Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake—Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

I have some zucchini (who doesn’t?!).  I decided to make something, and after making my “famous” Grandma Tiny's Zucchini Cookies so I could give them to some friends, I felt that I needed to make something I could eat, too.  Taking notes from the recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies I made two years ago, I changed up a few things figuring these would be a little less brownie-like and have more of a cakey texture—and they do.  They are good.  I challenge anyone to test them out and see if they’d have a clue these are gluten free, have no refined sugar and are made with coconut oil instead of butter.  I even think they wouldn’t know they have zucchini, too.  I’m happy with my new snack! 

Part of the reason you can’t even tell they have zucchini is because when I make baked goods with zucchini, I prefer to use the finer side of the grater.

grated zucchini

See the difference?  If you set the grated zucchini on paper towel while getting the rest of the ingredients ready, a lot of the liquid is drained from the shreds which helps you not end up with a wet mess when you’re baking with them.  When I made the cookies earlier, I forgot to use the smaller grate, so I put the zucchini (along with the brown sugar and oil I’d already mixed in with it) in the food processor and chopped it a little finer by just pulsing it a few times.  I think it worked perfectly!

Grandma Tiny's Zucchini Cookies

I think it’s okay and necessary for the zucchini to be visible in zucchini cookies, same with zucchini bread, but for some reason not in chocolate things like brownies and cake.  Just don’t tell people who don’t want a vegetable in their baked goods and they wouldn’t even know.  ; )

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake—Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup raw honey

1/4 cup organic coconut oil

1/2 cup raw cacao (or cocoa powder)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup almond flour

3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (with xanthan gum)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup finely shredded, drained on paper towel for 20 minutes, packed zucchini

1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chips of your choice)

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped, lightly toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with nonstick foil with edges creased down over the sides and grease lightly with coconut oil.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar, honey, and coconut oil.  Add the cocoa powder and stir together until well combined.  Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.  Add the almond flour, gluten free flour blend, baking powder and salt.  Stir with a spatula until just combined.  Stir in the zucchini.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just moist crumbs.  Let sit on wire rack until cool.  Remove from pan using the foil edges.  Set on a cutting board and cut into desired sized pieces.  Snack away.

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

Mmmm!  Do you see the zucchini in there?  No.  You can’t tell it’s there, but veggies in cake equals healthy! ; )

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I have some, but not all, of these ingredients. These brownies look amazingly rich and decadent! I may have to make a few substitutions and I know they'll not be as delicious as what you've presented here! What a great looking brownie, Katrina!

Katrina said...

Thanks, Renee. I think these would be pretty easy to change a few ingredients and they'd still turn out well, like the sugar and probably just using all purpose flour.

Anonymous said...

Do you think maple syrup would work in place of honey?

These look terrific!

Katrina said...

Anonymous, I think you could easily replace the honey with maple syrup. I've used both for many things before (not this cake yet), but it should be fine. Let me know if you do and how it turns out. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Made this to day - delicious! I subbed maple syrup for the honey & used pecans & walnuts (toasted).
Thank you for another great recipe!

Katrina said...

Anonymous, that's great! Thanks for letting me know. Yum to lots of nuts. I just finished the last piece of it today. Loved it chilled as I kept it stored in the fridge after the second day.