Recipe: Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes (and gluten-free, too!)

My friend Lisa (the same gal who did our Art With Nature days at Clothesline Camp) shared this recipe with us and it makes me so happy! I just love zucchini! Lisa said her mom had a great recipe for zucchini cake she used to make when they were kids (see MY mom Karen’s Zucchini Pancakes HERE). It was Lisa’s inspiration to create something yummy and gluten free with the giant zucchini-zilla that her friend Kathy brought to school for her earlier this month. Lisa says that she was so caught up in the creation of yummies that she forgets to record what she’s making but tried to write it all down after. Hope nothing got left off LOL Lisa added that her picky, non-veggie eating hubby LOVES them so these would be perfect for finiky eaters or children! We are considering them a breakfast food because they contain almond milk and veggies

Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

• 3 cups Gluten Free flour
• 1 1/2 cups organic sugar
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp xanthan gum (if you don’t have xg, see conversion chart below)
• 3 tsp organic ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup melted nucoa margarine
• 1 cup mini semisweet vegan chocolate chips (Enjoy is a good brand)

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Fill a blender 3/4 full with cubed chunks of zucchini. Pour in vanilla almond milk to the half full mark. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Pulse until smooth. (It should be thick, like a smoothie.)
Mix 2 1/2 cups of the zucchini smoothie mixture, the margarine, and 2 tsp of vanilla to the dry ingredients. Line cupcake tins and fill very full. Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Frost with any vegan buttercream or chocolate fudge frosting you prefer, or eat plain! Super yummy! Lisa added that she frosted half with a chocolate fudge frosting and half with a butter cream frosting and for variety, you could take any devils food cake mix, organic or otherwise, and add two cups of the almond milk zucchini mixture to it….AND of course, the mini chips, and get something else just as yummy.

Thank you Lisa!!!!

Conversion Chart for being gluten-free