Black Forest Zucchini Bread

When zucchini is abundant this time of year, I always love coming up with new ways to use it up.  It’s not uncommon to highlight vegetables in breads or desserts but it still never ceases to excite me when I can eat more veggies in such a delicious way! In regards to zucchini, it usually takes a bold (delicious) stance in most breads and you can see specs of green in the recipe. But not this time. This chocolate zucchini bread recipe holds the worlds biggest secret for concealing a veggie. With such an incredible deep chocolate flavor, sweet chocolate chips and the most tender, moist crumb, this almost shouldn’t even be called zucchini bread!

The texture of this sweet bread is so unbelievably soft and “zucchini free”, I almost wondered if I’d forgotten to add the 1 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini in the recipe. But yes, it was all in there and baked to perfection. This bread resembles chocolate cake so well… yet is deliciously dense and rich like a sweet bread. There’s a very subtle hint of zucchini to enjoy it’s flavor, but if it weren’t for the name, you might have a hard time detecting it. This veggie works along with full-fat coconut milk and large organic eggs to create an incredibly moist texture – the best I’ve had in a long time.

We also add coconut sugar and dark cocoa powder to the mix. These contribute the decadence. Coconut sugar gives the sweetest, caramel like depth of flavor. Dark cocoa powder creates a richer chocolate flavor than you’ll get with regular cocoa. Please do not substitute! A good cocoa powder will yield a deeper chocolate taste while eliminating bitter undertones like dark chocolate. Each thick slice contains milk (or dark) chocolate morsels for maximum chocolate flavor and keeps each bite perfectly sweet. This one bowl zucchini bread recipe has it all. This is definitely one to pin for later!

Black Forest Zucchini Bread

2 Large Organic Eggs
1/3 cup Full-Fat Coconut Milk (from the can)
1/4 cup Butter, Coconut Oil or Earth Balance Butter, melted
3/4 cup Coconut Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1/2 cup Dark Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 cup White Whole Wheat Flour (I used King Arthur’s Brand)
2/3 cup Naturally Sweetened Chocolate Chunks or chopped chocolate, plus more for sprinkling on top
1 1/2 cups shredded Organic Zucchini

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 mini loaf pans with parchment paper and gently spray with cooking oil.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk and melted oil until combined. Add the coconut sugar, sea salt, cocoa powder and baking soda and mix all together. Add the flour with the chocolate chunks and zucchini. Gently stir to combine but be careful not to over mix. Bake bread at 350 for 35-38 minutes in mini loaf pan or for about 50-55 minutes for a single 9×5 standard loaf.