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Blueberry Zucchini Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

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Blueberry Zucchini cake is a great cake that is moist, flavorful, and oh so fun to eat! A perfect cake for summer to use your garden bounty. Topped with luscious lemon buttercream frosting, you won’t want to stop eating this amazing cake!

slice of blueberry and zucchini cake with lemon frosting on plate
I am pretty sure that the entire country gets zucchini crazy this time of year. Either your garden is overflowing with it, or you are like me and go crazy buying way too many at the market. Either way, everyone is all about putting zucchini in everything right about now! This has got to be one of my favorite produce of the summer. I seriously love zucchini! And putting it in everything. As a simple side dish, in meatballs,  brownies – I mean, you can shove extra zucchini in pretty much anything! But my absolute new favorite way is in this cake!
white cake stand with blueberry zucchini cake
This cake is exceptional – the cake itself is dense and incredibly moist. The bits of shredded zucchini and the pop of the fresh and juicy blueberries are phenomenal. And when you pair it with the super creamy lemon buttercream frosting… Yeah… There is no will power strong enough to resist the force of this cake!
I feel this cake needs to come with a warning label. Please make sure you invite plenty of friends and family over to eat this cake with you. Or you will eat the entire thing by yourself. Don’t be me. Its nice to share (although you won’t want to). Another perfect cake to make for any holiday get together is the Best Red Velvet Cake!
slice of cake with blueberries and lemon buttercream

How to make a zucchini blueberry cake

For the full set of directions, make sure you scroll down to the recipe card below!

Make the cakes.

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray two round 8″ cake pans with cooking spray and set aside.
  2. Grate 1 large zucchini (or two medium ones) and place into a clean dish towel. Squeeze until most of the liquid comes out. You should have about 2 cups of shredded zucchini.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla and sugar.
  4. Using a rubber spatula carefully fold in the zucchini.
  5. In a second medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
  6. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet and then gently fold in the blueberries.
  7. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  8. Cool for 20 minutes in the pans and then invert onto wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Make the lemon buttercream frosting.

  1. In a medium bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar an salt until pale and creamy.
  2. Add the lemon juice, zest, and the vanilla and beat for 3-5 minutes.

Assemble the cake.

  1. Place a small spoonful of the frosting on the center of a cake plate.
  2. Place one cake onto the center of the cake plate, on top of the frosting dollop (this will help keep the cake from sliding off).
  3. Spread half of the frosting on the cake (don;t worry about making it pretty, just spread it evenly).
  4. Place the other cake on top.
  5. Spread the remaining frosting on top, making sure to evenly spread it across.
  6. Sprinkle a handful of blueberries on top.

Enjoy!

cake stand with blueberry cake

Storage Information

You can store it at room temperature for 1 day.

Because of the lemon buttercream, I think this cake does best when stored in the refrigerator over time. Store for 3-4 days after baking.

You can also freeze slices of this cake for up to 3 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use frozen blueberries?

Yes! Just make sure to thaw the blueberries before using. The cake might have a more purple hue to it because of the frozen blueberries.

Can I bake this into different kinds of cakes?

Yes, you can use this same recipe to make the cake into a bundt cake, cupcakes, or a single layer cake in a 9×13 pan. You will need to adjust the baking time accordingly.

Food tastes better when its shared! If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and rate below!

Yield: 12 Servings

Blueberry Zucchini Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

slice of cake with blueberries and lemon buttercream

This flavorful zucchini cake is studded with juicy bluebrries and topped with decadent lemon buttercream. Its a cake everyone will be dreaming about!

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

Blueberry Zucchini Cake

  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 2 cups finely shredded zucchini, excess water squeezed out
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 pint fresh blueberries (plus more for decoration)

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1 lemon, juice and zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cakes

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Spray two round 8" cake pans with cooking spray and set aside.
  • Grate 1 large zucchini (or two medium ones) and place into a clean dish towel. Squeeze until most of the liquid comes out. You should have about 2 cups of shredded zucchini.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla and sugar.
  • Using a rubber spatula carefully fold in the zucchini.
  • In a second medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
  • Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet.
  • Gently fold in the blueberries.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Cool for 20 minutes in the pans and then invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting

  • In a medium bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar an salt until pale and creamy.
  • Add the lemon juice, zest, and the vanilla and beat for 3-5 minutes.

Assembly

  • Place a small spoonful of the frosting on the center of a cake plate.
  • Place one cake onto the center of the cake plate, on top of the frosting dollop (this will help keep the cake from sliding off).
  • Spread half of the frosting on the cake (don;t worry about making it pretty, just spread it evenly).
  • Place the other cake on top.
  • Spread the remaining frosting on top, making sure to evenly spread it across.
  • Sprinkle a handful of blueberries on top.

Enjoy!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 648Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 87mgSodium: 408mgCarbohydrates: 100gFiber: 2gSugar: 74gProtein: 6g

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram, and don't forget to tag #gingeredwhisk.

This recipe is ever so slightly adapted from I am Baker.

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Cheryl

Monday 22nd of August 2022

Thanks for sharing! This cake is absolutely delicious. It's my husband's birthday, and we were looking for a really moist cake. I didn't have lemons on hand so I used bottled lemon juice. The conversion looked like 1 juiced lemon = 4-5 Tbsp of juice, so I played it safe and used 4. I thought it was too much. The lemon frosting is really a perfect pairing for the blueberries in the cake. We also added some chopped frozen strawberries (we did about 1/3 strawberries and 2/3 blueberries instead of all blueberries, because my young daughter was helping and requested both fruits). My only issue was the cake really domed in the baking pans and I had to cut off the tops so I could frost a flat top so we could write "happy birthday" more easily. We all think it's delicious and this recipe will get added into my cake recipes permanently!

Janice Pierce

Monday 13th of September 2021

Can I use any kind of cake pan i only have a Bundt pan

Jenni

Thursday 16th of September 2021

Yeah, you can use a bundt pan!

janice pierce

Friday 10th of September 2021

will that enough liquid just the applesauce eggs and oil

Jenni

Monday 13th of September 2021

Yup! Trust the recipe! :)

Cynthia Landrie

Friday 3rd of June 2016

I really do need a piece of this cake right now! I just finished dinner and it is time for dessert - I should hurry in to the kitchen and make it.

Unknown

Sunday 28th of February 2016

This cake is ridiculously delicious - especially the frosting. Makes a MASSIVE cake though so next time I'm going to try halving the recipe. Got rave reviews from friends and kids, the latter of whom never learned that they had just willingly ingested zucchini.

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