Courgette Cupcakes - Fluffy Muffins with Courgette or Pumpkin
Servings: 12 cupcakes approx.
©danishthings.comThese delicious cupcakes are made using the giant courgettes available in late summer and early autumn. Later in the season, you can make these tasty little cakes with pumpkin – mild flavoured Halloween pumpkins are perfect for this recipe. The sweet courgette (or pumpkin) cupcakes are light as air and the lovely little spiced cakes remain fresh for days. They are also dairy-free, making them suitable for lactose-intolerant guests.
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Equipment
- Mini chopper, food processor, or a grater
- Hand mixer with whisk attachments or a stand mixer
- Sieve
- (Silicone) whisk – optional
- Spatula
- Digital kitchen scale
- Bowls (and a mixing jug)
- Measuring spoons
- Digital meat thermometer
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 120 g cleaned giant Courgette or Halloween pumpkin – without seeds and skin
- 140 g vegetable oil
- 200 g sugar
- ¼ tsp fine salt
- ¼ tsp citric acid
- 2 eggs M/L (2 eggs approx. 110 g total)
Dry Ingredients
- 190 g plain flour
- 2 tsp cake spice mix
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp (homemade) vanilla powder
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 200°C fan (392°F convection oven).
- Prepare one or more muffin tins with room for 12–24 muffins using paper liners placed in every other cavity. *
- Start by preparing your vegetable and clean it before weighing it. Large, coarse courgettes will have a centre similar to a pumpkin’s, with fibres and large seeds, so you need to remove both the fibres and seeds from courgettes and pumpkins. If it's a very large and coarse courgette (or pumpkin), remove the skin, as it will give your super-soft cupcakes an unpleasant texture.
Preparation
- In a mini chopper, chop the Courgette into coarse pieces. Add the oil and blend until you only have small chunks of Courgette left in the oil mixture. If you don’t have a mini chopper or food processor, use a grater and finely grate your courgette/pumpkin, then mix the oil in afterwards.
- In a bowl, sift the flour, cake spice mix, vanilla powder, baking powder, and baking soda together – use a (silicone) whisk for a uniform flour blend.
- Weigh out the sugar, salt, and citric acid into a mixing jug or bowl. Crack the eggs into a small bowl or cup before adding them to the sugar. Whisk at the highest speed for 4–5 minutes.
- Fold the sugar-egg mixture into the courgette-oil mixture.
- When the mixture is almost homogeneous, add the flour mixture. Fold it gently - you shouldn’t have large pockets of flour, but the batter doesn’t need to be completely smooth.
Baking
- Distribute the batter into your muffin cases. Fill them almost to the top. Depending on the size of your cases, you’ll get around 12 in total. Adjust the baking time if you’re making more or fewer, i.e., larger or smaller cakes.
- Place your muffin cases in the oven at 200°C fan (392°F convection oven) and bake for 5 minutes.Then, reduce the temperature to 175°C fan (347°F convection oven) and bake for approximately 15 minutes, for a total of about 20 minutes.Ovens bake differently, so check your cupcakes before time.When the internal temperature reaches 98°C (209°F), your small cakes are done.
- Place the muffin tin on a wire rack, and let the cupcakes cool for about 20 minutes before removing them from the tin – this is important.Then, let them cool completely on the wire rack.
Storage
- Your cupcakes will stay fresh for several days. Store them in a dry, airtight container with a lid or a sealed freezer bag – I store mine at room temperature.
Notes
*I place paper liners in every other cavity because I’ve read that it gives the cakes more height – although I don’t think it makes a difference when using a convection oven…
To top your cupcakes, use lemon glaze, ermine frosting, or a neutral mousse like vanilla or lemon mousse.
If you can’t eat all your cupcakes, you can freeze them for later.
Or use them to make rum balls and Danish “træstammer” (log cakes) - recipes are in Danish, use the Google Translate plugin.
Private notes
Bruger du US Customary, vær opmærksom på, at opskriften er lavet metrisk, og omregnet via et plugin.
If you use US Customary, remember that the recipe is made using Metric and converted via a plugin.