Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake is a tasty dessert with a fresh lemon flavor. It's a great way to use up extra zucchini in the summer!
Back when I used to plant a full garden, I always grew zucchini. Zucchini is just one of those versatile vegetables that you can use in so many ways, from making tacos, to adding to cakes.
But, if you've ever grown zucchini before, you know that there can quickly be a LOT of them! So as I always do when there's lots of zucchini, I hide it in baked goods. This time it's Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake with Fresh Lemon Glaze.
Unfortunately, my kids don't usually like it when I bake with zucchini. That's why I usually try to make sure they don't know about it.
While some of the baked goods I make with zucchini make the zucchini difficult to hide (let's just face it, kids are going to ask questions when they see green flecks in chocolate chip cookies) sometimes it's easier for the zucchini to go incognito (chocolate cakes and muffins make zucchini harder to see)
In this case, the secret to being so sneaky, and being able to keep that zucchini hidden, is in using yellow zucchini. Your family will just think it's part of the lemon, and it enhances the sunny yellow color of the cake.
What is a yellow zucchini?
A yellow zucchini is a yellow summer squash that looks similar to a regular green zucchini.
Yellow zucchinis can easily be grown in home gardens, or bought at farmer's markets and stores with very well-stocked produce departments.
In stores, yellow zucchini might not be labeled as zucchini, they might be called "yellow squash" or "summer squash". They basically look like yellow zucchini with slightly firmer skin and one more bulbous end.
If you can't find yellow zucchini because they aren't quite as commonly available, it is definitely possible to use regular old green zucchini, but it might not be quite as easy to fool your family!
How to make Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake:
Making lemon zucchini loaf starts with salting and draining any excess liquid from the zucchini. This helps to prevent the cake from becoming very dense and heavy, which is common when baking with watery vegetables.
After the zucchini is drained and squeezed of any excess water, the recipe proceeds in a similar way to many quick bread recipes. Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl, then whisk the wet ingredients (including the shredded zucchini) together in another bowl, then stir the two together.
While this recipe is written to be a loaf cake, you could easily turn it into muffins instead. Simply pour the batter into a greased muffin pan instead of a loaf pan, and decrease the baking time slightly.
Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake Ingredients:
- Grated yellow zucchini: or use regular green zucchini if you can't find yellow zucchini
- Salt
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Granulated sugar
- Canola oil: or use another neutral-flavored cooking oil
- Greek yogurt: use either plain or vanilla-flavored, or use your favorite non-dairy yogurt to make this recipe dairy-free
- Ggg
- Lemons
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
Want more zucchini cake recipes?
Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake Nutrition Notes:
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one slice of cake (cut into 12 slices) with glaze made with the full 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar.
If you're looking to cut down on sugar, skip the glaze. It will save you 15g of sugar. Making your glaze thinner, with just 1 cup of powdered sugar will save you 5g of sugar.
Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake with Fresh Lemon Glaze
Recipe Equipment
Ingredients
Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake
- 2 cups grated yellow zucchini, from one medium zucchini (see note)
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil, or other neutral-flavored cooking oil
- ¼ cup plain or vanilla Greek yogurt (replace with your favorite non-dairy yogurt to make this recipe dairy-free)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Fresh Lemon Glaze
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from 1 lemon)
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 - 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake
- Heat oven to 350°F and lightly grease an 8.5x4.5" loaf pan.
- Place grated zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Toss gently and place the colander in the sink to drain. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ½ teaspoon of salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
- Whisk together the sugar, oil, yogurt, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract into a large bowl. When the zucchini is done draining, squeeze any extra water out with your hands. Stir it into this mixture.
- Gently fold the flour mixture into the zucchini mixture, and stir until flour is just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, and gently smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Fresh Lemon Glaze
- Whisk together lemon juice, zest and vanilla. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, continue adding powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the cake once it is completely cool.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer: I try my best to make sure the nutrition information I provide is accurate to provide you with the best information possible. However, due to ingredient discrepancies and other factors, the above nutrition information should be considered an estimation only.
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