Easy and delicious, these chewy Cinnamon Frosted Zucchini Cake Bars are the perfect sweet dessert any time of year! Serve chilled for extra flavor!
We love zucchini recipes. From easy, moist zucchini bread to the most decadent fudgy zucchini brownies!
Why Zucchini Cake Bars are Best
Cake bars are even easier to make than most cake recipes and the bar form makes them extra convenient for transport.
You fold shredded zucchini into a thick batter of brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and flour. Don’t forget a few drops of vanilla extract!
Then, you just bake, cool, frost and slice! These are oh-so-chewy –almost like a good fudgy brownie.
- Shredded zucchini keeps the cake bars extra moist for days!
- The light, fluffy cinnamon frosting is seriously delicious!
- Enjoy anytime of day – and great for sharing with friends and neighbors!
These are a hit as a dessert, but you all know I’m a big proponent of cake bars for breakfast, too.
A zucchini bar with a strong cup of dalgona coffee in the morning? Swoon worthy.
Ingredient Notes
- Brown Sugar – This is the sweetener for the cake bars. I use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar is fine as well.
- Butter – You need MELTED butter for the cake batter and SOFTENED butter for the frosting. I use and recommend unsalted butter to control the amount of sodium in my baking recipes.
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour works great in this cake. Be sure to measure it correctly!
- Zucchini – Use our guide on how to shred zucchini. Freshly grated or frozen thawed shredded zucchini can be used.
- Vanilla – We love making our own homemade vanilla extract, but if using store bought, be sure it’s PURE extract, not imitation.
Easy Instructions
STEP 1. Make the batter. Combine the brown sugar with melted butter. Add in the egg and vanilla. Add in the flour, salt and cinnamon just until combined. Fold in the shredded zucchini.
STEP 2. Bake the cake bars. Pour the batter into a 9-inch baking dish lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 26-30 minutes then cool completely.
STEP 3. Make the frosting. Beat the softened butter with powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Spread over cooled cake bars. Refrigerate and enjoy!
Tips and Tricks
- Be sure to line your pan with parchment paper. These chewy bars can be sticky, and there’s nothing worse than not being able to get them out of the pan. Plus it makes them easy to cut and frost too!
- Make sure your zucchini is shredded and not pureed! A box grater works beautifully for shredding zucchini. A food processor with a grating attachment is a nifty method, too. Be sure not to over process or it could get mushy.
- If using freshly shredded zucchini, proceed as normal. If using FROZEN, thawed zucchini, you’ll want to squeeze out all that excess moisture. Put your zucchini in a piece of cheesecloth, or a very thin towel. Wring the cloth at the top and keep wringing it until all the liquid seeps out.
- Beat the softened butter for 3 minutes on its own when making the frosting for a SUPER light and fluffy frosting. Then add the remaining ingredients and beat again until fluffy.
- Allow your bars to cool completely before adding the frosting.
Recipe FAQs
Store the bars, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Fridge storage ensures the frosting doesn’t get too soft or runny and also enhances the cinnamon flavor of the frosting. I love eating these cold!
Yes, they freeze well! Store in a freezer safe container with a sheet of wax paper between each layer of bars. They’ll keep for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Sure! You can substitute a regular vanilla or chocolate frosting or use a lemon flavored icing.
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Zucchini Cake Bars
Ingredients
For the cake bars:
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
For the frosting:
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch baking dish with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar with melted butter. Add in egg and vanilla. Add flour, salt, cinnamon just until combined. Fold in the zucchini.
- Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake for 26-30 minutes, remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, beat butter with powdered sugar, cinnamon, and milk. Scraping down the sides of the bowl, beat until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Spread over cooled cake bars. Refrigerate and enjoy!
Notes
Video
Nutrition
This recipe is one more reason to keep that garden going for as long as you can. You’ll love these easy, delicious Zucchini Cake Bars so much, you may find yourself buying zucchini all winter long. Enjoy!
Hi, I made these zucchini bars and I have a couple of recommendations. I like my food to have balance. I don’t like one part of it to be drowning out the other tastes. The cinnamon frosting had a bit too much cinnamon for my taste. I would reduce the cinnamon by 25%. The frosting was overwhelming. I frosted the bars and the layer of frosting was thicker than the layer of the zucchini bar. It would be more than enough if you cut the frosting recipe in half. The zucchini bar itself was delicious. I would increase the amount of all ingredients in the zucchini bars by about 25% so that you get a thicker bar.
When you use a complimentary amount o f deliciously flavored frosting, the bars are great.
They really good after refrigerating for several hours.
Hi. Okay, i am not a big zucchini fan, but I have to give these a try!!! Yummy. ????. You only said to squeeze out the water if using frozen so I assume I don’t squeeze out the fresh zucchini, right? Thanks. (I haven’t baked a lot with zucchini)
Love how chewy and gooey these cake bars look:) YUM! I know this is basically blasphemy, but I’m not a big buttercream frosting fan, thinking of doing a hefty layer of a greek-yogurt frosting for some tang, do you think those flavors would would work well here?
MMMMM. Looks SO good! Can’t wait to try.
Swooning over that thick layer of cinnamon frosting! These bars look so delicious!
I like equal parts cake bar and frosting 🙂
Yum! You should really open your own bakery! I bet people tell you that all the time 🙂
Yes! But that sounds like so much work, LOL. Baking in my pajamas and sharing the recipe online is so much easier 🙂