Holy lot of zucchini batman! It’s been a long and crazy week of zucchini-themed low carb recipes here on IBIH, and I’m wrapping up with a fantastic low carb cupcake made with pureed zucchini and an intensely chocolatey cocoa powder.
Adorning the top is a smooth and rich low carb mocha frosting that is to die for!
In fact I’d gladly eat this frosting as a mousse with a couple of berries for garnish – when you try it you’ll know what I mean!
MY LATEST VIDEOSBut let’s talk about the cupcake itself, which is where all that zucchini is hiding. It’s good.
REALLY. GOOD. For reals.
Fluffy and super rich, it has everything you want in a great cupcake! It’s not only tender and *cringes* …moist (ugh I hate that word but it’s the only one that applies here,) it is SO very chocolatey in the best possible way!
A note that as with all chocolate desserts, especially sugar free ones where there is less to hide behind, it’s very important to use a good quality cocoa powder.
I prefer a “dutch processed” cocoa (or a blend of dutch and natural) because it tends not to be bitter – this is the one I used, which you can find in a lot of grocery stores.
I highly recommend it, but if you can’t find it then at least use a cocoa powder labeled “premium” even if it costs a few dollars more than the usual brands. You won’t regret it!
As in the low carb and gluten free Sun-Dried Tomato and Asiago Zucchini Bread that I posted yesterday, I pureed the zucchini into these muffins which gave it the lovely fluffy texture without chewy shreds of zucchini weighing down the cake.
You can see in the cross section below that it isn’t overly dense, but has a light, cake-like texture.
I could go on and on about how delicious these are – and they are, but after posting four days in a row I’m sick of myself right now.
I’M. BORING. MYSELF. With myself. Ugh.
I can’t imagine how you guys must feel, which is why I usually only post 2 or 3 times a week – a schedule I’ll be returning to next week with great relief!
Meanwhile, why are you even STILL HERE? You should be making these cupcakes already!
Go on – beat it! SCAT.
Then report back ASAP, because YOUR words are never boring to me!
Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes w/ Mocha Frosting – Low Carb
These delicious low carb Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting are rich and fluffy perfection! Gluten free and Keto friendly too!
- Yield: 8 cupcakes
- Category: Low Carb Dessert Recipe
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 6 Tbsp butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup shredded zucchini, packed
- 1 cup almond flour
- 3 Tbsp coconut flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar substitute (I used Swerve)
- 3 Tbsp premium cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- pinch of salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
- 3 Tbsp Swerve Confectioners
- 1/4 tsp coffee extract
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp premium cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
To make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F)
- Combine the wet ingredients (butter, eggs, vanilla extract, almond milk, zucchini) in a magic bullet or blender and blend for 20-30 seconds or until smooth.
- Combine the dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum) in a medium bowl and stir until mixed and there are no lumps.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until the liquid is absorbed and a thick batter is formed.
- Spoon the batter evenly into 8 cupcake liners or greased tins.
- Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 22 minutes. Remove and cool before frosting.
To make the frosting:
- Combine the softened Mascarpone cheese, sweetener, coffee extract, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder in a small bowl and mix gently with a fork until smooth. (Don’t mix too aggressively or your Mascarpone will separate!)
- In a large bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff.
- Mix 1/3 of the whipped cream gently into your mascarpone mixture until smooth.
- Fold (GENTLY) the Mascarpone mixture into the remaining whipped cream until all streaks of white are gone and the mixture is smooth but still fluffy.
- Spread or pipe onto your cooled cupcakes.
- Chill to store, but these are best served at room temperature.
Notes
To see a list of my favorite low carb products and brands that I recommend for sweeteners, flours, etc. you can check out the IBIH Pantry Ingredients Page!
Approximate nutrition information per serving:
1 cupcake no frosting: 193 calories, 21g fat, 2.7g net carbs, 5g protein
1 cupcake with frosting: 318 calories, 33g fat, 3.5g net carbs, 7g protein
Note: I used organic heavy whipping cream which has no fillers and therefore only trace amounts of carbs. If you use regular, add about .5g net carbs per frosted cupcake.
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Did you squeeze the liquid of the zucchini?
Wow! These are just amazing! I had to wait a week for all of my ingredients to finally get here, but it was definitely worth the wait. These were super “chocolaty” and moist. Definitely make the frosting, it’s incredible. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Any way to use coffee grounds instead of coffee extract to get the mocha taste? Excited to try these!!
Sure as long as you strain them out well!
I have been searching for a moist chocolate cake/cupcake that is low carb and this one “takes the cake” love the zucchini it the mix gives it moisture. Will have to modify the frosting for dairy free but that shouldn’t be too hard. LOVE Mellissa’s recipes.
So, it snowed… a lot. Did you know that Asheville NC received all of its allotted snow for the year in just one storm? After building a whole snow family, the kids wanted cookies. I looked through my pantry and fridge and matched what I had to these cup cakes. I did not have mascarpone, so I made your cream cheese froststing.
All I can say is wow, the crumb is so tender, it’s what I have always loved about zucchini bread, the moistness. So, I made those yesterday and between the 4 of us…. there is only one left, hidden in the vegetable drawer for my breakfast.
Thank you Melissa
I just made these cupcakes and they are yummy. I’m still trying to decide whether to make the frosting or not. I just might because I love my sweets. I am so glad I’m finding all these recipes online. I was recently diagnosed with diabetes and have cut out all grains and sugar. These recipes make is so easy to follow and I’m coming along great. Thank you!!
I made these tonight for my birthday as per the recipe – I’m following a lchf diet, and they turned out as illustrated and delicious. My 7 year old really enjoyed, as did our celiac friend. Thanks.
Phenomenal!! Moist, light texture and smooth flavor. That may have had something to do with my using Dutch process cocoa, don’t know. I even completely zoned and forgot the xanthan gum (it’s still sitting out on the counter, but somehow I still missed putting it in. Duh…) and they were still fabulous. I doubled the sweetener (used a combo of erythritol and stevia) because my palate always seems to require baked goods to be made with more. I threw in a handful of Lily’s chocolate chips, and no frosting is even needed. But I have it at the ready in the fridge so that I can switch it up. I used standard size silicone baking cups and got 11 nice, full cupcakes. Kudos!!
★★★★★
These look great! Someone posted them in a Facebook group and I had to pin the recipe! I’ll wait until a special occasion to make them I think. Thanks for sharing. :D
Made these and loved them! The entire family loved them!
★★★★★
These were the best tasting low carb cupcakes I’ve made but the mixture wasn’t runny at all and how they went into the tin is how they came out. They looked like rocks…. I used milk instead of almond milk. Any suggestions on what went wrong?
I have been low carb for about a year and a half and have never been happy with a baked dessert . Until now !! The texture of this cupcake was fluffy and delightful ! Really splendid ! When I read how happy you were with this recipe I decided to give it a try!! Thanks so much
★★★★★
I just made these and the entire family approves. Much better than my last attempt at low carb baked goods, that is for sure! I used whipped cream to top it instead of the frosting and it was also good. Thank you for this recipe.
★★★★
A lot of work and money for mediocre cupcakes. The frosting was totally off…would have been better WITHOUT the heavy cream. Going to try and tweak this recipe and will get back to you. Sorry.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! My son has been on a Keto diet and feeling a bit sad that there would be no birthday cake this year. (Props to him for sticking it with it!) He was pretty excited when I told him that I’d found this recipe. He still wasn’t expecting too much from it since a lot of low carb “sweets” are a bit lacking, so he was especially happy when he tasted one. These were a hit with everyone and I’m sure I’ll be making them again.
★★★★★
I make these and the Asiago Sun dried Tomato bread at least once a week. Both are extremely awesome!!! I love all of your recipes and want to give you great big, heart felt TY!!!!
Note: If you love chocolate and are LC gluten free this will definitely be the right recipe for you!!! Easy, convienient and the best part, DELICIOUS!!!!!!
★★★★★
For the recipe, is the granulated sugar sub necessary or will a regular (non-granular) sugar sub suffice?
Thanks!
i just found your site and I’m intrigued! I am new to low carb eating world and looking for recipes that I can live with. My Birthday is tomorrow and I always have a cake but so afraid to indulge as I am on a weight loss self inflicted program! So, Im going to try your cupcakes and I’ll let you know how it comes out. Your great personality and awesome sense of humor is what lured me in:)
These were delicious! I used melted coconut oil instead of butter and coconut milk instead of almnd milk. So glad I tried this recipe, I didn’t think I would be able to have a low carb cupcake taste so great!
I made this recipe exactly as written and these were very moist and tasty! The frosting is delicious as well. I’m still trying to get used to the texture of almond flour!! :-)
Mellissa,
I am only on my 3rd day but I’ve already lost 3 lbs! I’ve done low carb before and although I get great results it’s difficult for me to maintain because I get so bored. Your blog will definitely keep that from happening again! This is truly the best resource for a low carb diet that I have ever found. I really appreciate your hard work & dedication! Your recipes are amazing…THANK YOU!!!😀😋😆
Congrats on the loss so far Angela and thanks!
I made these, and they were really delicious. Mine weren’t as light and fluffy as the picture, they were more moist, but I thought the texture was good. The frosting was amazing, even though I both subbed and messed it up. I accidentally turned my whipped cream to butter, so I just beat the solid part into the cream cheese (which I used instead of mascarpone.) I am pleased to find out that this recipe is forginving as well as tasty!
These are the best low carb muffins I have made since starting to eat this way 2 years ago! They are really fluffy just like the wheat flour type. Do you think the secret is mixing the wet ingredients in the blender? You are really on to something here. I wonder if this would work for other recipes as well.
★★★★★
I just realised I got soya milk instead of almond milk. Can I use instead it is a trip to supermarket again
I made these, delicious. Made the frosting, too… I made a similar combo of mascarpone cheese and whipping cream for to top a keto cheesecake I make, but ever since I saw a frosting being made on TV with egg whites, sugar and butter I’ve been wanting to try making something similar subbing in Swerve – I am wondering how something like that would taste on these?
I bet that would be fantastic Carolyn, I’ll have to experiment with some frostings based on your ideas – thanks!!!
The recipe I saw whipped egg whites until fluffy – added a cup or cup and half [forget which] real sugar and then started adding chunks of butter until it was the right consistency – that is all there was too it and the general reaction was it was easy and tasty – why couldn’t we repeat this with Swerve- or the new [to me] sweetner you mentioned in the zuchinni spice cupcake recipe [I ordered some]?? It sounds like it would be perfect on these muffins and even lower in carbs – as in almost none – yet give us the fat we need for keto??? I am seriously thinking about trying this out when I make the zuchinni spice recipe- just working out which sugar in my mind.
Want to try this! No xanthan gum… but since it is supposedly used as a thickener, could I just add more coconut flour instead? Or is the xanthan gum used for a different purpose in this recipe? I may experiment, but would benefit from another’s experience if anyone has tried this substitution.
Thank you!
I made these without and they were totally fine!
Hi Melissa! These look AMAZING! I’m curious about the coffee extract. I was looking on Amazon and they have some that contain actual coffee extractions and others that are decaffeinated with natural flavors. Which would you recommend? Thank you! I cannot wait to try this recipe! I have a BBQ to go to on Sunday and these may be what I bring. Of course, I’ll have to make a trial batch for myself first. :)