Zucchini Cupcakes are moist and delicious cupcakes made with shredded zucchini and topped with the best cream cheese frosting! If you have more zucchini, be sure to try my Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes with Zucchini!
Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yes, these cupcakes are yummy on their own, but it’s really about the cream cheese frosting. It’s the same frosting as I used in my Homemade Carrot Cake recipe. You can simply spread the frosting on the cupcakes, once they have cooled. Or, I will give you tips on piping and how to frost cakes when the time comes. The tricks may come in handy when you realize you will want to make this frosting as often as possible!
Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
This recipe starts with the zucchini cupcakes and then those are topped with the frosting.
Cupcakes: After shredding the zucchini, just drain it lightly. This will add the moisture needed for the cupcakes.
Frosting: It’s all about the sugar in the frosting. I will let you know how to make a perfect batch for piping (if you wanted to use that method for the cupcakes) as well as if you are making a batch to spread on a cake.
How to Make Zucchini Cupcakes
It’s easy to whip up the batter for these cupcakes. First, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, both sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. Next, in a separate bowl, combine the zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated.
Use an ice cream scoop or a quarter cup scoop to add the batter to a lined muffin tin. Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes. The cupcakes are done baking when the tops of the muffins spring back when gently pressed. You can also insert a toothpick into the cupcakes; the toothpick should come out with a few crumbs, but no wet batter. Let the cupcakes cool completely before adding the cream cheese frosting.
How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting
So the ingredients for this frosting are pretty basic: butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar. But it’s how you put them together that makes the difference!
FOR PIPING: You will want to get all the wet ingredients combined before adding the sugar. The trick is to not OVERBEAT the cream cheese. The more you mix the creamier it gets and the harder it is to pipe. I add my sugar 1 cup at a time so that I can gauge the consistency as I go.
FOR FROSTING CAKES: When covering a cake with this cream cheese frosting you can beat for 5-7 minutes. You can also add in all of the sugar at once. This results in the creamiest cream cheese frosting you will ever have. Almost elastic!
Remember to wait until the cupcakes have cooled completely before adding the frosting. These zucchini cupcakes were piped using a large open round tip. I love how the sides are perfectly rounded!
Looking for More Cupcake Recipes?
Easy Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream
Double Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes
Zucchini Cupcakes with the BEST Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 medium zucchini, coarsely shredded (about 1¾ cups)
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese
- ½ cup (1 stick or 113g) butter, room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, both sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add this to flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Use ¼ cup measuring cup or ice cream scooper to evenly scoop the batter into the lined muffin tin. Fill each cup about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven let them cool completely before adding the cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Place room temperature cream cheese, butter, and vanilla into stand mixer and blend for 1-2 minutes on medium speed until fully incorporated. (You can also use a hand-held mixer.)
- Add confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting is light and creamy. Spread or pipe the frosting over the cooled cupcakes.
- FOR PIPING: You will want to get all the wet ingredients combined before adding the sugar. The trick is to not OVERBEAT the cream cheese. The more you mix the creamier it gets and the harder it is to pipe. I add my sugar 1 cup at a time so that I can gauge the consistency as I go.
- FOR FROSTING CAKES: When covering a cake with this cream cheese frosting you can beat for 5-7 minutes. You can also add in all of the sugar at once. This results in the creamiest cream cheese frosting you will ever have. Almost elastic!
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Those look yummy!! Absolutely yummy. I am such a sucker for cream cheese frosting. Your recipe is very similar to what I do…I think the only difference is I use less powdered sugar and a teaspoon of real vanilla.
Seriously I could just live in CC frosting. I’d use it for lotion but that would just be creepy.
I made these yesterday and they were DELICIOUS!!! Ive been following ur blog for a while now but haven’t commented on anything but u definitely need to know that u are such an inspiration. 🙂
I just finished making these cupcakes. They are fantastic! It’s 12:25am, and I have already eaten three cupcakes!! The frosting is delicious. I usually don’t like cream cheese frosting, but I’ve converted!
Thanks Verily!!!
I have been thinking about these cupcakes since you posted them…and finally made – no scratch that – ATTEMPTED to make them last night. I. am. not. baker. In the midst of juggling dinner and crying baby and bored children while I was mixing up the ingredients, I neglected to add baking powder. I wanted to cry as I realized my mistake, right after I put them in the oven. However, my fail was not as disasterous as I had imagined it would be. My family and I all thought they were actaully delish, with a unique “cornbreadish” type texture…even the 2 year old who insisted that she “would not like the yummy new bread” decided she did like it after all, and ate several mini muffins. [I also used whole wheat flour which, I think, added to the texture. Anyways, thanks for posting this – it is delicious enough to overcome my horrific baking! 😉
-Heather
I made these yesterday complete with the cream cheese frosting from heaven. My husband said they maybe were the best thing I’ve ever baked and there were ZERO left after our guests departed. Thanks for the wonderful recipe! 🙂
Thanks for the kind words Alice Q. I concur, and therefore, the menu items that were off would not deter my patronage. Thanks for taking the time out to write it! I think spirituality is really important too, we certainly agree on that point. A leader without spirituality is missing a key element.
Your cupcakes are adorable! Do you think the cream cheese frosting is stiff enough to frost a layer cake? Thank you! 🙂
Ok… I know that I’m super late to the party, but I just found your site (beautiful pics btw) and use the very same recipe for all my cupcakes. I’ve been trying to figure out how to frost like that. What sized tip do you use? Is this a #9 round or something smaller? I can’t seem to figure it out.
I made these and they were so delicious! I didn’t want them quite as sweet with the cream cheese frosting so instead I put a lime glaze on top which provided the perfect tang to the zucchini. Mmmm.
ok, so what makes it even funnier is that i translated FOUR cups of sugar to say FLOUR. i thought, wow, how do you make frosting with FLOUR??!!! HAAAAAAA