Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake (vegan)
This healthy chocolate zucchini snack cake is soft, moist, fluffy, and packed with zucchini! It’s so easy to make, secretly healthy, completely vegan, and such a crowd pleaser. You’ll want to be snacking on this all week long!
This chocolate zucchini snack cake is everything you want in a chocolate cake. It’s deeply rich, incredibly moist, and studded with dark chocolate chips, but made with wholesome, plant-based ingredients and a full cup of hidden zucchini. The vegan buttermilk (almond milk + apple cider vinegar) gives the crumb a tender, bakery-style texture that gets even better overnight.
My kids love this cake and always ask me to make it when we have zucchini from our garden. They don’t love zucchini but they absolutely love this cake and can’t taste the zucchini at all.
It’s called a snack cake for a reason: no frosting required, no layering, no fuss. Just slice straight from the pan and enjoy it as a snack, dessert, or even breakfast! It’s not overly sweet, lower in oil, yet still so indulgent.
If you make this healthy chocolate zucchini snack cake, tag me @nutsaboutgreens on Instagram so I can see your creations! Don’t forget to leave a comment below!
Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake (vegan)
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 Tbsp water)
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any non-dairy milk)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup coconut sugar (sub organic brown sugar)
- 1 cup packed finely shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess liquid (I used the smallest holes in my grater)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 1/4 cup coconut yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x9 inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, make the flax egg by combining the ground flaxseed with water. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
- In a liquid measuring cup, add the almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir and set aside to curdle. This is your vegan buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, cacao powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk until well combined.
- In the bowl with the flax egg, add the almond milk mixture, coconut sugar, shredded zucchini (making sure you squeeze out the excess liquid), pure maple syrup, avocado oil, coconut yogurt, and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.
- Add the wet to the dry ingredients. Use a spatula and stir until just combined. Careful not to over mix! Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then carefully lift cake out with parchment paper and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy! Store leftover cake in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. It will be even more moist/flavorful the next day.
