Cake of the Day: Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Photo: Heather Christo

Green summer squash is transformed into something spectacular — a dark, rich, and moist chocolate cake. Those who love zucchini bread will be a fan of this sweet masterpiece baked by Heather Christo, a blogger and cookbook author living in Seattle. The Le Cordon Bleu graduate started her career as a pastry chef and eventually started her own catering company. She has since hung up her chef’s coat to raise her family, but the mother of two hasn’t stopped cooking. She continues to write and create delicious recipes on HeatherChristo.com from colorful cocktails to dairy-free ice pops to decadent desserts like this chocolate confection.

“Being the lovely lady that my mom is, she used to turn the vegetable into the most wonderful thing on a child’s radar: chocolate cake,” she writes. “The zucchini lends more texture and moisture than flavor, but anytime I can sneak some vegetables into my family’s dessert — it is a no brainer!’

Christo’s recipe begins with a cake batter that calls for Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa and shredded zucchini. She pours the mixture into two 9-inch cake pans and bakes them for 30 minutes. While they cool, she whips together a chocolate butter cream frosting to which she adds a shot of espresso to give the flavor more depth. She frosts the two layers of cake with the caffeine-spiked icing and adds purple-black violas. The end result is an incredible moist chocolate cake that makes the most of summer’s zucchinis.

Get the full recipe: Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Photo: Heather Christo

More chocolate cakes to indulge in:

30-Minute Chocolate Cake for Two

Chocolate Marble Cake

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Cake