Carob Zucchini Cake (refined sugar free)

Zucchini in a cake? I swear, you’ll never know! If you’ve never had zucchini cake before, you are in for a surprise. First off, you can’t even see or taste the zucchini, and second, the zucchini gives this cake a wonderful moist texture that is difficult to reproduce in other recipes. I have given this cake to extremely picky children, and they are always coming back for seconds (and thirds)! So give it a try!

I always have extra zucchini in my garden in the summer, and this is my favorite go-to recipe when I need to use them up. This works particularly well for those giant zucchini that get left in the patch for too long. This recipe is free of refined sugars and white flour, and it can easily be turned into a chocolate zucchini cake as well! I personally like carob better than cocoa because it doesn’t have any caffeine in it, and also because it is naturally sweet. When you use cocoa powder, you need to use more sweetener to counteract the bitterness, but either way this is a wonderful recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups shredded zucchini, seeds removed (squeeze as much water out of it as you can)

• 4 Tbsp butter (or equal amount coconut oil if you don’t use dairy)

• 1/4 cup honey

• 3 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2/3 cup coconut flour

• 2/3 cup almond flour

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 4 Tbsp carob powder (if you do cocoa I use 8 Tbsp cocoa powder and an extra 1/4 cup honey)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the coconut flour, almond flour, baking soda, salt, and carob powder. Add the butter (melted), honey, eggs, and vanilla. Fold in the zucchini until evenly distributed.

3. Pour mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.

4. Bake for 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. The baking time may vary greatly depending on how much moisture you squeezed out of the zucchini.