Name: Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Zucchini (Shredded (Moisture intact), 1 medium, 176g); 1¼ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (150g); ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder; Stevia Sweetener (⅔ cup sugar worth (Use your brand's Conversion Chart)); 2 tsp Baking Powder; 1 tsp Cinnamon (Ground); ¼ tsp Salt; ½ cup Almond Milk; 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil (Melted); 2 Eggs; 1 tsp Vanilla Extract; 4 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder; 3 Tbsp Almond Milk; 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil (Melted); Stevia Sweetener (2 Tbsp + 2 tsp sugar worth (Use your brand's Conversion Chart)); (More for sweeter frosting)

Rich and indulgent Whole Wheat Chocolate Zucchini Cake with a decadent chocolate frosting. Made unsweetened cocoa and sweetened with stevia, this healthy chocolate cake is so flavorful, you won’t even taste the zucchini in there!

Jump to Recipe

Quite a fun experience with the recipe testing on this one. The original version seemed a bit too dry and it’s hard trying multiple versions with you’re just cooking for one. Especially for an 8×8 cake!

So when I wanted to compare 4 versions, I scaled down the recipe, adjusted the ingredients, and baked 2 of each in muffin cups. Labeled each one as well so I wouldn’t forget which was which.

Side note: The winner was regular eggs (not extra) but extra cocoa. Should have seen that second part coming to be honest.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread vs Zucchini Cake?

I didn’t really know the difference between a zucchini bread and zucchini cake until just recently – or even that there was a difference for that matter!

But just like a banana bread, the same difference (oxymoron haha) applies here.

Zucchini cake is more light and moist vs the slightly more dense zucchini bread.
The cake is more sweet since it’s meant to be more of a dessert – which is also where a sweet frosting comes in.
The bread has only a hint of sweet because it’s supposed to be breakfast treat.

Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Cake Ingredients:

This recipe for healthy chocolate cake is made with no sugar, no yogurt, no sour cream, and no buttermilk – just clean ingredients!

Fresh Zucchini not any pre-shredded version
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour for a healthy, nutritious and whole grain cake recipe that’s still light and fluffy.
Unsweetened Cacao Powder to give it the rich chocolate flavor without the sugars
Stevia sweetener powder to make this cake complete sugar-free since there’s no added sugar here. Really drops the calories too!
Almond Milk for a dairy free cake recipe. Feel fee to use the normal version
Coconut Oil for moisture, but just a little, so this is still a reduced fat recipe
Eggs
Pure Vanilla Extract
Baking Powder
Optional Cinnamon to amp up the flavor
A bit of salt

How to make zucchini snacking cake

This homemade zucchini chocolate cake is super easy to make, and is perfect for when you don’t want to wait an hour for banana bread. A great recipe for a zucchini birthday cake too!

Preheat your oven to 350°F and line an 8 x 8” baking pan with parchment paper,
Shred the zucchini using a food processor or grater, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Use a cheesecloth or just paper towels.
Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla to zucchini and whisk it all.
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl: whole wheat pastry flour, unsweetened cocoa powder or cacao powder, stevia powder, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Add in the flour mixture to the wet mix, and fold together using a large spoon or spatula. DO NOT OVER-MIX the batter or the cake will be too dense at the bottom.
Pour the mix into the baking pan.
Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out dry.

This zucchini snack cake is 8×8, but for a bigger cake. You can also double the recipe, but use a 9 x 13” pan. Keep an eye on the cake though, it might get done a little sooner in this case.

For a zucchini loaf cake, bake it in a loaf pan – like a chocolate zucchini bread – but increase the baking time. It should take about 45-50 minutes.

Use a bundt pan and make a zucchini bundt cake.

Healthy Chocolate Frosting for this Zucchini Cake

This chocolate cake frosting is made with no cream cheese, no butter and no sugar!

It’ a sugar free, and low fat healthy chocolate frosting made with cocoa powder, milk, coconut oil and stevia sweetener powder.

Add more stevia powder if you prefer a sweeter frosting.

Since it’s without cream cheese and butter, this chocolate frosting is Vegan and dairy free as well. It’s actually a fake frosting, so in reality this is a cake with no frosting, More of a sauce.

Tips for this Healthy Zucchini Bread Cake with Whole Wheat Flour

Squeeze out moisture from the zucchini;
You want make sure you squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the zucchini. Too much moisture will make the chocolate cake zucchini bread rise and then sink as it cools, and also make it dense.

Use whole wheat pastry flour – not whole wheat flour or whole meal flour. Those are a lot harder and will make a dense cake.

Don’t over-mix the batter!
Pour the wet mix into the dry and just fold them in. Don’t over-mix it or too much gluten will develop, which is what will make the cake gummy and dense.

There will be some lumps, but that’s completely okay!

Some alternatives for this Sneaky Zucchini Snack Squares Recipe:

Make a gluten free chocolate zucchini cake by using a 1:1 gluten free flour.

Replace the eggs with flax eggs (2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 5 Tbsp water let rest for about 10 minutes) for a Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake.

Feel free to replace the cacao powder with unsweetened cocoa powder.

Turn this recipe into a chocolate chip zucchini cake by folding in some chocolate chips into the batter before pouring it into the baking pan.

Can you store this Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake?

This moist and fluffy zucchini bread cake keeps really well and is great for a meal prep snack – freezer friendly too!

You can keep the zucchini chocolate cake out at room temperature for a few hours if it already has the frosting, but it stays good for 4 or 5 days in the fridge. Be sure to use an airtight container.

To freeze the zucchini snack bars, slice the cake, wrap in plastic wrap, and place the pieces in a freezer-safe zipper bag. Thaw when you crave a midday treat! You can even store the whole cake itself!

More healthy cake recipes you’ll love: