Zucchini cupcake with poppy seeds and chocolate icing
Zucchini can be used to make many different dishes, including desserts. One of them would be a zucchini cake (or bread). Well, any name you give to it, you won't spoil it anyways. It's kind of a healthier cake option if I may say that. Or at least that's what you want to believe, since it contains almost a pound of zucchini! In fact, you can not actually taste zucchini in a cake. Of course, keeping in mind that zucchini has no distinctive taste at all, this is very normal. All the taste comes from lemon or orange (whichever you use, as both are perfect). So you can choose between more lemony or orange flavored cake, it depends on your preferences. One time I made zucchini cake with lemon, another time with orange, and in both cases it was delicious.
Of course, that extra flavor and sweetness comes also from the chocolate glaze, which you see is the main highlight here. For those of you who are thinking whether the cake is very moist, I will say no. It's just right in the middle - neither very moist, nor very dry. So perfect for soaking in cocoa drink or tea. And yet, you can bake this cake in your favorite baking dish, just keep in mind that in shallow baking forms, the cake will bake a little shorter. So, go to the garden or supermarket to look for zucchini and start baking. 😉
Of course, that extra flavor and sweetness comes also from the chocolate glaze, which you see is the main highlight here. For those of you who are thinking whether the cake is very moist, I will say no. It's just right in the middle - neither very moist, nor very dry. So perfect for soaking in cocoa drink or tea. And yet, you can bake this cake in your favorite baking dish, just keep in mind that in shallow baking forms, the cake will bake a little shorter. So, go to the garden or supermarket to look for zucchini and start baking. 😉
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Ingredients
- 400 g (0.9 lb) young zucchini
- 250 g (2 cup) all purpose flour
- 200g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 100 ml (1/2 cup) sunflower or vegetable oil
- 50 g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp. poppy seeds
- 2 tbsp. lemon or orange juice
- 2 tbsp. finely grated lemon or orange peel
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
- 200 g (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate
- 50 g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
For chocolate glaze:
- 1. Melt butter in a microwave and leave to cool.
- 2. Peel zucchini, grate it, put in a sieve and leave to drain. Then press well to drain as much liquid as possible.
- 3. Preheat the oven to 170 C (340 F).
- 4. In one bowl beat eggs with sugar and vanilla extract, then mix in butter and oil. Mix baking soda with lemon (or orange) juice and mix with the batter.
- 5. In another bowl, mix flour with salt and baking powder. Then slowly add to the batter. Add lemon (or orange) peel, poppy seeds, drained grated zucchini and mix with a spoon.
- 6. Grease well with butter the baking dish you are going to use, then sprinkle with flour and pour the batter.
- 7. Bake the cake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes. After 50 minutes, check with a wooden toothpick if the cake is already done, if not, bake for another 5-10 minutes (baking time depends on the oven). When it's done, take out the cake from the oven and leave to cool, then carefully remove it from the baking dish.
- 8. Chocolate glaze: Put chocolate and butter in one bowl, heat it up in a microwave. Stir well and pour over the cake. Enjoy!
Recipe Directions
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