You're probably thinking the same thing I was when I first heard about adding zucchini to a sweet recipe. Why on earth would you do that?!? I was super skeptical about it until I found this wonderful recipe from one of my favorites, i am baker, who also has a video tutorial. Since I'm sure you have a lot of questions and might not trust me, I've tried to answer them with a Q&A below.
Q: What does adding zucchini to a cupcake (or cake) recipe do?
A: Adds moisture.
Q: Will you taste the zucchini?
A: Not at all, zucchini is made of 95% water very hard if not impossible to detect.
Q: What is the cupcake texture like?
A: Super moist and fluffy, no chunks of anything.
Q: What does the cupcake taste like?
A: Like the best cupcake you've ever had. But seriously, it tastes like an extremely decadent chocolate cupcake (and I bet it will be the best cupcake you've ever had).
Ingredients (cupcake):
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups freshly grated zucchini, drained*
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Ingredients (frosting):
1.5 sticks of butter, room temp
1/3 cup cocoa
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of table salt
4 tbs heavy cream
Chocolate curls for decorating
Directions (cupcakes):
Preheat oven to 350 and line 24 cupcake tins. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar and whisk until combined. Make a well in the center and add eggs and oil. Mix together with a spatula, batter will be thick. Fold in grated zucchini and chocolate chips, batter should loosen with the moisture from the zucchini. Divide batter among cupcake tins (ice cream scoop is best), filling to 2/3 full, and bake for 18 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
*Zucchini tips: I used 1 1/2 large zucchini and peeled them, but it's not necessary. I cut off one end and kept the other just as something to hold onto. You don't want the grated zucchini to turn into mush. To drain, I just took a handful of zucchini and squeezed most of the liquid out before adding it to the batter.
Directions (frosting):
In a stand mixer fixed with a paddle, cream butter for 1 minute. With the mixer on medium, add cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt and mix for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer on low and add heavy cream, 1 tbs at a time, and mix for 3-5 minutes. You can use more or less cream to reach your desired consistency. With 4 tbs of cream you will get a rough-looking frosting, perfect for rustic cakes or cupcakes (duh). Scoop 1 ice cream scoop worth of frosting onto each cooled cupcake, then dip in chocolate curls.