An irresistibly light and moist zucchini cake – with a full cup of zucchini packed into the recipe!
Hello, zucchini season!!!
Lately, the zucchini just looks so good when I’m grocery shopping that somehow it always makes its way into my cart. And then when I get it home, I have to figure out what to do with it all! This past week, I’ve made sautéed zucchini, grilled zucchini, zucchini fritters, zucchini burgers, zucchini bread, and my all-time favorite Chocolate Zucchini Brownies (highly recommended if you haven’t tried them yet!).
Yet somehow, I still had zucchini left after all of that.
Frosted with the same homemade cream cheese frosting recipe I used on my Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe, this light zucchini cake is the perfect summer treat.
You can add raisins, walnuts, and/or shredded coconut if you wish; but it’s also quite delicious without any optional ingredients.
This zucchini cake recipe is one of my go-to recipes for any summer party, since everyone seems to go crazy for zucchini in the summertime. You can easily leave it out a few hours without refrigeration, making the recipe an ideal choice whenever you’re asked to bring dessert. For easier transportation, I like to quickly frost and slice the cake after arriving at my destination.
Feel free to eat this cake plain or use your favorite frosting recipe, or even top it with coconut butter.
(Here’s How To Make Coconut Butter)
I used the basic frosting recipe below. For vegan frosting, just use vegan brands of cream cheese and butter ,available in many regular grocery stores.
Zucchini Cake Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
4 oz salted butter
2 cups powdered sugar (or sugar free powdered sugar)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
optional sprinkle of cinnamon or a few drops maple extract
Let cream cheese and butter come to room temperature. Beat all ingredients with either an electric mixer or stand mixer (or by hand, which won’t be as whipped and fluffy but still works). If too thick, very slowly add a little milk of choice; if too thin, add additional powdered sugar. Spread on the cupcakes with either a knife or piped through an icing bag (I used a 1M icing tip). Cover and refrigerate leftover frosting for up to a week. The recipe makes about 2 cups of frosting.
Zucchini Cake
Adapted from Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup finely grated zucchini, loosely packed (200g)
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup oil (Replace with more applesauce only if you don’t mind a fat-free texture)
- 1 1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups spelt, white, oat, or gf ap flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup sugar of choice or xylitol
- optional 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips or raisins
- optional handful crushed walnuts and/or shredded coconut
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 F and line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients and let sit at least 10 minutes (or you can refrigerate overnight). In a separate bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients. Pour wet into dry, and stir until just combined. Don’t overmix. Pour into the 8-inch pan and smooth down evenly. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake tastes sweeter and has a better texture the day after it is made, and leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days or sliced and frozen. I frosted the cake with 1/2 cup of the frosting recipe included earlier in this post.
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Totally delicious! My 3 kids ate almost the whole pan for breakfast… except for the small piece my husband and I each managed to grab! I used Namaste GF flour. I’m still looking for a better GF flour, but this worked well and tasted great. Thanks for a fab recipe!
What kind of oil are you suggesting?
You can use vegetable or melted coconut oil.
I love Zuchinni cake. My original recipe made with flour called for a small can drained pineapple. Could this be used instead of raisins,etc
Hi katie,
Where I live they dont sell any spelt flour or all purpuse Bobs flour; is there any substitute for it? maybe oatmeal flour? or almond?
Thanks
White flour (regular all purpose flour) works!
UPDATE: I’ve had success multiple times with substituting Bob’s Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour, butternut squash instead of applesauce and oil (same measurements), 2 TBSP Stevia, and finely cut zucchini instead of grated!
OMG! What a great recipe ?
Doubled it as the zucchini I had was enough for 2 cups. Made 24 muffins! No frosting.
Greek yogurt instead of applesauce, rapeseed oil and coconut sugar used.
Added raisins, cranberries, almonds and walnuts.
Fab breakfast muffins that taste divine!
Thank you!
My youngest just turned one this weekend, and I wanted to make a healthy cake for her. I made this with a little less sugar expecting not to like it very well (but I was sure she would). I was so wrong! I LOVED it so much! It was delicious and didn’t taste healthy at all! Amazing, Katie! Thank you!
Mine came out very dense and not like the pictures. I used AP flour. Was that the problem?
Hmm I’ve used all purpose before and not had a problem. What other specific ingredients did you use for the sugar, oil, etc? Or when you say AP, is that all purpose white or something else like gluten free?
This sounds delicious! I’ve been searching for great recipes that I could use to hide and get more veggies into my young, very picky eaters at home. This sounds like a great one. Would it be ok, though, to use like a blend of coconut and almond flour or almond and whole wheat flour? I just don’t have any spelt flour. I have to order most of the healthier baking/cooking items since I’m way up in northern Maine and there are no actual health food store here.
Unfortunately you just can’t know unless you try, but be sure to report back if you experiment. It sounds like a fun experiment!
I just found this and made it today… the texture was AMAZING! So fluffy😍 the only part I didn’t follow exactly is that my pan was 9×9, not 8×8. I was worried, but they were perfect!! Thank you for the delicious cake 🙂🙂