Zucchini Cupcakes with Sweet Chai Butter

These cupcakes are light, perfectly moist and flavorful. They are mouthwatering on their own but the butter makes them a little more decadent.

Zucchini Cupcakes with Sweet Chai Butter

Makes 10 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup Origine Naturals coconut sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon Origine Naturals vanilla

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Swan's Down cake flour (or 1 cup all purpose flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons Origine Naturals ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1-1/2 cups grated zucchini (remove seeds before grating)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with 10 cupcake liners.

3. Combine the coconut oil and coconut sugar and blend well. Mixture will appear coarse and dry, which is normal. Add applesauce add to oil/sugar mixture and stir well. Add vanilla and stir to incorporate.

4. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl. Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients until thoroughly incorporated.

5. Fold zucchini into batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean.

6. Top with Sweet Chai Butter if desired, or enjoy as is.

Sweet Chai Butter

1/3 cup plant butter, softened (I used Country Crock Plant Butter with Olive Oil)

2 Tablespoons Origine Naturals coconut sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon chai spice, to taste (See Note)

Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Taste and add additional spice or sugar if desired. Let sit about 20 minutes. Stir again before using. Spread on cupcakes or pipe through pastry bag.

The sugar adds a slightly crunchy texture. If you don’t like this, use a liquid sweetener like maple or date syrup, or powdered sugar.

Note: If you don’t have chai spice, you can make your own by blending 2 teaspoons each ground cardamom, allspice, cloves and nutmeg and 4 teaspoons each ground cinnamon and ginger. Or, do like I did and sprinkle a little of each into the mixture until it tastes the way you like! If you don’t have all of the listed spices simply use what you have or just use cinnamon.

This is a veganized version of my mother’s carrot cake recipe, using zucchini in place of the carrots. I used the same recipe for years when I had my cake decorating business so it’s very near and dear to me. I hope you like this version.

Enjoy!