The Story:
Sometimes breaking the rules is the best thing you can do.
The rules of being single tell me to have a pretty profile picture on facebook, so what do I do? Post a photo of myself after camping for 3 days going cross-eyed.
The rules of driving etiquette tell me not to be the crazy person behind the wheel that people stare at, so what do I do? I dance like it’s 1999 to Katy Perry’s “Roar” at the every stop light.
The rules of dating tell me to wait for him to make a move, so naturally what do I do? Go in for the kill.
And the rules of party-going tell me to wear something cute, so I… Wear sweats and my mother’s old T-shirt.
Some people think chocolate and zucchini together is breaking the rules, but breaking the rules taste mighty good.
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Zucchini Cake:
- 1 box devil's food cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 C. oil
- 1/2 C. buttermilk or milk
- 1/2 C. sour cream or plain yogurt
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 C. zucchini grated (about 2 zucchini)
- 1 C. mini chocolate chips
Chocolate Buttercream:
- 1 C. butter softened
- 1/2 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp. milk
- 3 1/2- 4 1/2 C. powdered sugar
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
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3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, oil, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla extract until smooth.
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4. Stir in cake mix.
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5. Stir in grated zucchini and chocolate chips.
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6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. (There may be some melted chocolate on the knife from the chocolate chips, but that's okay.)
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7. Chocolate Buttercream: Beat butter for 2 minutes. Add cocoa powder and vanilla extract and beat again. Add milk and 3 cups powdered sugar. Slowly add in more powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
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8. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and top with chocolate Jimmies.
I got these adorable green liners from Sweets & Treats online!
Oh my goodness! you have made my day!!!! you make breaking the rules sound awesome! love the rant 🙂
Hi Lizzy,
I love summer and all the yummy vegetables. I especially love extending the vegetables to dessert! I have memories of secretly allowing a zucchini, or two, to grow to a baseball bat size proportion(it was my job to tend and pick the zucchini) in my mother’s garden. When I would finally pick the gigantic vegetable, she would say “I have to do something with this monster zucchini, it can’t go to waste” . This usually meant a yummy zucchini bread (or breads, I did let them get huge). Her recipe included pineapple, ohhhhh, it was a deliciously yummy sweet cake-like delight. I look forward to giving your recipe a spin, it looks wonderful.
I have a question, if I may, do you have any suggestions for shipping cupcakes? I was thinking of baking in mason jars and putting frosting on top, sealing it up, and sending it on its way. Have you done this? Any advice? My son is off to college in a few weeks and I am having trouble cutting the apron strings, Would love to spoil him with a few treats from my kitchen time to time.
I love your posts, they are a highlight of my day. Thanks for spreading the sunshine around!
I haven’t baked in mason jars before. But I have baked a sheet cake and then stamped out circles to push down into the jars and then layer in frosting. That will probably be the most cost efficient way to get him some cake. BUT you can always send cookies or whoopie pies in plastic bags 🙂
Thanks Lizzy!
Pringles cans work great to pack your cookies, etc in.
Hi Lizzy, is there a trick to keep your cupcake liners not lose colour after baking? Your colours are so bright. I love your website and your pictures
Yes, you need GREASE PROOF liners. I linked to where I got these liners below the recipe!
I totes love “ROAR”!!!! dance and sing along (loudly) to it like a crazy person too 😉
I am so that girl that is dancing in the car (not only at stop lights, though I do stay safe while I dance and drive) People do love to look at me quite oddly, but I always say they are just thinking they wish they had the courage to break free and dance like no one is watching (even though I know they are) who cares. Live people…Live. I love zucchini and chocolate too. Makes the cakes or cupcakes really moist and yummy and I always eat more because lets face it…It has a veggie in it, so it’s healthy right? 🙂
This is the next recipe I want to try but I notice you have previously posted a scratch recipe for this flavor combo(zucchini/choc)…which do you like best???
Mmm… I am always a fan of cake mix! I would say go with this one!
This flavor combination sounds delicious – can’t wait to try it!
I made these tonight…they are awesome! Thanks.
This might sound like a silly question, but do you peel the zucchini before you grate it?
Not silly! You can… but I never do. It bakes right in!
Nutritional I formation would be really helpful!
Sorry, I don’t really know how to go about doing that right now and I don’t want to mess it up and get people mad at me…Sorry! I’ll try to look into learning how to do it 🙂
here is one software that will calculate it for you. I think you can import recipes from the internet, so you could import your own recipes from your blog without having to retype them!
Today I found the new cupcake cups at my local store and they are
lined in foil so the color of cake will not fade through. And the pattern
of these paper cupcake liners areBeautiful . I am so excited ?
Be careful with foil liners though, because they pull away from your cake really easily.
its kind of silly but, am i doing wrong?? my buttercream icing consistency is soft??not like yours??What icing #tips you are using?? Thanks
Add more powdered sugar!!! Make sure your butter has also never been melted, that can mess things up. I usually use a Wilton 2D tip
Thanks for sharing your recipes.I’ve been baking before but not really devoting my time. But now,baking is my hobby and release stress from work.I love all your recipes.God Bless.
So happy to hear that! Enjoy the recipes!
is this the recipe for mini cupcakes or regular sized?
I recently retired and one thing on my bucket list is to perfect some great cupcakes (like I need to eat them!). These are amaaaaazing!!! Must say I’ve never used that much butter in frosting but it was awesome. My finished product was delicious as well as impressive looking! I did drain the zucchini well and the cake was still very moist. Thanks. This is the first of many I hope. Only wish that 1/3 of my household wasn’t gluten free.
Well just use a gluten free cake mix! If the box makes 24-20 cupcakes then you’re good! If it only makes 12 then half the other ingredients in my recipes!
Y lizzy
I have a project in my food class and I m going to do multicultural cookbook so my questionis that “what culture is tgis recioe from?”
I’m not sure, sorry!
What kind of sifter do you use? It seems like my sifter takes forever and gets really sift and hard to move. I have got to the point I hate sifting the cake mix even though there is a huge difference in the mix. Do you have any sifting tricks?
I use one that looks like a mesh bowl… I shake, shake, shake and then use the back of a spoon to push the final clumps through. Don’t use the more “snazzy” ones with the squeeze handle, those sometimes trap some of the cake mix on the inside… never to be seen again 🙂
I’ve made these cupcakes twice now! First time I used a “Milk Chocolate” cake mix because I had it on hand. The second time I used the Devil’s Food. Both batched turned out great…my friends loved them. For any health nuts out there, I used melted coconut oil both times. I also added about 1/3 cup flour to the mix because I live at high altitude and my mix was very moist.
Thank you once more for your time.
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