Zucchini Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Calories
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg I used 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup vegetable oil I used canola
- 2 large eggs room temperature (mine just came straight from the fridge)
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- ¾ tsp lemon zest finely grated
- 2 cups light brown sugar packed, I used 1 cup dark brown and 1 cup light
- 3 cups zucchini packed grated
- 1 cup walnuts about 3 ounces, toasted and coarsely chopped (I left these out)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 cream cheese at room temperature
- ¼ cup butter 1/2 stick at room temperature
- 4 cup powdered sugar sifted (You can decrease this amount if you don't care about it being as stiff for piping)
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. (this makes 24 cupcakes) Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts (pecans).
- Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through (I didn't rotate. both my tins fit on one rack), until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
- To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.
- For the frosting - Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Mix in vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.