Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffin Cakes
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- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Chilling in Fridge: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 16-20 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: ~8 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour (all purpose) plus a 2-3 Tablespoons
- 1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (not kosher or sea)
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or 1/2 cup natural apple sauce for low-fat version
- 1/2 cup sugar or 1/4 cup Splenda White Sugar for diabetic friendly version
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar or 1/4 cup Splenda Brown Sugar for diabetic friendly version
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups shredded raw zucchini (pressed) – *see note below*
- 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chunks
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Using your stand mixer, beat the oil/(applesauce), sugars, eggs, vanilla extract and espresso powder for 3 minutes. Add the shredded zucchini to the dry ingredients and toss to coat the zucchini evenly.
- Add in chocolate chunks and combine gently. In batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients using a spatula to incorporate everything until just mixed. Do NOT use your mixer.
- Cover the muffin cake batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425F. Spray the tops of the cupcake pan with non-stick spray (spray around the tops of the pan to prevent the cupcakes from sticking as they rise).
- Line with cupcake liners – start by lining 6, then add more as you go. Remove the muffin cake batter from the fridge, and give it a gentle stir. If it seems runny (zucchini can still release more liquid), add a few more Tablespoons of flour and stir. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the tins almost to the top of the paper liners. Don’t go over. You want to see about 1/8” of an inch of paper.
- Bake for 9 minutes at 425F. Reduce the heat to 350F and bake for 7-9 minutes or until a toothpick comes out barely clean (crumbs are OK). *IMPORTANT – do not open the oven door to drop the heat. Let the heat drop down naturally.
- Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 1 minute. Gently remove the muffin cakes from the pan and cool on a rack. Do not leave them in the pan to cool completely, as the bottoms and sides will become soggy. Leaving them in the pan causes them to retain too much moisture.
Notes
Pressing zucchini
Put your shredded zucchini in a strainer and squeeze the ever-loving life out of it to get as much liquid as possible. You can also put it in a clean towel and twist it to remove the liquid.