This simple vegan zucchini pistachio cake recipe is slightly spiced and has the added health benefit of zucchini. Actually adding the zucchini gives this cake an awesome moist and fluffy texture. The added nutrition is just a bonus!
Zucchini bread or cake is quite an old school tradition, but I can't seem to figure out who originally invented it. I remember when I was a kid my mom made a chocolate zucchini cake for one of my birthday parties. I thought she was nuts. But then I loved the caked so much I never questioned her again!
I thought for my own version I would omit chocolate but fold in ground up pistachios into the cake batter. I've recently become passionate about doing this because I really like the texture and end result. I did something similar with hazelnuts for pancakes and a 4-layer cake.
Now, I'm not sure if Easter is cancelled because of our shelter at home mandate?! I hope not. We can still eat Eastery / Spring-like creations and share them digitally with our friends and fam over house-party right? Might I suggest crepes, carrot cake doughnuts or this trifle. But I also think this vegan zucchini pistachio cake is a necessary part of the menu too. I think you could even swap the zucchini for shredded carrots if you want to make a carrot cake. I'd also then swap the lime for lemon in the frosting!
A week ago I ordered a produce box from Farmbox Direct as I wanted to try getting my organic veg delivered cause... #selfiso! I got some beautiful zucchini in my delivery that I used in this exact recipe as well as carrots, potatoes, brussels, apples, kiwis, and some juicy pears I gobbled up pretty quick. If you want to try out this service they deliver across the entire United States. Check it out.
vegan zucchini pistachio cake
Ingredients
- ¼ C shelled salted pistachios (ground into a flour or meal in a spice grinder)
- 1 tablespoon golden flax meal
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 C all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ C vegan butter, melted (1 stick)
- ½ C granulated cane sugar
- ¼ C packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 zucchini (about 7-inches long x 1 ½-inches wide)
lime frosting
- ¼ C vegan cream cheese
- 1 ½ C sifted organic confectioners sugar
- zest of 1 lime (about 2 tsp)
- a few drops, lime juice
- 1 tablespoon shelled salted pistachios, finely chopped as garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line the bottom of a 6-inch springform pan with parchment paper and grease the sides with vegan butter.
- Combine flax and water and set aside to thicken.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, ground pistachios, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- In another bowl or in the sauce pot you melted the butter in, combine butter, sugars, vanilla, and thickened flax and whisk until very well combined.
- Shred the zucchini on a box grater. You should have about 1 ¼ cup shredded. Using a nut milk bag or fine mesh seive, strain and squeeze the zucchini of excess water. Once strained it’s about ¾ cup of shredded zucchini.
- Add shredded zucchini to the flour mixture and break it up, tossing it around in the flour to coat. Add the butter and sugar mixture to this and fold together with a spatula until well combined and no dry ingredients are visible, but do not over mix the batter.
- Pour the cake batter into the springform pan. Spread evenly out to the edges. Place in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, combine cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and lime zest until smooth using a hand mixture. You can add a few drops of lime juice if desired as well, but not too much that it affects the thickness of the icing. Spread onto the top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle chopped pistachios on top.
Anna
Will this recipe work if I double it?
Lauren Toyota
I would only double it as 2 separate cakes - so making it twice - not trying to make a larger cake!
Tricia
I made this cake. It did not last the night in my house. Fantastic! I will be making it many more times. Thank you. 🙏
Lauren Toyota
awesome to hear!! yay!
Isabel T
I made this cake last night for a birthday. I doubled the recipe. I find that vegan baked good recipes are often harder to perfect than not... but this turned out SO GOOD! Everyone loved it. Would def make again. Thanks Lauren!
Lauren Toyota
so glad to hear! thank you 😀
Suzie
Could I make this into muffins?
Lauren Toyota
I think so yes! might need to adjust the bake time slightly so just keep an eye on them
Norma
Could I use a different pan? I don’t have a 6” pan. Would an 8” springform work?
Lauren Toyota
it will be flatter, but it should work. Perhaps adjust the baking time and just watch it
Basheerah
Hi there,
I used to have the perfect pistachio cake recipe but then I became vegan and now I'm on a mission to create the perfect vegan pistachio cake! I'm really excited to try your recipe but I was wondering - could I double this recipe and use 2 x 8-inch cake tins?
Basheerah
Oh wait, I just saw your answer to Norma's question above that also answers my question 🙂
Lauren Toyota
I am sure you could yes. I would make 1 batch at a time though just for accuracy.
Petra
I've made this cake several times now and it always turns out perfect. The texture is moist and it doesn't even get dry if you can't finish it in one go. So so delicious, thank you so much!