*Post from 09/17/12. Images updated 08/17/16.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really been able to taste zucchini in baked goods. Sure you can see green flecks sometimes, but you can’t really taste it. To me, the zucchini seems to take on the flavor of everything else. Because of this, I’ve never had an aversion to baked goods with zucchini in them and am always using up zucchini in different breads, cakes, and bars.
This is a good thing, because I would be missing out on these bars! These bars taste a lot like carrot cake with the spices and cream cheese frosting. And you already know that carrot cake is one of mine and my husband’s favorites! I also added cinnamon and cloves to the frosting to give it a little extra spice. . . so good!
I am sure most of you won’t have much of a problem getting your hands on some zucchini. . .so go find some and make these bars! They only take a little over 30 minutes from the time you start making them to the time they come out of the oven. Perfect for both the busy and the impatient! 😉
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosted Zucchini Bars
Author: A Kitchen Addiction
Serves: 18
Ingredients
For the Bars
- ⅓ C brown sugar
- ⅓ C sugar
- ¼ C plain or vanilla yogurt
- ¼ C milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 C white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp cloves
- 1 C shredded zucchini, drained
For the Frosting
- 4 oz ⅓ of the fat cream cheese, softened
- 2 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 C confectioner's sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x8 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, yogurt, milk, vanilla extract, and egg until well combined. Thoroughly stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Add zucchini and stir until just combined.
- Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool.
- While cake is cooling, prepare frosting. In a stand mixer, or with an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract until creamy. Add in confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and beat on low until combined. Increase speed to medium high and beat for 1-2 minutes so frosting is light and fluffy.
- Spread frosting over cooled cake and serve.
Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread {Whole Wheat}
Raspberry Lemon Cream French Toast Bake (Overnight Option!)
Grilled Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad
Glazed Brown Butter Apple Yogurt Cake
Blueberry Swirled Cheesecake Ice Cream
Ahh, I don’t blame you for grabbing a fork as soon as the photo sesh was done. Those bars look amazing and that frosting, oh my goodness!
Yeah, I just couldn’t handle the waiting!
I want that glaze on a spoon, simply put. And that cake looks so moist and delicious! (Can you believe I’ve never actually baked with zucchini before?)
Oh, you need to try, Hayley! I’m sure you would come up with some fantastic recipes!
These are the exact flavors that I’m craving right now…warm and sweet with a little spice! My garden FINALLY ran out of zucchini, but these bars are definitely worth going to the store over!
Oh, they are! 🙂 Thanks, Julia!
Pass a fork, Jessica! This looks so tempting! Yum!
I actually made a second batch, come on over! 🙂
This frosting looks fantastic!!! Actually the entire thing looks amazing 🙂
Yummy! It looks so Yummy! Especially that spiced frosting!
You know I never really thought of it before but I agree, zucchini baked goods taste like cinnamon. These bars look fantastic. Perfect way to say goodbye to summer.
Thanks, Emily!
Those are stunning!
Falling in love with your dessert 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
yum! i would eat first and take pictures later!!
That almost happened!
Yum! I love zucchini cake bread bars anything!
I love adding zucchini to baked goods! This recipe is awesome, and it’s chockfull of the good stuff! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
I hope you like it!
Yum, that looks amazing! I love the spiced cream cheese.
I love a spiced frosting! and still have zucchini to use up!
Great recipe! I love zucchini for cakes and this spiced frosting!
I can never resist anything with cream cheese frosting!
Cream cheese frosting is definitely a weakness of mine!
Looks great! And I love the bright look of your new blog page! 🙂
Thank you!
Mmmm I love that combination of spices and putting them in the frosting? Genius! This would be a lovely recipe now that the weather is cooling down and I’ve been craving warm, spicy sweet treats 😀
~Jess @ OnSugarMountain
I love the cream cheese and zucchini cake combination. What a great way to start fall.
Hahha… Good for you for waiting. With an entire cake I probably would have dug in immediatly and just took pics of a piece! lol
If my husband weren’t there watching over my shoulder, I probably would have done that! 🙂
I’m loving the spiced frosting — what a great idea. Now that these bars caught my attention, I’m off to browse (& pin) your other goodies! I also see that you have an affection for the MN Twins… are you a native Minnesotan?
Thanks for the pin! Yep, I’m a native Minnesotan! Go TWINS! 😉
My zucchini plant has started to die. I will have to save this one for next year. I love the addition of cinnamon to the frosting.
Yummy! I can’t wait to try them. I am your newest follower from the Monday blog hop. come by my blog when you can http://www.simplyeverythingilove.blogspot.com
Have a good day
Thanks for stopping by!
You have me crave for some zucchini bars! The spiced cream cheese frosting sounds amazing.
I’ve never tried zucchini in baked goods before but I heard about it once on a TV programme when a woman was dieting and not willing to give up her cupcakes, LOL. These do look like carrot cake but sound even better. The flecks in the frosting look great too.
Looks delicious! Moist and that frosting sounds and looks so great!
I don’t know how I missed these scrumptious bars!!! Pinning this very second!
Love pumpkin, love zucchini, love spice and cream cheese. How could you go wrong with these? Can’t wait to try them!
Oh wow! These look amazing. I love zucchinis in bake goods. My mom always used to bake this incredible zucchini bread when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it. So these bar a are definitely must make for me 🙂
I have two HUGE zucchini in my fridge right now and I just made 5 dozen zucchini banana muffins last week. Lol. SO I am definitely looking for more zucchini baked goods! Love these!