chocolate chip zucchini cake

There’s a large wooden fruit bowl to the left of my kitchen sink.

It’s usually filled with everything but fruit including sweet potatoes, garlic bulbs, a few wooden toy trains and lately: zucchini.

I make zucchini bread at least once a year, in summer obviously when the entire universe seems to be inundated with the sheer thought of zucchini.

But I don’t mind, really.

I love a good zucchini bread spiked heavily with cinnamon, that begs to be gobbled up with strong coffee and 5 minutes of peace and quiet. I can’t imagine anything more heavenly.

And this delectable chocolate chip version, baked ‘bundt cake style’ certainly hits the spot.

Already on the blog, I have a somewhat non-traditional zucchini bread made with whole grain flour and honey.

But because I can’t stop tinkering with recipes, I decided to create and more ‘normal’ version (according to my kids), made simply with plain flour, sugar and chocolate chips.

It’s not excessively sweet, has great texture and crunch, and is one of those things you’ll make over and over again even in the summer heat!

Serve this at your next gathering, share with co-workers, or just leave a few slices on your kitchen counter for general grazing. It’s a good one. Enjoy!

Kitchen Notes

Tips: when making the recipe, don’t forget to add the grated zucchini to the wet ingredients. It adds necessary moisture that helps to loosen the batter. I forgot to do this the first time around and the batter was difficult to mix- it was too stiff!

The bundt pan I used is a dark, non-stick pan. If using a glass bundt pan, which conducts heat faster than non-stick, please adjust your baking time as needed regardless of what’s instructed below. Keep in mind that fresh, in season zucchini is very watery and you don’t want to undercook the cake. The zucchini I used came from my CSA- it was fantastic.

Substitutions: dried cranberries, candied ginger or even currants would be nice in this. Also, you’ll notice pumpkin pie spice in the recipe. I chose to add this because it contains a combo of ground ginger, nutmeg and cardamom which adds great flavor. If you don’t have any on hand, it’s not the end of the world.

Make-Ahead: this cake can be frozen up to 3 months. Wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap, then foil. To thaw, un wrap and place on a wire rack at room temperature for about 5 hours.

*Recipe adapted with changes from Smitten Kitchen.

chocolate chip zucchini cake

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• Author: Emilie Raffa adapted from Smitten Kitchen
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hour 10 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins
• Yield: 1 bundt cake

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Ingredients

• pat of butter or oil, for coating the bundt pan

Wet ingredients

• 3 extra large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable or melted coconut oil
• 1 3/4 cups brown sugar (light or dark)
• 2 capfuls of pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini, un-squeezed

Dry ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Add-ins

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chocolate chips

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Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Lightly coat a bundt pan with butter or oil to prevent sticking.
2. In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla and whisk thoroughly to combine. Stir in the zucchini.
3. In another mixing bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients.
4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients together. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips; do not over mix. Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter once or twice to remove any air bubbles.
5. Bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes (test at the 1 hour mark). Note: baking times will vary according to the type of pan you are using (my bundt pan is glass and conducts heat faster than dark, non-stick pans). Please adjust your cook time accordingly. Give it a few extra minutes if needed.
6. Cool, in the pan, on a wire wrack for 1 hour. Carefully remove the cake from the pan to finish cooling.
7. Right before serving, dust with powdered sugar. Cut into slices and serve.

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