This Vegan Zucchini Cake is utterly toothsome, rich, fudgey and caramelly. With a thick Vegan Cream “Cheese” icing, this one is sure to be a crowd favourite at any party!
Why Make a Vegan Cake?
If you have been following this blog in recent months, you may be aware that here in New Zealand, we are in the grip of a severe Egg Shortage.
This is a trifle annoying, mostly because I adore poached eggs oozing onto my freshly baked bread!
But another hindrance with this egg famine, is that a lot of ‘normal’ baking requires the golden treasure for richness, and texture.
But, I want to have my cake!!
Thus, I have opened a new chapter in my life, titled, “Vegan Cooking”.
And friends, it isn’t all deprivation and tofu. In fact, it’s wonderful!! With vegan cooking, you can still have large, light and fluffy cakes and pancakes and other desserts, made from simple ingredients.
Plus, there is an added bonus that vegan recipes don’t use the expensive butter and eggs – it means I can have my dessert and stick within my $100 grocery budget.
All this to say that, technically I am not vegan, since I eat so much homemade yoghurt, but I have definitely converted to veganism in baking and desserts, since it enables me to make healthier desserts on a budget.
Check out the full recipe video!
The Place of Zucchini in a Cake
In my not-so-humble opinion, cake is the BEST place for Zucchini. Grated, the zucchini absorbs anonymously into the cake, so instead of getting chunks of unwelcome vegetable, you get an utterly soft and moist cake crumb.
Using the finer side of your grater dissolves the zucchini into smaller pieces so the green stuff is imperceptible in the final cooked cake.
If you cannot imagine zucchini in a cake, imagine this cake’s cousin, which is the spicy and aromatic Carrot Cake. This zucchini cake has the exact same flavour profile as that delicious show-stopper.
However, the zucchini is a bit softer in texture than the carrot, so it is not so pronounced as the orange vegetable. It dissolves more readily into the rest of the batter, plus the flavour is not as strong as carrot.
So, what you get is just a spicy, caramelly cake that is utterly delicious. Who would think you are getting your 5 plus in at the same time?!
How to sweeten this rich spiced Vegan zucchini cake:
This cake contains no processed white or brown sugar, so it is healthier than your standard dessert. But how does this cake achieve that rich, caramelly flavour I have been waxing lyrical about?
Behold, the miraculous Date Paste.
Date Paste is quickly becoming my hero in recent times. Ever since I have discovered it as a dessert sweetener, it has made me able to have my cake without breaking my $100 grocery budget!
Dates are only $3 for a packet of 500g, making it the cheapest refined-sugar-free option I can get my hands on. And not only do they sweeten my desserts, they add vitamins and minerals to them as well!
How to Make the Date Paste for this Recipe:
This Spiced Zucchini cake uses all of 500g Dates. Rip open the packet, tip them into a pot and cover them with about a litre of boiling water.
Boil the dates, mixing often, until the water is fully absorbed and the dates form a mushy mass (pictured above).
You can start the date paste in the morning, hours before you need to make the cake. It is best to use it when cool (although this is not absolutely essential).
This method makes exactly the amount of date paste you need for the cake (about 2 cups).
Be Careful Not to Over-mix the Zucchini Cake Batter
This cake has quite a thick batter, which could easily get heavy if over mixed.
To ensure this doesn’t happen, we mix a lot of things separately before we unify them.
The Liquid ingredients, apart from the Date Paste, are blended in a form of mayonnaise before folding through the Date Paste.
The Dry ingredients are sifted together to ensure the spices are evenly dispersed. After this, the wet Date mixture is added. But before the flour is fully incorporated, we add the zucchini. This is to avoid beating the air out when we add this final ingredient.
Use confident, precise, full movements when folding the wet into the dry. Do not beat, but scrape the bowl, turning the bottom over to the top.
Finally, careful smooth it evenly into the pan.
Spiced Vegan Zucchini Cake is better the next day.
Be sure to make this cake the day before you intend to eat it. This will ensure the cake is properly cooled before you ice it. Plus, the flavour of the cake is deeper, richer and more aromatic the next day.
You can store this cake in the fridge. Because it is made with oil, not butter, it does not dry out in the fridge.
How to make the most Luscious Vegan Frosting.
This frosting has all the lusciousness of a classic cream-cheese frosting that would normally be paired with a cake like this.
The secret ingredient is the coconut, which, when blended, becomes coconut butter and helps to set the coconut cream.
See how the coconut produces a natural oil when blended? It is this oil that sets like rock once cooled, which is perfect for when combined with cream or yoghurt. It transforms it into the loveliest icing consistency!
Adding a squirt of lemon juice and vanilla essence, with a hint of sweetener, gives it that zing and freshness which pairs perfectly with the rich, spicy cake.
Luscious Vegan Frosting Notes:
As with the cake, make the Frosting the day before you intend to eat the Cake. This gives the frosting time to properly set into that luscious, thick, cream-cheesy texture.
When Icing the cake, you will need to keep the cake in the baking tin, as the icing does ooze before it is finally set.
It does set like rock though, so you definitely want to make sure it is on the cake before it has fully hardened (otherwise you won’t be able to spread it!
Serving Suggestions:
This vegan Zucchini cake is delicious on it’s own with that luscious frosting as a perfect accompaniment.
However, if you wanted to dress it up a bit for a party or special occasion, sliced strawberries or blueberries would provide a lovely fresh tang that would balance the sweetness of the cake.
It would also be lovely with fresh yoghurt or cream, with a passionfruit coulis.
Date-Sweetened Zucchini Cake
This is a miraculous cake - rich and caramelly, and you would never guess it is refined sugar-free, let alone harboring a secretive vegetable!
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 2 cups Homemade Date Paste (see notes)
- 3/4 cup oil (can be Olive Oil - see notes)
- Chickpea liquid from one standard tin (aka: Aquafaba)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract (be heavy handed)
- 2 tsp Vinegar (any kind)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 tsp Mixed Spice (I used 1 tsp each of cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice).
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 tbsp Truvia
- 3 cups grated Zucchini (or grated carrot for a carrot cake)
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- For the Icing:
- 250 g Desiccated Coconut, blended into coconut oil.
- 2 tins of Coconut Cream
- Vanilla
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 3 Tablespoons sweetener (I use Truvia, see Notes)
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Make the Date Paste. Boil 500g dates in about 1 litre of water until the water has been fully absorbed and the dates are mushy.
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line a 22cm cake tin with baking paper.
- Grate the Zucchini straight onto a tea towel. When you have three cups, squeeze out the excess liquid.
- Sift together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the Truvia (just gives a nice kick of sweetness, as the dates are not overly sweet. Feel free to leave it out).
- Using a blender, make a mayonnaise out of the oil, vinegar, aquafaba and vanilla. Pour the aquafaba into a blender, add the vinegar an vanilla. Turn the blender on and slowly pour the oil in through the hole in the lid.
- Fold this runny mayonnaise through the date paste.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, add the date mixture. Fold this through, taking care not to over-mix.
- Before the flour is fully incorporated, add the grated zucchini. Fold this through until you cannot see any more bits of flour. Then STOP mixing.
- Smooth the batter into a lined 22cm cake tin, making sure the cake is spread evenly. It is a thick mixture so you do need to make sure all the space is used up!
- Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hr or until a skewer stuck in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Leave to cool.
For the Icing:
- Blend the coconut until it releases it's natural oils and forms a butter.
- Whisk the coconut butter and coconut cream until smooth.
- Add the Vanilla, Sweetener and Lemon Juice.
- Place in the fridge Until ready to use (see notes).
Assembly:
- When the cake is fully cooled and the icing halfway set, you are now ready to assemble!
- Take the cooled cake and slice it in half.
- Place one half in the lined tin it was baked in(this ensures the icing does not ooze out as it will still be quite soft. But don't worry, it will set!).
- Pour 1/3 of the semi-hardened icing mixture over this half.
- Place the remaining cake half on top.
- Pour the rest of the icing over the cake, and smooth it out.
- Place the iced cake in the fridge to set (see notes).
Notes
- I have not tried making this cake with store-bought date paste. To make the date paste I simply boil 500g dates in about a litre of water, and let that reduce until the water is fully absorbed and the dates are all mushy.
- Do not worry about blending this till smooth. When baked, the dates that did not completely dissolve are like beautiful morsels of fudgey caramel in the final cake.
- The oil does not need to be neutral flavoured. I have used olive oil in this cake, which does have a distinct flavour. However, this is imperceptible in the final cake.
- The aquafaba is the egg replacer in this recipe.
- To sweeten the icing, I use truvia, which is 3 times the sweetness of normal sugar, so you don't need as much. If you don't have any on hand, simply use regular sugar and sweeten as desired.
- The cake does take a while to cook, as it is a big cake. Don't be alarmed if it takes closer to 1 hour to cook, or even longer! Everyone's oven is different. Just keep an eye on it.
- For the icing, it does require time in the fridge to set. To be safe, you could make it the day before you make the cake. Otherwise, follow the instructions for assembly.
- The cake needs to be stored in the fridge so that the icing stays set. Do not worry about the cake drying out. Because it is made with oil, it copes rather well in the fridge.
- This is such a toothsome cake, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 430Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 444mgCarbohydrates: 57gFiber: 6gSugar: 27gProtein: 6g
Definitely saving this for spring time!!
Rebecca, it’s soo good!! Let me know how you enjoy it! I’m making it all the time currently <3
Sounds so delicious! I don’t bake very well, so I’ll have to adore it in my head.
Haha thanks Sharonda!! Wish I could bake it for you! <3
I’m going to make this with my fresh zucchini this season! Looks delicious 😊
It’s so delicious, Gabby!! I hope you enjoy it! <3