I’m starting to think about Valentine’s Day which these cakes would be perfect for. But honestly, I found this recipe and had a half of a leftover zucchini in the fridge…and there you go. Along with using up the zucchini, I got to dispense with this bar of super dark chocolate which had been hanging out at the bottom of my chocolate basket for a while.
Not until after I’d put the cakes in the oven and I took a photo did I notice that this particular bar of chocolate was well past its expiration date. If you don’t hear from me for a while, you know what happened.
Mini Double Chocolate Zucchini Cakes Recipe
These decadent and satisfying little cakes are inspired by a recipe for Chocolate-Zucchini Cakes with Walnuts from marthastewart.com. If you don’t have white whole wheat flour, replace it with all purpose flour. If you don’t have Greek yogurt, replace it with sour cream.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
Scant 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons plain Greek-style yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3.5 ounce bar of dark chocolate, chopped fine
1 cup finely grated zucchini, loosely packed
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease one mini muffin pan or line it with paper baking cups and set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the butter, egg, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir a few times. Add the chocolate and zucchini and stir until combined.
4. Place heaping tablespoons of batter into each of the mini muffin wells. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the pan. Remove from pan and place on a cooling rack. Serve warm or cool. Store remaining cakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Yield: 24 mini cakes
Prep-time: 20 minutes
Baking-time: 15 minutes
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12:30 pm on January 25th, 2011
Looks great, will have to try. I vow in the New Year to “make” more snacks and “open” less of them. What are your thoughts on sucanat instead of white sugar? I try to do more natural sugars. By the way I cannot imagine having a bar of Green & Black’s dark chocolate that escaped getting eaten for a few years. One of my favorites!
12:42 pm on January 25th, 2011
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Caro, Cindy Rowland. Cindy Rowland said: New Post: Valentine’s Day Snack: Mini Double Chocolate Zucchini Cakes http://goo.gl/acTvC #snack #recipe #valentinesday [...]
12:42 pm on January 25th, 2011
YUM, these look great. They remind me of the brownie bites I used to take in my lunchbox as a kid! To answer your Q’s – I do have white whole wheat flour – but it was a gift from King Arthur – so I’m not sure I’ll always have it….but the AP sub works. I ALWAYS have greek yogurt.
12:53 pm on January 25th, 2011
Missy, I’m much more lax about sugar than I used to be. Or you could call me wishy washy. As long as I’m keeping it in the back row of our diets, I don’t care so much if it’s natural. I’ll probably be more into naturally dried cane juice in a couple years.
Stevia freaks me out. It’s too new. And it seems too good to be true.
12:54 pm on January 25th, 2011
Are sucanat and stevia different??
3:05 pm on January 25th, 2011
White whole wheat flour – YES! I get it from Trader Joe’s.
Greek yogurt – YES! Granted, I usually have flavored for my own meals, but I’ve baked and cooked with it as well.
These look delish! Would love to see a nutritional info breakdown on them. :)
4:14 pm on January 25th, 2011
Chocolate basket? Awesome.
White whole wheat – totally. I’ve been experimenting with whole wheat pastry flour lately too – great pancakes & graham crackers, and a pretty good pie crust. I recommend playing with it if you’ve never tried it.
Those muffins look fantastic!
8:49 pm on January 25th, 2011
Thanks all for the info on your pantries! What’s the point of writing a blog if I’m the only one who keeps this stuff on hand. Very encouraging. Thanks!
8:57 pm on January 26th, 2011
yummy!! I used what I had in my pantry, too: gray zucchini (grated by my 4-year-old, so my husband didn’t like the chunks he found!!), all white wheat flour, honey instead of sugar, and mini chips instead of the bar. I didn’t have enough cocoa powder, so ours weren’t as chocolaty as they should have been. However, I will say it again, Yummy!! I’m new to Greek yogurt, and I love it! I do drain/strain plain yogurt sometimes when a recipe calls for Greek.
9:03 pm on January 26th, 2011
It’s a no on the flour, I’ve got too much of the AP stuff to get rid of before I switch to something else. It’s literally taking up an entire drawer in my fridge. Greek yogurt is the bomb! I love Chobani in shameful ways. And I agree… that Green and Black would have been gone in a matter of a day or so. ;-)
7:54 pm on January 27th, 2011
I’m a bit of a chocolate pansy. Milk chocolate doesn’t last long around me. I love the dark chocolate taste in these cakes though.
11:26 am on January 28th, 2011
These look so yummy! Definitely going on my to-try list! As far as the white whole-wheat flour, I’m still with unbleached. Where do I find the whole-wheat white? I do have a Whole Foods nearby but rarely venture there–too much $$! Greek yogurt…yes! I was buying just the plain but last time purchased the Greek. It’s a lot less tangy but it is more $$ also so I’m hoping to make my own someday soon, if I ever get my act together!
11:18 pm on January 28th, 2011
Coming back to say I made these tonight for my son and his friend. They were a hit! Seriously, these are soooo moist…they are like little brownie bites but better for you. Definitely a keeper–thanks Cindy!
4:04 pm on January 30th, 2011
OK, so I tend to buy whole wheat pastry flour. I’ve seen the white wheat flour and it seriously confuses me. I don’t understand how wheat flour can be white and therefore I have not bought it. Does anyone have any information about this that would be helpful? Thanks.
–Kristina
7:04 am on January 31st, 2011
http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-white-wheat-faq
4:20 pm on January 31st, 2011
Thanks for the info!! Very very interesting. Now I am sad that we have been gluten free for 15 months and I can’t test this product out. :(
6:06 pm on January 31st, 2011
My sister actually baked something very similar to this last week and they truly delicious. I’ll definitely have to try this recipe.
6:23 pm on February 13th, 2011
I just made them for dessert for the family. Everyone loved them, including my picky husband, 2 and 5 year olds. Thanks so much!
8:40 pm on February 13th, 2011
Excellent! I’m so glad they liked it!
1:26 pm on February 14th, 2011
I made these yesterday and I was missing the plain yogurt/sour cream ingredient. I subsituted vanilla yogurt, reduced the sugar & vanilla and they still came out great. Thanks ! They are now in my freezer waiting for their turn in my girls’ lunchboxes.
1:38 pm on March 3rd, 2011
I bake most of our bread so we have KA white, bread, white wheat and whole wheat flours on hand. I also usually have rye, spelt and White Lily (for biscuits and scones). We usually do a blend – anywhere between 1/3 and 2/3 whole grain.
I’ve done greek yogurt since I had gestational diabetes and needed something that could be both a protein source and sweet rather than savory. Making and straining my own yogurt has made me much less grumpy about the cost. Both kids have grown up eating it unsweetened – the elder likes hers with a little vanilla so I now keep some vanilla extract in a little dropper bottle (the “squirt” is less than 1/16th tsp)
I need to try these – with enough chocolate I might be able to sneak the zucchini past my husband (who loathes carrot cake and zucchini bread). I read somewhere recently that bloom on chocolate might affect it’s mouthfeel but that it still works fine for cooking. I wish I could remember where so I could give you the source but I only recall that it was a source that I tend to trust. I love that you do things in small portions!
@Kristina – white whole wheat flour is made from hard white spring/winter wheat rather than traditional red wheat. It has a lighter color and milder taste (to my eye it is very similar to whole wheat pastry flour colorwise, but it is higher in protein).
5:34 pm on March 18th, 2011
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