This Blueberry Zucchini Bundt Cake is tender, moist, and packed with fresh blueberries. A touch of honey adds a delicate floral sweetness that compliments the blueberries beautifully. A simple blueberry glaze drizzled over the top finishes the cake with even more fresh blueberry flavor.

If your garden is overflowing with zucchini and your blueberry bushes are producing faster than you can eat them, this recipe will become your go-to. It’s easy to make for an every day treat while feeling like a special occasion.

The zucchini doesn’t make the cake taste like vegetables. Instead, it gives the crumb an incredibly soft texture and keeps the cake moist for days. Fresh blueberries provide juicy bursts of berry flavor throughout, while honey adds a subtle sweetness that pairs perfectly with the fruit.

Why You’ll Love This Blueberry Zucchini Bundt Cake

There are plenty of zucchini cakes out there, but this one is designed to let the blueberries shine.

• Fresh blueberries are the star. There’s no blueberry compote competing with the cake’s texture or creating soggy pockets.
• Honey adds subtle floral sweetness. It complements the blueberries without overpowering them.
• Zucchini creates a tender crumb. The zucchini adds moisture while remaining almost completely undetectable in the finished cake.
• The blueberry glaze adds fresh berry flavor. A simple glaze gives the cake a beautiful finish without covering it in heavy frosting.
• It’s easy to make. Everything comes together in one bowl for the wet ingredients, one for the dry ingredients, and a Bundt pan does the rest of the work.
• It’s beautiful enough for company. The finished cake looks impressive with very little decorating required.

Ingredients You’ll Need

For the Cake

Unsalted butter: Softened butter gives the cake richness while allowing us to cream it with the sugar. I prefer unsalted butter so the amount of salt can be controlled.

Honey: Use a mild honey such as clover or wildflower. A strongly flavored honey can overwhelm the delicate blueberry flavor.

Granulated sugar: Honey provides some of the sweetness, but granulated sugar gives the cake the structure and texture we want.

Eggs: Three large eggs provide structure and help create a tender crumb.

Vanilla extract: Vanilla rounds out the flavors without competing with the blueberries.

Buttermilk: The acidity and richness of buttermilk help create a soft, tender cake and balance the sweetness.

Zucchini: Finely grated zucchini works best. Give it a gentle squeeze before measuring to remove some of the excess water, but don’t squeeze it completely dry.

All-purpose flour: Regular all-purpose flour provides enough structure for the blueberries while keeping the cake tender.

Baking powder and baking soda: The combination gives the Bundt cake enough lift while working with the acidity of the buttermilk.

Salt: Don’t skip it. Salt keeps the cake from tasting flat and helps balance the sweetness.

Cinnamon: Just a small amount adds warmth without turning this into a cinnamon cake. If you want the cleanest possible blueberry flavor, you can leave it out.

Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are ideal here. Choose ripe, flavorful berries whenever possible.

How to Make Blueberry Honey Zucchini Bundt Cake

1. Prepare the Bundt pan

Start by thoroughly greasing and flouring a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan.

Bundt pans have plenty of nooks and crannies where cake batter can cling, so don’t skimp on this step. I like to make sure the butter or baking spray gets into every detail of the pan before adding a light coating of flour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Prepare the zucchini

Finely grate the zucchini.

Give the grated zucchini a gentle squeeze over the sink to remove some of the excess water. You don’t want it dripping wet, but you also don’t want to wring it completely dry.

That moisture is part of what makes this cake so tender.

Measure out 2 cups (220 g) after squeezing.

3. Cream the butter and sugar

Beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together for about 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is noticeably lighter and fluffy.

This step is worth taking your time with. Properly creamed butter helps give the cake a lighter texture.

4. Add the honey

Beat the honey into the butter mixture until completely incorporated.

The mixture may look a little different from a traditional butter-and-sugar mixture because honey adds additional moisture. That’s perfectly fine.

5. Add the eggs and vanilla

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix in the vanilla.

Adding the eggs gradually helps maintain a smooth batter rather than creating a curdled mixture.

6. Combine the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, whisk together:

• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cinnamon

Whisking the ingredients together first distributes the leavening agents and salt evenly throughout the flour.

7. Alternate the flour and buttermilk

Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk.

Begin and end with the dry ingredients.

Mix just until the last streaks of flour disappear. Don’t overmix the batter, or you risk developing too much gluten and ending up with a dense cake.

8. Fold in the zucchini

Gently fold the grated zucchini into the batter.

At this point the batter will become noticeably more moist.

9. Toss the blueberries with flour

Place the blueberries in a small bowl and toss them with 1 tablespoon of flour.

This light coating helps suspend the berries throughout the batter rather than allowing them all to settle toward the bottom of the Bundt pan.

Fold the blueberries gently into the batter.

Don’t aggressively stir them or you’ll break the berries and turn the batter purple.

10. Bake

Transfer the batter to the prepared Bundt pan and spread it evenly.

Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes.

The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the thickest portion comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, but no wet batter.

Because Bundt pans vary in size and shape, start checking around the 50-minute mark.

11. Cool the cake

Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then carefully invert it onto a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.

Don’t glaze the cake while it’s warm. The glaze will melt and slide right off rather than creating the pretty drizzle you’re after.

How to Make the Blueberry Glaze

The glaze is intentionally simple.

For the strongest blueberry flavor, make a small amount of fresh blueberry puree.

Blend or mash approximately ¼ cup of blueberries, then press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.

This removes the skins and gives you a smooth blueberry puree.

Whisk together:

• Powdered sugar
• Blueberry puree
• Honey
• Vanilla
• A pinch of salt

If the glaze is too thick, add a teaspoon or two of buttermilk or milk until it reaches a thick but pourable consistency.

Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled Bundt cake.

For a bakery-style finish, let the glaze drip naturally down the sides rather than covering the entire cake.

Tips for the Best Blueberry Zucchini Bundt Cake

Don’t completely dry out the zucchini

It’s tempting to squeeze zucchini until it’s practically a raisin because zucchini can contain a surprising amount of water.

Don’t.

The moisture in the zucchini is one of the reasons this cake has such a tender crumb. Give it a good squeeze, but leave some moisture.

Use flavorful blueberries

This recipe doesn’t rely on blueberry compote or artificial blueberry flavoring. That means the quality of your blueberries matters.

If your blueberries are sweet and flavorful straight from the garden, they’ll make an especially good cake.

Don’t overmix after adding the flour

Once flour meets liquid, gluten development begins.

Mix the batter just until the ingredients are incorporated, then stop. A few tiny streaks of flour are preferable to an overworked batter.

Be gentle with the blueberries

Fold the berries in carefully.

Breaking too many blueberries will tint the batter and can create wet pockets around the fruit.

Let the cake cool completely before glazing

This is worth repeating.

A warm Bundt cake will melt the glaze, leaving you with a puddle on the serving plate instead of those pretty drips down the sides.

Can I Use Frozen Blueberries?

Yes.

If you don’t have fresh blueberries available, frozen blueberries can be used. Do not thaw them first.

Toss the frozen blueberries with the tablespoon of flour and fold them directly into the batter.

Keep in mind that frozen berries may release more color into the batter, so your cake may have a slightly more purple appearance.

Can I Use Yellow Summer Squash Instead of Zucchini?

Yes, provided the squash has a similar moisture level.

Finely grated yellow summer squash can be substituted for the zucchini at a 1:1 ratio by weight.

It’s a particularly good option if you’re trying to work through an abundance of summer squash from the garden.

Can I Make This Cake Ahead?

Absolutely.

This cake actually benefits from having a little time to rest after baking. Once completely cooled, store it tightly covered at room temperature for up to 2 days.

For longer storage, refrigerate the cake in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Allow refrigerated cake to come to room temperature before serving for the best texture and flavor.

Can I Freeze Blueberry Zucchini Bundt Cake?

Yes. For the best results, freeze the cake without the glaze.

Wrap the completely cooled cake tightly in plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

Prepare the blueberry glaze fresh and drizzle it over the cake shortly before serving.

A Garden Full of Zucchini Can Be a Very Good Thing

There comes a point in summer when zucchini stops feeling like a vegetable you’re growing and starts feeling like a problem that needs to be solved.

You’ve grated it. You’ve sautéed it. You’ve put it in bread. You’ve given some away.

And somehow there are still more zucchini sitting on the counter.

That’s where having a variety of baking options becomes especially useful.

Zucchini is one of my favorite ingredients to turn into desserts because it brings something bakers actually want: moisture. What it doesn’t bring is a vegetable taste.

Instead of trying to make zucchini taste like something else, this cake lets it quietly do its job. The zucchini disappears into the tender crumb while blueberries and honey provide the flavor.

It’s exactly the kind of garden-to-bakery recipe that makes an abundant harvest feel more exciting.

And when you finish the whole blueberry zucchini Bundt cake with a fresh blueberry glaze, nobody is going to complain about having another zucchini recipe.

They’ll just ask for another slice.

If you want tips on how to grow zucchini check out How to Successfully Grow Summer Squash in Small Spaces.

More Ways to Bake With Your Garden Harvest

If you have more zucchini and summer fruit waiting on the counter, don’t stop here. Try turning your garden abundance into something worth putting on the dessert table.

Bacon Cheddar Zucchini Biscuits

Orange Cardamom Zucchini Muffins

Apple Blackberry Crisp

Honey Pear Crisp

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to peel the zucchini?

No. There is no need to peel zucchini before grating it. The peel softens during baking and adds a little color without affecting the texture.

How much zucchini do I need for this Bundt cake?

You’ll need 2 cups (220 g) of finely grated zucchini after lightly squeezing out excess moisture.

Why do you toss the blueberries in flour?

The flour gives the berries a light coating that helps keep them distributed throughout the cake rather than allowing them to sink toward the bottom.

Can I make this blueberry zucchini Bundt cake without the glaze?

Yes. The cake is delicious on its own, but the blueberry glaze adds another layer of fresh blueberry flavor and makes the Bundt especially pretty for serving.

Can I use frozen zucchini?

Yes, although fresh zucchini is preferable. If using frozen zucchini, thaw it completely and squeeze out excess moisture very well before measuring. Frozen zucchini tends to release considerably more water than fresh zucchini.