My Zucchini Cake with Browned Butter Frosting is moist, rich with nuts, and slathered with the most decadent frosting —- zucchini never had it so good!
This is a luscious little zucchini cake!
And you can take that to the bank because I’m becoming a connoisseur of little snack cakes. I love the deep rich color of this one, the threads of green running through it, the chunky walnuts, and the moist springy texture. But if I’m honest, it’s really all about the frosting. The frosting is amazing and the frosting is why I couldn’t limit my ‘taste testing’ to a reasonable percentage of the whole. There’s nothing else going on with it, just pure bold browned butter flavor. It’s very good, and I couldn’t stop eating it.
related: Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake
what you’ll need for this zucchini snack cake
- all purpose flour
- eggs
- sugar ~ granulated and confectioner’s
- oil
- butter
- cream
- shredded zucchini
- chopped walnuts
- cinnamon
- baking soda and baking powder
- salt
browned butter is the secret to the incredible frosting
That’s the browned butter on the left. It’s a very easy process, as long as you stand right by it, because it happens in a flash. The little brown specks are the solids in the milk, and they turn a rich brown as you heat the butter on the stove. I have to say my experience with browned butter as an ingredient has been iffy at best, though. I find that you can’t always detect it in a finished dish, especially in baked goods. That’s why I’m so pleased with the pronounced nutty, buttery flavor of this frosting, I know I’m going to come back to it a lot.
TIP: Don’t leave the stove while you are browning butter, it can go from nutty brown to burned in an instant.
more crazy good snack cakes
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Zucchini Cake with Browned Butter Frosting
Equipment
- 9" square pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp vanilla paste, or 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup packed shredded and drained zucchini
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
for the frosting
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- heavy cream to thin
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350F
- Toss together the 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Beat the 2 eggs well and then beat in the 1 cup sugar. Stir in the 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 1 Tbsp vanilla paste.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the 1 cup packed shredded and drained zucchini and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
- Spread the batter into a greased 9″ square baking pan. I lined mine with a parchment paper ‘sling’ to make it easy to remove the cake for frosting, but this is optional.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without wet batter clinging to it.
- Cool on a rack before frosting.
- Make the frosting by melting the 3 Tbsp unsalted butter over low to medium heat in a small pan on the stove. It helps to have a light colored pan so you can see the color change. Continue to heat the butter until you notice it starting to turn brown. You may need to lower your heat at this point to have more control over the process. You will see the milk solids turn into little brown specks. Be extra careful not to let the butter burn, but let it get to a rich deep brown color. This happens quickly, so don't walk away.
- Let the butter cool a bit before adding to the 2 cups confectioner’s sugar. Then thin with the heavy cream until you get a spreadable consistency. Beat it until it is smooth and glossy.
- Spread it on the cake and enjoy.
Notes
- After grating the zucchini, lay it out on a double layer of paper towels. Let it sit while you make the batter, and then gather up the towels and gently squeeze out any excess moisture from the zucchini.
Nutrition
You have a typo in the Step 2. It’s not “baling” powder but rather “baking” powder.
Fixed 🙂
Perfect! Turned out deliciously scrumptious. I would not change a thing. I give it an A+.
Yay, thanks!
This was a very moist but my edges were way overdone. One of my eggs had a double yolk and I used jumbo sized eggs. Not sure if that made a difference in the baking time. I also sqeezed the zucchini first and then measured it. I made penuche icing too just because it is my husband’s favorite. I will definitely try again and check it 5 minutes earlier. Thanks so much.
I made the pumpkin walnut cake in a bunt pan and used the brown butter spice glaze. Excellent reviews from family and friends I’ll definitely make this again.
Made this yesterday. It is delicious. Cake was not dense at all. Very tasty and excellent frosting. Will definitely make again.
I’ve been making this cake for years. It’s always delicious and it never fails to turn out the same way. So moist and light – I use the brown butter frosting on everything these days. So good.
Thanks Madeleine, I’m glad it’s worked out so well for you 🙂
For the zucchini cake, what can I substitute for vanilla paste?
You can use regular vanilla extract in its place Marti.
If you squeeze out the moisture from the zucchini, do you remeasure to make sure you have 1 cup of Zucchini?
No, just go ahead and use it.
Wow! Good cake! Love the moistness that the zucchini brings. I did add a little less sugar then recipe calls for. The icing is sweet enough for me so don’t need that much sugar in the cake.
Turned out really well. I did double the recipe, I needed to use up my zucchini. And I put it in a 9×13, but I also made 6 cupcakes because I didn’t want the cake so thick. I added choc chips instead of nuts just because my family is not so much for nuts. Lol. But considering with the changes I made still turned out really well!
Well, you can never go wrong subbing in chocolate chips 😉 Good to know it can be doubled like that.
This is a SUPER YUMMY recipe! What is the best way to store the cake?
I like to store cake on the counter, covered with foil, Brandi.