John Deere Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes are perfect for a John Deere or farm birthday party. No one will be able to tell that these chocolate cupcakes have zucchini hidden inside.
My child recently had a birthday party. I knew I was going to make a chocolate cake but I always add a little “healthy” twist to her cakes every year. I try to add something healthy to the cake part and use an icing that doesn’t have a crazy amount of sugar in it. This year’s party was farm themed so I decided to make Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes. I knew chocolate would be a hit plus farm product stands sell zucchini. I also wanted it to visually fit with the farm theme. Since chocolate is brown, I figured it looked like dirt and farms have fields so I made the cream cheese icing look like grass. Then I added some John Deere tractor cupcake picks. The cupcakes looked really cute and it fit the party’s theme perfectly. The Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes were really moist and no one could even tell there was zucchini in them!
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¾ cup mini chocolate chips
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated zucchini
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cups with cupcake wrappers.
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips. Mix in the eggs, oil, applesauce and vanilla extract. Fold in zucchini until mixed throughout.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Allow to cool.
- In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter. Mix in vanilla and gradually add in confectioners' sugar. Frost cupcakes or refrigerate for 30 minutes before frosting.
- Enjoy!
If you want green icing, add green dye to the cream cheese icing.
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Thank you for visiting Sugar, Spice and Family Life!
These look great 🙂
These look so yummy.
Love these!! I’ll definitely be trying them soon. 🙂 For families that don’t use dyes, the green icing can be achieved by adding a couple of drops of liquid chlorophyll (that’s what I do).
These look so good!
I will be making these soon – I have an overabundance of zucchini! And yours are so cute!
They look so moist and delicious! Thanks so much for sharing at Inspire Me Wednesday. Featuring you in next week’s issue.
Thank you 🙂
I like how creative you were with the cupcakes! Sounds like a fun party. 🙂
Great minds think alike! I just made something very similar only I used yellow summer squash and zucchini. 🙂
I love sneaking veggies into treats for my daughter too so am loving the sound of these! I have used beets and chocolate before but not zucchini – thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks so much for sharing your awesome Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with us
Pinned my kids won’t complain about eating zucchini in these cupcakes.
Yum! I love that you are sneaking the veggies in, perfect for picky eater kids.
Yes Honey! I am going to make these 😉