Apple zucchini snack cake is made with wholesome ingredients for a delicious but healthy afternoon treat. This cake is not too sweet and the perfect bite when you’re in need of a nourishing energy boost. Gluten free and dairy free.
NOTE: This is an older recipe of mine first published on Nourish Every Day in February 2015! I have re-tested the recipe, made some adjustments and added some (hopefully much better!) photos. A new and improved Apple Zucchini Snack Cake!
With my kitchen up and running again after a few months of renovations, I have been LOVING my new oven. Many batches of brownies have been tested already, and we’ve had a few pizza nights…all so yum! Happy days. I’ve also been taking some time to review my blog and revamp some of my very old favourites; including this apple zucchini snack cake. I’ve been making this cake for longer than the blog has existed!
This one isn’t really quite sure whether it’s a bread or a cake, but it’s got quite a nice sweet taste to it so I’ve said it’s a cake. Also the idea of a “snack cake” really appeals to me, because who wants to reserve cake just for special occasions? Snack cake can be eaten any old day, any day you need a snack.
Packing together:
- grated apple,
- grated zucchini,
- almond meal and
- buckwheat flour,
apple zucchini snack cake has a pretty nutritious base. Only 5 tablespoons of honey are used to sweeten the cake (I think you could cut this down to 3 tbsp if you want to go lower sugar), so there’s not too much sugary-ness going on here either. I do like to add a sprinkle of sultanas into the batter for little sweet bursts, but again this is optional. For texture, adding a half cup of chopped pecans or walnuts is also delish.
For convenience, I like to bake this apple zucchini snack cake in a loaf tin so that it can be sliced up and stored easily. This is something I like to make as part of meal prep; I’ll keep a few slices in the fridge and then freeze the rest. You can let it defrost and eat cold, or toast it in a pan (just cook it a minute or two on each side, SO easy) or sandwich press if you have one. I’m also partial to adding on a little butter or nut butter!
Apple Zucchini Snack Cake
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized apple (I often use a Granny Smith apple)
- 1 medium-sized zucchini
- 150 grams almond meal - 1 and 1/2 cups
- 105 grams buckwheat flour - 3/4 cup
- 30 grams tapioca flour - approx. 4 tablespoons
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp bicarb soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 60 mL coconut oil measured melted - scant 1/4 cup
- 5 tbsp honey or other liquid sweetener of choice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup sultanas - OPTIONAL
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds - OPTIONAL (for topping the cake)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a small baking tin with baking paper; I used a small loaf tin which has approximately a 1-litre capacity.
- Grate zucchini and apple and set aside.
- Combine almond flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca flour, bicarb, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut oil, honey and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine to form a smooth batter. It will be thick, almost like a wet dough. As the mixture is coming together, stir in the grated apple, grated zucchini and sultanas (if using them) as well.
- Once the ingredients are combined, add in the 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar and stir the batter so it's just mixed in. (It will react with the bicarb, creating bubbles and giving rise and softness).
- Scoop the mixture into your baking tin and smooth down the top evenly. Sprinkle over pumpkin seeds if using. Bake for approximately 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the centre of the cake feels firm to touch. (Baking time will depend on your oven, they all vary, and shape of your baking tin - a loaf tin will take a little longer as the cake is deeper).
- Allow the cake to cool fully on a wire rack, then slice.
Notes
Nutrition
p.s. I’ve realised I have an obsession with baking with zucchini. If you wanna try some more zucchini baking recipes…
- Almond Flour Lemon Zucchini Loaf Cake
- Grain Free Zucchini Banana Bread
- Oat, Hazelnut and Zucchini Cake
- Nut Free, Grain Free Zucchini Bread
Thank you! My first attempt to make gluten free bread and was so pleased with the result! I’m not having nuts or eggs so I replaced the almond flour with sunflower meal and used flax eggs. They were quite moist even after I left in the oven for much longer than the cooking time. After cooling, they sunk and looked flat but was still soft in the middle. Should I try to squeeze out the juice from the grated zucchini and apple next time?
Hi Anna, you may need to squeeze out some of the juice if you are using sunflower meal and flax eggs as substitutions. I find when I replace eggs with flax eggs that there tends to be more moisture left in baked goods, and you don’t get as much rise. So to compensate for that you probably need to reduce liquid elsewhere. I’m not 100% sure about the swap from almond meal to sunflower meal, that may have also potentially affected the moisture levels? If the sunflower meal was milled really finely like almond meal I would have thought they would behave similarly, but can’t be certain. You can also add a little bit extra tapioca flour to help soak up the moisture. 🙂
Hi Monique,
I’m allergic to tapioca.flour. So do you think that I could substitute with chia seeds, flax seeds or psyllium perhaps? I’m guessing the tapioca is used to help bind everything together?
Thanks xx
Hi Tara! Thanks for your message. You could try substituting the tapioca with ground flax seeds? They are a bit more absorbent than tapioca so you may only need 3 tbsp. Another option would be to use corn flour or potato starch – can you eat either of those things?
Kindest, Monique
Hi Monique, do you think I could substitute a mashed banana or some other fruit type puree in place of the rice malt syrup and honey? I’m trying to find a recipe which is naturally sweetened for a young toddler..
Hi Tracy, thank you for your message. Firstly, I apologise as there was an error in that recipe – it only needs honey, not rice syrup as well. I think you could swap the honey for some mashed banana – to stop the loaf being too wet I would reduce the coconut oil by half. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Hi Monique,
I used a medium banana that wasn’t too ripe (just right for eating), didn’t add honey and didn’t reduce the oil. Baked them as mini muffins for 20 mins @ 180 deg. They turned out beautiful and moist and sweet enough for 2nd. I didn’t add any vanilla (in the instructions but not in the ingredients) either.
Thanks
Sorry I meant sweet enough for me, not 2nd..
Hi Tracy, thank you so much for getting back to me and letting me know how it turned out with the banana. I often have far too many ripe bananas so I will try the cake this way myself now 🙂 Oh gosh and I’m sorry about leaving out the vanilla too; I am having an absolute shocker with this recipe! I think I’m a bit too busy at the moment!
can i replace the buckwheat flour with anything? i only have almond, oat, arrowroot, or coconut flours on hand..
Hi Jen, I think you could use oat flour instead, it’s slightly drier in texture than buckwheat though so you may need to reduce the amount slightly 🙂 Let me know how it turns out!