This was originally intended to be hamburgers with fresh onion and cilantro, but a way had to be found to turn this family favorite into finger food.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch cake |
Ingredients
- 3 cups grated unpeeled zucchini
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9×13-inch pan.
- Place grated zucchini in a colander and set aside to drain.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl until well blended. Beat eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl until smooth. Fold in flour mixture, then stir in zucchini. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting.
- If you would like, add up to 1 cup of raisins, flaked coconut, walnuts, or pecans, when you add the zucchini in Step 3.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 237 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 40 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 164 mg |
| Sugars | 27 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This cake is amazing !!! I used crushed pineapple instead of apple sauce and added chopped walnuts My husband says it’s the best he has ever had !!
Awesome, I added a cup of raisins, a cup of walnuts, a cup of chocolate chips. No frosting needed either….
I make this cake every year when our zucchini are fresh from the garden everyone begs for this cake best compliment ever. Even those who do not like zucchini cannot believe it is in this cake!!!
I will definitely make this easy cake again. I followed recipe as submitted and it turned out great.
The recipe was easy to follow and very close to bread recipe. The cake is moist and does not need icing. I used a butter brown sugar and nut topping instead of icing.
Very moist and full of flavor. Even my husband liked it and he isn’t a fan of cake or zucchini. I added a brown sugar frosting. When I make again I will reduce the sugar it the cake since the frosting is pretty sweet on its own.
I used less sugar but it needs an add on too plain
I loved this cake, and so did my family. I used a little less sugar. I didn’t have applesauce but I had canned pears from last year so I put them in the blender and used that. I topped it off with a fluffy low sugar cream cheese frosting..I will definitely make this cake again. 5 stars.
Really great – my family was suspicious about the zucchini but the taste changed their minds. I saw other comments mentioning that one should completely dry the zucchini, so I wrapped it in a towel and wrung all the moisture out of it that I could. The end result was not too moist nor too dry. I didn’t have a 9×13 pan, so I used a 8×12 one, which worked fine. It did puff up a lot though. Also, I added about half a cup of chopped walnuts, which are a very nice addition.
I made this to use up a HUGE zucchini that a coworker gave me from her garden. Delicious! The only thing I changed: I didn’t have applesauce so I used 4 tbsp butter instead. It came out moist and yummy. Lots of rave reviews from friends and family. I also liked that you can taste the spice. And so easy! Thanks for the recipe! Will definitely make this again.
Perfect snacking cake, lots of flavor! After going over other reviews, I made the following changes – which also brought down the calorie count to 150 cal. Reduced white sugar to 1 C.; reduced oil to 1/4 C; increased unsweetened applesauce to 1.5 C; increased cloves to 1/2 tsp. This is a keeper!
This is probably the most forgiving cake recipe I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t ordinarily rate it because of the number of subs I made, but I think it’s worth noting that you can really adjust this recipe. I’d been looking through a ton of gluten free recipes and didn’t realize this wasn’t one until I was already committed. When it came time for the flour, I saw that I was nearly out. So I used a cup of GF flour, 1.5 c of almond flour, and 0.5 c of oatmeal. I used a cup of oil because I didn’t have applesauce. I eliminated 1 cup of white sugar, and still could’ve cut it back to 3/4 c each of brown and white, I think. (The four stars are for the original recipe having way too much sugar.) I used walnuts. Often I don’t like the weird mouth feel of GF flour but there’s so much going on in this cake that it wasn’t noticeable. I included a cup of walnuts and didn’t put icing on it because even with the reduced sugar, it’s still very sweet.
BEST cake i have ever made! My family didn’t like the whole zucchini in a cake thing but they quickly fell in love too! Just added a cream cheese frosting to it because cake has to have frosting, right, but it was EXCELLENT without also! Yum yum yum
Loved it! Like others, I cut the sugar by using a scant cup of white sugar and scant cup granulated white Splenda along with the specified 1cup brown sugar. I also opted to throw in flaked unsweetened coconut (abt 3/4C) as my family does not like either raisins or nuts in cakes. Also, listened to other commenters and ensured the zucchini was very very well squeezed out. Will make it again for sure, and already fwded the recipe to the one person besides my immediate family who loved it too! Thanks for sharing!!!
Simple, delicious way to use up extra zucchini. Change a thing and it came out beautifully. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
This is a most delicious cake. Great for using up the extra Zucchini in the garden. Made the cake according to directions with one exception I used Splenda instead of sugar. It is a moist yummy cake hard to stop at one piece. I have a favorite carrot cake but I think this one is replacing it! So good with cream cheese frosting.
I used half the amount of white sugar because I felt it would be too sweet for us. I recommend putting the zucchini in a clean linen towel and squeezing all the moisture out. I used my mini bundt pan to make little cakes and dusted them with powdered sugar. They came out beautifully.
This cake was great. Supper moist and flavorful. The only thing different I did was to add more spices and increased the salt by 1/4 teas.
My friend gave me a zucchini and thought I would try this cake. It is delicious. After reading the reviews I made some adjustments. I used 1/2 cup of white and brown sugar, cut the oil down to 1/2 cup and increased the applesauce to 1 1/2 cups. It was sweet enough for us. Next time I might try reducing the oil a little bit. Will freeze at least half of cake since there are only two of us and I could see myself eating it all day long.
easy to make and super moist
This one is a definite favorite. I make it for my mom every year and purposely buy one of those huge zucchinis for it.