Call it bread, call it cake, call it a brownie… whatever pan you choose, this is pure gluten-free goodness.  Experimenting with gluten-free recipes is a challenge I enjoy simply for the fact that the recipes are appreciated by many of my friends and family with gluten intolerance issues.  I am a baker at heart and I don’t like to see anyone pass up seasonal favorites because they contain gluten.  Also, I believe, adding gluten-free items in any diet is beneficial.  As mentioned in my book, The Power of Flour, we eat too much white flour and we should be taking advantage of the many wheat alternatives.  So gluten-free or not, try out rice and tapioca flour next time you bake.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup olive or canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
• 3 cups zucchini, unpeeled & grated
• 1 1/4 cups rice flour
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon soda

In a medium bowl, beat first 4 ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Add zucchini and mix in.  In a small bowl, mix remaining (dry) ingredients.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until moistened, do not over mix. Pour into greased cake, loaf or muffin pans – fill about 3/4 full.  Bake in a preheated, 350 oven, 10 minutes for mini-muffins, 15 minutes for muffins, 25 minutes for cake pans, 35-40 minutes for loaf pans.  Cake is done when it is set (no longer wet on top).  Take care not to over bake, these are suppose to be very moist.

Enjoy warm out of the oven!  The boys were thrilled with my late-night baking.  Nothing like mini-muffins after football practice.  GF baked goods are usually best when eaten the day they were made.  This bread is actually very good the next day.  Just be sure to wrap tightly in saran wrap after the bread has cooled for best results.

Where to find the flours?

Both rice and tapioca flour are easy to find in larger supermarkets.  Locally, I get both my brown and white rice flour from Winco in the bulk section.  Many of Winco’s specialty flours are from Bob’s Red Mill and of the highest quality.  Tapioca flour can be found at Fred Meyer (in the health food section) and at Market of Choice in the Bob’s Red Mill section.  Both flours are reasonably priced gluten-free flours.  In this recipe, cocoa powder is also used as a gluten-free flour.  Most chocolate breads/cakes/cookies are easier to convert to gluten-free because of the flour-like qualities of cocoa powder.

I would love to hear from you!  Please contact me through this website with any comments or questions.  You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.  Enjoy!