These decadent chocolate zucchini cupcakes are moistened with shredded zucchini and frosted with chocolatey cream cheese frosting! If you’re looking for a fun and fresh way to use up your zucchini, look no further than these luscious cupcakes!
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 didn’t go to waste, I found myself at a loss.
That’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 isn’t your standard zucchini bread recipe, it’s ten times better.
These cupcakes are moist, chocolatey, succulent, and smeared with cocoa cream cheese frosting. I know, I’m salivating too! I’m so excited for you to make this yummy and surprisingly simple dessert! You don’t have to tell the kids there’s zucchini in it, but trust me, once they get a taste they won’t even care.
Ingredients to Make Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
These cupcakes taste decadent and smooth, so you’d think they’d take a lot of work and special ingredients. Thankfully for us, that couldn’t be farther from the truth! We have two components to this recipe – the cupcakes and the frosting, and you need simple ingredients for both.
Cupcake Ingredients
- Shredded zucchini
- Egg
- Buttermilk
- Chocolate: cocoa powder and mini chocolate chips
- Pantry staples: Flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, powdered sugar, oil, vanilla, and salt
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream cheese
- Butter
- Cocoa Powder
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
Instructions to Make Zucchini Cupcakes
Step 1: Combine Zucchini Mixture
Mix your shredded zucchini, egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until just combined.
Step 2: Mix Dry Ingredients
Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Step 3: Combine Both and Add Chocolate Chips
Add the dry mixture to the wet zucchini mixture and stir everything just until it’s evenly moistened. Gently stir in the mini chocolate chips.
Step 4: Prep Muffin Cups and Bake
Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners and fill each with batter until they’re ⅔ full. Bake the cupcakes at 350 for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Step 5: Make Cream Cheese Frosting
Combine the cream cheese and butter and beat at a medium speed until the mixture is fluffy. Then, add cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and milk. Beat again until fluffy.
Step 6: Remove and Frost
Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tin and allow them to cool completely before frosting. Enjoy!
FAQs
What doesn’t it add?! Zucchini gives baked goods really great moisture, texture, and added bulk, which I love. It’s also a vegetable, of course, so it’s full of nutrients. It’s kind of nice to eat a dessert knowing there’s a vegetable in it and you can’t even taste it!
There’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.
I don’t think these cupcakes are going to last long enough to be stored, and I would recommend serving them the same day they’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!
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.
More Zucchini Recipes to Try
- Zucchini Carrot Bread
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffin Bread
- Easy and Quick Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Coffee Cake
Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy zucchini season and have fun making these yummy cupcakes!
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram for all my latest updates!
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
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.