Pear & Zucchini Chocolate Cake

Let’s face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me. Audrey Hepburn

A few days ago I shared a picture on my Facebook page of a chocolate cake I was trying out that had pears, bananas and zucchini. It was a total spur of the moment experiment that I was expecting to fail horribly at. This Pear & Zucchini Chocolate Cake is incredible, with a capital I. I was so happy with the way it came out, I just had to share the recipe.

This cake idea stemmed from Little Mirchi’s new found love of chocolate and a mom (Me!) hoping to make a somewhat of a healthy chocolate cake. I’d seen chocolate cake recipes that call for zucchini, bananas or even apple sauce, but never all three together. Since I didn’t have apple sauce I figured I would use the pears we had at home instead. I had just pulled it out of the oven when The Husband came home and insisted on trying it warm. He had no idea what what in the cake (he just figured it was a chocolate cake). Literally the first words out of his mouth were, Wow, it’s so chocolatey (yeeeaaaasss). SUCCESS!

This Pear & Zucchini Chocolate Cake is literally melt in your mouth good. It’s soft, spongy and packs a powerful chocolate punch. The zucchini is undetectable and there are slight hints of pear and banana throughout. I could not believe how rich this cake was, especially given the fact there’s no butter and a limited amount of sugar. This cake does not disappoint.

Pear & Zucchini Chocolate Cake

 

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

This Pear & Zucchini Chocolate Cake is a rich chocolate cake that is soft and spongy. The zucchini is undetectable with hints of pear and banana throughout.

Author: Nisha Vedi Pawar

Recipe type: Desserts

Ingredients

• 1½ cup all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3 pears, peeled
• 2 bananas, peeled
• 1 zucchini, peeled
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ⅓ cup milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8x8 cake pan. Blend together the pear (seeds removed), banana, zucchini and milk, until smooth.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, coffee powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the reserved puree, egg, vegetable oil and the vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour the batter in a greased 8x8 cake pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool. Store in an airtight container.

3.3.3077

Love chocolate? Check out these Hazelnut Chocolate Chunk Brownies & Salted Pistachio Brownies