Day 136 – Zucchini Cupcakes

Wow.  It has been a heavy week of cupcakes.  Butterfinger yesterday.  “Perfect” chocolate and vanilla the 2 days before.  I.  Am.  Full.

And, every once in a while, I need to lighten it up.  Feel at least a little healthy.  For a moment.  A very brief moment.  Hence today’s Zucchini Cupcakes (recipe below from Key Ingredient).  Which pack a little bit of a surprise….

    

The cupcakes are dense and decently moist.  Note: the minis are a little dry.  The almond and the orange juice give it a nice light flavor, while the spices give it a little depth. Very tasty, especially considering it’s a zucchini cupcake.

The frosting is very thick, almost like cookie dough.  It has a really yummy caramel-brown sugar flavor.

    

These are yummy!  Not a typical zucchini cupcake by any means.  The caramel frosting complements the almond-orange flavor remarkably well. And, this may be the first zucchini “Cupcake” I’ve ever had – normally they are closer to a frosted muffin, but this one is a cupcake. No doubt about it. I love that!

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 4

• Frosting Taste: 4

• Overall Taste: 4

• Appearance: 3

• Ease of Making: 3.5 (the caramel and the zucchini shredding take a bit more time but nothing is difficult)

• TOTAL: 18.5

RECIPE

Zucchini Cupcakes (recipe from Key Ingredient)

Cupcakes:

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon shredded zucchini

Frosting:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups confectioners’ sugar

For directions visit Key Ingredient.

*Tomorrow: Kahlua Coffee Cupcakes*

Day 111 – Sweet Zucchini Cupcakes

Every once in a while, I have to throw a cupcake in that’s healthy.  Or, at least gives the illusion of healthy.  Like the ones with veggies in the titles.  Like these Sweet Zucchini Cupcakes (recipe below from Martha Stewart).  I mean, don’t you just feel better about them when there’s a veggie in the name?  It’s (almost) justified!  Stuff your face with these as well as today’s book: About a Boy by Nick Hornby.

    

The cupcakes are moist and moderately dense. The minis are extremely sticky.  They have a nice spice to muffin balance. The nuts add a nice (and needed) crunch without being overwhelming.

The frosting is creamy of soft. You could pipe it on, but it’s easier to just spread cause it’s not super thick.  Has a good flavor. You get the cream cheese and the sugar, but without any one flavor being too strong. It’s not necessarily the most exciting cream cheese frosting, but it’s a good standard.

    

The sweetness of the frosting brings out the sweetness of the cupcake. If you like zucchini cupcakes, this is a great rendition. It isn’t a sneaky zucchini cupcake – you can’t give it to a non-zucchini fan and expect them not to notice. But they are tasty. And, you can feel slightly less guilty about them, which is always a plus!

Notes: I only baked the full-size muffins for about 30 minutes, the recipe calls for 40-45. Just make sure you watch them, cause it clearly varies depending on your oven.

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 3.5

• Frosting Taste: 3.5

• Overall Taste: 3.5

• Appearance: 3

• Ease of Making: 4.5 (no mixer batter and very simple frosting.)

• TOTAL: 18

RECIPE

Sweet Zucchini Cupcakes (recipe from Martha Stewart)

Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 zucchini (10 ounces), coarsely grated (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Frosting

• 4 tablespoons room-temperature unsalted butter
• 4 ounces room-temperature bar cream cheese
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For directions visit Martha Stewart.

*Tomorrow: Dulce de Leche Cupcakes*

Day 94 – Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Every omce in a while I need a healthy cupcake….or a healthy-ish cupcake…..or just a cupcake I can justify eating. Like ones with veggies in them! Like these Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice).  And, to go with said somewhat healthy-ish cupcakes, today’s book is The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

    

The cake is moist and sticky. The nuts add a nice crunch.  They are a lot like sweet muffins. The cinnamon and the crunch add to that muffin effect.  The full-size isn’t quite as sticky as the mini.

The frosting is extremely thick – I might have added some milk to smooth it out a little.  It’s a very sweet cream cheese frosting with just a hint of vanilla.

    

The sweetness of the frosting actually overpowers all of that yummy cinnamon flavor when you put them together. I would suggest either putting a little less sugar in the frosting OR adding a little cinnamon to the frosting and see if that balances out a little better. Ya know, I’m never against a cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

Notes: This is about as easy as a cupcake gets. The grating of the zucchini is the most time-consuming thing about them.

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 3.5

• Frosting Taste: 4

• Overall Taste: 3

• Appearance: 3
• Ease of Making: 4
• TOTAL: 17.5

RECIPE

Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice)

Ingredients

1 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1 + 1/2 cups zucchini (about 10 ounces), shredded

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Frosting

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

4 ounces regular or light cream cheese, at room-temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more if needed

For directions visit Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice.

*Tomorrow: Apple Cider Cupcakes*

Day 29 – Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

What a happy, baby-filled week!! Today I wanna congratulate my friends, Britt & Carly, on welcoming their son, Guyver, into the world!!

I promise this is not a health kick, by the way!  Blueberry Cupcakes yesterday and these Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes (recipe below from Serious Eats) today.  But, seriously, they are NOT a health food!

    

The cake is very chocolate-y.  No zucchini flavor at all.  All chocolate goodness.  Moist and delicate chocolate goodness, to be more specific!  I could probably justify making this a chocolate zucchini muffin.  No frosting required.

This fluffy and creamy frosting is all cream cheese. Not sweet frosting flavored at all.  It’s a little different, but I’m guessing there’s a purpose…

    

Frosting cuts chocolate richness, but just a little.  Balance is very nice.  It leans heavily on the taste of the cupcake with just a hint of frosting.

Grating the zucchini was the only semi-difficult (mostly just time-consuming) part of this recipe.  Everything else is simple.  (Note: I decorated a few with fancy piping, but the simple frost looked better.  They’re not ‘fancy’ cupcakes!)

Scoring Sheet:

– Cupcake Taste: 4

– Frosting Taste: 2

– Overall Taste: 4

– Appearance: 3

– Ease of Making: 3.5

– TOTAL: 16.5

RECIPE

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes (recipe from Serious Eats)

• For the Cupcakes:
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pound grated zucchini (not peeled,which will yield about 4 cups of packed, grated zucchini, using the large holes on a box grater)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

• For the Frosting:
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 stick butter
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (optional, to sprinkle on top)

For directions visit Serious Eats

*Tomorrow: Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream*