Dark Chocolate and Walnut Zucchini Bread

Makes 1 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf

Recipe from Food52 adapted from The Seven Spoons Cookbook

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Just plan on doubling the recipe because you are going to want to have one loaf for now and one to freeze for another day.  It’s that good!  This bread is so chocolatey, and so moist.  Despite its appearance and ingredients list, this zucchini bread, is surprisingly not too sweet. It gets its rich flavor from a generous amount of bittersweet dark chocolate in the batter. The chocolate bits melt into the base of the bread so that you get oozy warm pockets of chocolate throughout... as well as some additional darkness from Dutch process cocoa powder. Frankly, this bread is so choclatey that the ¼ cup of chocolate sprinkled over the top is overkill. 

2½ cups grated zucchini

¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cups whole-wheat flour

¼ cup Dutch process cocoa powder

¾ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

1¼ cup bittersweet dark chocolate (at least 70%), chopped, divided (I used bittersweet chips.)

¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

½ cup buttermilk

1 large egg

¾ cups light brown sugar or Sucanat

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat an oven to 350° F (175° C).  Grease and line a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch (21 x 10-centimeter) loaf pan with parchment paper and set it aside. Let the parchment paper hang over the sides.

Place the grated zucchini on a baking tray lined with a lint-free kitchen towel, then place another kitchen towel on top, patting it down gently to absorb any additional moisture. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use a fork to whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt. Stir in the chopped walnuts and 1 cup of the dark chocolate.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the butter and buttermilk. Add in the egg, light brown sugar, and vanilla, and then whisk the liquid ingredients until smooth and uniform. Gently fold in the zucchini.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and then sprinkle the top of the batter with the remaining ¼ cup of chopped dark chocolate.

Bake, rotating at least once half way through baking, until a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.  Let cool in the loaf pan for 15 to 20 minutes before inverting out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.