This death by chocolate zucchini bread is fudgy, moist, and utterly decadent. The best part is that it’s actually relatively healthy! You’ll love how chocolatey this tastes with a few swaps to make it more guilt free.
What is death by chocolate zucchini bread?
A chocolate loaf that’s intensely chocolatey, because it’s made with chocolate in two forms- cocoa powder and chocolate chunks. It’s obviously a sweet bread, or a loaf cake, much like banana bread. This would be great for breakfast, dessert, or afternoon snack with coffee.
Why should I make this double chocolate zucchini bread?
This recipe, barely adapted from Sallys Baking Addiction, is a great one for several reasons:
It’s so easy to make. You don’t need an electric mixer, you can easily make this by hand.
It uses simple ingredients that are easy to source, and are probably already in your pantry. The actual chocolate mix- in you use is very adaptable. You can use chopped chocolate bars, like I did, or chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, etc.
It’s really kid-friendly. I was just careful to make sure my kids didn’t see my folding in the grated zucchini and they were none the wiser.
It’s pretty healthy! Just 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of oil, plus a swap I made to the original recipe of subbing half the flour for whole wheat flour.
Ingredients you need to make this:
Shredded zucchini OR baby marrow: I actually used baby marrow for my recipe. It’s more commonly found in the Middle East and it works great as a swap. We use baby marrow for a lot of our dishes like our stuffed baby marrow and vegetables, and baby marrow fritters.
Flour: I used half whole wheat and half regular all purpose flour. I was pretty certain that the density and flavor of the whole wheat would be masked well by the moistness of the zucchini and the chocolate flavor, and I was right!
Cocoa Powder: Use natural cocoa powder like Hershey’s instead of dutch process cocoa powder. That’s because there’s more baking soda in proportion to the baking powder in this recipe, so natural cocoa powder works better. If you want to know the details on why, this is a great blog post on natural vs dutch cocoa powder you could check out.
Baking soda and baking powder
Salt
Instant Coffee: This is optional, but in general coffee really helps to enhance the flavor of chocolate. You won’t actually taste the coffee, it just makes the chocolate flavor richer.
Chocolate chips or chunks For mixing in, use your favorite, I went with semi-sweet but feel free to use milk chocolate.
Eggs
Vanilla
Canola Oil and yogurt: using 1/4 cup of each helps us use less oil in the batter, since the yogurt will also add moistness. A nice healthy hack!
Sugar: 1/2 cup of sugar which is definitely on the lower range. Most recipes for zucchini bread call for at least 3/4 cup of sugar, but this is just sweet enough.
Baking great zucchini bread:
You just need two bowls, a whisk and a spatula!
Start off by shredding your zucchini, and placing the shredded zucchini or baby marrow on a paper towel lined plate (you can also place it in a colander). Top with another few layers of paper towels and press down, you want to remove some of the liquid.
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. The flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder, salt, and coffee as well as the chocolate chips or chunks.
In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, oil, yogurt and sugar until smooth and combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix to combine, then fold in the shredded zucchini.
Pour batter into a prepared 9×5 inch loaf pan. You can prepare it either by greasing with non stick spray, or lightly greasing with butter then pressing in a sheet of parchment paper. I usually prefer to use parchment paper with a little overhang because it makes lifting the cake out of the pan really simple once it’s cooled.
Bake for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If it comes out with some chocolate smudges, try inserting it somewhere else, it may have just sunk into a chocolate chip.
How to serve this zucchini bread:
It’s easier to slice the zucchini bread once it’s completely cooled, but if you are too impatient, theres nothing like a warm slice. You can even heat a cooled slice up for a few seconds in the microwave to replicate that fresh out of the oven feel.
If you want to go a little over the top, a small smear of chocolate hazelnut spread is INSANE on this. You could even warm up a slice and serve with vanilla ice cream, or just top a slice with a cold dollop of yogurt.
Storing leftover zucchini bread:
Leftover zucchini bread will last tightly covered at room temperature for up to 5 days. If your kitchen is warm, you can place in the fridge and let the slice come to room temperature before eating.
This will freeze really well for 2-3 months. It’s easier to slice the bread before freezing so that you don’t need to defrost the entire loaf when you crave a slice.
If you do decide to freeze a whole loaf, it’ll thaw in about 3 hours on the counter top or overnight in the fridge. Slices will thaw pretty quickly, and can be reheated at a low temperature in the oven or in the microwave.
Tips and tricks for death by chocolate zucchini bread success:
Make sure you don’t overmix when you combine the dry and wet ingredients. Do mix until combined and no flour streaks are left, but don’t be so vigorous that you overdevelop the gluten, leading to a tough bread.
Try and squeeze a little water out of the zucchini so that the bread stays moist without being mushy.
Add any additional mix-ins you like! I’m sure nuts would be great in this, as well as a pinch of cinnamon for a warmer flavor profile.
Don’t be surprised if the bread takes more or less time to cook in your oven. Each oven is different. Just look for the bread to spring back if touched lightly, and for a toothpick to come out just clean. Let the bread cool completely before slicing for the best results to get neat slices.
If you liked this recipe, you might like:
and
Death By Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Equipment
- 1 9×5 inch loaf cake pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini or baby marrow 225g
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour 65g
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 65g
- 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder like Hershey's
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips, chunks or chopped chocolate, I like to reserve just a little to sprinkle on top of the batter 130g
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup canola oil 60 ml
- 1/4 cup yogurt 60g
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100g
Instructions
- Prepare the oven by preheating to 350F (180C) from up and down, and placing an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Prepare your 9×5 inch loaf pan by lightly greasing with butter and lining with parchment paper, or by spraying with non-stick spray. Set aside.
- Place shredded zucchini on a paper towel lined plate, and cover with paper towels too, pressing down to soak up the moisture. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the two flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, coffee, and chocolate together until well mixed.
- In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, oil, yogurt, and sugar until completely combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and lightly whisk until combined. Using a spatula, fold in the zucchini. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle with extra chocolate if desired.
- Bake for around 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start checking at 45 minutes. Remove from the oven once done and let cool completely before taking the bread out of the loaf pan and slicing. Enjoy!
Video
Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread by everylittlecrumb on Jumprope.
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