This sweet Lemon Cucumber Cake is made with fresh cucumbers and zesty lemon. Enjoy the unique fresh flavors of summer in cake form for any occasion or get-together!
When you have an abundance of cucumbers during the summer, it can be hard to figure out how to use them all. There are many unusual ways to enjoy cucumber, and cucumber cake is a great way to use them up while still enjoying a delicious and sweet treat!
The cucumbers in this cake help keep it moist, and the elderflower frosting gives it a beautiful floral flavor. But don't worry if you don't have any - just use lemon juice for a lemon frosting.
Desserts made with vegetables are always a good idea, and this cake is no exception!
This veggie dessert is easy to make and can be served at any spring or summer function, including:
- Potlucks
- Backyard barbecues
- Graduations
- Baby or bridal showers
- Pool parties
No matter how you enjoy it, this cake will surely be a hit with anyone who enjoys the refreshing taste of cucumbers!
You'll also love this Sweet Vanilla Pea Cake with Lemon Frosting, Apple Kale Cake with Apple Icing, Slow Cooker Beetroot Chocolate Cake, and Parsnip Loaf Cake.
This recipe for Lemon Cucumber Cake was originally posted on 19 August 2013 and updated on 20 September 2022 with new photos, step by step tutorial and slightly adapted recipe (to make it work in 8 inch pans, not 7 inch pans).
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
A great way to use up an abundance of fresh summer cucumbers.
This cake is easy to make yet elegant and sophisticated.
The elderflower icing adds a beautiful floral flavor.
The cucumbers help keep the cake moist and add a refreshing taste.
Ingredients
- Cucumber - This simple garden vegetable gives the cake a fresh taste and a moist texture.
- Lemon Zest & Juice - Adds a bright citrus flavor to the base of the cake, which brings out the other natural flavors.
- Butter - Adds a rich texture and buttery flavor to the base of the cake.
- Granulated Sugar - Gives the cake a sweet flavor.
- Vanilla Extract - Adds a fragrant vanilla flavor that pairs well with the freshness of lemon and cucumber.
- Eggs - Helps bind the cake batter together to help it set while baking.
- All Purpose Flour - Flour's main dry ingredient holds everything together, creating its classic cake texture.
- Baking Powder - Helps the cake rise and become fluffy when baked.
FOR THE ELDERFLOWER ICING:
- Butter - Gives the frosting a thick and rich texture with a buttery flavor.
- Confectioners Sugar - Adds sweetness to the icing and gives it a thick, spreadable texture.
- Elderflower Cordial or Lemon Juice - Adds a light touch of elderflower flavor to the cake. You can also use lemon juice if that isn't available. Make your own elderflower cordial.
Please see the recipe card below for quantities.
Instructions
Wondering how to make this Lemon Cucumber Cake recipe? It's easy! Just follow this step-by-step photo tutorial. Then, scroll down for the recipe card for the full ingredients list and recipe method.
Prepare for baking: Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Lightly grease 2 x 8inch cake pans. Set aside.
Puree the cucumber: Leave the skin on the cucumber and de-seed it by cutting it in half lengthways and scraping the seeds out with a teaspoon. Cut into chunks and add to a blender along with the lemon juice.
Assemble the wet ingredients: Add the butter, lemon zest, sugar and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and cream by beating it for a few minutes with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in well.
Mix the cake batter: Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed butter/sugar and beat. Beat in ⅓ of the pureed cucumber. Repeat until both the flour and cucumber mixtures are used up.
Bake and cool: Divide the mixture between the cake pans and spread evenly to the edges. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until risen, golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Make the frosting: Beat the butter, sugar, and cordial or lemon juice together until smooth and fluffy. Keep in the fridge until ready to frost the cooled cake. Enjoy!
Top tips
Make sure the cucumber is fully pureed until smooth in order to avoid lumps in the cake batter.
Be sure to zest the lemon before juicing it to get the most flavor out of the fruit.
When mixing the wet and dry ingredients, be careful not to overwork as this will make the cake tough.
You can use lemon juice if you don't have elderflower cordial for the frosting.
Let the cake cool completely before icing it; otherwise, the heat will melt the icing.
Serving Suggestions
Bring to a brunch alongside a Breakfast Pancake Board.
Serve with Cucumber Collins Cocktail to enjoy during happy hour.
Serve on a cake plate and surround it with Cucumber Mint Cupcakes for a beautiful presentation.
Variations
Add in the zest of an additional lemon for a more citrusy cake.
Try using lime juice and zest instead of lemon for a different flavor profile.
You could also use mint or lavender cordial to flavor the elderflower icing.
If you want a more classic cucumber cake flavor, you can add in ¼ teaspoon of cucumber extract.
Top the cake with fresh berries or edible flowers for a pretty touch.
Storage
The cooled cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 48 hours or in the fridge for up to a week. The elderflower icing can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to a week. Just re-whip it before using to get the same consistency.
To freeze the icing, place it in a freezer-safe container for up to two months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and re-whip before using. The cake itself can be frozen, un-frosted, for up to two months when wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored in an airtight container or bag.
FAQs
Yes, you can make cucumber cake gluten free by using a gluten free all-purpose flour blend in place of the regular flour. Be sure to check your other ingredients for gluten.
The best cucumbers to use for this cake are English cucumbers because they have thinner skin and fewer seeds.
Yes, this recipe can easily be made into mini cucumber cakes. Just grease and flour a 12-slot muffin tin and divide the cake batter evenly between the slots. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly in the tin and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Elderflower cordial is a concentrated syrup that is made from elderflowers. It has a floral flavor that is perfect for this cucumber cake. You can find it in the grocery store near the other cordials and syrups or online. Or make your own elderflower cordial.
More Cakes Using Vegetables
- Vegetable Peeling Cake (Carrots, Parsnips)
- Maple Parsnip Cake with Sweet Potato Frosting
- Vanilla Spinach Cake
- Chocolate Cauliflower Cake with Caramel Frosting
- Tomato Soup Cake
- Chocolate Beetroot Cake
If you like vegetable cakes, my cookbook, Veggie Desserts and Cakes, is now available on Amazon (UK, Canada, USA, Australia and more) - affiliate link
📖 Recipe
Lemon Cucumber Cake
Equipment
- 2 x 8inch (20cm) round cake pans
Ingredients
- 7 ounces English cucumber about half a cucumber (200g)
- Zest and juice of half a lemon
- ⅔ cup butter at room temperature (150g)
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar 150g
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ⅔ cups all purpose flour plain flour (200g)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
For the frosting
- ⅓ cup butter (75g) at room temperature
- 1 ⅛ cups powdered icing sugar 150g
- 1 tablespoon elderflower cordial or lemon juice)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly grease 2 x 8inch round cake pans.
- Leave the skin on the cucumber and de-seed it by cutting it in half lengthways and scraping the seeds out with a teaspoon. Cut into chunks and add to a blender along with the lemon juice.
- Add the butter, lemon zest, sugar and vanilla to a large mixing bowl and cream by beating it for a few minutes with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one in well.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
- Add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed butter/sugar and beat. Beat in ⅓ of the pureed cucumber. Repeat until both the flour and cucumber mixtures are used up.
- Divide the mixture between the cake pans and spread evenly to the edges. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until risen, golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out on a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
For the frosting
- Beat the butter, icing sugar and cordial (or lemon juice) together until smooth and fluffy. Keep in the fridge until ready to ice the cake.
- Spread ½ of the frosting onto one of the cakes, then place the other cake on top and spread the remaining frosting onto the top. Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.
Nikki
What a unique flavor combination in this cake. It looked and tasted fantastic!
Beth
This is such an intriguing recipe so I HAD to try it for our summer bbq party. I've never made anything baked with cucumber befor, and it was delicious, and I loved that elderflower icing!
Dannii
I love any kind of lemon dessert and this was amazing. Such a great way to use cucumber.
Claudia
This was so easy to make, and tasted fantastic!
jenny p
wow what a great coloured sponge the cucumber makes. i loved it and so did the whole family. I'll definitely make it again soon.
Maisie
The combination of flavours was lovely 🙂
Sam Bilt
I think cucumber is under utilised as a vegetable. This was such a brilliant cake. Well done! I've made it three times now and it alwasy works well. i use lemon for the frosting as I don't even know what an elderflower is haha.
Leana
I made this for an afternoon tea to go wtih cucumber sandwiches and Pimm's. Everyone loved it!
Jelena
So unsusual but tasted very good. And green!
Sapna
Made this cake and we couldnt wait to do the icing on it, we just had it as is. Loved the texuture of the cake and the beautiful pale green colour. I used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour and still the cake was moist n fluffy! Will soon try this with lime/lemon icing, but for now the cake was a part of my weekend baking and it disappeared very quickly too.
Susanne
Hi Kate,
I've made this cake twice now as we have had a glut of cucumbers and I needed a couple of sweeter options to use them up in. We have this cake naked (no icing) but I'm sure I will dress it up if I bake it for a special occasion.
On the second go, I drained a little of the cucumber juice before adding the lemon juice which allowed for a lighter crumb texture. I also used the rind of one lemon since we're big fans of lemon cake here too.
It's a delicous recipe that I've saved to use many more times. Thank you very much for sharing.
HELEN
it was amazing...and a great colour too! thanks for the recipe!
Ann
Oh my, that is so clever! What a fabulous idea and what a stunning green cake! I just LOVE this . Really original. I am super impressed. Everyone at our summer potlucked loved and were so surprised that it was cucumber making that great color!!
Jave
I loved the sound of this cake and was so intrigued by the use of cucumber! I gave it a whirl and it was even better than expected. It was a big surprise to my church group that it was cucumber in it! It went down well and every last crumb was taken.
Marion
Found this whilst looking for unusual cake flavours.
It made a lovely, light cake with a beautiful pale green colour.
The flavour was delightful, just a hint of something you wouldn't quite identify if you didn't know what it was.
Thank you for your recipe.
Maria
I saw this on pinterest and made it at the weekend. Everyone loved it! It was easy to make and such a great colour. Thank you.
Maureen
I had so many cucumbers from a farm share a few years ago, I googled "cucumber cake" thinking it MUST be a thing...and lo and behold! I made this for a work luncheon and my colleagues were incredulous! it's such a lovely light cake, utterly refreshing and so pretty to boot. I didn't have self rising flour in the house (Northerners in the US don't use it much) but Nigella helped me figure out the measurements; I've since bought self rising merely to make this cake.
Ella T
This sounds delicious. I am thinking of making it for my great Aunt for her 92nd birthday! She asked for a cake with lemon curd do you think you could add this in between the layers with the frosting?
Kate Hackworthy
I'm sure that would be lovely!
Sorin Vlad
Dear Kate, I think I am already a fan of your recipes. I have tried this one too and the result has been fantastic. It has been a cake made for my girlfriend birthday and it has been a success. I have changed a little bit the frosting using whipping cream with lemon juice and a few drops of orange flower water. Thank you for your wonderful idea. Your Romanian fan.
Kate Hackworthy
How lovely! Thank you for coming back to comment and your kind words. I hope your girlfriend had a happy birthday! 🙂
Aimee
I think it's really ingenious to use cucumber in baking this cake was so good! What a great way to eat your greens!
Erika C
Hi! I tried this last night, split the batter between two 8" -ish pans, but neither of them actually rose. I think I know what I did wrong, so I'm trying it again tonight in just the one pan. The very thin sponge stuck to the pans, so I scooped it all out into one to throw it away, and was talking to my mom on the phone, telling her about it all, and the whole time I was talking I was eating the pieces of sponge. Didn't even get to the icing. The flavor of the cake was really, really good, though. I've never used self-rising flour before, and I wonder if there just wasn't enough by my measurement. My garden is prodicing a lot of cukes right now, so I have some to spare to try again. Thank you for the delicious recipe - I'll get it eventually. 🙂
Erika C
So the night before last I used the cup measurements, and last night I used the weight measurements. Completely different cake. Lots more flour in the weight measurements, for one, though it still didn't rise very much. It is really, REALLY good!
Kate Hackworthy
How odd, Erika. Thanks for letting me know and I'll double check my measurement conversions. I'm glad you liked it anyway and sorry you had to make it twice. I've had lots of people let me know that they've made this but I'll check the conversions. 🙂
Maureen
This cake is lovely! I made it recently, in my desperation to use up an unexpectedly large farm share take one week...4 lbs of cucumbers were more than my boyfriend and I could eat in salad. I don't know what possessed me to search for cucumber cake online, but I found you recipe and gave it a try! Because I don't have a kitchen scale, I had to wing it a bit on how much cucumber I needed (a google search finally led me to a calculation of ~1.3c of chopped cuke = 200g, which worked perfectly.) I didn't have any elderflower liqueur in the house (I thought I had some St. Germaine, alas, no), so I just used lemon juice. I served it to my colleagues at work, and they loved it! in fact a number of them went back for another slice.
Kate Hackworthy
I'm so glad that you all liked the cake! 🙂
Kate Veggie Desserts
Hi Karin, I don't use rice syrup or hemp flours so I'm not sure how you would best substitute them. Perhaps it would be easier if you already have a rice syrup/hemp flour cake recipe to add in the cucumber and lemon flavors to that?
Hope that works!
Karin Alton
I should say, I don't mind too much the odd spoonful, it's just the 150g of sugar, I am trying to avoid. Also not so good with wheat, might try it with another type of flour, any suggestions? Buckwheat, Hemp, maybe?
Karin Alton
Hiya
Your food/recipes look divine! However, I am trying to cut sugar out all together, is there anything else I could use instead, say rice syrup? How much would I need to use in place of the sugar do you think?
Many thanks!
Maretta
I made this today - yum! But because elderflower isn't easy to come by in Australia, I added lemon juice and ground lemon myrtle leaves (Australian native and in our garden) to the icing - turned out really well! Loving reading your website - a wonderful resource. 🙂
Kate Veggie Desserts
Thanks for letting me know about it, Maretta! It's so nice to hear how my recipes turn out for others. Your substitution sounds great and it is so nice that you could use something from your garden. 🙂 🙂
Jennifer
This is really original, I have never heard of cucumber being used in baking before so had to try it! It was absolutely delicious 🙂
mjskit
What a very unusual cake! Even though it's made with vegetables, it sure looks delicious!