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Zucchini Chocolate Cake with Poured Frosting

So chocolatey, moist and delicious. Also the reason my kids love zucchini season!
This delicious cake is easy to make (easy to convert to gluten free, and vegan.) And you could even make it with a boxed cake mix!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 40 mins
Servings 16 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups All Purpose Flour Or use your favorite gluten-free bake mix.
  • ½ cup Cocoa Powder
  • 1½ cups Sugar
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Paste (Or 2 tsp vanilla extract.)
  • 2 cups Zucchini, shredded (No need to squeeze out the water, but if you have a very seedy zucchini, do scrape out the seeds before shredding.)
  • 1/2 cup Oil of choice (I use Avocado oil.)
  • 1/2 cup Mini chocolate chips (Optional. I use Enjoy Life chocolate chips.)

Pourable Frosting

  • 1/2 cup butter, salted, softened (Vegan butter works great, too.)
  • 1/4 cup milk of choice
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla paste (Or 1 tsp of vanilla extract)
  • ½ cup Cocoa Powder
  • 2½ cups Powdered Sugar

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Combine the sugar, oil and vanilla in mixing bowl.
  • Combine the dry ingredients with a whisk in another bowl.
  • Add the zucchini to the wet ingredients and combine, then add the dry ingredients and mix well.
  • Add the chocolate chips and mix evenly into the batter.
  • Grease a 9*13 baking dish and pour the batter in.
  • Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Frosting:

  • While the cake bakes, make the frosting.
    I usually just put the butter, cocoa powder, milk and vanilla in my blender, blend it up until the butter is combined smoothly with the rest of the ingredients, scraping down the side if necessary.
  • Add the powdered sugar and run the blender again to combine.
  • Allow the cake to cool for about 1/2 an hour.
  • Alternatively, you could melt the butter with the cocoa powder and vanilla in a small sauce pan. Add vanilla and milk and whisk in the powdered sugar, little by little until smooth and combined.
  • Then pour the frosting all over it.
    Let the frosting set a little for at least another half an hour (or not, if you just can't wait) and then it's ready to enjoy!

Notes

To make this cake with a cake mix, you will need the following:
  • 1 box of cake mix (German Chocolate Cake, Devil's Food Cake, Chocolate Fudge Cake)
  • 1 box of chocolate instant pudding mix
  • 3/4 cup of oil
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 2 cups shredded zucchini
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
In a bowl, combine the cake mix, instant pudding, oil, eggs and vanilla.
Add the shredded zucchini and combine well.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour batter into a greased 9*13 pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Proceed with frosting as above.