Eating My Vegetables

A co-worker offered dearest a homegrown 2-pound Mediterranean zucchini, and being the sweet person he is, he could not say no.  As lovely a gesture as it was, it left me with a problem.  I do not like zucchini, and dearest isn't really fond of it either.  But more than that, I hate wasting food, even free food.  So I had to find a way to use this zucchini that wouldn't taste like zucchini or leave me with leftovers I would have to end up eating (because dearest is not really good with leftovers).

I decided to present this problem to a message board, in the hopes that I'd get some interesting ideas.  I really didn't want to resort to zucchini bread, because I really don't like it enough to eat it before it goes bad.  After sorting through the responses, I decided to give Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes a try.  I was assured that you could not taste the zucchini in the moist chocolate cake.  And well, it seemed like a good thing, because cupcakes are easy enough to share, and if nothing else, we could drop them off with my in-laws or dearest could take them to work.  And I have never seen an office where home-baked goods did not disappear almost as soon as they land on the break room table.

I searched a few recipes on\line to find one that would use as much zucchini as possible, after all I had a 2-pound squash sitting on my counter.  And I wanted one that used cocoa powder rather than baking chocolate.  I find that chocolate baked goods turn out better and more chocolatey with cocoa powder than with baking chocolate.  I also wanted one that I could adapt as cupcakes rather than a layer or sheet cake.  And I wanted to avoid cream cheese-based frosting.  I really did not have an opinion as to whether it was a vanilla frosting or a chocolate one, but most of the recipes paired the chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting, so I found one that looked fairly good, and did not use melted baking chocolate.

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

8 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/2 cup plain Greek yoghurt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup baking cocoa powder

3 cups shredded zucchini

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
• Line muffin tins with cupcake liners; spray liners lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
• Peel, seed, and shred zucchini.  Place in colander and allow to drain for 10-15 minutes.
• In large mixing bowl, cream first 7 ingredients together until light and fluffy.
• Blend in eggs, one at a time, mixing until each addition thoroughly incorporated.
• Alternately add yoghurt and flour, beginning and ending with flour, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
• Blend in cocoa powder.
• Fold in shredded zucchini, then chocolate chips.
• Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester inserted in center of cakes comes out clean.
• Cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

8 tablespoons butter, melted

2/3 cup baking cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

• In small mixing bowl, whisk butter and cocoa until smooth.
• Stir in vanilla.
• Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beginning and ending with sugar, mixing until thoroughly combined after each addition.
• Whip until frosting is smooth and a spreadable consistency.
• Frost cupcakes.

Makes:  25 standard cupcakes

Adapted from:  Cake:  Chocolate Zucchini Cake, King Arthur Flour (www.kingarthurflour.com) and Frosting:  Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes, Alida's Kitchen (www.alidaskitchen.com)

My Observations:

• My father has always said that cake is better the second day.  Usually, I do not see his point, but with these, I completely agree.  On the day I baked them, I was very disappointed with the cupcakes, but by the second day, I was amazed.  I highly recommend baking these the day before you want to serve them.
• The message board posts assured me you could not taste the zucchini in these cakes.  I was worried about that, because before they were frosted, I could still see the zucchini and I was concerned that would influence my taste buds.  But by the time they were frosted and sat a day, there was no evidence of the zucchini.  These are definitely a way to hide vegetables from picky children or adults.
• I was a bit anxious to get the baking complete and did not let my second batch cool completely before frosting, so the frosting melted and ran into a few of the cupcakes.  Luckily, I had enough frosting to re-frost the cakes once they were completely cool.
• I made 25 cupcakes.  I filled the first batch 2/3 full, but the cakes did not rise nicely over the rims of the cups.  The second batch I filled nearly full, and there was a nice crown on the cupcakes.