Saturday, August 8, 2009

Chocolate (Chip) Zucchini Bread

I have been making this zucchini bread for well over 20 years now. It grew out of necessity. I had a need to use up the zucchini avalanche that overtakes us every August. You think that I would finally learn that one zucchini plant is enough? No, not me. They sell them in those cute little 4 packs and it breaks my heart to throw away a perfectly good plant, so the extra plants I can’t give away, end up in the ground, cause I would feel bad if I had to banish them to the compost pile. The result of my plant sympathy is lots of zucchini.

There is some truth to the saying “I can’t give the stuff away”.

This is one of my favorite ways to use up some of the abundance. Chocolate Zucchini Bread, or in this version, Chocolate Chip Zucchini cause we all know everything is better with chocolate (or as my husband would say bacon, but I’m not quite sure bacon would work well in this recipe!).

Chocolate Zucchini Bread slice1

This is another recipe pulled from the archives. I don’t even peel the zucchini; I just give it a good scrub and shred it. I kinda like the little green flecks nestled into the moist chocolate cake. For years and years my kids would gobble this up, never thinking there was a vegetable in it! Oh the horror! Once they got older I confessed that the little green flecks were indeed zucchini and guess what, they still gobble it up. Every once in a while I will throw in a handful of chocolate chips or mini chips to make it extra chocolaty and gooey.

I often substitute applesauce for the oil in this cake and it still comes out great. This recipe makes two loaves.

I guarantee that even your most picky vegetable haters, will love this cake.

zucchini


Chocolate (Chip) Zucchini Bread
Printable recipe
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
(you can substitute 1 cup of applesauce)
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
(you can peel them, I never do)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking powder
handful of chocolate chips or mini chips

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, oil, sugar & vanilla. Stir in zucchini. Combine all the dry ingredients and add it to the zucchini mixture. Mix well. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans, or make muffins by filling the pans 2/3 full with batter.

Bake loaf pans at 350 for 1 hour or until bread tests done. Bake muffins at 350 for 15 minutes or until they test done.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

16 comments:

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

I am a failure at growing zucchini, but I love this bread. Thanks for posting the recipe, now I don't have to search (again) to find it.

stefanie said...

could you do this w/o the cocoa in the recipe for a slightly less chocolately bread? i do love the chocolate, don't get me wrong, but I don't have cocoa in the house - I have everything else though and want to make this recipe asap! yum!

The Cutting Edge of Ordinary said...

Stefanie - I don't see why not. I might increas the flour by the 1/2 cup. Let me know if you make it that way and how it turns out.

Bunny said...

I've got to let Carol know about this bread, she always grows zucchini, I'll be buying some for this. Isn't it amazing that someone somewhere looked at they're zucchini and decided that it would be good to bake with,people are so amazing and creative!

stefanie said...

i couldn't wait for your advice b/c i was so excited about it, and ended up making it w/o the cocoa last night - and it also ended up in a 9x13" pan, b/c i didn't feel like muffins and couldn't find the loaf pans. it turned out wonderfully! super delicious, excellent texture. had a bit last night a couple hours after it cooled, but it was even better for part of breakfast today! thanks again for the recipe.

White Toast with Butter said...

Pioneer Woman had some fried zucchini sticks the other day that looked great. Your bread looks delicious.

Lisa said...

This is very close to my long time favorite Zucchini Bread recipe. I have been scattering chocolate chips across the top for several years but never added cocoa to the batter. Sounds interesting! I think your husband might be on to something too. I think adding some crumbles of bacon to the batter is a really fun idea.

gardenmama said...

What a fabulous recipe!
I really would love to try this, thanks! : )

southside said...

I finally got to try one of your recipes and was not disappointed!
It even made it into my recipe box.
If I had to change one thing I would add more zucchini, I feel like the cocoa over powered the zucchini a bit, and since I love zucchini it wouldn't be a loss to try this bread again and again!

KarenLana said...

Looks fantastic - thanks for sharing the recipe! I'm going to make this over the weekend.

=)

Soon, Then said...

I found you after a google search for Chocolate chip zucchini bread and settled on your recipe, knowing full well that blog recipes are usually the best! Just popped em in the oven... so far the batter tastes good! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

The loaves are in the oven right now! Smells great.So easy to make!I just used a cheese grater to grate the zucchini.How do you shred it?

Unknown said...

Oh! So delish! I made this last night and it's so soft and moist! Thank you for another fabulous recipe!!

Angela said...

I took out the oil and added applesauce. It was REALLY good!

Lacey said...

My loaves are in the oven as I type, but I can also confirm the batter was delicious. Anonymous--I used the grater insert with my food processor.

Alexis said...

I turned your zucchini bread ALLERGY FREE, and it's still very yummy! I substituted white rice flour and added a teaspoon of Xanthan Gum. Be sure to use GF vanilla and GF/Dairy Free/Soy Free chocolate chips. I substituted 1/2 cup Earth Balance Dairy Free/Soy Free butter for the oil, though you could definitely substitute the apple sauce here. I just think apple sauce subs with GF flour tend to make the bread chewy.

Lastly, spray the pan with olive oil and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Anyway, for all of you bubble children out there, you can now enjoy Cutting Edge's Zucchini Bread too! :-)

http://www.freesweetsbakery.com