Low Fat Chocolate Courgette Traybake (Low Cal Zucchini Cake)
My Low Fat Chocolate Courgette Traybake is a lower calorie zucchini cake. Butter-free, oil-free, free of refined sugar, these cake squares are also made from wholewheat/wholemeal flour that is gentler on the stomach for gut health.
Low Fat Chocolate Courgette Traybake
lower calorie zucchini cake squares
*original recipe posted 12/09/2019, new photos & structure republished 26/07/2024
**Click link to jump to section**
What Is This Low Fat Lower Calorie Chocolate Courgette Traybake?
This chocolate courgette (zucchini) cake is not just any chocolate cake. It has courgettes, but also is made using wholemeal (wholewheat) flour, coconut sugar & is oil & butter-free with the use of yoghurt instead.
Made with these alternative ingredients, & as a single layer, served in cake squares, this cake recipe is much lower in calories than standard chocolate cakes or even other chocolate traybakes1
Take a typical chocolate courgette traybake that appears first on a Google search as at July 2024. The calorie count per equivalent cake square is 286 calories2. My cake squares are 108 calories with the coconut glaze. And with no glaze or topping on my cake, even lower @ 88 calories per square.
Compared to a similar cake square but with chocolate frosting or buttercream, from a ‘chocolate zucchini cake’ search, the calories average about 485 per square3
Really Low Fat
Don’t just take my word for it – these cake squares are really low fat at just 2g (grams) of fat per cake square, where one cake is approximately 57g. That equates to just 3.5% fat. This is assuming you use fat free natural yoghurt (our example is using Morrison’s range), and all the other listed ingredients, and includes the coconut sugar glaze. For further information & sources, see nutritional information on the Recipe Card below.
Why Use This Recipe?
Here are just some of the great reasons why this should be your next bake & a regular rotation:
- Easy & a true beginner’s recipe
- Step-by-step instructions & photos
- No special equipment
- No special baking skills required
- Butter-free & Oil-free
- Low Fat*
- Lower Calorie**
- Tastes great
- Customizable
- Video Tutorial
*, ** denotes see sections above or below
Ingredients & Substitutions
My Chocolate courgette cake squares are made from the following basic ingredients:
- Courgettes/Zucchini
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Yoghurt
- Wholemeal (wholewheat) Flour
- Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)
- Cocoa Powder
- Coffee Granules/Powder
- Pecans (optional)
For The Topping:
- Icing/Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla Extract (optional)
- Coconut (optional)
***Note ingredient amounts are listed in the Recipe card).
Courgette/Zucchini
Could not be a chocolate courgette/zucchini cake without the courgette/zucchini! Does not need to be really fresh from the store/market, in actual fact older appeared to bake better. Just make sure to drain well as per the recipe directions.
Sugar & The Benefits
For this little bit ‘healthier’ & ‘lower calorie’ chocolate cake, I use Coconut Sugar. This is unrefined and I am able to generally use about 25% less sugar than if I used white sugar. ‘Brown sugars’, as well as other acids like the yoghurt & cocoa powder, interact with the bicarb (baking soda), producing carbon dioxide bubbles that in turn help the cake to rise.
Admittedly, coconut sugar is more expensive than white sugar but places like Aldi & Lidl even often have it.
Coconut sugar is sometimes considered better for you, since unrefined sugar retains its “natural vitamins, minerals, fibre & antioxidants4. The GI (Glycaemic index), is thought to be lower than white granulated sugar, but that number varies from source to source.
However, I have been able to use up to 25% less than if I was using white sugar. This reduction, contributes to the lower calorie count of each chocolate courgette square.
Eggs
Medium sized eggs generally used in UK baking, and the equivalent is US large to extra-large sized eggs.
Yoghurt
As this chocolate traybake is butter-free, yoghurt is used for some dairy, moisture and acidity. You can use Greek-style yoghurt or any plain/natural yoghurt, even fat-free. An alternative to yoghurt, but harder to source (Aldi sometimes have it in their Middle Aisle), is a tin/jar of Mango pulp.
Coffee
Coffee enhances chocolate flavour & does not give the cake a coffee taste. You can use coffee powder or granules and in recent times, I have been using a 50/50 combination of Chai Latte powder and espresso powder, as seen in the photo collage.
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder is used in the cake batter but can also be used as an alternative topping.
Flour
For this lower calorie cake, I have used wholemeal/wholewheat flour. A little bit ‘healthier’ as the added fibre is more beneficial to gut health, so be sure to add the bran left after sieving the flour. Note it is a Plain/All Purpose wholemeal/wholewheat flour, with no added raising agent.
Icing Sugar
Just 1/2 cup (62g) icing/powdered sugar is needed for making a glaze to top the cake.
Coconut
British baking uses a lot of Desiccated Coconut as it is easy to source and a pantry staple. US equivalent would be shredded unsweetened coconut, especially to keep the calories down. Note however that desiccated coconut is finer than the shredded US version, as seen in my comparison photo. So you might want to just roughly chop for a better result.
Vanilla Extract
The vanilla extract is optional for chocolate cake, but some find it enhances the chocolate flavour, much like coffee does. You could also add 1/2 teaspoon or in the icing/glaze. Learn how to make your own homemade vanilla extract and save money in the long run.
Alternative Ingredients/Topping
You can alternatively top the entire cake with a chocolate glaze made from icing/powdered sugar and cocoa powder for a more chocolate fudge-like cake.
You can also add a little chopped pecans (or other favourite nut), as well as a little coconut to the cake batter for a nutty variation.
Recipe Yield
This recipe makes one 23 x 23 cm (9″) square traybake, with a yield of 16 cake squares. It can be made in a rectangular pan, as long as the length plus width does not exceed 46cm (18″) or will be too shallow.
If you have a smaller tin, don’t go any smaller than 20 x 20cm (8″) tin & note the baking time will be longer due to the deeper cake size.
Oven, Fan Oven Or Air Fryer?
This cake has been made & tested in a fan oven setting & in a larger open-front air fryer.
All temperature settings & conversions are listed in the recipe instructions, for your convenience, & are standard with all my recipes. Check out my oven conversions.
ALL RECIPES CONVERTED & TESTED
Similarly, all of my recipes include conversions in grams, ounces and cups. All have been calculated by hand, by myself and tested several times, since Google is often inconsistent and inaccurate. I also have a conversion table, with common baking ingredients for you to refer to in my Baking Conversions Table.
Beginner Bakers
Beginner Bakers, please ALWAYS read the recipe directions a few times before even attempting to make the recipe. Often things like butter or eggs need to be taken out to bring to room temperature.
Experienced Bakers can skip to the Recipe Card below with abbreviated recipe instructions or check out the step-by-step directions below.
Jump to RecipeStep-By-Step Instructions
(*Note ingredient amounts are listed in Recipe Card below)
1.Begin by preparing the courgette/zucchini. Peel the skin, grate/shred and then weigh or measure out. You are looking for 210 – 240g/7.5 – 8.5 oz or about 1 cup worth.
2. Place the grated/shredded courgette/zucchini in a clean tea-towel, close up, twist and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
3. Close the twisted towel shut with a peg or clip, place on top of a sieve, suspended over a bowl and leave for at least 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile you can prepare the batter and cake tin.
5. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder & bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) into a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand-mixer. Lift the sieve high to incorporate more air into the batter. Any bran from the flour left at the end, just toss into the bowl.
6. Whisk the dry ingredients together.
7. Add in the coconut sugar (or soft brown sugar if using), and whisk till combined. Place to the side.
8. Measure out the yoghurt (or mango pulp if using), in a large jug or bowl.
9. Add in the eggs and whisk to break up. Then mix till relatively combined. **Note it will look a little ‘curdled’, but will be fine. Add vanilla if using but optional.
10. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add in the egg/yoghurt mixture.
11. Briefly mix the wet & dry ingredients, but not until fully combined. You can easily do this without a mixer, but for a stand-mixer, mix on lowest speed for about 15 seconds.
12. Set the oven or air fryer to pre-heat to 180°c/160°c Fan Oven/350°f/Gas Mark 4.
13. Add boiled water to the coffee granules. I used a combination of espresso coffee powder, and a Chai Latte blend. Any coffee can be used, but should be very concentrated with about 2 tsp (teaspoons) worth of coffee powder/granules to 2 tbsp (tablespoons) boiled water.
14. Mix the concentrated coffee together until fully dissolved.
15. Add the coffee to the cake batter and mix just until everything is combined, and no dry patches remain at the bottom of the bowl. Do not over-mix or you will have a dense cake. The batter will be very thick – see Photo 5. Place to the side.
16. Return to the draining courgette/zucchini. Give another few tight squeezes. Any remaining liquid will have collected at the bottom of the bowl. **Note the amount of liquid can vary and older vegetables give off less liquid.
17. Open up the tea-towel and add the courgette/zucchini to the cake batter.
18. Fold into the cake batter gently. Just until the vegetable is coated in batter.
**For The Chocolate Pecan Version – add roughly chopped pecans or your favourite nuts) & a little coconut to the cake batter & fold in gently. See Recipe Card for amounts to use.**
19. Prepare your cake tin/cake pan by greasing and paper lining the bottom and up the sides.
20. Cut paper to fit the cake tin/cake pan by cutting paper wide enough for the bottom and up the sides of the tin. Then place the paper evenly under the tin, in the centre. Mark out, or cut free-hand, squares at the corners, until you have a thick cross like shape. (See Photo 6, the video, or go to my lining cake tins lessons).
21. Grease the cake tin/pan well to hold the paper in place,a nd smooth out. I used Frylight cooking spray, but homemade lining paste/cake goop or cake release spray will work too. Do not bake without greasing & lining.
22. Add to the cake tin & tap on the worktop/counter a few times, before baking in the centre of the oven/air fryer for 20-25 minutes . The cake will have started coming away from the sides of the tin & a cocktail stick comes out with a few tiny wet crumbs (this helps for a moist cake).
23. Leave the cake in the tin on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, before lifting out using the paper. Then leave on the paper & rack to cool for about 20 minutes.
24. Just before cooling time is up, prepare the topping. For the icing & coconut glaze, add sieved icing/powdered sugar to a bowl and gradually add 1/4 to 1/8 tsp of water, till a thick but pourable glaze is produced. (See photo 7 and video). Add vanilla extract if you want.
25. For the chocolate glaze, mix sieved icing/powdered sugar and cocoa powder with water, till a thick and spreadable frosting is produced. See Photo 7.
26. For the icing & coconut glaze, spoon the mixture high above the cake and drizzle over in streaks. Quickly sprinkle the coconut on top of the glaze before it sets. There is enough glaze to almost completely cover.
27. For the chocolate glaze/frosting, spread the chocolate topping on the top of the cake with a palette knife or butter knife, to completely cover the cake.
28. Add any extra decorations you like, and leave to set at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
29. To serve, cut into 4 long strips, rotate 90 degrees and then cut another 4 strips, to make 16 squares of cake.
30. Serve as is with your favourite tea, coffee or cold milk. Alternatively, tastes great with a little ice-cream and maple syrup but that is more calories!
31. Store the courgette traybake in an airtight container such as a metal cake tin or cookie tin. Is fine at room temperature for 3 – 4 days. Can be placed in the fridge or somewhere cool but this can dry out cakes and is not recommended for the chocolate glaze toping as it can make it soften and be a bit messier to eat. This version is best stored in very loosely covered container.
**Unlike other cakes, I recommend not storing in the paper as this courgette cake is naturally quite moist & paper can make it soggy***
32. This cake with icing & coconut glaze can be frozen, or the cake unglazed, if wrapped in baking/parchment paper (not grease-proof). Wrap individually if already cut into squares. Then cover with cling film/plastic wrap or foil, before placing in a labelled food bag, or airtight container and freezing at the back of the freezer drawer for up to 3 months5.
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: beginner, easy
Recipe Card
Low Fat, Lower Calorie Chocolate Courgette (Zucchini) Traybake
Equipment
- Vegetable Peeler
- Grater (box shredder)
- Scales or measuring cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Medium mixing bowl
- Spatula or Wooden Spoon (or mixer)
- Sieve
- Whisk
- Tea-Towel
- Peg/Clip
- Jug
- Baking/parchment paper
- Spray oil, Cake release spray, etc for greasing (try Frylight or homemade lining paste/cake goop)
- 8-9" Square Cake Tin (20¼-23cm square tin *)
- Wooden Cocktail stick
- Cooling rack
- Small Bowl for glaze
- Large knife
Ingredients
For The Cake Batter:
- 210 grams Grated Courgette/Zucchini (210-240g/7½-8½ oz, or 1 cup grating/shredded*)
- 125 grams Wholemeal Flour (4½ oz, 1 cup, Wholewheat Flour)
- 1 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda (Baking Soda)
- 63 grams Cocoa Powder (2¼ oz, ½ cup)
- 145 grams Coconut Sugar (5 oz, 1 cup, or Brown sugar*)
- 2 Eggs (Medium, Large-Extra-large US size)
- 170 ml Yoghurt (5¾ fl oz, ¾ cup, Plain/Natural, Greek-style etc,*)
- 2 tsp Coffee Granules/Powder (or Chai Latte powder *)
- 2 tbsp Boiled Water
For Decoration:
- 62 grams Icing Sugar (2¼ oz, ½ cup, powdered sugar, sieved)
- 30 grams Desiccated Coconut (1 oz)
Alternative Chocolate Pecan Version:
- 55 grams Pecans (2 oz, ¾ cup*)
- 15 grams Desiccated Coconut (½ oz, unsweetened shredded coconut, chopped*)
- 93 grams Icing Sugar (3¼ oz, ¾ cup powdered sugar)
- 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
* denotes – see note below
Instructions
Prepare The Courgette/Zucchini
- Peel the skin & then grate/shred. You are looking for a weight of about 210 – 240g/7.5 – 8.5 oz or about 1 cup worth after grating/shredding.
- Place the 210 grams Grated Courgette/Zucchini in a clean tea-towel, close, twist & squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Keep closed with a peg or clip, place in a sieve & suspend over a bowl, leaving for at least 20 minutes.
Prepare The Cake Batter
- Sieve 125 grams Wholemeal Flour, 1 tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda (Baking Soda) & 63 grams Cocoa Powder over a mixing bowl or stand-mixer. Add any remaining bran pieces from the flour, directly into the bowl & whisk the dry ingredients together. Add in the 145 grams Coconut Sugar, mix and then place to the side.
- Measure out 170 ml Yoghurt, add the 2 Eggs and whisk together. **Note it will look a little ‘curdled’. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients & add the yoghurt/egg mixture. Briefly mix together, but not fully.
- Preheat the oven or air fryer to 180°c/160°c Fan Oven/350°f/Gas Mark 4. Mix the 2 tsp Coffee Granules/Powder or Chai Latte blend, with 2 tbsp Boiled Water & mix till dissolved. Add the concentrated coffee mixture to the dry ingredients & mix by hand or with a mixer, until everything is combined. Don't over-mix.
- Open up the tea-towel, remove the drained courgette/zucchini and add to the cake mixture. Fold in gently until coated in cake batter. **If adding pecans and coconut, fold in now – see notes below for amount).
Prepare The Cake Tin
- Grease a 23 x 23 cm (9″) square cake tin/cake pan on the bottom and up the sides, before completely lining with paper too. Do not try baking without paper. Grease with cake release spray, homemade lining paste/cake goop, or frylight cooking spray.
- Paper line properly by cutting the paper to fit better, use less paper and stop the paper falling and baking into the cake. See my lining bake tins lessons or the photo in the step-by-step instructions for how to cut a 'thick cross-shape' to fit any tin.
Bake The Cake
- Add the cake batter to the prepared cake tin, spread level, give a few taps on the counter/worktop and bake in the centre of the oven for about 20-25 minutes.
- The cake will be coming away from the sides of the tin and a cocktail stick comes out with a few wet crumbs. Don't over-bake.
- Leave to cool in the tin, on a cooling rack, for 10 minutes, then out of the tin for about 20-30 minutes.
To Decorate
- Prepare the icing/glaze by sieving the icing/powdered sugar into a bowl and adding very small drops of water (starting with ¼ tsp and moving onto ⅛ tsp), until you have a thick but pourable glaze. (See the video).
- Drizzle over the top of the cooled cake and sprinkle on coconut immediately. Leave to set for about 15 minutes at room temperature.
- For the pecan and chocolate version, mix up the sugar and cocoa powder, add water until you have a thick spreadable glaze. Simply spread on the top of the cake and leave to set.
Serving & Storing
- Once set, cut into 16 squares and serve. Low calories chocolate courgette/zucchini cake as is, but great with ice-cream too.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature – metal cake or cookie tins are good. For the chocolate topping, loosely covered and not in the fridge is best. Will be fine for 3 – 4 days.
- The coconut topped cake can be frozen – whole or sliced, wrapped in baking/parchment paper, then cling film/plastic wrap or foil and then in a labelled food bag or airtight container, placed at the back of the freezer drawer, for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge till ready.
Video
Notes
Ingredients & Alternatives
Sugar – Coconut sugar used but soft brown sugar works too. Use 1 packed cup (200g) as a substitute. Note the calories will increase. Yoghurt – any natural or plain yoghurt works, like Greek-style Yoghurt, even low fat. A tested alternative and vegan, is using a tin of mango pulp that Aldi sometimes stock.
Courgettes/Zucchini – weight or cup amount is after peeling and grating/shredding.
Coconut – Desiccated coconut is used, but finer than US unsweetened coconut, so ideal to just roughly chop. (See comparison photo in the Step-by-Step instructions before this Recipe Card).
Coffee – enhances the chocolate flavour & does not make the cake taste of coffee. Try using Chai Latte powder or a combination of this and coffee.
Alternative Version – try adding roughly chopped pecans & a little coconut to the cake batter. A chocolate fudge-like topping can be used instead of glaze and coconut, all amounts listed above. (You will see this version in some of the photos). *Note the calories will increase.
Recipe Yield/Tin Size – makes 16 cake squares, using a 9″ (23cm) square cake tin. A rectangular tin can be used, but the width plus length added together, must not exceed 18″ (46cm) or will be too shallow. Use a smaller tin and the bake time will increase.
Please see the step-by-step directions before this Recipe card for more details or watch the video.
‘Lower Calorie’ – with calories of 108 per glazed cake square, this is much lower compared to ‘chocolate courgette traybake‘ & ‘chocolate zucchini cake squares‘ that appear high on page one of these Google searches, as at 23/07/24.
Low Fat – with only 2g of fat per cake square, at about 57g per cake, this is just 3.5% fat. So considered very low fat, since butter & oil free, and assuming low fat natural yoghurt used. See below.
Nutritional Information – I am not a qualified nutritionist and all values are approximate. Calculations based on 1 serving of 1 cake slice, assuming recipe made as above with no alternative ingredients, (no nuts), using low fat natural yoghurt, & from a batch of 16 cake squares, and with the coconut icing glaze. Unglazed the cake squares are reduced to 88 calories per slice. All calculations via website MyFitnessPal.com. For all ‘lower calorie’, ‘low fat’ & coconut sugar information referenced in main post, the associated references are listed in the footnotes.
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References:
- Lower calorie calculations & percentage based on Google searches & calorie information from sites listed below, as well as MyFitnessPal.com ↩︎
- Google page one search for ‘Chocolate Courgette Traybake‘, top recipe @ https://tinandthyme.uk/2011/08/chocolate-courgette-squares/ ↩︎
- Google page one search for ‘Chocolate Zucchini Cake‘ for similar cake @https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/chocolate-zucchini-cake/ ↩︎
- Coconut Sugar information from British heart Foundation @ BHF- Health Benefits Of Coconut Sugar ↩︎
- Freeing chocolate cakes information from website Freezeit.co.uk ↩︎
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Happy Baking & Learning!
Caro x
Low Fat Chocolate Courgette Traybake – low cal zucchini cake squares
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Caroline’s Easy Baking Lessons
Such a great recipe. Love the step-by-step instructions together with pictures makes it so easy to make plus it’s low fat too. Thank you
Thank you so much, so pleased and thaks for commenting and rating the recipe.