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zucchini coffee cake
5 from 5 votes

Zucchini Coffee Cake

With a center and top layer of streusel, this zucchini coffee cake is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time55 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 16 slices
Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the streusel:

  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • cup sugar
  • ¾ cup flour
  • 2 tsp cinnamon, I prefer Ceylon cinnamon here
  • ¾ cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
  • 6 Tbsp butter, cold and cubed

For the wet ingredients:

  • cup canola oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • ¾ cup almond milk
  • 1 cup zucchini, grated
  • 2 eggs

For the dry ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1 tsp all spice
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder

For the honey icing:

  • 2 Tbsp butter melted
  • 2 Tbsp almond milk
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Toast the nuts

  • If you haven’t already, chop the nuts roughly and toast them. To toast the nuts, simply add them to a skillet over medium heat. Toss the nuts occasionally, and let them toast in the skillet until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Make the streusel

  • Add the brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, flour, and walnuts to a small mixing bowl. Whisk together with a fork under everything is incorporated.
  • Now add the cubes of cold butter to the mixture. With your hands or a pastry cutter, mix the butter into the rest of the mixture. Keep going until streusel forms. This happens when the butter makes the cinnamon/sugars/walnuts/flour mixture clumpy.
  • Put the streusel mixture in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. The streusel needs to be cold before compiling and baking the cake.

Mix the wet ingredients

  • To a large mixing bowl, add the canola oil, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and almond milk. Whisk until everything comes together, then add the zucchini and whisk again.
  • Now add in the eggs. Whisk until the eggs are completely incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients

  • Now add the flour, almond flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder, cinnamon, and all spice.
  • Whisk until everything is just combined. Take care not to overmix.

Compile the cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Oil a 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Pour half of the cake batter into the dish.
  • Now sprinkle half of the streusel evenly over the top.
  • Pour the remaining half of the cake batter over the streusel as evenly as possible. If needed, use an offset spatula to carefully spread the cake batter.
  • Top the cake batter with the remaining streusel.

Bake the cake

  • Bake the cake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
  • Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes before adding the honey icing. While the cake cooks, make the icing.

Make the honey icing

  • Add the butter and milk to a small, microwave-safe bowl.
  • Microwave the butter and milk for 30-40 seconds, until melted and warm. Now stir in the honey and powdered sugar. Keep stirring until the icing is smooth. It will be thick yet pourable.
  • Ice the cake, and enjoy!
  • With a butter knife, simply drizzle the honey icing over the cake. Use as much or as little icing as desired.
  • Serve the cake as breakfast, brunch, or dessert. Enjoy!

Notes

This cake is vegetarian.
This cake is great for breakfast, brunch, or dessert.