Chocolate cake is the ultimate treat to satisfy sweet cravings so it’s no secret that it’s not the healthiest of desserts.
That said, one avid baker has found a way to pack in not one, but two kinds of vegetables into her unique recipe.
Sharing the formula in a video posted on her TikTok profile, What Ally Eats (@whatallyeats) claimed that her go-to chocolate cake is full of “hidden veggies”.
She said: “This is a lovely decadent chocolate zucchini cake with the two-ingredient frosting.”
According to Ally, the recipe dates back years ago from Food52, but it has remained a hit with her family, adding: “That’s how good it is”.
Ingredients
-
453g courgettes, grated
- 360g white whole wheat flour
- 48g unsweetened cocoa powder
- One teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- One teaspoon of baking soda
- Half a teaspoon of baking powder
- Half a teaspoon salt
- 312g sugar
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature (or one cup of milk combined with one tablespoon white vinegar)
- 1/2 cup rapeseed or other neutral oil
- Three large eggs, room temperature
- One teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
- 180g semisweet chocolate chips
For the sweet potato frosting
- 425g can pure sweet potato puree (or one large sweet potato roasted and blended)
- 283g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 pound (453g) zucchini (about 4 small), trimmed
- 2 1/2 cups (360g) white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup (48g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups (312g) sugar
- 1 cup (245g) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (112g) grapeseed or other neutral oil
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) semisweet chocolate chips
Method
The cake is simple to make by combining the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls before mixing at the end.
Start by sifting the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a bowl, then in a separate one, make a start on the liquid batter.
Add the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla extract and buttermilk. Ally noted that buttermilk can be impractical to buy so she recommended using one cup of dairy or almond milk with one tablespoon of white vinegar instead.
Make a well in the bowl full of dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients before mixing everything.
Add the grated courgette just before it’s finished, along with the chocolate chips. Then, pour into a greased or lined square baking dish.
Leave to cook in the oven at 165C for 35 minutes while making a start on the “quick frosting”. Ally said: “The recipe calls for sweet potato puree but I usually make my own by roasting and blending a sweet potato.”
When the puree is ready, place it in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water on the stove and add dark chocolate to it. The TikTok baker claimed: “It turns into this perfectly sweet frosting that you would have no idea is half made of veggies.”
