Try our delightful, homemade zucchini bundt cake made with fresh zucchini and topped with a simple lemon glaze – the perfect recipe for this time of year.
No need for fancy ingredients or complicated steps – this moist zucchini bundt cake recipe is easy to follow, even for beginner bakers. The result? A cake with a moist crumb, soft, and full of comforting flavors.
Whether you're hosting a family gathering or a potluck or just want to enjoy a slice with your afternoon tea, this zucchini bundt cake is a wonderful choice. This classic dessert brings people together with its homemade charm and delicious taste.
Check out more zucchini cakes: Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake, Mirror Glaze Chocolate Zucchini Cake, or Zucchini Bread with Cinnamon.
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Why should you use zucchini for making cakes?
- Moisture: Lots of water in zucchini keeps the cake wet and stops it from drying.
- Feel: The grated veggie gives a unique feel, making the cake's insides tender.
- A bit healthier cake: Zucchini is a healthy veggie with good stuff like vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Using it in a cake adds good things and makes it a bit healthier.
- Taste: Zucchini's not-too-strong taste goes well with the other sweet stuff, adding a bit of freshness without covering up the overall taste.
- It's great for using up extra garden zucchini you might have right now.
Recipe ingredients
- Zucchini: Freshly grated vegetables and just lightly pressed to remove extra wetness.
- Eggs: You'll need three large eggs to bind the ingredients.
- Sugar: White granulated sugar or a mixture of half white and half light brown sugar.
- Oil: Choose a neutral-tasting oil, like vegetable oil or canola (not olive oil), to keep things moist. Canola oil usually works best.
- All-purpose flour: The main thing that holds the cake together.
- Ground nuts: Use ground hazelnuts or almonds or a mixture of both for a nutty taste. Don't confuse almond flour with ground almonds; using almond flour might change how the cake feels.
- Baking powder and baking soda as leavening agents.
- Salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract to add extra flavor.
- Glaze ingredients: Lemon juice and powdered sugar.
Tools
- Bunt cake form – regular or silicon
- Electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment
- Box grater
- Sieve
- Two bowls
Variations
- Add some chocolate chips to the batter for a bit of chocolate flavor.
- Glaze the cake with chocolate glaze from Bailey's Chocolate Cake or the ganache from Romanian Chocolate Cake.
How to make zucchini bundt cake?
- Preheat the oven and prepare the bundt cake pan (See below).
- Grate the zucchini finely on the fine side of a box grater. Take handfuls of it and squeeze them over a sieve, but only very lightly to remove the excess liquid; the zucchini should not be dry.
- Wet ingredients: Beat the sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl or the stand mixer bowl for about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add the oil and beat shortly until incorporated (1).
- Dry ingredients: Mix flour, ground nuts, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl.
- Batter: Incorporate them shortly and on low speed into the egg mixture. Only stir until the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the shredded zucchini (2).
- Bake: Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan (3) and bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (4).
- Cool the zucchini bundt cake in the pan for 10-15 minutes to allow it to set. Carefully invert the pan onto a wire rack and tap it gently to release the zucchini cake. It should come out easily.
- Let it cool completely before adding the lemon glaze.
- Glaze: Mix the powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a small bowl. The glaze should be thick yet slightly pourable. Add more sugar or lemon juice until you have the right consistency. Glaze the top of the cake and let the topping set until ready to serve.
How do you prepare a bundt cake pan for baking?
- Grease the pan using softened butter, covering all the nooks and crannies.
- Dust the insides of the pan with flour, and turn it around to coat lightly with flour all over.
- Turn the pan over the sink and pat it on the bottom to remove the excess flour. This step will prevent the batter from sticking to the pan.
- If using a silicon bundt cake pan, there is no need to grease and flour it.
Expert Tips
- The most important tip: Always use a digital kitchen scale in baking (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab); it guarantees the best result. Measuring flour in cups is difficult; if you do it three times, you will most likely get three different results.
- Room temperature: All the ingredients should be at room temperature, in this case, the eggs. This makes the cake mix smoother and helps everything blend well.
- Don't mix too much: When you add the flour, mix everything until just combined. Overmixing leads to tough baked goods.
- Bake the zucchini bundt cake immediately after stirring the batter. If the cake waits while the oven gets hot, the leavening agents will lose power, and the baked goods will not rise properly.
- Baking time: Cook the cake for the time mentioned or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If your oven tends to run cooler, it might require up to 1 hour.
Recipe FAQs
Oil is excellent for baking. It makes the cake soft and keeps it fresh for a long time.
You can use different veggies like carrots or apples instead of zucchini. But remember, the taste and feel of the cake will change.
It might have too much flour. This can happen when you measure flour using cups.
How to store?
- Store it in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
- For longer storage, refrigerate it for up to 5 days. Refrigeration slightly alters the texture, making the baked goods a bit denser, but they will still be delicious.
- Freeze for up to 2-3 months. Wrap the leftover cake tightly in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil before freezing. Thaw in the fridge or on the counter.
- Tip: It's better to freeze a cake without glaze, but there’s no need to stress – the cake will still be good when you thaw it. Just know that the glaze might not look perfect, as it might stick to the wrapping.
More bundt cakes
Recipe
Zucchini Bundt Cake
Equipment
- Bundt cake form regular or silicon
- Electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment
- Sieve
- Two bowls large and medium
Ingredients
- 300 g zucchini 10.5 oz
- 3 large eggs
- 300 g granulated sugar 10.5 oz/1 ½ cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 180 ml neutral-tasting oil like canola, ¾ cup
- 230 g all-purpose flour 8 oz/ 1 ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon, Note 1
- 150 g ground hazelnuts or almonds 5.3 oz/ 1 ¼ cup
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt
Lemon glaze:
- 100 g powdered sugar 3.5 oz/ 1 cup
- 2-4 tablespoons lemon juice as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 180°C.
- Prepare bundt pan: Grease the pan with softened butter, covering all the nooks and crannies. Dust the insides of the pan with flour and turn it around to coat it lightly all over. Turn the pan over the sink and pat it on the bottom to remove the excess flour.If using a silicon bundt cake pan, there is no need to grease and flour it.
- Grate the zucchini finely on the fine side of a box grater. Squeeze it very lightly over a sieve to remove the excess water; the zucchini should not be dry. 300 g/ 10.5 oz zucchini
- Wet ingredients: Beat sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl for about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add the oil and mix it in shortly. 300 g/ 1 ½ cups sugar + 3 eggs + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients: Mix flour, ground nuts, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. 230 g/ 1 ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon flour + 150 g/ 1 ¼ cup ground hazelnuts/ almonds + 1 teaspoon baking powder + 1 teaspoon baking soda + 1 teaspoon cinnamon + ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Batter: Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients at a low speed. Only stir until the ingredients are just combined. Fold in the grated zucchini.
- Bake: Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Invert the pan onto a cooling rack and tap it gently to release the zucchini cake. It should come out easily. Let it cool completely before glazing.
- Glaze: Mix the powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice in a small bowl. The glaze should be thick yet slightly pourable. Add more lemon juice (if needed) until you have the right consistency. Glaze the cake and let the topping set until ready to serve. 100 g powdered sugar/ 1 cup + 2-4 tablespoons lemon juice
Notes
- Always use a digital kitchen scale (the Amazon link opens in a new tab) in baking; it guarantees the best result. Measuring flour in cups is tricky; if you do it 3 times, you will most likely get 3 different results.
- Baking time: Bake the cake for the time instructed or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remember that if your oven tends to run cooler, it might require up to 1 hour.
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