I have to be honest, I am new to vegan baking and I am never quite sure what to expect when I first make an attempt to “veganize” a baked good. This one was no different, I was using my luscious conventional dark chocolate cake recipe as the starting point and I had the feeling this was going to be a futile attempt! I could not have been more wrong! Seriously, I could not believe it when these muffins came out of the oven! They rose nicely, then deflated some once they cooled down, but in doing so, created a rich, dense chocolaty texture that makes them absolutely luscious–I think you can tell from the picture! They might as well be birthday cupcakes–you could top them with a little drizzle of my homemade Chocolate “Fudge” Sauce, to dress them up more if you’d like, but really you don’t even need it–they are perfect just as is!
You can come watch me make them in my kitchen–here!
- Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp baking powder
- Wet Ingredients:
- 3 Tbsp flax meal + 7 Tbsp water
- 1 cup organic expeller pressed canola oil or olive oil (extra virgin)
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated unpeeled zucchini (about 3 medium zucchini)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, stir together 3 tablespoons flax meal and 7 Tbsp water. Let sit for 2-3 minutes to thicken.
- Sift flour, unsweetened cocoa and baking powder together in a bowl and put aside.
- Place oil, sugar, thickened flax meal and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat well until creamy.
- Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well again (it will be thick and that’s OK!).
- Add the grated zucchini (with their "juice”) to the bowl and beat again until well combined.
- Line 2 muffin baking pans with 18 paper liners and spoon the batter in each so that each is ⅔ full.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Dear Catherine, forced by zucchini, that had turned bitter, I substituted the zucchini with apples and reduced the added sugar. They still taste really yummy and the kids loved them 🙂
WOW That’s so good to know! I always love your suggestions! You inspire me always!
Love, Catherine
Is there a way to make these without sugar and still taste good?
Hi Jen,
I love the way you are thinking! But, you know me by now, if there were a way to sweeten these without interfering with the texture or flavor, I would, but so far, this is the best I can do. it’s relatively low still, but if you do find a way, please let me know, and I will try it out! I am always open to tweaking my recipes to make them as nutritious as delicious. The blanace of the 2 is the challenge! 🙂
Hello Catherine! I am wondering if I could sub coconut sugar or rapadura? Something less processed than white? Have you tried that yet? Many thanks to the work you and David do from The Beet Retreat Vegan B&B in Australia!
yes, I have used beet sugar before and it worked beautifully! I just worry about making it too expensive for people so I don’t want to make perfection the enemy of good!
I will try them for my three year olds birthday party. They look nice and easy which will help me actually do it, even I am now 9 month pregnant…
Oh my goodness Sibylle, congratulations! 🙂
Now the little one from inside the tummy bakes those muffins with my help for her 3rd birthday;-)
hello mrs cuisinicity! I’m going to make it right away! it tastes wonderful! have a pretty week-end! martine de France
Thank you so much Martine! 🙂
Catherine. Will this recipe work with gluten free flour??
Hi Diana, I am not sure as I have never tried, but would love to know if you do.
Hi Catherine,
Thank you for this recipe. It tastes wonderful. I do have a question. The muffins taste wonderful but unfortunately, mine did not rise and were very runny. I am guess my measuring left something to be desired, but also I wanted to check and be sure on the flour. Does this recipe use the whole wheat pastry flour or just whole wheat flour? I’m thinking they could stand up to regular whole wheat flour but again, perhaps my measuring was a little off. Thank you so much! LeeAnn
Hi LeeAnn,
I am sorry to heat that! I wonder what happened as in fact the batter is quite thick as I was showing in my little video. Did you see it and how did your batter compare? https://youtu.be/ywwDwbIm7Hc
That might help me figure out what happened. I use whole wheat pastry flour, and here is how I measure it: https://cuisinicity.com/measure-flour/ Although it is true that measuring cups leave a little bit of subjectivity which weight measurements would not, so maybe that’s where your measuring might have been different from mine. I hope this helps a little bit! I am glad that they still tasted yummy but we have to get to the bottom of this!!! 🙂
Wow! This looks so much delicious! Thank you very much Catherine for your creative recipe. I would love to try it myself. You did a good job, carry on!
WOW back! I just went to your beautiful website and I feel truly honored that you like this vegan dessert of mine! As you can tell, I am new to adopting more of a vegan diet myself, both for our fellow animals and for our planet (it was my new year resolution https://cuisinicity.com/2016-2/) so it is a work in progress for me. I thank you so much for the wonderful encouragement! I LOVE it and will definitely keep at it! 🙂 🙂
hello! it’s incredible, they are so good! and whithout eggs? perfect ! ils sont fondants , délicieux, formidables : thank you for this creative recipe, très étonnante! nobody can imagine there is zucchinis Inside , congratualations! and have a good trip to France, le plus beau pays au Monde !!!ah!ah!! martine de France
Merci Martine!! It’s amazing isn’t it?!! Et oui, cette belle France, je suis tellement heureuse de la retrouver dans quelques jours!! 🙂
Love, love, love it…will try those soon, but first will send to my vegan daughter at University of Toronto for Valentine’s Day! Merci encore les bonnes idées, Catherine! Julie
Avec grand plaisir Julie, that makes me so happy! 🙂
bonjour, ça alors! je vais essayer tout de suite! quelle belle créativité et beaucoup de simplicité , tout est par fait ! merci ! bonne journée sous la neige peut-être? bon courage alors mais …l’occasion de nous concocter de toute nouvelles recettes !! bien cordialement martine de France
Ah oui alors, c’est incroyable ces graines de lin moulu! J’ai ajouté une photo du paquet pour aider mes amis en France à en trouver! Dites-moi-z-en des nouvelles si vous faites cette recette! Je l’adore!!
Madame,
Je viens de découvrir votre dernière recette ” Veagan” de Muffins.
Votre créativité ne m’étonne plus bien sûr, mais comment avez -pensé si généreusement aux personnes VEAGAN!!!!!
Je vais de ce pas chercher le Flax meal dans mon magasin bio…
Permettez-vous que je vous transmettre mon appréciation après avoir essayé votre recette…!!!???
Encore une fois Merci,
Absolument Madame Nata!!! Ça sera pour moi un honneur! Il me tarde de recevoir votre “feedback”! merci encore pour vos si gentilles paroles!
I can’t wait to try these!!!!
You are going to LOVE them!!!