By end of summer, almost everyone is a little sick of zucchini, and we just want to prepare regular dishes – dishes that don’t contain that ubiquitous vegetable. However, the zucchini plants keep on reproducing non-stop, and we feel guilty throwing it away. Although most of us use the same standard chocolate zucchini bread/cake recipe to make zucchini bread, zucchini cake, or zucchini cupcakes, there are other recipes out there; recently I discovered a prizewinning zucchini cake recipe that is even better than the recipe we all know and love. The following Triple Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake is a chocoholic’s dream come true.

This recipe is adapted from one found in an excellent cookbook for chocolate lovers, The Great American Chocolate Contest Cookbook: 150 Of the Best Chocolate Recipes from the National Recipe Contest, and it’s no wonder that it won the prize. This cake is dense, moist, full of chocolate, and glazed with a decadent chocolate ganache. Because of the zucchini, it stays moist for at least a week, and is the best chocolate zucchini cake on the planet.

If you have too much zucchini and need to use it up, this is the cake for you. Even if you don’t grow zucchini, it is available at farmer’s markets, supermarkets, and usually from at least one of your neighbors. If you’d rather, the batter can be baked in two 9” cake pans, one 9” x 13” dripper pan, or divided into about 30 cupcakes; baking times will be shorter.

24 Servings

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini, (packed)
1/2 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa, preferably Dutch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips


Ganache Glaze:
1/2 cup 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
2/3 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. Butter a standard Bundt pan, then spray with non-stick spray (to get any hard to reach places), and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour. Shake the pan to distribute the flour, then dump any excess flour out.
3. Beat the oil, butter, and sugar until fluffy and light.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating for a minute or two.
5. Add the zucchini and buttermilk, mix well.
6. Measure the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon into a fine strainer set over the zucchini mixture.
7. Shake the mixture through.
8. Turn the mixer to low speed and let mix until thoroughly combined.
9. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
10. Bake 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
11. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
12. Place a rack over the Bundt pan, invert, and unmold the cake.
13. Let the cake cool thoroughly.
14. Meanwhile, mix the Ganache glaze ingredients in a glass microwave-safe container; microwave 3 minutes.
15. Remove from the microwave and let sit 5 minutes. Whisk the mixture until thick and smooth.
16. When the cake is cool, drizzle the glaze decoratively over all. The glaze will set up on its own, but you can refrigerate it briefly to speed it along.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 257 Calories from Fat 132
Percent Total Calories From: Fat 51% Protein 5% Carb. 44%

Nutrient Amount per Serving
Total Fat 15 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Cholesterol 39 mg
Sodium 192 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28 g
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Sugars 13 g
Protein 3 g

Vitamin A 7% Vitamin C 2% Calcium 0% Iron 4%