While in Chicago, my family was not only cool enough to throw me a belated birthday party, but my sister even surprised me with a vegan chocolate and zucchini cake served with whipped soy cream and berries. Folks, this cake was incredible. We were all blown away. The combination of chocolate and berries was delicious, and the soy cream really rounded everything out.
She started with the recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini, then veganized it using some special kind of magic intuition I only wish I possessed. Luckily, she sent me the recipe. I hope I get a zucchini in tomorrow’s organic box so I can try making this for myself.
Vegan Chocolate and Zucchini Cake
For Cake:
2 cups Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup Unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1/2 cup Light brown sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Instant coffee powder
1.5 bananas (to replace 3 eggs)
4 Tablespoons Water
1/4 cup Soy Milk
2 cups Zucchini, grated
1 cup vegan dark chocolate chips
For Topping:
3 Tablespoons Light brown sugar
1/2 cup Slivered Almonds, chopped
- Preheat oven to 360F/180c for 15 minutes.
- Grease and flour a 9 inch cake pan. You can use cocoa instead of flour.
- In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour,cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Mash the bananas. Once mashed, add the water and mix together.
- In a medium bowl add oil, applesauce, sugars, vanilla extract and coffee powder. Using a hand mixer beat the mixture at a medium speed for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the banana liquid and mix. Now also add the milk and beat until well combined.
- Reserving half a cup of the flour mixture, add slowly the remaining flour to the wet ingredients, while beating it in at a low speed. Combine the grated zucchini, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of flour. Add this to the batter and mix it well. Note that the batter is thick at this stage. So don’t worry.
- Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and smooth it out using a spatula.
- Prepare the topping by mixing the brown sugar and almonds. Sprinkle this mixture evenly on the batter. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes.
Monica, I can’t stop thinking about this fabulous cake. Incredible flavor, and the bits of dark chocolate made this cake so very pleasing on the tongue. I almost hate that this cake has “Vegan” in its name, because that might put off non-Vegans. This is a cake for ALL to enjoy…. I might add that it’s very filling. A small piece packs big satisfaction.
I know what you mean – the cake really stands alone, “vegan” or not. I loved the bits of dark chocolate, too. It’s worth noting that Stephanie used bits of chopped up chocolate bar in place of vegan chocolate chips – YUM!
I love your recipes 😀
I soo wanna make this, we have tons of zucchini here, and I can’t stand them anymore 🙂
hey lovie, what a lovely recipe.
i have been wanted to make zucchini bread or a muffin etc for a bit now, i love zucchini or carrot bread or cake anything, so good! your cake looks delicious!
xo
Eliza
Just be aware, this cake doesn’t taste like zucchini at all. The zucchini is there to add moisture for the most part – and it does a great job at that! Let me know if you give it a try.
Oh, deliciousness! Can’t wait to try it out!
Yum!
I’m planning on making the vegan buckwheat crepe recipe that you posted tomorrow morning, for my first meal as a vegan. Excited.
Sagan, good luck with the crepes! I look forward to reading about your first day as a vegan. =D
This recipe is amazing!! I made it tonight and my husband and I are almost half of it! He’s not even a vegetarian or vegan. Love it!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked the cake! My sister will be thrilled.
I just bought some cocoa and chocolate chips to make another one. It’s too good.
FYI, I just made this cake again, using 150g of tofu instead of 1.5 bananas (for the egg substitute). It worked great! This is also very good with vegan mango ice cream. I’d like to try it with vanilla or some kind of berry flavored ice “cream”.
Looks delicious Monica, might have to try this to wean Mary off chocolate biscuits.
Doesn;t sound like too much sugar either so might just be OK for me a diabetic.
Brian – I can’t speak for the diabetic side of things. I mean, the cake still has a ton of sugar in it. But if you’re looking for a lower GI sweetener, you could replace the sugar with Agave (http://www.fitsugar.com/3031565“ rel=”nofollow”>GI of Agave is 15 while GI of white sugar is 65).
According to http://www.allaboutagave.com/substituting-agave-nectar-for-other-sugars.php“ rel=”nofollow”>this website, for each cup of white sugar replaced, use 2/3 of a cup of agave and reduce other liquids by 1/4 to 1/3 cup.
Thanks M – I will have to do a bit of research on where to buy the agave but yeah that sounds like the answer. Will let you know once I have given this cake a go.