Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Soft zucchini cake frosted with a rich, tangy cream cheese frosting is the best way to eat zucchini this summer!

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If you have a garden, the odds are good that you’ve had too much zucchini on hand at one time or another. Overzealous gardening friends and neighbors have been known to leave bags of this prolific vegetable on our doorstep in the past as well.

There’s a joke each year that you should leave your car unlocked or you might find a dozen zucchini on the passenger seat. No place is safe at the height of zucchini season.

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That said, zucchini is a versatile vegetable that can up the nutritional status of lots of tasty sweet recipes from quick breads to cakes.

This zucchini cake recipe with its creamy sweet frosting has converted my zucchini haters into fans at long last.

To be precise, the formerly anti-zucchini members of my household are zucchini fans now only when it is baked into this cake, Classic Easy Zucchini Bread, or Peanut Butter Swirled Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

Zucchini Cake Recipe

For most zucchini-based cakes, muffins, and quick bread recipes, you’ll need to shred zucchini. This can be done by hand with a cheese grater or you can use a food processor with the grating blade attached.

Grated zucchini can be frozen in batches, but make sure you drain the thawed zucchini well when you use it. Otherwise, it will add too much liquid to the recipe.

This recipe makes an 8×8 cake, but I usually double it to fit a 9×13 pan. Believe it or not, the cake disappears surprisingly fast. The cream cheese frosting complements the cake so well, I often find myself going back for just one more sliver whenever I make this.

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×8 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the zucchini, sugar, oil and eggs. Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl.
  2. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Spread the batter into the greased baking pan. Bake at 350 F. for 28-32 minutes. Cool completely.
  3. Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Spread onto cool cake.
Zucchini Cake with Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting

End of Summer Baking Recipes

Baking cakes, muffins, and quick breads can be a fun way to use up all the fresh, in-season produce during the summer. I often double the recipes in order to freeze extra to enjoy later.

Classic Easy Zucchini Bread is a long-time favorite and this Peanut Butter Swirled Chocolate Zucchini Bread is a sure bet for convincing any skeptics that zucchini is delicious.

Garden Chive Rolls make the most of an abundance of fresh herbs. Harvest Squash Bread makes an amazing and hearty sandwich, it’s also great toasted with butter.

Lemon Berry Muffins are popular all year round, since you can make them with fresh or frozen berries. Rhubarb Streusel Muffins are another great option for the freezer.

Pineapple Zucchini Bread and Lemon Zucchini Bread are a couple more on my list to try.

Zucchini Cake is a summer favorite.
Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

4.93 from 26 votes
Soft zucchini cake frosted with a rich, tangy cream cheese frosting – the best way to eat zucchini this summer!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12 pieces

Ingredients 

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 cup zucchini shredded
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting Ingredients

  • 3 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 4 tablespoons butter softened
  • 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Cake Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8×8 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the zucchini, sugar, oil and eggs. Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl.
  • Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Spread the batter into the greased baking pan. Bake at 350 F. for 28-32 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting Directions

  • Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Spread onto cool cake.

Notes

This recipe can easily be doubled for a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Nutrition

Serving: 1piece · Calories: 312kcal · Carbohydrates: 38g · Protein: 2g · Fat: 17g · Saturated Fat: 5g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g · Cholesterol: 51mg · Sodium: 202mg · Sugar: 35g
Tried this recipe?Mention @chocolatewithgrace or tag #chocolatewithgrace!

{originally published 8/1/16 – recipe notes and photos updated 7/15/21}

Cream Cheese Frosted Zucchini Cake

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  1. Chibi says

    5 stars
    Thank you for this excellent recipe. I just baked this cake, and it is fluffy, light, and delicious just like the picture suggests. Happy Summer!

  2. Theresa says

    This was a great recipe to use up a bit of zucchini. Lots of great flavor, cream cheese frosting was perfect on this cake. Makes a small enough cake for the 2 of us, or enough to share for 4 people. It’s a keeper recipe!

  3. Theresa says

    5 stars
    Great recipe to use up some zucchini! Easy to make, tastes great, and perfect for 2 people, or to share with 4. The cream cheese frosting is perfect on this cake. This recipe is a keeper for late summer when everyone has too much zucchini.

  4. Sherrie says

    5 stars
    Love the cream cheese frosting! I already had made zucchini bread from another site’s recipe and I just needed the cream cheese frosting. So happy with this. I don’t think I’ve ever had a frosting come out so well. I’m going to try your zucchini cake recipe next time because I only used one egg from the recipe I followed and it didn’t rise so well.

  5. Dana says

    5 stars
    Delicious. The frosting is my new go to for a light cream cheese frosting. I added some extra vanilla and some salt to taste. My husband is SUPER picky. He says the frosting is delicious. And thats saying a lot from him. Will definitely make again and again.

  6. Ahma Loves to Bake says

    5 stars
    This looks delicious! Can you add more stuff such as apples, nuts or chocolate to this recipe?

  7. Sheri says

    5 stars
    Love it!! I’ve made it twice in 2 weeks now for different things. Added walnuts to this one.
    Thought about maybe adding crushed pineapple, but I think the zucchini would need to be squeezed and probably the pineapple too?? Thoughts?

  8. Peggy S. says

    5 stars
    I made this recipe today, after spotting it on a friend’s timeline on Facebook. It is EXCELLENT! Great flavor and texture, and the frosting is so yum. I doubled the recipe to use in a 13″x9″ pan. Make this!

  9. Carrie says

    5 stars
    My daughter made this today and it is delicious! We look forward to sharing it and making it again for sure!!!

  10. Kristen says

    5 stars
    People are absolutely surprised when I tell them there is zucchini in this cake. Then they think it’s good for them😉!

  11. Sheri Newell says

    5 stars
    Sooo good!! Love this recipe. And the 8×8 is perfect for my husband and i. Get a nice dessert without overdoing (overeating) it. 😊 Everyone loves it!

  12. Sarah says

    5 stars
    I made this today with a zucchini from my garden and gluten free flour (my daughter has celiac) and it turned out delicious, with a soft and fluffy crumb. We all wanted to lick the beaters for every last morsel of frosting, too. Yum!

    • Mary says

      It sounds like the zucchini cake turned out well, Sarah! I’m so glad you and your daughter loved it. Enjoy, and happy baking!

  13. Anne says

    5 stars
    This recipe is excellent – Little effort and big rewards. I did add pistachios to the cake and orange zest to the delicious cream cheese frosting. I like the 8 inch size..

    • Mary says

      I never would’ve thought of the pistachios, Anne. I do like the orange and zucchini combination though, I’ve done something like that in the past too. I’m glad the cake was a hit!

    • Mary says

      Hi, Marcella. If you convert this recipe to round pans, one 8×8 pan will fill one 9 inch round pan, so you’ll want to double the recipe. As for baking times, I couldn’t say; while I’d imagine the times will still be close, I would recommend keeping an eye on the pans.