Banana Cake with Zucchini and Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Sep 12, 2012, Updated Feb 01, 2021
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Banana Cake with Zucchini – Made with bananas and zucchini, this banana cake is the best and easiest cake I’ve ever had! It’s moist, it’s perfectly sweetened, and it’s so, so delicious!
The easiest banana cake to make, and it’s perfect for using up those very ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen counter. This is a fool proof banana BUNDT cake recipe that gives excellent results each and every time.
I mean, who doesn’t love a Bundt cake? Perfectly molded, delicious, versatile cake ready to be served. And it’s just so darn pretty! Amiright?
Back in the day, before I got to know my taste buds, I could not even wrap my head around carrot cake, let alone a zucchini cake. That just wasn’t going to fly by me. Vegetable in a cake?! “Ewwwww!”. So I thought…
But now!?…
Carrot cake? Yes!
Banana Cake with Zucchini and Maple Cream Cheese Frosting?! Yes, Yes, Please!!
HOW TO MAKE A BANANA CAKE WITH ZUCCHINI
Few weeks back, I had these two black bananas sitting in a fruit bowl, just waiting to be thrown into a banana bread. Little did those bananas know that I was about to mash them into a cake with zucchini.
- First thing is first: combining all of our dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg – in a mixing bowl and giving them a good whisk until thoroughly incorporated.
- Next, we are going to head to our mixer and beat together the sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and bananas. Slowly, we are going to add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, and finally stir in the shredded zucchini. You can shred the zucchini with a grater OR you can use your food processor.
- All there’s left to do is to transfer the batter to a prepared bundt pan and bake for 50-ish minutes.
- While the cake cools, I suggest to make the maple cream cheese frosting; once completely cooled, add the frosting over the cake, sprinkle with walnuts, cut, and serve!
This zucchini cake is light, little bit spiced (hello cinnamon and nutmeg!), and whole ’nuff of sweet. The Maple Syrup Frosting really adds to the sweetness of the cake and the overall taste.
I also like the texture of this cake. Thanks to the banana and zucchini mix, the cake is very moist, and the smell is just deeelicious.
I like to serve this banana cake with a dollop of the frosting on the side because, I like to control how much frosting I’m getting. Sometimes, maybe none, and other times, when I’m chilling in my yoga pants, I might take all of it… 😀
ENJOY!
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Banana Cake with Zucchini
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 2 cups Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup canola oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 ripe bananas, , mashed
- 2 cups shredded zucchini, squeeze grated/shredded zucchini over a bowl to remove excess water*
For the Frosting
- 4 oz light cream cheese, , softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Grease a Bundt cake pan with non-stick spray or butter, dust with flour, then tap out any excess.
- In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- With an electric mixer, in a separate mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, and mashed banana.
- Gradually add the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, continue to mix on medium low until well incorporated.
- Stir in the shredded zucchini.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan, smooth the top, then bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- In the meantime prepare the frosting.
- Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until smooth.
- Add in the powdered sugar and continue to mix until well incorporated.
- Pour in the maple syrup and mix until smooth and no lumps appear.
- Take the cake out of the oven and let the cake cool for 20 minutes on a rack, then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack.
- Cool completely before frosting.
- Sprinkle with chopped walnuts; cut and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
My young girls adore this recipe. Although I don’t do the frosting and I only use 1/4 of the sugar & 1/4 of the oil then bake it at a lower temp for longer. My 4 year old also loves eating it straight from the freezer – awesome healthy snack! Great sliced with a spread of butter too.