Moist Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese-Sour Cream Frosting
Love zucchini bread? Our recipe is flavorful, moist and has an awesome cream cheese frosting with sour cream.
Zucchini Bread Recipe
This this time of year that garden zucchini starts to go crazy. The warm weather brings out the blossoms and fruit. Zucchini is one of those vegetables that are accessible year round, so that means there’s a zucchini recipe for 365 days of the year. Our zucchini bread is an easy recipe that you can eat all year round too.
What to do with lots of zucchini? Zucchini bread, of course.
Although most of you had already guessed this since you read the post title. Is there any better way to use up a tired veggie than make a quick bread out of it? Hell, half the time you don’t even know there is a vegetable in the bread.
There is the added bonus for me, in that baking it also one of my favorite ways to warm up the kitchen. In the cool morning air, the siren’s call of the oven is overwhelming. It’s worth getting up early to feel the oven gently warming the home from its kitchen heartbeat and then to have the sweet smell of the quick breads intoxicating the air. As I made and drank my cappuccino amongst such sweetness, accompanied by my love and pups, the feeling of perfect contentment filled my soul.
Favorite Cookbook
This recipe was initially inspired off a recipe from the “Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans, and Other Good Things” cookbook. Every gardener should have this cookbook on their shelves. Countless times some of my favorite veggie recipes began from this book, then I would tweak it here and there to my own personal preference.
For the little additions to the zucchini bread, we used what we happen to have in the cupboard, but feel free to substitute your favorite dried fruits, nuts, chocolate chips, or any other add-on you like. We’ve topped this one with a cream cheese/sour cream frosting, but the zucchini bread is excellent without the frosting. You are the one going to eat it. Make the recipe to your own taste. 😉 And here’s a great article on different zucchini and summer squash varieties.
-Todd
Zucchini Bread w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Zucchini Bread
- 2 cups grated Zucchini (2-3 medium zucchini) (if seeds are too big, you can scoop them out before grating)
- 2/3 cup (150ml) Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup (100g) Sugar
- 1/2 cup (110g) Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs , beaten
- 1 -inch Fresh Ginger , grated
- 2 cups (250g) Flour
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5g) Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon (5g) Cinnamon
- 3/4 cup (110g) Dried Currants , or whatever dried fruit you want-raisins, blueberries, strawberries, etc
- 3/4 cup (90g) Pecans , chopped
- Dark Rum or Kahlua (enough to to cover currants)(or warm water)
Cream Cheese/Sour Cream Frosting
- 4 ounces (113g) Cream Cheese , at room temp.
- 1/4 cup (60ml) Sour Cream
- 1/4 cup (30g) Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) Dark Rum or Kahlua , or vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9.25" x 5.25" bread pan or line with parchment paper and set aside.
- Begin by soaking the currants (or other dried fruit) in the dark rum. By the time everything else is mixed, they will have plumped up enough to use.
- Grate zucchini into a large bowl. Add vegetable oil, sugars, beaten egg and grated ginger and mix until well combined.
- Whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until well combined. Gently stir the dry mix into the zucchini mixture until just combined. - Do Not Over-Mix.
- Drain currants, then add the currants and pecans to the zucchini mix and stir a couple times until it is just mixed.
- Pour into greased bread pan, place on a baking sheet and put in oven. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a tester toothpick comes out clean. (If top starts to brown too much, place sheet of aluminum foil over the loaf to protect it.) Remove from oven and allow to cool a bit.
Make Frosting
- Whisk all ingredients (cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar, rum, and cinnamon) until well combined and smooth. Frost at will.
- Feel free to adjust to your own taste. This is made to be not too sweet, and to compliment the ingredients in the Zucchini bread, however if you'd like it sweeter, up the powdered sugar. Lemon zest would be another good addition.
Nutrition Information per Serving
This recipe was originally published in 2009 and re-published in 2021 with new photos
It was great to meet you both at BlogHer! I loved talking with you. I also love the look for this recipe. When I make my zucchini bread I substitute some applesauce for the oil, it adds great flavor. I love the idea of frosting on it!
This recipe sounds fantastic! I’ve been in the mood to make some “fall” treats, so I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks!
Thanks for visiting and the complimentary comments, everyone. Hope those who try the recipe love it as much as I do. Feel free to share your favorite fall quick bread recipes. Happy baking.
-Todd
Oh, all the breads that will be baked. How fun the fall will be.
You know, I’ve never had a zucchini bread that made me go “yay!” but this one might be it. Will be it. Thank you!
Love the idea of Kaluha or rum. Most be so delicious. That’s a bread for me. 🙂
what would you say if i told you i require about 12 times more frosting than that? cause i do. it’s my favorite part. 🙂
I would say that I totally understand. I’ve got more of a sweet jaw, than just a tooth, so frosting has always been my favorite part. However I feel better when I keep the sugar consumption to a moderate level, so I’ve learned to savor it in smaller quantities, as more of a highlight than a primary. 😉
Oh my, this is the best looking zucchini bread I ‘ve ever seen. Rum-soaked currants….Sounds wonderful, I am thinking about using the same idea for pumpkin bread. Thanks for sharing!
Sounds fantastic! My garden is no longer producing zucchini, but I am still getting some from my CSA. I love your zucchini bread recipe… Hopefully I will get some more zucchini in this week’s share so that I can give it a try!
Nice touch with the frosting!
apple cider instead of alcohol for teetotalers or children?
That would definitely work. The alcohol’s use in macerating is to help rehydrate the fruit, so the texture comes off nicer when the bread gets baked. Apple cider is a great substitute.
I actually have zucchini bread in the oven right now. Its my mil’s recipe who is a teetoler so no kaluaha, though I wished I read had read this before.
“Dark Rum or Kaluha”
Oh hells yes. Pretty boss of you to put kaluha in zucchini bread, Todd.
That top photo is absolutely gorgeous. With mention of the ginger, currants, pecans and rum-laced frosting, this bread is very inviting.
Nice idea! It’s rainy here too (in France!) but I can find zucchini easily… I’ll try soon your recipe. Thank you…
Sounds perfect this morning to warm up the kitchen and my tummy. It’s rainy and cold here in the Midwest. Our zucchini is finished, but apples are abundant. I think I could substitute?
An apple bread would be tasty. You might have to play with it a bit due to the different moisture content. We are going apple picking soon, so I might just have to experiment. Great idea.