Chocolate Zucchini Bread

While this recipe has the word “bread” in it, it’s anything but an ordinary loaf of bread. This decadent, sweet, chocolate-flavored zucchini bread is the perfect treat to bake when there is so much zucchini in the garden. Plus, it’s a dump-and-stir cake, making it even better to make!

What could be better than a vegetable in a dessert?

Chocolate zucchini bread, to be honest, is simply a dessert masquerading as a bread. Even more so, zucchini bread is a quick bread which means that it’s made with baking soda and baking powder instead of yeast.

The iconic moist texture that we all love in quick bread comes from the addition of oil. In this recipe, the oil works with the high moisture content of the zucchini, resulting in a loaf of both soft and moist bread.

Both zucchini cake and zucchini bread often have numerous spices that help flavor the flavorless zucchini. This bread utilizes cocoa powder and chocolate chips to provide an intense chocolate flavor. In much the same vein, banana bread uses bananas, and pumpkin loaf uses pumpkin, all for flavor.

But lest you think there’s anything to feel bad about when eating this bread, there’s no reason to think you’re hiding zucchini in a dessert. Instead, celebrate the vegetable by baking this bread.

Everything you’ll need to make this recipe.

This recipe takes twelve simple ingredients and combines them into one of the most tender, flavorful breads you will taste. And while twelve ingredients may seem like a high number, they’re all likely to be pantry staples that you’ll already have on hand. Here are some of the important ingredients:

• Cocoa powder is added with all of the dry ingredients for a deep unlying flavor. Use Dutch process cocoa for a richer chocolate color.
• Zucchini is everywhere in late summer. Whether you grow it or know someone who does, it can easily be found in any market. Pick small- to medium-sized zucchini to minimize the number of seeds.
• Sour cream adds richness to the bread and provides the necessary acidity to activate the baking powder.
• Chocolate chips provide a bit of chocolate in each bite. Choose whatever chocolate strength you enjoy. To offset the sweetness of the bread a bit, I use semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Here’s how to make this recipe.

Since this recipe has a simple ingredient list, it makes sense that the steps to prepare it are also easy. Five steps are all it takes to get this bread into and out of the oven and ready for consumption. Here are the steps:

1. Prepare the dry ingredients. To a bowl, add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a whisk, mix all dry ingredients together until the mixture is homogenous.

2. Add in the wet ingredients. To the dry ingredients, add the neutral oil, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Mix all of the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is well combined. The batter at this point will be relatively thick.
3. Add the zucchini and chocolate chips. Using a grater, grate the zucchini into small pieces. Add the zucchini to the batter along with the chocolate chips.

4. Mix everything together and pour into a loaf pan. To begin the mixing process, use a spatula. The batter will be thick, and a spatula will best incorporate the ingredients. Ensure that all of the zucchini and chocolate chips are mixed well into the rest of the batter and that the mixture appears relatively homogeneous. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and spread it out to an even thickness.

5. Sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar and bake. The turbinado sugar will give the top of the loaf a slightly crispy texture, but the addition is optional. Bake the bread at 350°F for 55 to 60 minutes, until the top is crackly and the edges pull in slightly from the sides of the pan. Slice and serve all by itself or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

These pro tips will make this recipe a success.

• The batter is thin enough that no special stand mixer or hand mixer is necessary. Simply use a wire whisk to mix all of the ingredients together.
• When selecting a zucchini, opt for a smaller size. Large zucchini will usually have more seeds, which is not desirable for this loaf recipe. If you have a large zucchini, slice it in half, and scoop out some of the insides, including the seeds.
• There is no need to remove any of the moisture from the zucchini. The moisture from the zucchini is what is going to give this cake the perfect texture. When using zucchini, some recipes will instruct you to add salt to the zucchini to draw out the moisture and then discard the liquid. That is not the case with this bread, which makes it all the easier!
• To help the bread split evenly (and right where you want it to), use a spatula or knife to make an indentation in the center top part of the bread.

You’ll love these other dessert recipes.

• Lazy peach cobbler
• The perfect peach pie
• Ultimate banana bread
• Easy blueberry galette
• S’mores pudding cups
• No-bake triple berry cheesecake
• Boston cream pie
• Lemon meringue pie
• Brown butter blondies
• Chocolate chunk muffins
• Vanilla bean layer cake

Have I Convinced You to Make This Recipe?

I hope you make this recipe and put some food on your table. Leave a comment and share a star rating so you can let others know how much you love this recipe. This helps show others that this is a recipe they, too, can make, enjoy, and love!