Well, even after all the pastas, salads and roasted veggie dishes this week, I still had one lonely zucchini left my refrigerator. Whenever I see a lone zucchini, my mind wanders straight to thoughts of the one of THE best chocolate cakes I’ve ever had. The first time I tasted this decadent combination was at a friend’s baby shower several years ago. I have been making this cake ever since- sometimes adding walnuts or pecans, maybe chopped dark chocolate or a warm spice or two. If you google recipes for this cake you’ll find several variations, but my favorite is from the King Arthur Flour website. If you have yet to try this sweet and savory pair, I urge you to give it a little taste.
If you are in search of a moist chocolate cake, this recipe is the perfect choice. The zucchini alone provides a good amount of moisture. For those of you who tend to recoil from the thought of adding zucchini to chocolate cake…. I promise you will not detect one bit of it in this recipe! The addition of yogurt or sour cream brings the moistness level over the top, but in a good way. I have also used buttermilk as a substitute several times with great results.
Instead of baking a cake, I decided to make mini cupcakes. I think they may be even more addicting in the tiny size because they disappeared in exactly two bites! Very dangerous, indeed. I added 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the flour and a 1/2 cup of chopped bittersweet chocolate at the end. A light frosting or nothing at all is the best topping choice for this cake because of it’s deep and rich chocolate flavor. However, my sweet tooth got the better of me today. Once the cupcakes completely cooled I topped them with a dollop of light mascarpone frosting.
Pure dark chocolate bliss.
Original recipe for cupcakes can be found here.
**This recipe yields about 36 mini cupcakes. I baked them at 350 for 10 minutes.
Mascarpone Frosting
8 oz mascarpone cheese
3/4-1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
With an electric mixer blend cheese and sugar together until smooth. Stream vanilla in slowly until just incorporated.
On another note…
Where does the time go?
It’s hard to believe that one year ago I started this blog. Not only has it been a ton of fun, it has also brought me much happiness and many great friends out there in the food blogosphere. I very much appreciate all of your kind words, comments and emails and look forward to sharing more of my thoughts and my food with you! Many, many thanks for stopping by always.
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
i absolutely adore the photos on your site, and these look really interesting
i know its late but happy bloggoversary!
mine is coming up in nov, i might make these for the occasion as well
The cake looks elegant! and happy blog anniversary.
Happy blogiversary my dear Lisa…yYou have a BEAUTIFUL blog. Here’s to many more years of gorgeous eye candy from you! Love the mascarpone cheese frosting!
Happy bloganniversary! I love mascarpone frosting, could lick the whole thing before even having time to spread it on the cupcakes lol
lisa have a great day! cheers!
Happy Blogsiversary to you too Lisa and many happy returns! What a beautiful way to celebrate it too
I can imagine how moist the zucchini would make the chocolate cupcakes 
Congrats on your blog anniversary! I love the size of these cakes and they looks so inspiring! Never tried zucchini in a sweet cake, I’m intrigued now buy these cute, fantastic looking cupcakes.
Congratulations on your blog anniversary!!! Love, love your pictures.
Happy blog anniversary. I like cakes in a small bites too. These cup cakes have the perfect size to me.
Is hard to find moist chocolate cake, in fact my fav, I¨ll must try your recipe
wow those are so so pretty-nice work on using up the last zucchini, I’m getting there myself, soon
I hope you had a lovely weekend!
Hello Lisa, I just gave you an award!! Why?? You can read it @ my foodblog’s latest post!!
Congrats!! Come over & pick it up!
Congratulations!!! 1 year – that is such an accomplishment! I could not think of a better recipe for such a special post. Really lovely photos.
Those look amazing!
Thanks for stopping by everyone!!
happy anniversary! I’m always looking for new ways to use zucchini, especially at the end of summer. and that mascarpone frosting sounds so delicious.
You had me at mascarpone frosting. Hah! Seriously, I could eat a bowl of that.
P.S. Happy Anniversary!
I love that I just found your site! I have one leftover zucchini at home. I made a ton of zucchini banana bread this weekend and have been wondering what do to with my last hold out. I never would have thought of chocolate cake! Thanks for the inspiration!
Happy blogiversary!
I’ve been seeing this recipe go round lately. I’m not normally a fan of chocolate but everyone just keeps raving about it. I don’t mind dark chocolate quite as much so maybe I should give it a try and you really put it over the top with the mascarpone frosting!
~ingrid
congrats on the blogversary! don’t know why i hadn’t stumbled upon it earlier
u’ve a beautiful blog and the cupcakes are magnificent. x
Happy anniversary! I love the idea of these cupcakes. Sometimes a very moist cake can be difficult to eat, whereas these little cupcakes are perfect. The only problem is that mascarpone is very very fatty (80% fat!), so perhaps I would make a regular cream cheese frosting.
HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!! I can’t believe you started around the same time I did last year. I love your pictures and your stories are always so interesting to read. This zucchini cake looks amazing! I’ve totally bookmarked this idea.
Congratulations Lisa! One year
The mini cupcakes look so cute and the mascarpone cheese frosting look delicious. Again, happy anniversary!
Congrats! A year is a great feat to celebrate, especially with cupcakes. Chocolate and zucchini are everywhere now.
Congrats on your blog anniversary and continue blogging. These cupcakes look absolutely delicious and I love it’s presentation and photos.
Happy blog anniversary! The cupcakes are adorable!
happy 1 year blog anniversary lisa!!! These cup cakes are so pretty! What a sweet treat! hope to see more of ye creative and amazing recipes! keep up the great work! as usual stunning food photography lisa!
Happy anniversay! Cupcakes look dee-li-cious!!!! Marscopone frosting yummmm…
Oh, those cupcakes are the cutest! And Congratulations on the anniversary!
Congrats on the blogiversary! The cupcakes look amazing. Stunning photos too!
Gorgeous presentation and the cupcakes look absolutely delicious! Happy blogiversary!
Those cupcakes look so adorable & tasty!!
Happy Blog anniversary to you!! I enjoy your foodblog a lot & I wish you a lot of food inspiration & fun in this beauty of a fine blog!!
Congratulations on your first year. The cupcakes look beautiful and scrumptious!
Congratulations on completing your first year! The cupcakes look beautiful and scrumptious!
this looks awesome. I LOVE zucchini in cakes and muffins, it’s always a great choice. Bookmarks =)
Congrats on the blogaversay. I’d have never guess you had only been doing it a year, I thought you were pro or something everything is so professional looking. You give me a lot to aspire to.
These cupcakes look fantastic and having consumed large quantities of zucchini in my time, I have to say I love the combo.
Happy blog anniversary Lisa. It’s always fun to visit you, so keep up the good work.
What can be more perfect and beautiful to celebrate the anniversary then this delicious looking cupcakes? Yum!
Hoooooly yum cupcakes – perfect for using up leftover zucchini!
HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!! I hope to see you continue this fabulous blog for a loooong time – I love it!!
Congrats on completing a year! I did mine too this month:-) .. a pretty overwhelming feeling…
The pictures of the cupcakes are beautiful! so dreamy & pretty with a lovely topping.
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