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I made this yesterday with the abundance of zucchini in my garden. A winner!!! Absolutely delicious. It will be a repeat many times over.
Jane redpath
Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake may or may not be the best thing to come out of my kitchen all week, but I need to start this post with some b-a-d news:
House #2, the Charmer, sold.
After 5 days on the market. To someone else. The same night I posted about it. Dramatic sad mopey face.
Even though the Charmer isn’t even an option anymore, can I just say how much I loved and appreciated all your advice? There were a few comments that seriously honestly for real might have swayed our house-buying decision one way or the other, and I mean literally just A COMMENT, from you sweet readers, across the internet world somewhere, which is just weird and amazing. You all are a very house savvy bunch, so thanks a mil for taking the time to leave your two cents about which house we should buy.
The funny thing about this is that now that the Charmer has sold, we don’t feel any special pull towards buying the Happy Easy home. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be with that old cutie and maybe it’s a good sign that we should keep looking. I’ll keep you posted, you house lovers you!
And when we DO find a house, hey! I know what to make for our We Finally Found a House celebration. It starts with Cinnamon Sugar and ends with Zucchini Coffee Cake.
So do you remember my jumbo ZUCCHINI? All caps for size representation.
Here’s how I’ve used it, by fifths.
1/5: Zucchini Parmesan
1/5: Zucchini Pancakes
1/5: sauteed veggie salad
2/5: Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake
I made this Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake twice – get it? 2/5? – and the first time I didn’t make it with the middle layer of cinnamon sugar. Like, it didn’t exist in my brain yet.
But then the second time I got this food vision for an extra cinnamon sugar layer through the middle because I like things that are have sticky sugary middle layers, yeah? Go look at one of the pictures and see if you can spot that little layer in there. It’s subtle, like the kind of thing where you might not notice it at first bite and then BOOM! You get a forkful that has that sweet layer running through it and your world is rocked. If you don’t like sticky cinnamon sugar middle layers in your zucchini coffee cake, you’re allowed to leave it out. Buuut that does make you a weirdo.
PS. Possibly even more than middle layers, I like LOVE cinnamon sugar top layers. For the heavenly top crust on this zucchini coffee cake, the butter and sugar and cinnamon get crumb-ed, spread over the top, and baked into some kind of wonderful cinnamon sugar crunchyyy. There you are going about your business, and all of a sudden you find yourself eating this thin crunchy cinnamon sugar layer on a cake that sort of melts in your mouth and that just so happens to have VEGGIEZ in it, and I bet you’re having a lot of fun.
This is one of those cakes that you can eat for breakfast, morning snack time, after school snack time, bedtime snack time, dessert, and come to think of it, anytime in your whole life.
I adore anytime cake.
Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 20 1x
Description
This Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake is so simple! It takes about 10 minutes to make and has two layers of cinnamon sugar. Mmm.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
- 1/3 cup oil (I used olive oil but Canola oil works too)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup buttermilk (you can sub milk + vinegar, even almond milk!)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (I just eyeballed a little pinch)
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
For the topping
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Press or drain the excess moisture out of the zucchini shreds. Mix the cake ingredients in order given.
- Combine the topping ingredients with your fingers or in a food processor to make a crumbly topping. Pour half of the batter into a greased 9×13 cake pan. Cover with half of the crumbs. Repeat with the remaining batter and topping.
- Bake for 45 minutes. The top will be crunchy and textured and the cake will bounce back when you gently press it. And then it will be gone fast.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cinnamon sugar zucchini coffee cake, zucchini coffee cake, coffee cake recipe
Happy Labor Day to all the laborers! Now go make a cake.
Great base recipe! Made a few changes based on gluten intolerance & high altitude. Cut brown sugar in the cake to 3/4 packed; used gluten free King Arthur flour 2 & 1/4 cups plus 1 tbsp flour, 1/4 cup almond flour; 3/4 tsp baking soda; added 1 tsp cinnamon & 1/2 tsp each ginger & nutmeg to cake. Topping: 1/2 cup EACH white & brown sugars, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 cup chopped pecans. Bumped up temp to 330. Wondering what changes, if any, are needed to make it without zucchini, as a traditional coffee cake? Hard to find good GF coffee cake recipes – this one is great.
This Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake looks absolutely delicious! I love how you’ve incorporated zucchini to make it a bit healthier while still keeping it indulgent with that cinnamon sugar topping. Can’t wait to try this recipe for my next brunch gathering! Thank you for sharing!
where is the coffee? you have to call it Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Cake not Cinnamon Sugar Zucchini Coffee Cake because doesnt have coffee
Wondering if you could freeze this? Looks delicious!
Cakes like this typically freeze pretty well, so I’d say yes! Just try to store it as airtight as possible.
Oh wow, this coffee cake recipe looks and sounds amazing! I’m a huge fan of zucchini in baked goods and the addition of cinnamon sugar on top is genius. Can’t wait to give it a try this weekend
I just made this and WOW!!! I used coconut oil for the oil & coconut sugar instead of regular sugar and the cinnamon/coconut combo is perfection
Super easy and super super super good!!! I took it to a brunch and had to give the recipe to 2 ladies!
I loved the receipe.
So easy, tasty with cinnamon middle crunch.
I did a 9×13, but going forward I’ll be doubling the receipe from now
on. Great hit at the Block Party.
I am freezing my zucchini to make for the holidays.
Keep the yummy receipes coming.
Thank-you💞
Made this last night to being share with my coworkers today, it was a huge success! The whole pan was gone very quickly! “Guilt free” eating when it has veggies in it! I used summer squash instead of zucchini so it would blend in more with the cake and followed the recipe. came together very quickly. 10/10 will definitely make again!
Hi Lindsay,
Could this cake be made in a Bundt pan?
Thank you!
Sandy
We haven’t tried that before to know how bake time and/or bake temp would change, but we’d love to hear if you try it out!
Tasty, but I don’t think there is enough batter for two layers in a 9×13 pan…. Maybe needs to be doubled? Current ratio of batter to topping is way too much topping (in my opinion). I would make it in a 9×9 and half the topping, or double batter for 13×9
Sounds so good, going to make as soon as my zucchini is shredded. Thanks
Really good! My only comment is I think the pan size of 9 x 13 is too big if you want to have two layers? Or else I messed up the proportions. Therefore I did one layer and put the topping only on the top. That topping though, so simple but divine!
This was a big hit with my guests. They especially liked the crispy, chewy edges of this cake and the sugary topping. I made it vegan with 2 simple substitutions.
1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water and allowed to sit for 15 minutes)
1 cup plant buttermilk (combine any plant milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, and allow to sit 1 minute).
Great recipe for all those big zucs in the garden!
Thanks for the tips on making this vegan, Joan!
Good use of that extra zucchini! I think next time I will add nuts to the topping because we are nut fans! Also I didn’t have any oranges for grated orange peel so I used lime.
This is the best coffee cake.recipe. My husband is never too thrilled when I say I’m making anything zucchini but he changed his mind with this zucchini coffee cake. Definitely a keeper!
It tasted really good but need to cook longer than it said in the recipe
Would this recipe work with gluten free flour? I’m so excited to try!!!
We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, but we think it’d work out just fine!
Tried this. Not enough batter to do a 9x13pan. I put it in a 9×9 and baked for 50 minutes. Came out very heavy and not done.
It’s a bit heavy on the sugar too. Will tweet the recipe as I really liked the addition of the orange zest.
I made this & had a lot of trouble with it. All of the ingredients would not fit in the largest mixing bowl I have so ended up using a soup pot! Then it barely fit into the 9×13 pan. I baked it at lest 15 minutes longer than recommended & it was still a bit gooey. Don’t think I will try it again.
The best way to eat zucchini! I made it in regular loaf pans and it took a little longer to cook, but was delicous. Do NOT overfill the pan or your oven will be a sticky mess. Thanks for a great recipe.
I LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it twice now and everyone that has tasted it loves it too! I haven’t had oranges so I have subbed with lemon rind instead, and made buttermilk with 1 cup milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Amazing recipe thank you!
20 g of sugar in a serving ? I would never put this much sugar into anything ! 2/3 cup sugar to 1 cup max for the cake and a few tbsp for the topping ! .
Sorry this was a fail. I mean, the flavor is good but it’s flat and I followed to a T.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you. Thanks for the feedback!
I made this recipe but adapted it to what I had in the fridge. I used coconut oil, used mac nut milk with 1 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar, and cut the brown sugar down to 1 cup. The recipe was delicious and everyone thought it tasted like pumpkin bread in a sense. My only complaint was it was very sweet in my opinion. I would make this again and cut the brown sugar down even more and serve with some vanilla bean ice cream. Thank you!