Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These decadent chocolate zucchini cupcakes are moistened with shredded zucchini and frosted with chocolatey cream cheese frosting! If youโ€™re looking for a fun and fresh way to use up your zucchini, look no further than these luscious cupcakes!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting sitting on white paper doilies

Why I Love These Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that everyone seems to have in abundance! I absolutely love the green veggie, but after coming up with so many different recipes – like Zucchini Pizza Bites – to make sure it didnโ€™t go to waste, I found myself at a loss. 

Thatโ€™s when I realized it was time to go to the sweet side, and when all else fails, we must turn to chocolate for the answers. Enter: Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes. This treat isnโ€™t your standard zucchini bread recipe, itโ€™s ten times better. 

These cupcakes are moist, chocolatey, succulent, and smeared with cocoa cream cheese frosting. I know, Iโ€™m salivating too! Iโ€™m so excited for you to make this yummy and surprisingly simple dessert! You donโ€™t have to tell the kids thereโ€™s zucchini in it, but trust me, once they get a taste they wonโ€™t even care.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting on a wood table

FAQs

What benefit does zucchini add to baked goods?

What doesnโ€™t it add?! Zucchini gives baked goods really great moisture, texture, and added bulk, which I love. Itโ€™s also a vegetable, of course, so itโ€™s full of nutrients. Itโ€™s kind of nice to eat a dessert knowing thereโ€™s a vegetable in it and you canโ€™t even taste it!

Do you peel the zucchini skin before adding it to the cupcake batter?

Thereโ€™s no need to remove the zucchini peel before shredding it. Go ahead and shred your zucchini with the skin on and then incorporate it into your batter.ย 

Do I need to store this in the fridge since thereโ€™s zucchini in it?

I donโ€™t think these cupcakes are going to last long enough to be stored, and I would recommend serving them the same day theyโ€™re baked. If you do have to store them, I would recommend keeping them in the fridge in an air-tight container for no more than 5 days. Not only for the zucchini but for the cream cheese frosting too!

How do you shred zucchini for baking?

All you have to do is chop off the top of the zucchini so one side is flat and then shred it against a grater.ย 

More Zucchini Recipes to Try

Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy zucchini season and have fun making these yummy cupcakes!


Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These decadent chocolate zucchini cupcakes are moistened with shredded zucchini and frosted with chocolatey cream cheese frosting! If youโ€™re looking for a fun and fresh way to use up your zucchini, look no further than these luscious cupcakes!
Servings: 12
Author: Malinda Linnebur
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. zucchini shredded
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 c. buttermilk
  • 1/4 c. oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3/4 c. sugar
  • 3/4 c. all purpose flour
  • 3/4 c. cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
  • FROSTING
  • 8 oz. cream cheese room temperature
  • 4 TBS. butter room temperature
  • 4 TBS. cocoa powder
  • 3/4 c. powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 TBS. milk

Instructions

  • Mix zucchini, egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
  • Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
  • Add to the zucchini mixture and stir just until moistened.
  • Gently stir in chocolate chips.
  • Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
  • Fill each cup 2/3 full with batter.
  • Bake 350 for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  • Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and cool completely before frosting.
  • FROSTING
  • Combine cream cheese and butter and beat at a medium speed until fluffy.
  • Add cocoa powder, powdered sugar and milk.
  • Beat again until nice and fluffy.
  • Frost cupcakes as desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupcake | Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 46mg | Sodium: 247mg | Potassium: 408mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 498IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 3mg
Did you make this?Let me know by sharing a picture and tagging @countryside_cravings on Instagram

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6 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Thank you for an alternative to zucchini bread! I love baking with zucchini and this was a great way to spice things up

  2. 5 stars
    By far this is the best chocolate zucchini recipe I’ve made. They are so chocolaty and not too sweet. Moist and not too rich but very satisfying.
    Thanks for making my family very very happy!

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