Chocolate Cake with Zucchini-Vegan

This is the birthday cake I made for both of my daughter’s this year. It is basically the same as my chocolate layer cake recipe, but with a bit of added zucchini. You can’t taste, see, or detect the zucchini, but I feel just a bit better giving them cake if there is even a tiny bit of nutrition in it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for adding sugar to all vegetables, but if you are going to have cake, you might as well also have a vegetable. Pictured here I made it in a 9×13 pan for a sheet cake and used my regular vegan buttercream.

Ingredients

  • 1 TBL vinegar
  • 1/2 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 cups brewed coffee (or more milk)
  • 2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Oil 2 8″ round cake pans, put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, oil and flour pan and parchment paper. Alternatively you can use a 9×13 pan, greased but no parchment paper. Bake for 22-27min for a 9×13 pan.
  3. Mix together the milk and vinegar, set aside to curdle.
  4. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in sugar and salt.
  5. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add the milk mixture, coffee, oil and extracts mixing with an electric mixer briefly until there are no lumps.
  6. Fold in shredded zucchini and evenly divide batter into prepared pans and bake 25-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  7. Let cake rest in the pan about 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on cooling rack before frosting.

Happy Birthday To ME!

Vegan Key Lime Pie Cheesecake
Vegan Key Lime Pie Cheesecake

It’s my birthday today! I love my birthday. I pretty much take at least a week and give myself treats. So fun. Yesterday was date caramel sticky buns (recipe coming next week), today I’m making a cake (not sure what kind yet), I also went spinning (my new obsession) and had my husband bring the girls to take me out to breakfast after class. I know it is also the Superbowl, but lucky for me no one in my house really cares so we get to go to things that are usually crowded on a Sunday afternoon. Today it is going to the climbing gym. So, happy birthday to me and anyone else who shares my birthday. I’m sharing a few links below for my perfect birthday meal.

Start with a Vegan Mushroom Walnut Pâté

Then Vegan Lasagna 

And finish with vegan Key Lime Pie Cheesecake  I pretty much always have chocolate cake for my birthday, but I’m feeling citrusy this year.