Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Cake - Low Carb & Grain Free

Happy Sunday! Today's dessert recipe is one that takes me down memory lane. Years ago when my 3 children were younger and I lived out in the suburbs of Washington, DC, I used to have a really big garden. It was full of many different varieties of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, eggplant and other veggies. I was never very successful at growing watermelons or cantaloupes for some reason. I even grew corn one year. Besides tomatoes, one of my yearly bumper crops was always zucchini. It grew like crazy and if you turned your back on it for just a second, you literally had "big green baseball bats" in your garden where the zucchini was just a day or two before! LOL We always had tons of fresh produce that we gave away by the bagful. I think neighbors ran when they saw my kids pulling their loaded little red wagon down the street.

I found all kinds of ways to use zucchini. I made tons of zucchini bread and froze it to pull out throughout the fall and winter months. I even found ways to sneak it into almost everything so my kids wouldn't notice it. I diced it and browned it with the meat when I made meat sauce for spaghetti or lasagna. I tossed it into chili and quiche...pretty much everything you could think of. One of the sneakiest ways I used to use it was in a simple "snack type cake." I used to make a Chocolate Zucchini Walnut cake which was a chocolate cake that was topped with chocolate chips and walnuts instead of frosting (baked in a 9" x 13" pan). They loved that cake and I loved that it had veggies in it and they had no clue! I had come across the recipe in a magazine one day and tore it out to try. Yesterday I revamped that old cake recipe to make it grain free and without added sugar. The only sugar contained is in the 1/2 cup of 70% chocolate chips that I scattered on top. If you wanted to, you could swap out Lily's chocolate chips that are sweetened with stevia to remove all sugar. It turned out amazing! It's nice and moist and chocolatey just like I remember. I did not make it as sweet as I used to. The original recipe had 2 cups of sugar. I used 1-1/2 cups of Swerve sweetener instead and it was plenty sweet enough for me. I snapped a few photos below as well as included the easy peasy recipe. Enjoy!

Ready for the oven

Fresh out of the oven

Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 cup ground golden flax seeds
5 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1-1/2 cups Swerve granular or confectioners sweetener (or preferred sweetener)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil (extra light olive oil or coconut oil)
2-1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (preferably 70% cacao or higher)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" baking pan.

Whisk almond flour, ground flax, cocoa powder, sweetener, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl to break up any lumps.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs, vanilla, buttermilk and oil together. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and beat well. Stir in zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle top with walnuts and chocolate chips.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan. Serve topped with a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

*Note: If desired, sugar free chocolate chips can be used (like Lily's). If a sweeter cake is preferred, increase the sweetener by 1/4 cup, or to taste.