There is a tale about this cake. My friend, a life-expert-baker (“JJ”) made the best Chocolate zucchini layer cake with chocolate frosting. There wasn’t a professional baker that could even come close to the quality of her superb cake. Moist and sweet like the kind one dreams about. That was before eliminating sugar from my diet (and recently her diet as well.) So I tasked her to create a chocolate zucchini cake low sugar, low fat, with the zucchini fiber benefit. She worked on it for a week and nailed it.
Date sugar and honey has a lower glycemic index (~50 vs. ~70 ) than white sugar. Date sugar is a natural sweetener made by grinding dates into a coarse powder. It’s raw and unrefined, with some of the potassium, magnesium, and other vitamins and minerals found in whole dates. A half cup of dates contains 6 grams of fiber, making date sugar a better choice for baking. JJ also increased the natural sweetness with a banana making this an excellent way to have your chocolate cake and eat it too!
Ingredients
- 2 c. grated zucchini (1 med-large or 2 small zucchini) do not drain
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 c. plain whole milk Greek yogurt unsweetened
- 1 banana mashed
- 1/3-1/2 c. date sugar, sifted
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup or pure raw honey
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 c. whole wheat flour
- 1/2 c. brown rice flour
- 1/2 c. cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 -1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
A Sweeter Frosting, recommended by Sherrie J. (who was correct) because “cream cheese with vanilla on top was better suited on a bagel.”
Adjusted frosting recipe:
- 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup honey
- pinch salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 tsp cream of tarter (optional to make stiffer)
- Chill a small mixing bowl in freezer before starting the cake. Further instructions below.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare 8×12 glass baking pan by wiping a tsp of oil to lightly coat entire pan. If there is build up of oil, wipe so there is barely a coating. Dust with flour over the pan to coat the oil.
- Blend eggs, yogurt, mashed banana, water, and vanilla well.
- In a separate bowl, mix remaining dry ingredients.
- Fold dry into wet ingredients, alternating with grated zucchini until just blended. Do not overmix.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Place in oven for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a rack.
- Frosting: With the chilled bowl from freezer, add chilled whipping cream and whip until thicker and it holds it shape when dropped from a spoon (‘peaks form’).
- Whip together whipped cream.
- In a separate bowl, add softened cream cheese, honey, salt, and vanilla.
- Whip the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Add cream of tarter if too soft, whip more.
- Fill a plastic bag with frosting and cut off a small corner.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cake from the open corner of bag in a pattern or filled circle. Enjoy!
Makes 18 cup cakes, or one 8×12 cake
Garden to table…
