Zucchini Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting
I’ve received Taste of Home‘s “Cupcake of the Week” emails for about a year now and not one has caught my eye nor has been pasted into OneNote. Until this one. I’m not typically a cupcake girl anyway. Yes, they’re adorable, but I’d much rather have a slice of cake.
Why?
1. It’s easier to eat
2. The frosting to cake ratio is much higher.
When I saw this recipe, it peaked my interest (and my hormone-induced cravings) and they were all I thought about for about a week.
They were easy and well worth the effort. The cake was similar to a spice cake, moist and made me feel slightly less guilty as it’s flecked with zucchini. The frosting is absolutely fantastic. I found, though, that it would have made WAY too much frosting if I’d followed the recipe. After I cooked the base, it didn’t thicken up like it said it would, and I was afraid I’d end up using 5 lbs of powdered sugar to make it frostable. I only used about half of it before adding the powdered sugar. I couldn’t bear to throw away the rest of the caramely-delicious base, so I froze it. (Should I have done that? Dunno. We’ll see.)
adapted from Taste of Home
3 eggs
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 c. shredded zucchini
Caramel Frosting:
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Beat eggs, sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; add to the egg mixture and mix well. Add zucchini and mix well.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
For frosting, combine brown sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Frost cupcakes. Yield: 1 1/2 to 2 dozen.
Nat’s Notes:
1. The frosting is absolutely fantastic. I found, though, that it would have made WAY too much frosting if I’d followed the recipe. After I cooked the base, it didn’t thicken up like it said it would, and I was afraid I’d end up using 5 lbs of powdered sugar to make it frostable. I only used about half of it before adding the powdered sugar. Next time I’ll scale it back so I don’t end up swimming in frosting.
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Agnes — August 14, 2008 @ 10:02 pm
Taste of Home is like the BEST Magazine! I love zuchini bread and I love cupcakes…I NEED one of those THIS second. I WISH I was your neighbor. Darn those crazy pregnancy cravings! Hope you are all doing great! :) Thanks for posting this!
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Millertime — September 14, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
Seriously Loved these. So did the girls. The frosting really was the best part it really went well with the zucchini. Loved it!
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Sweet Em — September 1, 2011 @ 1:22 am
I just made these…ha ha – I doubled your frosting recipe. Yes, I have a ton left over – YEAH!
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Natalie — September 1, 2011 @ 1:29 am
Emily – Haha. Hmm… I bet that stuff would be good on cinnamon rolls. Or eaten with a spoon at 10:30 PM.
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