Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This decadent chocolate zucchini bread is simply delicious! It's extremely easy to make and it's a clever way to incorporate more vegetables in your diet. For this recipe you'll need just a few basic ingredients, a large bowl, a spatula and a loaf tin. It's a no-fuss recipe, you just mix the ingredients and you pour the batter in a parchment paper-lined tin. The oven does the hard work for you.

To elevate the chocolate flavor I use vanilla extract, espresso powder and toasted hazelnuts. To make this recipe a little bit healthier, instead of using butter, I use olive oil and buttermilk and the result is an incredibly moist, almost fudgy zucchini bread.

The recipe:

www.vespresso.cooking/chocolate-zucchini-bread

• 175g all-purpose white flour - 1 + 1/3 cups
• 110g granulated white sugar - ½ cup
• 100g packed brown sugar - ½ cup
• 50g cocoa – ½ cup
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 2 large eggs
• 70ml olive oil - 1/3 cup
• 90ml buttermilk - 1/3 cup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 medium zucchini (about 230g – 1 + ½ cups)
• 50g hazelnuts – 1/3 cups

Preheat the oven at 350°F/175°C (gas mark 4).

Trim the stem and root-end from the zucchini and carefully grate it.

Toast the hazelnuts in a skillet for about 5 minutes over high heat, let them cool down and chop them finely.

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, white and brown sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and espresso powder. Sift the dry mixture.

Add the beaten eggs, olive oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract and stir until just combined. Add the grated zucchini (drain any excess moisture using your hands) and chopped hazelnuts and stir until incorporated.

Take a 30x14x8 cm loaf tin and line it with parchment paper. The parchment paper should be long enough to line the bottom of the tin with extra hanging over the sides.

Pour the batter in a parchment paper-lined loaf pan.

Bake in the preheated oven a for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool the baked loaf in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Slice and serve.