This banana zucchini cake is incredibly soft and loaded with flavorful browned butter and crunchy walnuts. – a perfect breakfast, dessert, or snack cake!
Great is the cake that serves as both breakfast, dessert, AND a snack!! It’s amazing what adding a little green stuff can do, huh?
We’re definitely in the season of zucchini right now and if you’re getting a little bored of the standard zucchini bread, this cake is how you switch up your game!
Browned butter included. Never a bad addition to your cake plans.
This cake is kinda like banana bread meets zucchini bread all wrapped up into a simple, beautiful glazed sheet cake.
New favorite summer cake FOR SURE!
This Banana Zucchini Cake features…
- An incredibly soft texture, thanks to banana + shredded zucchini
- Flavorful browned butter in both the cake base and the glaze
- Crunchy toasted walnuts studded all over the cake, plus more on top
Making the Banana Zucchini Cake
(scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe!)
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Banana
- Shredded zucchini
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Greek yogurt
- Vanilla extract
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Buttermilk
- Walnuts (optional)
- Powdered sugar
How to Prep Bananas and Zucchini
You will need 2 medium ripe mashed bananas and 1 cup packed shredded zucchini for the cake batter.
To shred the zucchini, you can use a food processor or the large holes on a box grater.
How to Brown Butter
Browned butter is an invaluable cooking trick to have up your sleeve. It adds SO much incredible flavor in both baked goods and everyday cooking!
To make the browned butter, simply melt a stick of butter on medium heat until the butter is a deep golden brown and fragrant, swirling the pan occasionally.
Set aside 2 tablespoons of the browned butter for the glaze and reserve the rest for the cake batter.
Tips for Perfect Banana Zucchini Cake
- Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients – mix the wet and the dry ingredients in separate bowls for best results.
- Gently fold batter – use a very gentle folding motion to mix the batter. Be careful not to overmix or this may lead to a dry cake.
- Toast walnuts – if you choose to use walnuts in this cake, make sure you toast them on the stovetop beforehand. Toast them until just fragrant and cool slightly before adding to batter.
- Bake cake in 9×13 inch pan – using this size of pan will give you the ideal sheet cake height. For best results, we recommend lining the pan with parchment paper.
- Use toothpick to test cake – when the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is done.
- Cool cake completely before glazing – this will prevent the glaze from melting and running off the cake.
- Garnish cake with extra nuts – if you’re using nuts, this adds a lovely little garnish!
Storing Cake and Freezing Instructions
Store the cake wrapped well on the counter for up to 4 days.
If you would like to freeze this cake, do not glaze it. Cool cake completely, then wrap well and freeze up to 1 month. Thaw cake and top with glaze as recipe directs.
It’s soft as heck, it’s packed with the perfect amount of banana flavor, and the browned butter glaze? Ahhh it just takes this beautiful cake over the top!
The best part about this cake is that it literally has no designated time or place. We’ve eaten it for breakfast, served it to guests for dessert, and definitely snacked on it in the afternoon too.
Plus it makes a TON of cake which is perfect for serving a crowd of peeps. Orrrr just population yourself? You get it.
More summer cakes I know you’ll love!
Browned Butter Banana Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
Banana Zucchini Cake
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup packed shredded zucchini
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (optional)
Browned Butter Glaze
- 2 tablespoons reserved browned butter
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- Additional toasted walnuts for topping, optional
Instructions
Banana Zucchini Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F and adjust oven rack to middle. Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter until a deep golden brown and fragrant. Set aside 2 tablespoons in a medium bowl for glaze and transfer remaining to a large bowl.
- In a large bowl with an electric beater or whisk, beat sugar and eggs well 1-2 minutes until eggs are slightly thickened. Beat in mashed banana, browned butter, yogurt, and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Gently fold half of flour mixture into liquid with half of buttermilk and zucchini, then repeat with remaining flour mixture, buttermilk, and zucchini until batter is smooth. Fold in toasted walnuts if using.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake cake at 350F 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
Browned Butter Glaze
- Place powdered sugar and vanilla in bowl with reserved 2 tablespoons browned butter. Begin whisking, adding milk by the tablespoon until glaze is drizzling consistency.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled cake and sprinkle with additional walnuts if desired. Let cake stand 10 minutes then slice into squares and serve. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply