Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Preperation time
20 m
Skills level

Serving size
8
Country of origin

Preparation time: 20 m
Cooking time: 1 hour and 10 m
Servings: 8

Ingredients

  • 1¼ cups cake flour
  • 2½ cups shredded zucchini
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup Hershey’s dark cocoa powder
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream, light (room temperature)
  • ½ small banana, mashed (ripened)
  • 2 large eggs, premixed (room temperature)
  • ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
  • ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, not melted
  • ½ teaspoon coconut oil
  • Topping: an additional ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Loaf pan
  • Stand mixer with paddle attachment
  • Cheesecloth
  • grater
Recipe Type:
Course:

This Chocolate Zucchini Bread is super moist, chocolatey, yummy, super rich, and decadent and you cannot detect the zucchini whatsoever!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Start by shredding the zucchini. I use 1 large zucchini. Place the shredded zucchini in a cheesecloth and strain out the excess liquid. Then measure 2 ½ cups and set it aside. You may have some leftover which you can use in another recipe.

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients: cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk until no lumps remain.

Note: I use Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder for this recipe (highly recommend)

In the bowl of the stand mixer, add the mashed banana and mix on medium until somewhat smooth. Next, add the packed brown sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream and mix on medium-low. Then add the premixed eggs (stream in slowly) and mix on medium-low until creamy and smooth.

Note: be sure the eggs and sour cream are at room temperature. Leave about about 1 hour before starting this recipe.

Next, heat ½ cup of chocolate chips over a water bath until melted or heat the chips in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Once melted, stir in the coconut oil. Set this aside. If you don’t have coconut oil, you can skip that step.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined on medium-low. Then mix in the (slightly cooled) melted chocolate and continue to mix on medium-low until the chocolate is fully incorporated into the batter.  Next, add the shredded zucchini and mix on low.

Last, fold in a ½ cup of chocolate chips (not melted) or mix them in on low speed.

Pour batter into a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lined pan with parchment paper.

Top the loaf with more chocolate chips (an additional ½ cup) if desired, recommended.

This is a very wet batter, so I find baking it on a lower temperature 325 degrees allows for it to bake more evenly. Then I raise the temp to 350 degrees for the additional baking time. Total bake time is about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes, then up the temperature to 350 degrees to finish baking an additional 20 minutes. Once bread is springy it is done. Do not overbake.

Allow to cool 15 minutes, then dump onto a cooling rack.

Day 2 and 3 this is even tastier. You are going to love this recipe!

Note: if you are dairy free you can use a dairy free sour cream alternative. The sour cream adds to the very moist texture of this amazing bread, so I recommend using it.

Serving pairing: Serve with a mascarpone-honey spread. Simply leave the mascarpone cheese out at room temperature for 30 minutes and mix in some honey! it’s that easy! Smear on bread and enjoy.

Enjoy!