Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Today is a very special day because it’s Henri’s birthday!
He is the best husband and daddy ever and works so hard to provide for our family. Lavinia and I are so lucky that he is our guy! Happy birthday sweetheart! I can’t believe this is the 10th birthday I’ve gotten to celebrate with you… wow we’re getting old!
I know it’s not *technically* a love language but one of my favorite ways to show someone I love them is to bake or cook them super tasty. So every year on Henri’s birthday I bake him a cake from scratch. His favorite flavor combination is chocolate and peanut butter so this year I decided to make him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.
When I was shopping for ingredients I had this random flashback to when I was little and my uncle made a chocolate cake with zucchini. I remembered how it made such a rich, moist chocolate cake that I decided, somewhat on a whim, to incorporate zucchini into Henri’s cake. So basically this is a health, right? I mean it has vegetables in it!
The cake was a hit at our family gathering for Henri’s b-day, we just didn’t tell the little ones about the zucchini. 😉
You NEED to make this cake for your next birthday or celebration! Just make sure you have milk on hand because it is as rich as it looks and begs for a glass of iced cold milk alongside it.
- 3 cups cake flour
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 1 TBSP baking powder
- 2 1/4 baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 3 eggs
- 1 TBSP vanilla extract
- 13.5 oz can coconut milk
- 2 cups grated zucchini, liquids squeezed out
- Coconut Cream solids (from one 13.5 oz can)
- 1 1/4 cup peanut butter, unsweetened
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 350* F.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients (flour-salt).
- In a separate mixing bowl whisk together all of the wet ingredients (butter-zucchini).
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and gently mix together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Do not over-mix.
- Evenly divide batter between 3 9-inch cake pans (greased).
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, checking to make sure that a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool to room temperature before frosting.
- Place can of coconut cream in the refrigerator for a few hours. Remove and scoop out the coconut solids that have formed on the top of the can.
- Place coconut solids in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.
- Add the peanut butter and vanilla.
- Whip on medium-low speed until fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar little by little until desired sweetness is achieved.
- Frost cake.