Chocolate & Zucchini Buckwheat Bundt Cake
I was in a baking mood today. It just hits sometimes – the urge to blend ingredients and pull something yummy, chocolaty, and moist from the oven. I also needed to use up some frozen zucchini I had in the freezer and zucchini bread didn’t fit my craving.
So, I did a search and came across Gluten Free Betty’s blog. She had a zucchini cake that looked good – perhaps too good with thick frosting that included 2 cups of sugar. While my sweet tooth cried “Yes!”, my bathroom scale yelled, “No!”
And my bathroom scale can yell pretty loud. 🙂
Some slight modifications
So I cut the sugar in half, which I do to almost every recipe I use. (You can barely tell the difference). I used a chocolate cream cheese frosting (below) that calls for honey as the sweetener – and I cut the frosting recipe itself in half.
I decided to use buckwheat flour only in this recipe. Buckwheat is not considered a grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb. It has a strong, nutty flavor so I hoped the zucchini and chocolate would temper that nicely. I was quite happy with the results.
One moist cake
Yes, it still has some of that buckwheat flavor, but you could substitute any gluten-free flour or pre-mixed blend if you prefer. The cake itself was very moist and didn’t fall apart like others I’ve tried. It had just the right amount of sweetness – enough to satisfy my sweet tooth but not so much I felt like I was eating graduation cake. 🙂

This Chocolate Zucchini Buckwheat Bundt Cake is gluten-free, moist, and doesn't fall apart. Topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting, this recipe will not disappoint!
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 3/4 cups milk (or nut milk substitute)
- 3/4 cups coconut oil
- 2 cups grated zucchini (make sure they're squeezed dry if you are using frozen)
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt
- 1 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 2 Tbsp. raw honey
- 2 Tbsp. cacao powder
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 dash Himalayan salt
- 1 Tbsp. milk (or to make the consistency desired)
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
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Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. (Yep, it's that easy!)
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Pour batter into a greased bundt pan.
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Bake about 50-55 min. Let cool about 10 minutes before flipping it out.
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Cream together all ingredients.
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Scoop into a zippered storage baggie and cut off a tiny section of one of the bottom corners.
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Squeeze the frosting over the cake and let sit for about 20 min. before cutting.
Note: If you're not using sprouted flour, you can reduce phytic acid by soaking the flour before baking.
1. Combine the eggs, milk, oil, and buckwheat flour in a bowl. You need to add an acidic liquid and you can do that in one of two ways: Replace the entire amount of milk with yogurt or kefir. You can also reduce the milk by 3 tablespoons and then add 3 tablespoons of yogurt, kefir, whey, buttermilk, lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar.
2. Let this batter sit for 12-24 hours. (The longer the better.)
3. When you're ready to bake, add the rest of the ingredients and bake as per instructions. Note that because this flour has soaked, you may need to increase your baking time a bit.
When I firststarted to read this recipe it seemed to me too complex. But it wasn't. I made it yesterday and I made it quite quickly. And the result was delicious!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm all for recipes that come together nicely – and ones that taste good too!
Thank you for sharing this useful information…
Psyllium Powder
kinda wish I had some zucchini in the freezer! I think subbing some almond meal for the buckwheat flour would be good. curious to know if anyone's tried anything like that before… I'm also wondering if you think this would work in a rectangular pan. I don't have a bundt pan, but would love to try this recipe!
I have all of the ingredients for this recipe except for dry milk powder and xanthum gum…any ideas for substitutes? This looks so good!
I haven't experimented with almond flour in this recipe.
I don't know why it wouldn't work in a regular 9×13 pan though. I just used the bundt for something different. 🙂 The kids are wowed by anything out of the ordinary. 🙂
Sabrina – xanthan gum is not necessary, it might be a tad bit more crumbly, but it's not essential. In fact I've been taking it out of a lot of my recipes without much noticeable difference.
(Off the top of my head) If I didn't have dry milk powder on hand for the frosting, I'd cut the liquid milk out and possibly add a bit more cacao. It might be a bit runnier, but if you poke holes in the cake with a knife, the frosting would soak into the cake a bit more and make it nice and moist.
Gorgouse looking cake!
I've made a zucchini cake before so I know it's quite good, but I just looooooove your cake
Looks delicious! I love the addition of zucchini 🙂 Please stop over and share this yummy recipe at Mix it up Monday:
http://flourmewithlove.blogspot.com/2012/03/mix-it-up-monday.html
I hope to see you soon 🙂
Cake looks so delicious & moist..thanks for sharing with Midweek Fiesta…
Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday 🙂
I made muffins almost the same way a few weeks ago! 🙂
This cake looks great! My daughter is drooling over the picture and says, "that would be so good with a glass of milk!"
LOL! Why is it that milk always taste so good with chocolate?
Hey Paula! Thanks so much for sharing so many delicious recipes with us at Kids in the Kitchen. Do you think I could make this recipe with almond milk? I am sure in my recipes it won't matter if I use coconut or almond. Would love to know if you have tried it any other way? I always make my own chocolate cake for the boys' birthday and I think I will try it this way and see what they think. Please come back again next week and share your recipes with us! Bless you! (did you notice we have the same Bible quote?!)
another great one! I'll be grinding my own wheat from now on- I've got my grinder on order and it'll be arriving with my order of wheat berries by next week ;)better put this on the list!
Hi Carrie,
I've never tried it with almond milk, but I think it would add a nice flavor and shouldn't be a problem at all.
Yes, I did notice our Bible quotes were the same. I even had to laugh out loud that you've been posting on Shepherding a Child's Heart as I've been putting together a series on that to post in the near future myself!
Thanks for the invite – I'll be back!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures' Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂