This is a most wonderful chocolaty zucchini loaf. Adapted from Taste of Home. What
attracted me to the recipe was the use of 3 eggs. So many zucchini loaves use
only 1 egg and always end up dense. The other reason was the use of
buttermilk. If a loaf recipe calls for milk, it is always a good idea to
substitute it with buttermilk as this always improves the crumb. You can
substitute buttermilk with a combination of sour cream and milk or yogurt and
milk, but there are so many types of milk, sour cream and yogurt on the
market, the substitution may or may not work. The chocolate chips play an
integral role in the flavour. If omitted the granulated sugar should be
increased to 3/4 cup. The brown sugar and the additional instant coffee
granules enhance the chocolaty experience. There were spices in the original version,
but these would just muddle up the flavour.
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup oil
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp real vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated zucchini, drained
2-1/2 cups flour
4 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup real chocolate chips
If you omit the chocolate chips,
increase the sugar from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup.
- Grate the zucchinis and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream the sugars, butter and the oil.
- Add eggs one by one and beat well after each addition.
- Add the salt, baking soda, and the coffee granules and beat to combine.
- Add the vanilla and the buttermilk and mix well.
- By hand squeeze out the zucchini juice.
- Discard the juice and add the drained zucchini to the bowl and stir to combine.
- Gradually add the flour and the cocoa and stir to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and using a wooden spoon fold into the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the parchment lined loaf pan.
- Bake at 350 until cake tester comes out clean.
