Chocolate Zucchini Buckwheat Bundt Cake (Gluten-Free)

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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. 🙂

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.

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 wedding cake. 🙂

Chocolate Zucchini Buckwheat Bundt Cake (gluten-free)
3 eggs
1 c. cane sugar
3/4 c. milk (or milk substitute)
3/4 c. coconut oil
2 c. grated zucchini (make sure they’re squeezed dry if you are using frozen)
1 tsp. celtic sea salt
1 1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. cacao
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. (Yep, it’s that easy!)

3. Grease a bundt pan and pour in the batter.

4. Bake about 50-55 min. Let cool about 10 minutes before flipping it out.

*To make this a soaked flour recipe here’s what you’ll need to do:
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 homemade yogurt or kefir. You can also reduce the milk by 3 tablespoons and then add 3 tablespoons of homemade 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 are ready to bake, add the rest of the ingredients and bake as per instructions. Note that you may need to increase your baking time a bit.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (gluten-free)
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. raw honey
2 Tbsp. cacao or unsweetened cacao powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Dash of celtic sea salt
Milk (or milk substitute) to make the consistency desired

Directions:
1. Cream together all ingredients.

2. Scoop into a zippered storage baggie and cut off a tiny section of the bottom corner.

3. Squeeze the frosting out over the cake and let sit for about 20 min. before cutting.