My vegan zucchini chocolate cake is truly a miracle cake: It’s low-fat, gluten-free, oil-free, wholesome, without household sugar, and presents sexy to boot! Cinnamon and cardamom, together with Fairtrade cocoa powder, give the cake the special extra and make sure, chocolate cake aficionados will praise highly!
Zucchini and chocolate?
Precisely! Zucchini season has started and this vegan chocolate cake is a great recipe to eat zucchini in a different way. You will not find their flavor in the cake, as zucchini taste neutral when unseasoned. But their moisture ensures that your chocolate cake has a wonderful moist texture that is almost juicy. Next time your neighbor rings your doorbell to bring you fresh zucchini from her garden, you will not only happily accept with a smile, but you can invite your neighbor over for a slice of vegan chocolate cake. She’ll be amazed that you made it with her zucchini!
Preparation and inspiration
Just keep all ingredients at hand, follow the steps of the recipe below and off you go. You can also have a look at my Youtube-Video should you like some more infos and tutoring.
Are you unsure how vegan dishes will fit into your daily cooking or which ingredients to use? Are you looking for new ideas and inspirations or seeking new vegan tasting horizons? Have a look at my class and coaching offers. You might find new impulses, ideas or even the perfect present for a friend.
Oh my: vegan, wholesome, gluten-free, sugar-free and low-fat
Not long ago, everyone would probably have thrown their hands up in horror: such a combination can’t taste at all and sounds as sexy as damp laundry! Diet cuisine was almost a swear word and could not be any further away from something tasty. Bland, with the color and the consistency of greyish children’s porridge, this was not something to look forward to. How times have changed! Modern recipes that take ingredients from a wide variety of cuisines and combine them in new ways can not only tick all these boxes but are a joy to prepare, to present and to eat.
This gluten-free zucchini chocolate cake, for example, uses whole grain rice flour, no oil but nut puree and oriental spices. Dates replace household sugar and apples can be used unpeeled. The ingredients provide fibre, vitamins and micronutrients. And they make sure this chocolate cake tastes quite simply quite ingenious!
Gluten Free Zucchini Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- 20 cm ⌀ round baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 small (120g) apple or 100 g unsweetended apple sauce
- 120 g dates
- 230 ml water
- 280 g zucchini
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp almond butter 30 g e.g. homemade
- 100 g buckwheat flour
- 80 g rice flour whole grain
- 50 g cocoa powder organic and fair trade
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
Optionales Topping:
- 20 g dark vegan chocolate optional refied sugar free
- 1 Tbsp edible flowers dried
Instructions
- If you don't have apple puree yet, start preparing this first with a sweet apple. Cut the apple into small pieces and boil them with a little water until they are soft. For the version with the ready-made apple puree, pour 230 ml of boiling water over the dates and let them stand for 15 minutes. Blend the dates with the water and the apple puree with a hand blender or mixer.
- In the meantime, prepare the other ingredients. Line the baking pan with baking paper and grease the edges with a little canola oil, if necessary.
- Preheat the oven to 180 ºC (356 ºF) convection and place a rack in the center of the oven.
- Finely grate the zucchini. Mix the grated zucchini in a bowl with the apple puree-date mixture, the almond paste and the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the dry ingredients (buckwheat flour, rice flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamom powder) and mix everything well.
- Pour the dough into the prepared baking pan and bake in the middle of the pre-heated oven at 180 °C (356 ºF) for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Optional: decorate with melted (sugar-free) vegan chocolate and deco blossoms.
Video
Notes
A nice option are quinces, whose flavor is a mixture of apples, pears, lemons and a hint of rose. From September, matching the second half of the zucchini harvest, you can find them at the market or in a health food store.
