Zucchini, zucchini, zucchini! It’s the word of the week around our house! I can’t seem to keep up in the kitchen with it. I’ve spent at least a few solid days baking loaves of Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins to store in the freezer and I’ve still got more zucchini coming out of our garden. I hope you guys like zucchini, because over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my new favorite zucchini recipes that you can make at home to use one of summer’s most plentiful squash.
This Spiced Zucchini Cake is absolutely delicious and you won’t believe how easy it is to make. The zucchini keeps this cake wonderfully moist with the warm flavored spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves; and this old fashioned style cake wouldn’t be complete without it’s delicious light and creamy cream cheese frosting.
To make this dessert extra special, I lightly toasted a good handful of roughly chopped walnuts and sprinkled them on top. My husband I and I LOVE toasted nuts on these types of cakes, but my children always say, “Mom, why do you have to put nuts on EVERYTHING!?” If you don’t like nuts, or you have a few picky eaters at home, you don’t have to put them on. 🙂
I think the best part about this cake besides the way it tastes, is that it’s made in a 9″ x 13″ pan. There is no fussing with layers (although if you wanted to make this a little fancier, you could certainly bake it like that) and worrying about how it will come out of the pan. This cake stays in one pan to bake and frost, right until you are ready to serve it.
This makes it perfect to bring along on a picnic or a family get together too. It’s such a simple and great recipe to make for a last minute dessert, especially if you’ve found a few extra large zucchini hiding under the leaves in the garden!
If you decide to make this cake, I hope this recipe will become one of your family’s new favorites as well! Enjoy!
Ingredients
- For the cake:
- 2 cups flour
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ginger
- 1/4 tsp. cloves
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 1/2 cups freshly grated zucchini
- For the frosting:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 (8 oz.) container cream cheese, softened
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream
- 1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped and lightly toasted
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a 9 x 13 pan by lightly spraying with non stick cooking spray.
- In your Kitchen Aid mixer, combine the sugars, eggs and oil well.
- Sift the flour,spices, baking powder, soda and salt.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Stir in the zucchini.
- Pour the batter evenly into the pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven.
- Cool completely before frosting
- For the frosting:
- In your Kitchen Aid Mixer, whip together all ingredients except the heavy cream and confectioner's sugar.
- When combined, slowly add the sugar a little at a time on low-or you will have a mess.
- Slowly add the heavy cream.
- When all sugar and heavy cream is incorporated, whip everything together well until it is a creamy frosting like texture.
- Frost the cake and garnish with toasted walnuts.
- * To toast the nuts, place the nuts in a small saucepan on low and stir around for about 5 minutes.
- Cool completely before placing them on the top of the cake.
- Enjoy!
*Linking up at:
Will Cook For Smiles,Skip To My Lou,Inside BruCrew Life,Feeding Big,Pint Sized Baker,Savvy Southern Style,Buns In My Oven,Living Well Spending Less,The Best Blog Recipes,Yesterfood,New Mrs. Adventures, The SITS Girls, Home Stories A to Z, Foodie Friends Friday, Table for Seven
Just made this. It is fantastic!
Thanks Jen! I’m so glad you liked it…wishing I had made some today!
I’m hoping to get lots of zucchini this summer so I pinned this for future use. 🙂
Rose @ Walnut Acre recently posted…Vain Imaginations, Deer Tracks and More – The Walnut Acre Daily – Monday June 29, 2015
Thanks so much Rose! I hope you like it:)
I had a couple of huge zucchini from my garden that had been stealthily hiding. Didn’t know what to do with them because the huge ones are usually too tough to sauté. Then I saw your recipe on Pinterest! I made this cake and frosting today for my dog’s 5th birthday celebration (they’re family members too!). It was AMAZING! Seriously the most moist cake I have ever eaten in my life. Everyone went crazy for it. Even the dog loved his tiny piece!
I’m keeping this one to make again during zucchini seasons from here on.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much Lindsay! I am so happy that your family and dog loved it as much as we do here at our house! Happy birthday to your dog too!:)
What a fabulous summer dessert! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Karly recently posted…Philly Cheese Steak Pasta
Yum, that zucchini cake looks fantastic! I’m always amused at how the overabundance of zucchini can force people to get creative with their recipes in order to use it all! Thank you for linking at the In and Out of the Kitchen Link Party. Hope to see you again next week.
Thanks Cynthia! My husband can’t believe all the different zucchini things we eat this time of year…I think he may be getting sick of it:/
Hi Shannon! We’ve had an abundance of zucchini as well, so this recipe is much appreciated! It sounds yummy! I wished I had a piece to eat right now! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
Felecia recently posted…Eighty-one degrees on the 29th of July?
Thanks so much Felecia! Enjoy:)
I think this cake will tide me over nicely until pumpkin season gets here. Pinned 🙂
Jill recently posted…Slow Cooker Beer Cheese Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Thanks Jill! I hope you like it:)