a switch. Now I love making all the things with zucchini, be it sweet or savory. Especially come August and September when gardens are overflowing. I personally don’t grow zucchini, but I’m lucky enough to be given a bunch to put to good use.
This is the perfect weekend cake! Make it today and snack on it for the next few days. It stays tender and moist from the zucchini, but we are also cake-in-the-fridge people so you can store it in there too.
Mix it up mostly in one bowl, bake and make your frosting, then cover with chocolate shavings or sprinkles or something to fancy it up.
Then grab a fork!
Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
chocolate cream cheese frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese (or mascarpone!), softened
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup chocolate shavings, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch baking sheet or dish with nonstick baking spray.
- Grate the zucchini, place it on a towel and sprinkle it with a pinch of salt. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes while you make the rest of the cake.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until combined and smooth. Fold in the zucchini.
- Spread the batter in the greased pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until set in the center. Let cool completely before frosting. If you’d like to remove the cake from the pan before frosting, let it cool for 30 minutes in the pan then gently invert.
chocolate cream cheese frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar and cocoa powder powder until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. Frost the cooled cake! I like to keep the cake in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting - plus we love cold cake.
Notes
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I appreciate you so much!
Look at the crumb!
32 Comments on “Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing.”
Can I please come for dessert? I’ll even bring a nice bottle of wine to accompany it – thanks for such a pretty cake recipe and I can only imagine how moist it is with the zucchini.
yes please! :)
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Love the idea, but I need healthier choices! Can I sub yogurt for oil?
you can try, but i didn’t test it that way so i’m not quite sure!
When I make my zucchini bread recipe I sometimes use unsweetened applesauce for the oil portion. It always turns out well – maybe give that a try to make it a bit healthier.
You could probably swap the olive oil for melted coconut oil – that would be a bit healthier
This looks amazing! What kind of chocolate did you use for the shavings?
just a lindt chocolate bar! i think it was the 70% dark!
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Wish you had included nutritional facts with the recipe. Sounds delicious.
Cream cheese frosting! I will eat a piece of tree bark if you spread any variant of cream cheese frosting on top. And this cake has a good amount of zucchini in there! Nicely done.
Hm… I made this and the batter is really thick. Is that right? just double checked I did the ingredients right. Mine was DONE at 30 minutes. And it doesn’t look like it will be very moist.
Yeah, it looks like cookie dough instead of cake batter! We’ll keep our fingers crossed
Can I make this in a glass pan? And would I be able to take it out of the glass pan to icing?
Looks yummy! Can I cut this recipe in half?
About how many medium size zucchini to equal 2 1/2 cups?
Cake looks wonderful and looks like it would be moist.
Thanks
Made today—delicious!
Sometimes you want simple no fuss meals and this was perfect. I’ve cooked through a lot of the cookbooks I own and wanted something simple, but tasty and this was perfect. Also, if anyone else is like me and cooked everything under the sun in quarantine and are looking for extra ideas, check out this newsletter (https://mixrecipes.digitalbunker.dev/) they’ll send out a new cuisine and recipe for you to try everyday👌 Anyways, will definitely make this again, very tasty and it definitely satisfies those midnight cravings :)
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This is hands-down the best chocolate cake we’ve ever had. (I added 1/2 cup of strong instant coffee.)
This is the best chocolate zucchini cake I have ever had! Super moist and so easy to make. Mine was done in 30 minutes. Thank you for the recipe. Will be making this again!
This cake looks amazing! I just love the way that you bring us straight to fall, with lovely looking desserts! A+ on all of your recipes!
Do you squeeze the liquid from the zucchini once it is grated?
Where did the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon go? Please tell us if you edited it out as it is not in the directions at all. I checked three times. I added it anyways to the batter (which was too thick to whisk)…
Step 3
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Loved this chocolate sheet cake. The topping is absolutely delicious and not too sweet. Thank you for the recipe Jessica.
This recipe turned out absolutely amazing! I followed it to a tee and this will be my go-to recipe from now on. Thank you!
I’m off to the store for some cream cheese and cocoa powder.
I’ve been making my aunts chocolate zucchini cake for over 40 years and I cannot resist this……I want chocolate!
This cake is amazing! This cake converts any zucchini hater <3. Thank you for another great recipe!