Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's another yummy way to use up zucchini. I got the recipe for the cupcakes from an email sent to me by allrecipes.com. I altered the recipe slightly. i decided to add some chocolate chips to the cake. The recipe also called for using a can of chocolate frosting. I am not a huge fan of the canned stuff. I'll use it in a pinch, but the made from scratch stuff is so much better. I decided to top them with a chocolate cream cheese frosting. The frosting recipe came from The Cupcake Project. Most recipes that I have made for cream cheese frosting tend to be on the runny side. Not this one. This one is nice and thick, perfect for piping on a cupcake. I think you'll really like this combination. I took the picture before topping them with the walnuts. I really like them with the walnuts on top.





Chocolate-Zucchini Cupcakes

2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, beat eggs with sugar for about 10 minutes or until thickened and pale. Blend oil and cooled chocolate into the beaten egg mixture.
In a small bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir flour mixture into egg mixture until just blended. Stir in zucchini and mini chocolate chips. Using an ice-cream scoop, spoon batter into 24 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling the cups 2/3 full (I think mine were fuller than 2/3).
Bake for 20 minutes or until fork or toothpick inserted in a cupcake's center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans; let cool completely. Spread with chocolate cream cheese frosting below frosting and garnish with walnuts.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 C butter (1/2 stick) at room temperature
4 C sifted powdered sugar (You can decrease this amount if you don't care about it being as stiff for piping)
1/2 C cocoa powder

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Mix in cocoa powder.