Zucchini Lemon Loaf

5 from 9 votes

The perfect end of summer loaf cake, this Zucchini Lemon Loaf is moist and bright with a little warmth and spice from the ginger and cinnamon.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Cooling1

Total Time2 20

Course: Afternoon Kaffee, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: lemon, lemon drizzle, lemon loaf, zucchini

Servings:

Calories: 438kcal

In a large mixing bowl, add in the lemon zest and granulated sugar. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar starts to clump from the oils.
Add in the oil, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
Crack in the eggs and whisk again.
Grate in the zucchini and whisk once more.
Pour in the all purpose flour along with the baking soda and baking powder right on top of the flour.
Use the whisk to first whisk the baking soda and baking powder into the flours and then completely in with the wet ingredients.
Place a parchment paper sling into the pan that goes from one long side, across the bottom and back up the other side.
Pour the batter into the 1 lb loaf pan.

Place the cake in the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes have passed, rotate the cake 180 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.
Check to see if the cake is done by poking a toothpick into the center and check to make sure it comes out clean without any raw cake batter. You can also tell a bit by looking at the crack that forms to see if it still looks wet inside. For me it took about an hour and 8 minutes to fully bake.
Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
While it cools make the lemon drizzle by stirring together lemon juice and sugar.
After 10-15 minutes of letting the cake cool, loosen the edges of the cake from the pan with a knife. Poke the surface of the cake all over with a toothpick.
Carefully and slowly drizzle the lemon sugar mixture over the cake. You can do this in a couple of passes because it will try to just run over the edges of the cake. Use the parchment paper to carefully lift the cake out of the pan slightly to let the drizzle run down the sides.
Use up all of the drizzle and then leave the cake to cool for at least 45 minutes.
Once cooled, use the parchment paper to lift the cake out and cut it into 9 slices.
Store leftovers in an airtight container either at a cool room temperature or in the fridge!

Tips for making Zucchini Cake

I recommend using this 1 lb metal loaf pan from USA pan for the zucchini cake. It will bake evenly without burning and you won't have any issues with the cake sticking. That being said you can also bake it in a 1.25 lb loaf pan, just start checking for doneness after 45 minutes.
Don't be afraid to really bake this cake - there is a lot of moisture in the cake so you want to bake it until it has set and the crack that forms no longer looks wet.
Make sure to preheat the oven before starting to mix the cake batter, it will come together quite quickly so you want the oven to be hot and ready.
You don't need a mixer for this cake, just make sure all of the ingredients are fully mixed and distributed in the cake batter.
As mentioned above, if using standard sized zucchinis there is no need to drain them. However, if you are using extra large zucchinis you may want to strain off a bit of the moisture. Just be sure to weight it after straining.
Even though the pan is non-stick I recommend lining the pan with a parchment paper sling because once you've added the lemon drizzle it will want to stick to the pan. The parchment paper will help lift it out.