A twist on the classic pumpkin roll, this zucchini roll comes together surprisingly easily. Made with a zucchini-flecked cake rolled around a sweet cream cheese filling, this zucchini roll makes a perfect summertime dessert and a great way to use up excess zucchini from your garden.
My oven broke on Friday.
After meticulously designing my first rendition of the batter for this zucchini roll I peeked through the glass to confirm the oven temperature (jelly roll pan full of hopeful batter in hand) and realized something was definitely wrong. Within a few hours (and after a substantial amount of googling on my husband’s part as well as a visit from my dad) it was determined–my oven was dead.
Since the majority of my baking for this blog is done Friday evening through Sunday (and I already had a full Sunday planned), this incident caused more anxiety and frustration than an oven should ever be able to incite in a human being, and the search for a new one began immediately. Then, when Zach and I finally decided on an oven that we liked (shiny, self-cleaning, stainless steel), we were told it couldn’t be delivered for three weeks.
Three weeks was simply not a feasible option for us, so fortunately (thanks to the powers of the internet) we were able to find the same oven a just a bit further away, deliverable before the end of this week.
After being told about the three-week wait time, several days without an oven suddenly didn’t seem so bad after all.
So, now I’m waiting for my new oven (which I’m quite excited about) and am very, very fortunate that my parents and their fully-functioning oven live only 15 minutes away from me.
This roll took too many attempts to get just right (I think I made it half a dozen times) and I am very grateful that my parents (and bake-happy siblings) allowed me to commandeer their counter and oven-space for such a long period of time. In the end, they were rewarded with this zucchini roll, which was eaten quite gratefully and quickly, and I hope considered a fair trade.
The filling was fairly easy, a subtle variation of my well-loved cream cheese frosting. You can’t have a zucchini roll without this, zucchini and cream cheese go together perfectly, much like carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.
With oversized zucchini overwhelming gardens and farmers markets everywhere this time of year, it’s nice to be able to convert this beautiful, emerald-skinned squash into something other than the typical bread or grilled/sauteed dish. This zucchini roll offers a nice twist, a sweet, slightly cinnamon-y, zucchini flecked cake rolled around a cream cheese filling.
I highly recommend that you make more than one.
More Recipes to Try:
Enjoy!
Ingredients
Roll
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cups (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp olive oil or other cooking oil
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cups (95 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup (185 g before blotting) grated zucchini absorb excess moisture by patting with paper towel before using
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Cream Cheese Filling
- 6 oz (170 g) cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) butter softened to room temperature
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
- Line 15x10 jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and spray with baking spray
- In KitchenAid (or with hand-mixer) beat together eggs, sugars and oil on medium speed until well-combined (about 1 minute).3 large eggs, ¾ cups (150 g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar, 1 Tbsp olive oil
- Stir in vanilla extract.½ tsp vanilla extract
- In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.¾ cups (95 g) all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp cinnamon
- Gradually stir flour mixture into egg mixture with spatula.
- Fold in grated zucchini.1 cup (185 g before blotting) grated zucchini
- Spread batter evenly into prepared jellyroll pan and bake on 350 for 13-15 minutes (edges may just begin to turn slightly golden).
- While the cake is cooking, lay out a clean baking towel at least as wide as your jellyroll pan and dust generously with powdered sugar (this will help keep the cake from sticking to the towel while you are rolling it up).Powdered sugar
- As soon as cake is done cooking, remove from oven and invert immediately onto prepared dishtowel.
- Remove jellyroll pan and very carefully peel foil away from cake.
- Immediately, carefully, roll cake, starting with one of the 10" sides, using the towel to help you roll the cake but taking care to keep the towel from being rolled into the roll.
- Allow cake to cool for one hour.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter.6 oz (170 g) cream cheese, 6 Tablespoons (85 g) butter
- Stir in vanilla extract.½ tsp vanilla extract
- Gradually stir in powdered sugar, pausing to scrape down sides of mixer until all sugar is incorporated.1 ½ cups (190 g) powdered sugar
- Carefully unroll the cake.
- Evenly spread frosting over surface of cake (be sure to go to the edges) and then carefully re-roll.
- Cut and serve. If not eating immediately, store in refrigerator in airtight container (or covered with plastic wrap) until ready to eat.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Pam
Cake was perfect. I used whipped cream with a touch of gelatin to fill. It freezes really! really! well. When someone stops by, I have homemade cake ready. Thanks for this recipe .. so good and super easy once you get the hang of rolling.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Pam! 🙂
Pam
Sam, can I sub carrot and add more spice to this same recipe? … Everyone LOVED this (Adults and Littles)
Sam
Hi Pam! I honestly do not know how it will work. I haven’t experimented with it myself, but it is on the list of things to do. 🙂
Sarah Brewer
what a novel idea this was! I used marscapone cream cheese in the filling, and added about a 3/4 cup of walnuts i candied lightly in a small pan with 2tbs butter, 1tbs brown sugar, 1 tsp of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon and vanilla. Girl, wow! This roll was so well received, and I must tell you every recipe on this site I’ve tried so far has been a smash! thank you,
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds delicious, Sarah! We’re so happy you have enjoyed everything 🥰
C
This recipe was good but not great for me. The cake kind of stuck to the towel when I was unwrapping the roll despite me coating powdered sugar onto said towel and I found the filling too sweet and cream cheesy. I will, however, be making it again but I’ll try to add some cornstarch mixed with the powdered sugar
(or I’ll just pack on more powdered sugar) and I’d change the filling to the one that’s used for the chocolate roll cake recipe! On the brighter side, my family really liked it!
Teresa
I made this and it is incredible!!! I froze it for a little bit to slice easier then sliced & froze individually for lunch bag desserts. This was a hit!!!
Sam
So happy to hear this, Teresa! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out for you, I really appreciate it! 🙂