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The best part about this gluten free zucchini cake is the tenderness of its crumb, because of all that shredded zucchini. You can't taste the vegetable, but you'll know it's there in every bite.
What makes this gluten free zucchini cake special?
Shredded zucchini adds a particular type of moisture to baked goods that is much more of a blank canvas than, say, mashed banana. I think of zucchini like the tofu of the fruit and vegetable world: it adopts whatever flavor profile you choose. It behaves similarly to carrots in baking, but as you can see in our gluten free carrot cake, carrots have a stronger flavor.
Often, I add chocolate to zucchini baking recipes. In fact, I have a recipe for gluten free chocolate zucchini cake that is dense, rich, and fudgy. In our gluten free zucchini bread, chocolate chips add texture and flavor.
This recipe is sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. And the mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar adds some depth of flavor.
Rather than adding chocolate chips to the batter, I prefer to let the incredibly tender crumb of the cake shine. That's part of why I love a super soft cream cheese frosting on top.
Be sure to try some of my other cakes as well like my gluten free olive oil cake and gluten free chocolate cake.
How to prepare fresh zucchini for baking
If you've ever baked with zucchini, you know how much moisture they contain. But you may not have realized how much the amount of moisture can vary from one zucchini to another.
When you're cooking with zucchini, whether your particular vegetable zucchini has more moisture or less doesn't matter quite that much. You're probably cooking it on a stovetop, allowing some of that moisture to evaporate anyway.
But during baking, there must be a precise moisture balance every time you make a recipe. So there's one way to level that moisture playing field with your zucchini: shred it, and drain it of as much of the moisture as possible.
The weight of shredded zucchini in this recipe is as drained. That way, if you started off with a paler zucchini that took on a lot of water, and my zucchini is smaller and greener, you may need more zucchini overall.
The easiest way to remove the moisture from zucchini is, while holding on to the stem, grate it on a standard-size box grater. You'll need to begin with nearly double the weight of undrained zucchini than what you'll need drained.
Then, handful by handful, place the zucchini in a mesh nut milk bag or in a flat-weave tea towel, and enclose the shredded vegetable. Then, squeeze as hard as you can over a large bowl or over the kitchen sink.
Tips on making the best fluffy cream cheese frosting
I like to serve this lightly sweet, relatively plain, amazingly textured gluten free zucchini cake with super soft, fluffy cream cheese frosting. You'll need to begin with room temperature cream cheese and butter.
When you're planning to make the cake, take the cream cheese and butter for the frosting out of the refrigerator and let them sit on the counter. Unwrap the block of cream cheese, and chop the butter into chunks to help them warm up a bit.
The more confectioners' sugar you add to the frosting, the stiffer it will be. I think that a thick buttercream-style frosting detracts from the perfect texture of the cake, so I like to keep it quite soft.
If you'd rather not use frosting, you can try making a simple confectioners' sugar glaze. Just place confectioners' sugar in a mixing bowl and add water by the drop, mixing until you have a very thick paste. Add more water and mix until the glaze is very thickly pourable.
Gluten free zucchini cake: Ingredients and substitutions
Gluten free, dairy free zucchini cake
The dairy in the cake part of this recipe should be relatively easy to replace. The frosting is another story.
For the melted butter in the cake, the best substitute is vegan butter (Melt or Miyoko's Kitchen brand), but I think even Earth Balance buttery sticks would work. For the milk, you can use your favorite unsweetened nondairy milk.
For the cream cheese in the frosting, if you've found a nondairy cream cheese you like, try that. For butter, I'd suggest vegan butter (not Earth Balance). But I have never found a nondairy cream cheese that tastes like the magic that is Philadelphia cream cheese. *chef's kiss*
Gluten free, egg free zucchini cake
There are two eggs in this recipe. You may be able to replace each of them with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel).
How to make the best gluten free zucchini cake
Gluten Free Zucchini Cake Recipe
Equipment
- Box grater
- Hand mixer or stand mixer for frosting
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 ⅛ cups (215 g) drained grated zucchini, (See Recipe Notes)
- 2 cups (280 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (I used Better Batter but you can use any of my favorite blends (click the link))
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (108 g) packed light brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup (4 fluid ounces) milk (any kind), at room temperature
For the frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups (173 g) confectioners’ sugar, plus more as necessary
Instructions
Make the cake.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a 9-inch square baking dish and set it aside.
- Prepare the zucchini by grating it on a standard size box grater, and wring out as much moisture as you can using a tea towel or mesh nut milk bag. Measure out 215 grams as drained, and set the zucchini aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the brown sugar and 215 grams of grated and prepared zucchini. Mix to combine, breaking all the lumps in the brown sugar, and any clumps in the grated zucchini.
- Add the melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla, and milk, and mix to combine. The batter will be thick but relatively soft. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, and smooth into an even layer with a wet silicone or offset spatula.
- Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 32 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the center. It should also be very lightly brown on top.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and salt, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
- Add 1 1/2 cups (173 g) confectioners’ sugar, and beat until smooth (another or 2 minutes).
- I prefer this frosting to be soft and fluffy, but you can beat in up to another 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar to reach your preferred consistency. The more confectioners’ sugar you use, the thicker the frosting will be.
Frost the cake.
- Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cake, and slice it with a sharp knife into 9 equal pieces. You can also slice the cake bare and frost individual pieces.
- If you don’t plan to serve the whole cake at once, slice the cake bare and wrap any individual pieces that haven't been frosted tightly in freezer-safe wrap before freezing. Defrost at room temperature and frost before serving.
Video
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Notes
I began with one medium-large fresh zucchini that weighed about about 400 grams, whole. You’ll shred it in a classic-sized box grater, place it in tea towels or a mesh nut milk bag, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. What remains should be a bit more than 215 grams shredded, drained zucchini.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I make this into cupcakes? I prefer the less messy, individual portions of cupcakes. I usually cook my quick bread as muffins too, and I like the way it’s portioned out and i tend not to nibble all day like I do with a cake.
Hi, Elizabeth, I haven’t tried this recipe as cupcakes, so I’m afraid I can’t predict how well it would work. I understand your point, but I can’t promise results unless I’ve tried it myself.
Absplutely delicious! I was pleasantly surprised–the cake looked just like the picture, and so very tasty. As we are taking it on a road trip (gift for friends) I opted for a vanilla buttercream frosting, and we are really looking forward to tucking into the completed cake. (I had to trim around the corners to get it to fit the travel container, which is how I know the cake tastes so very good.) Thank you, Nicole, for such satisfying gluten free recipes! Also, I used Nicole’s Best Gluten Free Multipurpose Flour–I had purchased the flour/xanthan gum bundle, and so glad I did. I look forward to more gluten free baking…yum!
It’s great to hear that you loved the cake, Mariann, and that you used Nicole’s Beset with such success. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience, and for giving Nicole’s Best a try!
Such a great recipe! The texture is Amazing!
So glad you enjoyed the cake, Molly! Thank you so much for sharing your experience.
Did anyone else have trouble with the cooking time? It’s in the oven now and I’m already at 40 mins and it’s still not done.
If you made any ingredient substitutions, I would always look there first, especially the flour blend. Also, did you drain your zucchini as described in the recipe notes? If not, your cake will have a lot of excess moisture and the batter will be too wet. If you did drain your zucchini, measured by weight, didn’t make any ingredient substitutions, it might just be that your oven runs cold. I always use and recommend a standalone oven thermometer as most ovens are out of calibration (including mine).
Delicious! Measured all ingredients out on a scale. Great texture and taste. Did add cinnamon and nutmeg however. I am only GF/Celiac in the family and everyone else couldn’t believe it was GF :)
Very nice, especially with cream cheese frosting. Great way to use garden zucchini. Had to adjust for high altitude and baked 15 minutes longer at higher temperature but turned out just right. I added spices to mimic carrot cake.
I’m really glad you enjoyed this cake, Diane. I hope you’ll consider increasing your rating to 5 stars, as you didn’t have any trouble with the recipe and seemed to enjoy it.
can i substitute stevia for the sugar in cake & frosting? looks yummy, cant wait to make!
I really don’t like baking with Stevia, especially in recipes not developed for it, Pammy. If I were to try making this with an alternative sugar, I’d begin with Lankato brand monkfruit sweeteners. They have different formulations (confectioners’ sugar, granulated sugar, brown sugar, etc.). Alternative sugars do tend to be drying, though, so you may need to add more moisture as you experiment. Watch the how-to video and try to mimic the texture you see.
What if I wanted to make in a 9 x 13 pan do the ingredients double?
I actually don’t recommend doing that, Mary, since it’s a very moist cake, which tends to burn in the very center before the rest of the cake is fully baked in such a large pan. I’d suggest doubling the ingredients and making it in two separate pans, as the recipe directs.
I made this with very low expectations because I’ve made gluten free zucchini cakes before and have always been sadly disappointed. This one turned out beautiful! I used the “Better Than Cup4Cup” blend and that just might be my new go-to gf blend!
I’m so glad, Shara! That flour blend is my absolute favorite. I wish Cup4Cup would just go ahead and put it out as their blend, and I would buy it ahead of anything else, including Better Batter. I seek no credit, only flour by the boatload. :)