Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes-Daring Bakers March Hidden Veggies

Every body's got a dark side...Do you love me??? Can you love mine???
No body's picture perfect, but we're worth it...
Will you love me??? Even with my dark side???
                                                   Kelly Clarkson-dark side

Those words coming from a plain and simple zucchini...
and the dark side???
Chocolate!

Daring Bakers threw quite a challenge this month....hidden veggies!
And where were you supposed to hide the veggies???
In a cake or a cookie or a pudding...
I saw suggestions of turnip and spinach filled cakes...
Pumpkin, can be pie"d"...but who is to piper the pumpkin pie???

We tried to hide beet roots in a red velvet cake ...but the velvet was not even pink and tasted foul....
I'd almost given up when I spotted Zucchini Cupcakes in Rose Levy Brenanbaum's The Cake Bible ....
The chemist to the rescue...
If she says its a cake ...so it must be a cake...
But ginger and cinnamon still made zucchini visible...
So dump the ginger and add some magic...the dark side...Chocolate -cocoa powder!

Yes my little zucchini...I will still love you...with your dark side...you see you will melt with all the power the dark side has over you...
And no one will even know you were there...Hidden!

See...not a trace...

I know you don't believe me...
so read on!

Blog-checking lines:  Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

I tweaked The cake lady's recipe a bit....
to yield some extra special magic!!!!!

for the

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes-Daring Bakers March Hidden Veggies...

you need

2 cups grated zucchini
1 1/2 cups(less tbsp) plain flour
3/4 cup caster sugar-if you do not intend to frost these cuppies,add another two tbsp sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder'
1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 eggs

One bowl cake-simple...
These cuppies do not rise too much..so you will get around 16-18 cup cakes or a doz extra mini muffins...
Oven on at 175C/350F
Start with a humble zucchini...One was enough for 2 cups...

Peeled and grated.
Sift the flour,cocoa powder,salt,soda bi carbonate and the cinnamon powder once and set aside...

In another bowl, add the eggs,oil and the sugar. I had 2 egg yolks left over from my royal icing, so I reduced the oil by a tbsp and added the yolks...did not want left over yolks in the fridge...

The whisk was unnecessary...in fact a wooden spoon would have done it....
Add in the sugar and the zucchini...
See the veggies...two cups full!

Now add in the dry flour mix...simple!

The batter was a little wet...and needed to be poured a bit carefully...the grated zucchini was falling out...but I added only 3/4 full...

The cuppies did not rise...maybe because of the zucchini...but it melted...there was no sign of the veggie!
And they tasted OK straight out of the oven..

.but after an overnight rest...they were...FAB!!

The texture was soft ...spongy and ready to french the frosting...I only stuck the royal icing roses...with a wee bit of royal icing...
Tell me the roses are pretty...
Tell me!
Almost real...

I frosted...and piped and made roses...overnight ...left to dry...
A perfect contrast to the chocolate and the dark side...
Thank you daring bakers for a wonderful challenge...

So what are you baking today???