This easy and moist zucchini chocolate sheet cake is my favorite. You only need one bowl and no electric mixer. The grated zucchini will make the cake moist but you won’t taste it in the cake. It is the magic ingredient.
Easy sheet cakes are my favorite: no-fuss, one bowl, no electric mixer, and no decoration. They are also perfect to bring to potlucks, BBQs, or gatherings since they are easy to transport. Sounds good? It gets better: This cake is tender and has a rich, decadent chocolate flavor!
Which chocolate for this cake?
I use semi-sweet chocolate chips or block chocolate for baking, chopped, with about 55 % cocoa content, for both, the cake batter and the ganache. In addition, I add some cocoa powder to the cake batter to enhance the intense chocolate flavor.
How to prepare zucchini for cake?
With homegrown zucchini or organic ones, I don’t peel them. I wash them, trim the ends and cut them in half lengthwise. If there are many seeds, I remove them with a spoon before grating. This is often times the case with larger, homegrown varieties.
For regular zucchini bread, I coarsely grate zucchini. But for this chocolate cake, I do not want the zucchini to be noticeable in the cake, so I grate it finely, using the small holes of a box grater (at the long side of the grater).
I never remove any excess water from the zucchini – this is what makes the cake super moist. I only grate the zucchini right before I add it to the cake batter. This way, most of the liquid stays within the zucchini-shreds. You’ll need 200 grams grated zucchini, which is roughly 1 1/4 cups.
Enjoy!
This easy and moist zucchini chocolate cake only needs one bowl and no electric mixer. The grated zucchini will make the cake moist but you won’t taste it in the cake. This cake tastes great as is, with powdered sugar on top, or drizzled with chocolate ganache.
Recipe: Ursula | lilvienna.com
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons (200 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or baking chocolate with about 55% cocoa, chopped)
- 1 stick (114 g) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (20 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
- 1 medium zucchini (1 1/4 cups or 200 g finely grated), see tip
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- Optional: a pinch of cinnamon
- 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (150 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- --> the ganache will be enough for an 8x8-inch or a 9x13-inch pan
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter
- 1 scant cup (150 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or baking chocolate with about 55% cocoa, finely chopped)
- Or powdered sugar for dusting instead of chocolate ganache
Instructions
- Place the butter in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave until melted and hot. Add chocolate chips, heat for an additional 20 seconds, then let it sit for a few minutes to melt. Stir. If chocolate hasn’t melted fully, heat it again briefly and stir. Alternatively, use a small saucepan on the stovetop.
- Add the cocoa powder and sugar to the large bowl with the melted chocolate (no need to let it cool) and whisk using a hand whisk.
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F/190°C (or 350 °F/175 °C fan). Line a 8 by 8-inch (20x20 cm) baking pan with parchment paper. You can also use a 9 by 13-inch (23x33 cm) pan, but the cake will turn out not as tall.
- Grate zucchini (see note below), immediately add it to the bowl and stir to combine.
- Add eggs and salt. If you like, add a pinch of cinnamon. Whisk until combined.
- Add flour and baking powder and stir until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth it out with a spatula (I recommend to really do so) and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, for about 17 to 20 minutes (a few minutes less in a larger pan). Do not overbake since the cake will get dry. I always pull it out of the oven as soon as possible.
- I prefer serving the cake while still a bit warm, dusted with powdered sugar or as is. If you want to frost it with ganache, let the cake cool completely.
- Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is melted and hot.
- Reduce heat to low, add chocolate, and stir to gently soften the chocolate. The chocolate shouldn’t get too hot. Remove the saucepan from the heat if necessary.
- Pour ganache over the cake. The ganache will be thin and pourable when hot and thickens while cooling. It will fully set within 1 hour. Refrigerating speeds this up.
Notes
How to prepare zucchini for this cake?
With homegrown zucchini or organic ones, I don’t peel them. I wash them, trim the ends and cut them in half lengthwise. If there are many seeds, I remove them with a spoon before grating. This is often times the case with larger, homegrown varieties.
For this chocolate cake, I do not want the zucchini to be noticeable in the cake, so I grate it finely, using the small holes of a box grater (at the long side of the grater).
I never remove any excess water from the zucchini – this is what makes the cake super moist. I only grate the zucchini right before I add it to the cake batter. This way, most of the liquid stays within the zucchini-shreds. You’ll need 200 grams grated zucchini, which is roughly 1 1/4 cups.
I tried this pastry today and I must say it tastes delicious! Thank you for the lovely idea how to use the zucchini if there are too many on the garden. Greetings from Slovenia, Mojca
Hi Mojca,
Happy to hear that you like it! Yes, it is my preferred way to “hide” zucchini :) Ursula
Hi Ursula,
Greetings from Victoria, British Columbia in beautiful Canada.
This recipe is just delicious. So dense but creamy moiste. I took it for a dinner party dessert and it was a huge hit.
Thanks so much.
Linda Wittig
Hi Linda,
So happy to hear that it was a huge hit at the dinner party :) Thanks so much for making it and for your comment. I love this cake too, it’s super fudgy hehe. I hope you’ll make it again some time. Greetings from Vienna to Canada!
Ursula