Two-layered chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate buttercream

I don’t know about you guys, but my garden is going crazy this year!!!

When we moved into this house a couple years ago, it was basically a black hole of dirt, concrete, rocks, old construction debris and other garbage.  The yard was NOT taken care of at all. We bought the house in the middle of winter and everything was covered in snow, so it was hard to know what we were really dealing with.  Then the first summer rolled around and we realized what a mess it was.  At the time though, we had a new baby and were not in a position to do anything with it.  Then fast forward the following year and we were away a lot as a family, and I took a few trips on my own which meant Clint was with Luna 24/7, so another summer went by and our yard just stayed a giant mess.  This year though we powered through.  With Luna being bigger, the Covid quarantine and another baby on the way I knew we had to work through our yard because I was going to need a space that Luna could play and I could relax.

So Clint busted his butt and completely transformed our yard, including building out six garden boxes.  I was so excited because I LOVE growing my own food, and it’s given me something to tend to in the bazillion hours a day we’ve been spending at home.  And the very best part – it has become a bonding experience for Luna and I.  We water the garden every morning and afternoon if needed, pick peas and strawberries and Luna eats them (Clint and I haven’t had a single one), pick zucchini almost everyday, Luna stuffs her face full of dill, basil, mint, cilantro and lettuce on the regular and we check to see if the tomatoes are ripe.  It has been one constant positive thing we get to do together in what has sometimes been a rocky few months.

So fast forward a couple months and our garden is bonkers.  I have 6 zucchini plants (assuming they wouldn’t work or I would get like one or two zucchinis from each plant), and I am literally pulling off two to three zucchinis a day.  So what do you do…make chocolate zucchini cake of course!

I made a chocolate zucchini bundt cake with chocolate ganache for my niece a few years ago and of course like many things that turn out perfectly – I did not write the recipe down…or so I thought.  I did a search through my computer and my phone and found it in my notes, woohoo!!!

So I pulled out the recipe and made a few tweaks because I wanted to create a two-layered cake out of it with buttercream filling/icing.  It turned out great and will be my go to chocolate cake recipe from now on.

Double-layered Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Yield: 1 cake or 24 cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 28 minutes

Additional Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 58 minutes

Rich, moist, and absolutely delicious, you'd never know this cake is filled with zucchini!

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Ingredients

• CAKE
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 21/2 cups zucchini
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup butter or coconut oil, room temperature
• 11/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM ICING
• 11/2 cups butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2-3 tbsp heavy cream, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• OPTIONAL GARNISH
• dark chocolate shavings or dark chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease two, 9″ x 2″ springform pans and set aside. If you're making cupcakes, line with cupcake liners.
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt). Mix until ingredients are evenly distributed.
4. In a stand mixer cream together coconut oil and sugar until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla mix until combined and then add the greek yogurt and zucchini. Mix until just combined.  Add in dry ingredients and stir until flour has been fully incorporated.  Do not over mix.
5. Split the batter evenly between the two cake pans and spread out with a spatula.  Bake on the middle rack for 28 minutes (25 minutes for cupcakes) or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out dry. Remove from the oven and let cool.
6. While the cake is cooling we will make the buttercream. With an electric hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Then add the rest of the ingredients (powdered sugar, cocoa powder, heavy cream, salt and vanilla), beat slowly until combined and then beat on high speed for a minute until light and fluffy.  If icing is too thick, add a little more heavy cream; if it is too thin you can add a little more powdered sugar – just keep in mind it will make it sweeter.
7. Once cake is cooled, spread a layer of buttercream evenly over the bottom cake. Put the second cake on top and cover with the remaining buttercream.  Garnish with shaved dark chocolate or chocolate chips if you like. Cut and serve.

Notes

Buttercream can be stored for up to a week in the refrigerator or you can freeze it for 2 to 3 months in the freezer. You will need to thaw it completely in the refrigerator, then beat the frosting for 10 seconds or so until it’s creamy.

Recipe can also be used to make 24 small cupcakes (filling the tin 2/3 full), just reduce baking time to 25 min.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 312Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 290mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 4gSugar: 31gProtein: 2g

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators and not from My Sweet Mess. Although we do attempt to provide as accurate nutritional information as possible, these figures are only estimates.

If you are a fan of coconut – this cake, is great with the addition of 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes in the cake (you can add them in at the same time you add the zucchini open top), and sprinkled on top as a garnish.

So this recipe takes about 2 smaller zucchini’s or 1 large zucchini.  I have another dozen or so in my fridge that I pulled from my garden and another dozen on the plants in the garden. So, hopefully you like zucchini because there will be more recipes coming at you. I need to use up my zucchini before it goes to waste.

I’ve made some yummy healthy muffins that will come to the blog later this week. I’m thinking zucchini fritters (I have a beautiful recipe I used to make for my catering company), a vegan zucchini lasagna, zucchini loaf, and then I have no idea – so if you have any ideas, please send my way.

If you make this recipe and I hope you do, let me know what you think. You can comment here, or on Instagram. I love hearing your thoughts and seeing what you’re making.

Till the next recipe,

Kristen xo