Almond Flour Zucchini Crumb Cake with cinnamon streusel topping is like a zucchini-infused coffee cake. This grain-free cake recipe is loaded with delicious flavor and the cinnamon topping sends it over the top!
Whenever zucchini season hits, I become particularly excited to make The BEST Almond Flour Zucchini Bread and zucchini dessert recipes.
If you’re all about baking with almond flour or making grain-free dessert recipes, this almond flour zucchini cake is an absolute must!
Moist and perfectly sweet, this zucchini cake is a feel-good treat that is easy to make dairy-free and refined sugar-free.
The crumb topping is everything here because it adds a nice little burst of texture and cinnamon flavor to give you all the coffee shop vibes.
Plus, it includes zucchini, so it’s basically salad 😉
If you love grain-free cake recipes like this, also try my Almond Flour Lemon Cake and my Healthy Paleo Apple Cake!
Let’s discuss the ingredients for zucchini cake.
Ingredients for Almond Flour Zucchini Cake:
Almond Flour & Tapioca Flour: The combination of almond flour and tapioca flour makes a light and fluffy cake, taking the place of regular all-purpose flour.
I recommend using a finely ground almond flour instead of almond meal, as almond meal turns out denser. I use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour but any finely ground flour should work.
If you’d like to replace the tapioca flour, you can either replace it with more almond flour or equal parts arrowroot flour.
If you prefer baking with a gluten free flour blend, you can turn my Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread recipe (which uses gluten-free flour) into an 8-inch cake.
Eggs: Large eggs make the cake nice and fluffy for a perfect texture. Bring the eggs out of the refrigerator ahead of time to bring them to room temperature.
I haven’t tested the recipe with an egg replacer, but my guess is the cake would turn out fairly dense with flax eggs. Nevertheless, let me know if you try it.
Coconut Oil or Butter: The fat portion of this grain-free cake recipe to make it nice and moist. I like using either melted butter or melted coconut oil.
Avocado oil, vegetable oil, or olive oil works too.
Pure Vanilla Extract: A splash of vanilla extract brings warmth to the cake to give it that enticing flavor. If you don’t have vanilla extract on hand, feel free to skip it. Almond extract works here too, but use ½ teaspoon if you go this route.
Granulated Sugar: Use your favorite granulated sweetener for the cake.
You can use regular white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or maple sugar. Use any sugar-free sweetener for a low carb option.
Granulated sugar is used in both the cake and the crumb topping.
If you’d like to use pure maple syrup, use 1/2 cup and add another 1/2 cup of almond flour or 2 tablespoons of coconut flour.
For paleo zucchini cake, use pure maple syrup, coconut sugar, or maple sugar.
Baking Powder: The leavening agent in this healthy cake recipe is baking powder. It helps the cake bake evenly, gives it rise, and ensures it holds together when sliced.
Cinnamon and Sea Salt: Salt enhances all of the flavors in the cake so that it tastes nice and rich and sweet. Ground cinnamon brings that delicious warm flavor to the crumble topping.
Zucchini Squash: The true star, zucchini is the reason we’re here! You will need one medium-sized zucchini, which equates to a heaping cup of grated zucchini.
There is no need to drain the zucchini ahead of time to get rid of excess moisture, as I build the moisture into this moist cake recipe to save time.
Here are some ways you can customize this zucchini cake recipe.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Add ⅔ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans to the streusel topping if you love a nutty topping.
- Lover of chocolate? Add up to 1 cup of chocolate chips to the cake batter.
- If you love cream cheese frosting or chocolate frosting on your cakes, feel free to whip some up instead of the crumb topping.
- To turn this into a gluten free zucchini chocolate cake, add 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, 2/3 cup of chocolate chips and use an additional 2 tablespoons of melted butter or coconut oil.
- Add 1 tablespoon of lemon zest for a little citrus flavor to this gluten-free cake.
Now that we’ve covered the simple ingredients for this almond flour zucchini cake, let’s bake it!
How to Make Almond Flour Zucchini Crumb Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 8” x 8” baking dish with parchment paper. You can also use an 8-inch round pan.
Chop the ends off of the zucchini and grate it using a box grater or a food processor. You will need one heaping cup of zucchini. There’s no need to drain the zucchini before adding it to the batter. It can go in as is.
In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (almond flour, tapioca flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and sea salt) until combined.
Mix the eggs and melted coconut oil (or butter) in a mixing bowl until well-combined (wet ingredients).
Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until a thick batter forms. The cake batter will be very thick. This is normal.
Stir in the shredded zucchini until it is well-distributed throughout the batter.
Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and spread it into an even layer.
In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the cinnamon topping and mix until well-combined.
Sprinkle the topping over the cake batter. Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil and bake on the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the zucchini cake is golden brown around the edges and tests clean in the center.
Cakes are fully cooked once they have reached an internal temperature of 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can use an instant read thermometer (or meat thermometer) to verify the internal temperature for doneness if you’d like.
Allow the zucchini crumb cake to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can freeze the cake in large zip lock freezer bags for up to 3 months.
And that’s it! A healthy cake recipe that is gluten-free, grain-free, and easy to customize to make refined sugar-free and dairy-free.
If you prefer baking with muffin tins, turn this recipe into almond flour zucchini muffins. Simply bake muffins at 350 degrees F for 25 to 35 minutes.
Enjoy this delicious crumb cake recipe during zucchini season!
If you love grain-free cake recipes, also try out these reader favorites.
More Grain-Free Cake Recipes:
- Paleo Blueberry Cake
- Almond Flour Carrot Cake
- Grain-Free Strawberry Almond Breakfast Cake
- Paleo Chocolate Banana Breakfast Cake
- Vegan Pumpkin Cake
Enjoy this moist and delicious gluten-free zucchini cake alongside a hot mug of coffee or tea!
Almond Flour Zucchini Cake
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup coconut oil melted*
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups (245g) almond flour, leveled
- ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 heaping cup (130g) grated zucchini (1 medium-sized zucchini squash)
Topping:
- 2/3 cup (70g) almond flour
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 3 Tbsp coconut oil melted
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 8” x 8” baking dish with parchment paper. You can also use an 8-inch round pan.
- Chop the ends off of the zucchini and grate it using a box grater or a food processor. You will need one heaping cup of zucchini. There’s no need to drain the zucchini before adding it to the batter. It can go in as is.
- In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (almond flour, tapioca flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and sea salt) until combined.
- Mix the eggs and melted coconut oil (or butter) in a mixing bowl until well-combined (wet ingredients).
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix until a thick batter forms. The cake batter will be very thick. This is normal.
- Stir in the shredded zucchini until it is well-distributed throughout the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and spread it into an even layer.
- In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the cinnamon topping and mix until well-combined.
- Sprinkle the topping over the cake batter. Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil and bake on the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the zucchini cake is golden brown around the edges and tests clean in the center.
- Cakes are fully cooked once they have reached an internal temperature of 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. You can use an instant read thermometer (or meat thermometer) to verify the internal temperature for doneness if you’d like.
- Allow the zucchini crumb cake to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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The cake is delicious but the bottom is very burnt. how do I prevent this???
Hi Rosemary! I’m so sorry to hear the bottom burned! I have a few different ideas as to what could have happened. Did you line your pan with parchment paper? What kind of pan did you use? Typically aluminized steel works best because it doesn’t heat up to the extent that it burns food. Last question – which shelf of the oven did you put the cake on? If you put it on the bottom shelf, this could definitely be the culprit as the cake would be near the bottom heat element the whole time. Let me know and we can troubleshoot from there 🙂
@Julia, Thanks for the reply. And yes, I did line the dish with parchment paper. I used a glass pan so maybe that was the problem? Will try again and use an aluminum pan.
Hi Rosemary! Thanks for sharing the additional information 🙂 I hope the aluminum pan is the key! It may be worth baking the cake for less time. It may sound strange, but you can take the temperature of the cake using a meat thermometer (or digital thermometer) to check for doneness. If it has reached 190 degrees Fahrenheit in the center, it’s done 🙂 I hope this helps!
This almond flour zucchini cake looks so delish! Looking forward to making it. Any reason why I shouldn’t substitute coconut sugar for the granulated variety?
Hi Stephanie! I’m so thrilled to hear you’re interested in making the cake! Coconut sugar works as an easy replacement for regular cane sugar. The only difference it the cake will turn out much darker due to the brown color of the coconut sugar, but it will still taste great! Hope you enjoy! xo
Super, danke für die Gramm Angaben, schade das deine alten Rezepte alle Grammangaben sind, umso mehr freu ich mich darüber das bei diesem Rezept ein paar Grammangaben sind.
Viele Grüße,
Jesse-Gabriel
What if take the tapioca flour out can use Chia seeds instead with that made the carbs lower? Or is there anything else i cold sub for tapioca flour?
Hi Silas! You can replace the tapioca flour with more almond flour, or swap it out for 2 tablespoons of coconut flour 🙂 I’m not sure how it would work out with chia seeds, but it may be worth the experiment!
Can I substitute another flour for the tapioca flour
Hi Marie! You can use more almond flour or arrowroot flour in a 1:1 replacement 🙂
Can you substitute coconut flour for the tapioca flour for less carbs?
Hi Nancy! Coconut flour is much more absorbent than tapioca flour, so if you make the substitution, I would use much less (2 tablespoons for instance). Let me know how it turns out!
How can I make this recipe egg free? What substitute can I use for 4 eggs?
Hi there! As I mention in the post, I don’t think using an egg replacer would work very well in this recipe. In my experience, grain-free recipes like this are difficult to make egg-free because grain-free flours (like almond flour) contain so little starch. When I’ve made egg-free almond flour cakes in the past using flax eggs, they have always turned out very dense and thin. That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible, but I haven’t had success with it on many tries. If you can use gluten-free all-purpose flour, recipes made with a GF blend turn out much better without eggs. Nevertheless, it may be worth googling an egg-free zucchini cake recipe so that you’re getting the result you want 🙂 Hope this helps!
What about this is not gluten free? Almond and tapioca flour are gluten free