You’re either going to love me or hate me for this post. Why? Because this grain-free chocolate cake which just so happens to have zucchini in it is AMAZING. You will love how rich and chocolaty it is, how moist and tender. You will be utterly amazed that this cake has no flour of any kind and that there is zucchini in it. Zucchini! It is sweetened with maple syrup and that’s all. After your first bite, you might exclaim, “Three cheers for Pamela!”
Orrrrrrr, you will find this cake, which is more like a cross between a brownie and cake, completely irresistible and TOO amazing. You will walk by it on the countertop and find the uncontrollable need to even out all the edges until you are left with a mere crumb. But you’ll convince yourself it’s healthful! It contains almond butter and zucchini. Zucchini! And you will not be able to stop eating it. The next time you make it you will freeze most of it so that you are not tempted by its chocolaty goodness and inhale three-fourths of it before the kids get home. But you cannot stop dreaming about this cake so you find out it even taste good FROZEN because there is no waiting when it comes to this cake. And after you eat all of the frozen cake, you might exclaim, “I curse the day I met Pamela! Darn this chocolate amazingness!”
And that’s what I’m talking about.
Even Mr. Picky himself went crazy for this cake. I actually came clean and told him there was zucchini in here and he didn’t care!! If you are nut-free, don’t sweat. Substitute sunflower butter in an equal amount and it will work perfectly. Sunflower butter does have a slightly nuttier flavor, almost like peanut butter. But I when I made the cake with sunflower butter for some nut-free people, they couldn’t detect it. Make it. Devour it. Love it. Share it. Tell me all about it.
Grain-free Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe and VIDEO
Ingredients
- coconut oil or butter for greasing pan
- 1 cup creamy, unsweetened, unsalted almond butter, raw or roasted, or sunflower butter for a nut-free cake
- 1/3 cup pure Grade A maple syrup or raw honey
- ¼ cup raw cacao or cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine ground sea salt
- 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder, optional
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups of shredded zucchini, about 2 small
- 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9-inch pan. If you want to remove the cake from the pan in one piece, line it with unbleached parchment paper as well.
- In a large bowl combine the almond butter, maple syrup, cacao powder, salt, coffee powder, egg, vanilla, and baking soda until smooth.
- Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake until just set and a toothpick comes out clean or with dry crumbs. Do not overbake. A 9 x 9 pan will take 35-45 minutes. An 8 x 8 pan will take 40-50 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.
Notes
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Stunning! Thanku for this great recipe. I’ve been off sugar and contemplating a life without it and it seemed pretty daunting until I found this recipe. I substituted 2 tsp of green leaf stevia power dissolved in 1/3 cup of water n olive oil instead of maple syrup. . Flavour not as good at maple syrup, obviously, but a stunning result nevertheless. Life is good when you can eat cake
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Love how you made it work for your needs — that’s the beauty of baking at home. And I agree, life is definitely better with cake!
We loved the grain free choc zucchini cake. It was eaten by adults and teens boys and girls that couldn’t tell the zucchini in it. We will be making this recipe for brownie like recipe or when making a choc cake. Just had one question on the instant coffee can you use regular where you brew it first? If using instant should you be gluing it in hot water first?
SO glad you loved it! Just skip the coffee if you don’t have instant. With the instant coffee, you literally add the coffee granules to the batter. 🙂
Can’t wait to try this! Could you adapt the recipe for muffins?
Yes! They’ll take less time, depending on the size of the muffin tin. A standard muffin tin will likely take about 20-25 minutes, but check before committing.
Could you replace the almond butter with greek yogurt?
No, I’m afraid that will not work. Sorry.
I just made this and used peanut butter instead (almond allergy) and it was great
peanut butter and chocolate are a winning combo! glad you loved it!
These are going in the oven as I type this message. I use to make a similar recipe using zucchini in the brownie mix but the amount of white sugar was ridiculous. Thrilled to have sen this on your instagram post !
Oh, you’re going to be so delighted with this recipe. It’s one of the few desserts that I feel great after eating!
I am gluten- and refined-sugar free, so this works very well for me. I made this cake to take to a picnic, and it was a huge hit! Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
wonderful! this recipe continues to be one of my most popular recipes of all time! 🙂
This cake is so yummy! Thank you for another great recipe! Your recipes always deliver. Thank you, Pamela Salzman!
thanks, lori! I’m glad you love it as much as I do!
Hi Pamela, do I peel the zucchini?
Hi Alayne. No. It’s not necessary to peel or squeeze the zucchini. Hope you enjoy this! It’s one of my favorites.
Could i add almond pulp to this? I’m one of those looking for almond pulp recipes . You’re the best thanks!!
Maybe. I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure if it would work.
Let me know if you give it a try, Nina.
I found this cake on someone else blog (with credit given to you) and I figured she had left something out in the translation, so came to your website to look. Nope.
What an unbelievable joy this flipping cake is – I love it so so much!!!
haha! Honestly, I don’t even know how it works, but it’s our favorite!