Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake – Fudgy and Moist!

Vegan chocolate zucchini cake is the new carrot cake!

If you haven’t heard of it yet, don’t worry, you have now, and it’s the new thing! And if it sounds weird don’t worry about that either. I’m sure once upon a time people thought carrots in a cake was weird and now everyone does it!

Zucchini in a cake will soon be exactly the same. Excuse me if it is already (maybe it’s me that’s a bit behind – always a possibility!).

Shredded zucchini adds heaps of delicious flavorless moisture to your cake, so you get moisture and texture but it doesn’t add flavor, which is good because we don’t really want our deliciously rich chocolate cake tasting like green vegetables.

On the other hand we get to count a slice of vegan chocolate cake as a serving of green vegetables (or do we? – of course we do!).

This cake is ultra rich, fudgy and delectably chocolatey! It is not light and fluffy and spongey though! If you want a spongey chocolate cake then you definitely want our easy vegan chocolate cake which is totally divine by the way!

But this chocolate zucchini cake is almost similar to a brownie cake in its fudginess. It’s not overly dense, don’t get me wrong, the texture is perfect. But the addition of the zucchini adds a density to it that is definitely more brownie cake than sponge cake.

If you think of the texture of a carrot cake, then you’re getting close. But while a carrot cake keeps the carrot flavor in there along with the texture of the grated carrot, once the zucchini cooks into the chocolate zucchini cake, it’s gone, it’s undetectable, like it was never there.

Except that now you have a super rich, ultra moist, fudgy chocolate cake on your hands that you can’t wait to show off!

And what pairs better with a fudgy vegan chocolate zucchini cake than a chocolate fudge frosting? So that’s exactly what we did here!

A super thick, chocolate fudge frosting and lots of chocolate sprinkles and chocolate chips to throw around on top!

This cake is a little more breakable than a regular sponge cake, you have to handle with care and let the cakes cool a bit before removing them from their cake pans.

You’ll also notice that the cakes don’t rise in a dome shape, they rise very nicely, but there’s no dome on top, it’s a flat shape on top, which is kinda nice for frosting and created a different look than what I’m used to! But yeah there’s no dome, which I usually DO get with my cakes – I couldn’t tell you why that is!

I used a little espresso powder in this recipe, just to add a tiny kick to this recipe and just to enhance those chocolate flavors a little, but this could be omitted or subbed for instant coffee powder if you prefer.

Another rather unusual ingredient that I used was vegan mayonnaise! I had actually been looking around at some recipes online and seeing a few cakes that had used sour cream or greek yogurt in the cake batter, and I just happened to have some freshly made homemade vegan mayo on hand. And I used a 1/3 cup of this. Well – wouldn’t you know – amazing results! You don’t need to make your own mayonnaise, (but you can if you like!) any store-bought brand will do!

But I mean, it does make sense, mayonnaise is mostly oil that’s been emulsified so it’s just added moisture in a different (creamier) way! So bring it on.

I really hope you will love this vegan chocolate zucchini cake! It is:

• Ultra moist
• Fudgy
• Rich
• Decadent
• Bold
• Luxurious

Keep the cake covered at room temperature where it will stay perfectly fresh for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to 5 days.

So let us know what you think of this vegan chocolate zucchini cake? Going to give it a try? Let us know in the comments and rate the recipe too please. Thanks so much.

For more gorgeous cakes, check out these recipes:

1. Vegan Vanilla Cake
2. Vegan Coffee Cake
3. Vegan Carrot Cake
4. Vegan Pumpkin Cake
5. Vegan Banana Cake
6. Vanilla Sheet Cake

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Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake

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★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

• Author: Loving It Vegan
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 50 minutes
• Yield: 10-12
• Category: Dessert, Cake, Baking
• Cuisine: Vegan

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Description

Ultra rich, fudgy and decadent vegan chocolate zucchini cake with a chocolate fudge frosting. This bold and luxurious vegan chocolate cake is so good you’ll hardly believe shredded zucchini sneaked into the batter but the result is a chocolate cake of your dreams!

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Ingredients

For the Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake:

• 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 cups (65g) Cocoa Powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Espresso Powder*
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 2 cups (280g) Shredded Zucchini
• 1/3 cup (80ml) Vegan Mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 cup (120ml) Vegetable Oil (I used Olive Oil)
• 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
• 1 Flax Egg

For the Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

• 4 cups (480g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
• 3/4 cup (65g) Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 cup (112g) Vegan Butter
• 5 Tbsp Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

For Decoration:

• Vegan Chocolate Chips
• Vegan Chocolate Sprinkles

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. Spray two 8 inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper and set aside.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder and salt and mix together.
4. Rinse the zucchinis (about 3 medium or 5 small) and shred them, the easiest way would be in a food processor, and add the correct amount to the mixing bowl.
5. Add in the vegan mayonnaise, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and vinegar.
6. Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal with 3 Tbsp hot water from the kettle and allowing to sit for a minute until it gets gloopy. Add in to the mixing bowl.
7. Mix your batter until well combined. It will be very thick. Have patience because the moisture from the shredded zucchinis will gradually seep through the batter creating enough moisture to mix everything together, it will be very thick, but you’ll be able to mix it all in.
8. Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans and spread it out evenly to the edges with a spatula or the back of a spoon.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.
10. Allow your cakes to cool in the cake pans for at least 10 minutes before you remove them from the pans as they will be slightly fragile.
11. Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
12. Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vegan butter, soy milk and vanilla extract to the bowl of an electric mixer and starting at slow speed gradually increase speed until it’s thick and smooth. This is a thick fudgy frosting. If it’s too thick though add a tiny bit more non-dairy milk until you reach a spreadable consistency.
13. Frost the cakes and decorate with vegan chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Notes

*Espresso powder can be subbed for instant coffee powder.

*Weigh your flour (and your zucchini) for the most accurate results.

*Nutritional information includes frosting but excludes decorations like chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 12)
• Calories: 518
• Sugar: 64.8g
• Sodium: 397mg
• Fat: 19.2g
• Saturated Fat: 3.2g
• Carbohydrates: 88g
• Fiber: 5g
• Protein: 4.9g

Keywords: vegan chocolate zucchini cake