Um, have you noticed? I am putting zucchini in everything. I can’t say I am sorry though, because everything I am making is so darn delicious and zucchini makes baked goods AMAZING!!! If you love zucchini recipes, I have a bunch. You can see 30+ recipes here –> Zucchini Recipes
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
This zucchini cupcake recipe is a favorite so far, as it is over-the-top chocolatey. Everything is rich and creamy and moist and amazing.
Since I have been baking with zucchini so much lately, I thought I would write a little poem about it.
And now, Poetry with i am baker.
Zucchini
You grow fast
and have hardly any flavor
Yet I love you
and your green innards.
Pretty good huh?
Don’t worry. I will stick to baking.
Tips for the Perfect Chocolate Zucchini Cupcake
This is a one-bowl cupcake recipe. One bowl. I LOVE that. I dislike dishes. A lot. One bowl! Well, excluding the bowl you beat the eggs in. Darn it.
*I used this Chocolate Frosting recipe for the cupcakes. Using an ice cream scoop, I just dropped a dollop on each cupcake. It’s my new favorite way to decorate!
These suckers are rich. RICH I TELL YOU. Make sure you have milk and loose-fitting pants nearby.
How to Bake with Zucchini
When using zucchini in recipes there are a couple of tips & tricks that help to make sure your baked goods are perfect!
-Use the fine side of your grater. Coarser pieces will have a slightly more noticeable flavor and texture in a finished cake or bread recipe. (Farm kids tend to want that!)
-Some recipes ask that the zucchini is pressed well with a clean towel to soak up excess moisture or to prevent whatever you are baking from getting too soggy. Pay close attention to the recipe that you are making with zucchini as the level of moisture they provide is important. For instance, in this recipe, the zucchini is the not main source of moisture and should be drained.
Hope you love these Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes as much as we do! Here is the chocolate frosting recipe!
More Zucchini Desserts
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups (256g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (75g) unsweetened cocoa
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 3 cups finely grated and lightly drained zucchini
- 1 cup (224g) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten
- ¾ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, (up to 1 cup)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcakes pans with liners. (Yields roughly 26-28 cupcakes)
- In a large bowl add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. With a whisk gently sift ingredients.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the eggs and oil. Mix by hand. Batter will be fairly thick. Add in grated zucchini and chocolate chips and fold in with spatula. Batter should loosen up a bit with the moisture from the zucchini.
- Using an ice cream scoop, fill up cupcake liners 2/3 full.
- Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick is removed mostly clean.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Did you make this recipe?
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can you omit the oil i can’t have it is there anything else i can use to replace it.
I would suggest the same amount of melted butter if you can’t have oil. The buttery flavor will probably be overpowered by the chocolatey goodness, but it should still work!
These look fabulous, and I have some extra zucchini that are languishing in the bottom drawer of the fridge now, waiting to be roasted…or made into CAKE! What a brilliant idea! These look fabulous.
I just wanted to leave a quick message and say that I liked your page a couple of months ago and LOVE everything that you post! Also your amazing photography, cooking and writing skills! Keep it up! I always look forward to the next!
Best regards
Hello. Can you make it without zucchini ? If so, how can you keep the chocolate moist?
I would recommend just making a chocolate cupcake if you want to omit the zucchini. 🙂
Hi Amanda, i am just a housewife who start to bake for my own son. I hve tried to bake cupcake for his birthday. The cupcake turns out nice but the liner was peeling off from the cupcake. Any suggestions for me?
Hi Vicky- Sounds like you might want to try a different brand of cupcake liner! 🙂
HAH! well your poem made me laugh and your recipe & pictures made me want these cupcakes, so – guess you did your job!
These look amazing!!! My husband is a HUGE chocolate fan but with that same power that loves chocolate he also HATES zucchini… Do these taste like zucchini?
Not at all!
Unless you tell him, he’ll never know there is zucchini the cake. It adds a lot of moisture and makes the cake so tender. Chocolate and Zucchini is a classic combo. I’ve been making a chocolate zucchini cake since the early 80s. Delicious! Can’t wait to try the cupcakes. Thanks for sharing!
Can you post your zucchini cake recipe, Please?…XOXOXO.
How do you shave the chocolate to get the pieces close to perfect. Every time I do this the chocolate shaves off into tiny tiny pieces. No curves..
This is very exciting to me
Has anyone tried substituting banana or apple sauce for the oil? I would like to do that in an effort to make these a little healthier, but I wonder what would happen to the texture.
I have for other cakes and they turned out great and you could not tell a difference.