This chocolate zucchini cake recipe is the ULTIMATE summertime treat! It's moist, fudgy, and decadent, with a rich dark chocolate flavor.
When your garden (or your fridge) is overflowing with zucchini, there’s no better way to use it than by making this chocolate zucchini cake. It’s a recipe I make every summer, when I’ve already had zucchini noodles, zucchini chips, and zucchini salad, and something really decadent sounds like it would hit the spot.
This chocolate zucchini cake is moist and delicious, with a rich chocolate flavor that I can’t get enough of. It’s wonderful on its own, but I like it best with a thick layer of frosting on top. If you want to lean into the green theme, you can frost it with a luscious matcha frosting like I did, but if not, you’ll find a few other frosting options in the post below.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this chocolate zucchini cake recipe:
- Shredded zucchini, of course! It gives the cake an amazing moist texture.
- Ground flaxseed – A perfect egg substitute. It acts as a binder (and adds healthy fats, too!).
- Apple cider vinegar + almond milk – Together, they create a vegan substitute for buttermilk. They add moisture and a subtle tangy flavor to the cake.
- All-purpose flour – For the best results, spoon and level your flour instead of scooping it straight from the canister or bag. Otherwise, you might accidentally add too much flour to the batter!
- Cocoa powder – It gives the cake a rich chocolate flavor.
- Baking powder and baking soda – To help the cake rise.
- Coconut oil – For richness.
- Maple syrup – It sweetens the cake naturally.
- Vanilla extract – To enhance the delicious chocolate flavor.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake Frosting and Variations
I love this chocolate zucchini cake with frosting, but if you’re not a frosting person, feel free to skip it! Instead, fold 1/2 cup chocolate chips into the batter so that the cake is extra rich and fudgy.
Otherwise, you have three options for frosting the cake:
- Make matcha frosting! Matcha green tea turns this cashew-based frosting a striking green. Sweeten it naturally with maple syrup, or use powdered sugar for a lighter color.
- Make vanilla frosting. Who doesn’t love vanilla frosting on chocolate cake? Find my go-to vegan frosting recipe here.
- Make chocolate frosting. A chocolate lover’s dream. Make the secret ingredient frosting from this chocolate cake recipe.
Tip: after you take the cake out of the oven, allow it to cool to room temperature before you frost it. Otherwise, the frosting will melt!
More Favorite Cakes and Quick Breads
If you love this cake, try one of these yummy baking recipes next:
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Best Carrot Cake or Vegan Carrot Cake
- Lemon Cake
- Apple Cake
- Healthy Banana Bread
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Pumpkin Bread
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup almond milk, at room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (or half white/half wheat)
- â…“ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- â…” cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
- 1¼ cups raw cashews
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons solid coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon matcha tea powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with coconut oil.
- In a small bowl, combine the ground flaxseed and water and set aside to thicken. Stir the vinegar into the almond milk and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flaxseed mixture, almond milk/vinegar mixture, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Don’t over mix. Fold in the zucchini.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back to the touch. Cool completely before frosting.
- Make the frosting: In a blender, combine the cashews, almond milk, powdered sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, matcha, and sea salt and process until smooth and creamy. Add more matcha, if desired. Chill until ready to use, or for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
another note: matcha varies in color, some are very bright green, some are more dull, so the color of your frosting may vary based on the matcha that you use. I used Aiya Matcha here.
Â
We have zucchinis coming out of our ears (well, not the ears, but coming out of the garden for sure) and I’m excited to try your cake recipe with some of them! When you make this, do you use your homemade almond milk? Or have you made it with the commercial stuff? I ask because homemade has way more fat, while the commercial stuff has emulsifiers and salt and other things and I imagine they impact the baking differently. Thank you!
Hi Elizabeth – we’ve made it with commercial almond milk and it comes out great.
Sorry, looks like my question wasn’t clear. (facepalm) Do you make this exclusively with commercial almond milk? Or have do both homemade AND commercial work? I don’t do commercial almond milk and since it’s so different from homemade and baking is so persnickety, I just wanted to double check!
Thank you! (And apologies for the confusion.)
Hi Elizabeth, we haven’t made this recipe with homemade almond milk, so I can’t fully guarantee the results, but I think it would work great!
if I make cupcakes, how long do I cook this?
If possible could you use metric measurements also?
Hello!
What can be subbed for the cocoa flour to make this a non-chocolate cake?
Thanks!
Hi Amanda, here’s my regular zucchini bread recipe, I’d make this one! https://www.loveandlemons.com/zucchini-bread/
Thanks! I am looking for a cake though and don’t want to use granulated sugar. Thanks though!
Made this for my daughters birthday. No one else is a vegan, yet we all thought it was absolutely delicious!! I added a lot more a milk (I used oat milk) to the icing as well as coconut flakes. I made it in a bundt pan (should have doubled the recipe as it only filled half the pan after baking). Sprinkled the iced cake with dark chocolate shavings and chopped pistachios. SOOO good!! Thanks for the perfect vegan zucchini cake!!
Do you think oat milk would work as a substitute for the almond milk? It’s the only different ingredient I have from the rest of the list 🙂
yep! I think it’ll be just fine.
I’ve made this cake twice now and it is absolutely delicious (as are all recipes from this blog/cookbooks). It is very moist and has a complex flavor. I love it.
Hi Erin, I’m so glad you loved the cake!
You don’t have to soak the cashews for the frosting? Looks amazing!!
Hi Daphne,
I don’t soak them, but you could depending on the type of blender that you’re using. They come out creamy in my Vitamix. If your blender doesn’t get cashews quite as creamy you could soak them for at least 2 hours, drain and rinse before using. Hope that helps!
I just made this with just one variation, I used 1 cup oat flour and 1 cup brown rice flour instead of the all purpose flour. It’s just out the oven and looks and smells great! Thanks for an egg free chocolate cake recipe thats now gluten free too!
Hi Leticia, I’m so glad that combo turned out! Thanks for sharing!
What an interesting idea for a cake. It looks really delicious.
I have shredded zucchini in the freezer. Will that work if I thaw it?
What a stunning cake. I love the chocolate zucchini muffins from your book so I know this cake would be just as good. And good idea to add chocolate chips — I’d add them even with the frosting! 😉
What a beautiful cake! I love the matcha frosting – looks incredible and so tasty!
Wow! I will try the recipe this week 🙂
That matcha frosting though…there’s no better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day!
I find it so fun to use veggies in baking! Great recipe!
This looks absolutely delicious and I can’t wait to make this . On a side note, I absolutely love your cookbook. At the present time, I have purchased about 5 copies, and YES, my friends love your book as well. I look forward to your next publication….. no pressure
oh thank you, thank you, thank you!! 💛💛
This looks amazing! May go the cupcake route so I can give some away and not eat them all myself! I definitely am in the camp of cake cravings for breakfast!!
glad I’m not the only one 🙂
Hi Annette! I’d love to make cupcakes as well. Would love to know how it went & if you have any tips on the # of cupcakes/how much batter to use for each. Thanks so much in advance! And yes cake for breakfast rules.