The Story:
Dear Mother,
I am getting my vegetables at college!
Chocolate Zucchini Cake:
2 cups sugar
¾ cup applesauce
4 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups grated zucchini
Cinnamon Buttercream:
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup butter, softened
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
1-3 tablespoons milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners (yield 26)
2. Combine sugar, apple sauce and oil.
3. On low speed, add eggs one at a time until combined. Add vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Sift if needed to get rid of lumps.
5. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet.
6. Add grated zucchini (for me, it was about 2 ½ zucchinis) and mix until combined.
7. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until in inserted knife comes out clean.
8. Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter together. Add remaining ingredients and adjust as needed to reach desired consistency.
9. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.
Mmmmmmm! Another recipe for those pesky zucchini!!
These look great! I'm even more interested in that Cinnamon Buttercream, looks delish!!
You must have been reading my mind…I need to make something with this zucchini, and didnt want to make bread! Super excited to make them and share with all my friends! TY! Everything I make from you everyone loves!! Thanks for share!
One quick questions….what is the easiest way to grate it… and which size works best? The smaller or bigger? Or does it even matter.
I use a box grater, what I use to grate cheese. Use the larger size, and use all of the liquid that comes when you grate your veggies. Good luck!
These look so good, so dark and chocolatey, and I like that you used applesauce instead of butter. Do you have any tips for making frosting with melted chocolate? I ran out of cocoa last night when I made chocolate cupcakes, so for the frosting, I used 3 ounces melted semi-sweet chocolate, a package of cream cheese, and powdered sugar. I had such a hard time with the consistency – it was too thin to keep any form, or too thick to pipe, oddly sticky, and at the same time, dried very quickly. So weird! Maybe it's best just to use cocoa powder?
I have one more question! 🙂 Do you use piping bags, or one of those decorating tools? I don't have any bags, but I have the Pampered Chef decorator with the tips – problem is, it's very difficult to squeeze the filling out for anything that's a thicker consistency.
Heather, I know it is possible to make Buttercream from melted chocolate, but my best advice is to look for a recipe on the internet. And yes, I do use a piping bag. They work miracles and are totally worth the few dollars.
thank You. That is soo helpful I probably would have dumped the liquid.
One last question. Do I need to peal the zucchini?
I did peel my zucchini, but I made zucchini bread the nexr day without peeling and the only difference was that it had flecks of green.
You make them look so pretty! I have a question regarding cupcake liners. Sometimes (like last Sunday when I made your Oreo cupcakes) the liners don't hold up well. Sometimes they look grease-soaked on the bottom. Is there anything you can do besides buy grease-proof liners? Those don't always come in cute patterns. Help?
Patti- make sure you wash out your pans with soap and warm water every time you use them! What happens is that the grease builds up on the pans and then once they heat up in the oven, it gets all over your cupcake liners. Even if you don't see grease, it is always there. Good luck!
Love the dark chocolate appearance of these, you would never know zucchini was in them. The cinnamon butter cream does sound heavenly. I see lots of good tips in the comments-well done.
Holy CHOCOLATE cupcakes! YUM!!! Very visually appealing!
Hi Foodie, Your Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream recipe has been selected to be featured in a Recipe Guessing Game. Please share the following link with your friends and fans. To play, go here: http://knapkins.com/guess_games/94?source=blog Congrats again!! 🙂
I made these, along with the carrot cupcakes, for a craft fair at my son's school. They were a huge hit and all sold very quickly. They were absolutely delicious and received rave reviews!!!
Any idea of the nutritional info for these bad boys?
No, sorry!
I made these cupcakes for a summer picnic, they were delicious!
I made these cupcakes. I think i used a little too much zucchini though because they are reallllly sticky, and this recipe ended up making 36+ cupcakes for me! i had to end up throwing some of the batter out! lol its sooooo delicious though…
I like this post, enjoyed this one thanks for posting. “The basis of optimism is sheer terror.” by Oscar Wilde.
Hi!! Do you think that sprinkling cinnamon and sugar to garnish would work okay? I made your Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes for my co-workers and they raved!!! Many of them said it was literally the best cupcake they had ever had. Thanks for all the great recipes!!! 🙂
Yes, I LOVE using cinnamon sugar to top cupcakes. Sometimes to jazz it up a bit I’ll toss coarse sugar in cinnamon and use that!
Great!!! I’ll do it then. Thanks so much. 🙂
Can I make these into a cake?? I love this recipe so much and was hoping it would work as a cake too!
Yup! Just watch the baking time!
Delicious! My daughter made it and man was it delicious!!!