Low Carb Keto Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe

A moist and gooey keto chocolate cake filled with healthy shredded zucchini. This amazing low carb chocolate cake is the perfect dairy free keto treat to make for any holiday or dessert. 

Why put zucchini in cake?

Adding zucchini to cakes, especially low carb carbs, gives the cake that extra moisture it was always looking for.  A lot of low carb cakes tend to be dry so by adding a wet ingredient like zucchini, apple sauce, pumpkin paste, sweet potato paste or mashed bananas tends to make the cakes way more moist and delicious.

My three layer healthy zucchini cake that’s filled with cream cheese frosting was superbly moist and crumble because of those zucchinis added to it.

If you’re on a low carb diet or you need to feed your children green vegetables, then you’ll definitely want to try making this chocolate zucchini cake.  You can’t taste any zucchini in the batter and the end product doesn’t really show any signs of green from a vegetable so you can get away with feeding your kids hidden veggies.

This chocolate zucchini cake recipe is definitely kid-approved.  I always get my boyfriend’s nephews to taste test all of my dessert recipes and these were a huge hit!

How to make a keto chocolate cake

Here are the steps showing you how to make this keto chocolate cake super easily.

Squeeze the water out of the zucchini

This is a really important step because you don’t want your chocolate zucchini cake to be too wet, but you still want that amazing moisture from the zucchinis.

Using a cheese shredder, shred the zucchini as best as you can.  Transfer the shredded zucchini to a cheese cloth or a very strong clean kitchen towel.  Wrap the cloth around the shredded zucchini and squeeze as much water as you can.

For reference I had 370 grams of zucchini to begin with and after squeezing the water out, I had 290 grams left.

Mix the wet ingredients

Add the shredded zucchini to a large bowl and add the rest of the wet ingredients to it.  So you’ll want to add your refined coconut oil, almond milk, eggs, apple cider vinegar and vanilla.

I recommend using refined coconut oil as the extra virgin kind gives an awful coconut taste and the refined doesn’t,

Mix all of the ingredients with a whisk until nicely incorporated.

Mix the dry ingredients.

Add all of the dry ingredients into another large bowl.  You should end up with a nice brown flour from the cocoa powder and espresso powder.

Mix the batter

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix evenly.  The batter shouldn’t be too thick, nor should it be too wet.  It should easily be spoonable.

Oil your mold

Whatever mold you decide to use, make sure to oil all of it so that the cake batter doesn’t stick to it.  I preferred to use a silicone bundt mold because cakes are easier to remove from them and the batter tends to stick less than metal molds.

Bake

Transfer the batter to the mold, spread it evenly and then place into the oven to bake for 45 minutes.  To check whether it’s ready or not, insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake, slide it out and see whether there’s cake batter stuck to it.  If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is ready.  If not, bake it for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

What kind of sweeteners can I use?

My original recipe uses Sukrin gold as a sweetener, but here are a few other options you could use if you don't happen to have Sukrin on hand.

• 1 cup [easyazon_link identifier="B01ARKFXVS" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]sukrin gold[/easyazon_link] (200g)
• ¾ cup [easyazon_link identifier="B01LDNBC86" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]Lakanto golden[/easyazon_link] (150g)
• ¾ cup [easyazon_link identifier="B007XA49BG" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]erythritol[/easyazon_link] + ½ tsp [easyazon_link identifier="B005F9XFN0" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]stevia[/easyazon_link]
• ¾ cup [easyazon_link identifier="B007XA49BG" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]erythritol[/easyazon_link] + ½ tsp [easyazon_link identifier="B01DMCMO7O" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]monk fruit powder[/easyazon_link]

I don’t like zucchini.  What can I use instead?

You really can’t taste the zucchini in this zucchini chocolate cake recipe, but if you really want to substitute it for something else, you could use pumpkin purée, sweet potato paste, shredded carrots or apple sauce.  Just know the carb count will go up for all of those other options.

If you really don’t want to use zucchini, I suggest making my sugar free chocolate cake bars as they contain no vegetables whatsoever.

Is the espresso powder necessary?

No, not at all, but it tastes even better with it so I highly recommend it!

What kind of sugar free chocolate did you use?

There are a few options you could use for the sugar free chocolate chips.  I always use [easyazon_link identifier="B013FILFV6" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]Lily’s chocolate chips[/easyazon_link] as they’re sugar free and dairy free.  You could also chop some sugar free chocolate bars from Coco Polo or [easyazon_link identifier="B06XKWR97N" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]Keto Bark[/easyazon_link].  They offer some great chocolates.

Can you freeze this chocolate cake?

Of course! With all of the baking that I do in this house, I always have to freeze leftovers or else I’ll have too much food to eat in the house.

Simply wrap pieces of chocolate cake in Saran Wrap once the cake is cool and freeze them for up to a month.  If you use a vacuum sealer, you can freeze them longer, but they might get squished inside the plastic bag from the vacuum.

When you’re ready to eat them, simply leave them in the fridge or on the counter to thaw or microwave for about a minute.

What kind of mold can I use?

Honestly you can use any type of cake mold that you have on hand.  I used a [easyazon_link identifier="B0771LJL5D" locale="US" tag="mypcoskitchen05-20 "]silicone bundt mold[/easyazon_link] that I got back in Canada, but any kind will do.  Could be a bread mold, cake mold, star shaped mold or even a cheesecake mold.

Just make sure to oil it really well before pouring the batter in.

What can I serve this cake with.

This Keto chocolate cake is originally dairy free and so is the chocolate ganache drizzled all over it.  If you’d like to keep it dairy free, then I recommend serving it with some of my coconut whipped cream.  It's airy, sweet and balances the chocolate flavour extremely well.

If you don’t mind having a little dairy, it’s very delicious with my sugar free cream cheese frosting recipe.

Want to try other Keto chocolate cakes?

If you’re as obsessed with chocolate as I am, then you’ll definitely want to try my other chocolate cake recipes.  My low carb chocolate cake recipe is a four layer chocolate cake with a sugar free buttercream frosting filled with raspberries.  These chocolate cake bars are made with psyllium so they hold very well and don’t break apart easily.

For a coffee and chocolate flavored dessert, my authentic tiramisu is the one recipe to try!

If you don’t want to invest in making a whole cake, I recommend making my keto chocolate mug cake recipe as it will satisfy all of your dessert cravings in one serving!

Final tips & substitutions

Before making this keto chocolate cake, follow the following tips and possible substitutions to make sure your cake comes out a huge success!

• Instead of coconut oil, you can use butter, lard, or ghee.
• Instead of sukrin, you can use Lakanto, or a blend of erythritol and stevia powder or erythritol and monk fruit powder.
• Instead of apple cider vinegar, you can use lemon juice or white vinegar.
• Instead of almond milk, you can use any other type of nut milk or cow milk.
• Instead of almond flour, you can use any type of other nut flour.  (I have not tested nut-free versions of this cake yet)
• Make sure to use refined coconut oil and not extra-virgin coconut oil.  The refined one has no coconut taste.
• Make sure to squeeze the water out of your zucchini before adding it to the cake.
• Make sure to oil the cake mold or else it will stick.

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