Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a one-bowl zucchini sheet cake with cream cheese frosting. The cake is super soft, moist, and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s an easy-to-make, everyday cake that’s one of my favorite uses for the humble zucchini squash.

As Summer turns to Fall and zucchini is in its prime, you can turn to this zucchini sheet cake as a great transition season dessert. With a fluffy, moist cake full of cozy spices and cream cheese frosting, I hope this zucchini cake will be everything you’re looking for and more!

If you’re not familiar with zucchini cake, then I am so excited for you. You can’t actually taste the zucchini (it’s rather flavorless by itself anyways), but it adds a lovely moisture to the cake. Think of carrot cake, but with squash instead of carrots.

Why You’ll Love This Zucchini Cake

• The cake is soft, moist, and flavorful. Applesauce and sour cream in the cake add moisture and tenderness.
• Easy to make – no mixer required and the entire batter comes together in one large bowl. 
• Tangy cinnamon cream cheese frosting pairs well with the spiced cake.
• It’s loaded with zucchini – there’s truly no better way to eat your veggies and dessert at the same time. Also, do it for the fiber (iykyk). 
• This zucchini cake is the perfect everyday cake for snacking, after-dinner, or potlucks. 

Ingredients Needed

Here are a few of the key ingredients you will need to make this zucchini cake.

• All-Purpose Flour: This forms the bulk of the cake. Measure your flour with a digital food scale for the greatest accuracy.
• Oil: Use a neutral oil such as vegetable, canola, or avocado. We don’t want the oil impacting the flavor of the cake. 
• Brown sugar and granulated sugar: for sweetness.
  • For the brown sugar use either light brown sugar, or half-light and half-dark. 
• Plain applesauce: applesauce adds a ton of moisture to the cake. It’s a common ingredient I like using in fruit-based cakes such as carrot cake and hummingbird cake.
• Eggs, at room temperature: soak eggs in a bowl of very warm water for 5-10 minutes to bring them to room temperature.
• Greek yogurt or sour cream: adds richness and moisture to the cake. You can use either, but make sure to use full-fat versions.
• Vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt: wonderful, warm, spiced flavorings
• Baking soda and baking powder: rises the cake
• Zucchini: the most important ingredient! Use a box grater to shred the zucchini.
  • No need to squeeze the water out of the zucchini. Instead, just let it rest in a colander. 
• Plain cream cheese and powdered sugar: for the frosting

How to Make Zucchini Cake

This is an easy cake to make that follows a similar method to if you were making zucchini or banana bread. Think wet ingredients + dry ingredients –> bake. No mixer needed, just a really large mixing bowl and a whisk.

Whisk any neutral oil with the sugars to combine them, then add the eggs and whisk vigorously until you have a smooth, creamy mixture. Add the remaining wet ingredients and spices (applesauce, sour cream, vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt). You want a smooth and even mixture.

From there, whisk in the zucchini, and then fold in the flour and leavening agents until combined. Avoid over-mixing the batter–look for the flour to be fully combined and lump-free.

Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 inch baking pan. I recommend lining the pan with a large strip of parchment paper as well, as this will help you lift the cake of the pan and ensure that it doesn’t stick to the bottom.

Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Make sure to let the cake cool down completely before frosting it. The cream cheese frosting will melt on a warm cake, which is not as fun as it sounds lol.

FAQs and Tips

Pan Size: Use a 9×13 inch rectangular pan. I recommend a metal pan over glass for cakes as generally I’m not a huge fan of baking cake in glass pans. Glass heats more slowly and stays hot, leading the sides and bottom of the cake to cook much more quickly than the middle. 

Selecting Zucchini: Who knew this would be important? Since this isn’t a world’s largest vegetable contest and we’re just here to make cake, you want to select small to medium sized zucchini. Large zucchini, while impressive, tend to be dry, seedy, and bitter. None of those adjectives are ones that you want to apply to the best zucchini cake, so if possible aim for small to medium squash!

Variations: Add chopped walnuts, pecans, or chocolate chips to add additional flavor and crunch to the cake.

Storing Leftover Zucchini Cake

Due to the high moisture content of the cake and the cream cheese in the frosting, leftover zucchini cake should be stored in the fridge. Make sure to transfer the cake to an airtight container before refrigerating it. If your 9×13 pan comes with a lid, you can just use that! The good news is that I think that this zucchini cake actually tastes even better when it’s cold. It’s weirdly refreshing, I can’t explain it ha.

Pin & Save for Later

If you’re interested in making this zucchini cake, are just browsing around, or not ready to bake yet, no problem! Simply hover over or tap (on mobile) any image in this post (pick your favorite or use the one below), and use the pin icon in the corner to save for later.

Happy baking and hope you LOVE your zucchini cake!