Zucchini Cake
Every summer I like to come up with a new zucchini recipe to honor all those gardeners out there. This year it’s a Zucchini Cake with an amazing cream cheese frosting. The combination is fantastic.
With all that fresh zucchini in this cake, it’s nice and moist, super tasty. Cinnamon is one of my favorites, and the walnuts add a great texture.
And by the way, you’ll want to save this frosting recipe for future cakes. It’s roll-my-eyes, lick-my-lips delicious.
Making Zucchini Cake
Grease your 13 x 9″ baking dish and preheat your oven to 350°.
Next, in a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together with a whisk. In this case, that means the sugar, too.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and oil together, then add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.
Mix everything together, then add the zucchini. Also, if you’re adding walnuts, throw them in here.
Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cake on a wire rack before frosting. Oh, that frosting. It’s so good, you’re going to love it.
Making the Cream Cheese Frosting
Make sure the cream cheese and butter are softened, so they blend nicely together.
Beat them until smooth and creamy, then add just one tablespoon of milk, plus the vanilla.
Next, beat in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
If the batter is too thick to spread easily, add another tablespoon of milk to thin it out.
Then, frost away.
Decorating the top of a 13 x 9″ cake
You can frost this cake two ways; 1) use all the frosting on the top and spread evenly, or 2) spread most of the frosting on top and save some for piping.
As seen in these pictures, I piped some frosting to create channels for the added walnuts. First I spread the frosting on to make sure I had an even coat. Whatever frosting was left over was what I used to pipe with.
Then, I chopped more walnuts and carefully filled the channels using a teaspoon. It took some time, especially when some walnuts colored outside the lines, but I made it work.
Keep the cake in the refrigerator covered to keep it from drying out, and please, have seconds on me.
More zucchini and more cake recipes:
- Zucchini Snickerdoodle Bread
- Italian Zucchini Meatballs
- Easy Cheesy Baked Zucchini
- Zucchini and Meatballs
- Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake
- Classic German Chocolate Cake
- Cinnamon Orange Swirl Cake
- Tropical Carrot Cake
If you tried and love this recipe, please leave a 5-star rating on the recipe card and consider leaving a comment below. Thank you so much.
Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups zucchini, grated
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)
Frosting:
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 – 2 Tbsp. milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Added chopped walnuts for decorating
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 13 x 9" baking dish.
- In large bowl, add flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk until combined.
- In separate bowl, mix together eggs and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, mix together. Add zucchini, and walnuts if using, and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 35 – 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack before frosting.
Frosting:
- Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Stir in 1 tablespoon milk and vanilla. Add powdered sugar, mix thoroughly. If too thick, add another tablespoon of milk to thin it out.
- Spread frosting over cake. This recipe makes enough if you want to do a little decorating (piping). Top with additional walnuts if desired. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Zucchini Cake
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In the meantime, I hope you have yourself a blessed day.
A quick mention of this wonderful blank recipe book that I helped to create with a very dear friend. Write in one or more recipes before giving it to that special person, then they can fill the remaining pages with their favorites, and/or have other special people write out recipes for them. It’s personal, and yes, it takes time and effort — something we’ve gotten away from with all this technology. Check it out HERE where you can order a hard or soft cover. Once there, click on READ SAMPLE to see the pages within. I especially like the “measurements and conversions” page. Also, I make no money from any sales, I just love the idea of this book. Missing my mom as I do, seeing her handwriting always makes me feel closer to her. Give that gift to someone else by writing out a favorite recipe.
