Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I was a teenager when I first tasted and fell in love with zucchini muffins. Muffins were not a big thing in Australia when I was a child, so it was only when I was older, and attending an international school with a largely American cohort, that I was introduced to my first muffin crush! Zucchini muffins – as moist and sweet and you could imagine. I have long wanted to introduce them here, but the truth is, Elise at Simply Recipes has already blogged the recipe on her site, and why reinvent the wheel?

I was ready to move on and try something new… a vegan version. Then we were invited to a friend’s place for lunch, and I volunteered to bring dessert. The only catch was that the wife couldn’t eat eggs. Do you know how hard it is to find a dessert recipe that doesn’t include eggs? I found one eventually, and we were very happy with the result, but it got me thinking. I’ve tackled gluten-free recipes (there are many on this site) and dairy-free as well, but vegan isn’t something I’d given much thought to.

Turns out it’s not actually that hard to bake an egg-free cake… but you do need to know about substitutions. I was going to adapt my own Lime and Coconut Cake when I discovered this recipe, and adapted that instead! Perfect timing, as it’s the tail-end of summer and zucchini plants are producing like their lives depend on it! I have made mine with regular wheat flour (because I can!), but if you are cooking gluten-free, drop down to the Notes section for tips on how to adapt the recipe to suit.

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cake
It’s a marriage made in heaven when chocolate meets zucchini in this luscious, egg-free quick-bread!

Ingredients
1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
½ cup wholemeal flour
¼ cup raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon arrowroot powder (tapioca starch) (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup applesauce
½ cup coconut oil or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chia or flax seeds
3 tablespoons brewed coffee, cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup (8 oz./225g) grated zucchini

Method
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (338 degrees F). Grease and line base and two sides of a 21 x 11cm (8×4-inch) loaf pan. Add chia seeds to 3 tablespoons brewed coffee and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes until coagulated.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, arrowroot, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a bowl until evenly blended; set aside.

Whisk together the sugar, applesauce, oil, chia seeds and vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth and then add in the zucchini.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients and mix well or toss all ingredients into a high powered blender or food processor until a smooth batter. Pour batter into prepared cake tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Adapted from All Recipes

Notes
My attempts at making a gluten-free version of this cake have been rather disappointing to date, so while I am still recipe testing, here is a link to one made with Teff flour.

¼ cup of pureed fruit = 1 egg
1 tsp. flax seed plus 3 tsp. water = 1 egg
1 T chia + 3 T water = 1 egg