Fluffy cupcakes filled with sharp lemon curd and covered in delicious cream cheese frosting. These Courgette Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese are far too tasty to get put off by the fact they have courgette in them!
Courgette or Zucchini?
Courgette or zucchini, whatever you like to call them, they are in abundance at the moment.
My parents have an allotment which appears to have the perfect courgette growing conditions because they have grown more courgettes than we could eat this year!
They also grew one particularly huge specimen which was so big I made 24 cupcakes, a two layer cake and also a chocolate loaf cake from it. It really was a beast!
Courgettes are available all year round here in the UK. But they are in season from June to October so this is the best time to make the most of them!
Baking with courgettes
When people find out these cupcakes have courgette in them, you might see them doubt you. Personally courgettes aren’t my favourite vegetable , but in a cake they are delicious.
It really isn’t any different than using carrot in cake – and we all know how good that tastes! I also like the flecks of green the courgette adds to the cake batter.
If cupcakes aren’t your thing, you can always make my Courgette Cake with Lemon Curd and Cream Cheese Frosting. As the name suggests it is essentially the same as these cupcakes but in cake form!
Grating your courgettes
When it comes to grating your courgettes, you can use a course hand held grater or the attachment on your food processor. If you use a food processor with a grater attachment, it somehow gives you quite a dry grating.
However if you use a normal grater you might end up with a wetter grating. Just make sure you don’t use a fine grater or else the courgette will become too mushy.
If like me you’re lazy and don’t want to wash up your food processor definitely just use a normal grater. Grating courgettes is no where near as bad as grating carrots in my opinion!
The perfect cupcake for summer
These Courgette Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese are so summery in taste. The lemon curd in the middle is so bright and zingy which along with the lime in the frosting makes them so incredibly delicious.
The lemon curd and lime zest also add a sharpness which cuts through the cream cheese frosting perfectly.
Perfectly piping these Courgette Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese
Cream cheese frosting isn’t as thick as buttercream. I always make sure I drain off any water that may be in the tub before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
This might sound really weird if you live in America. I have heard amazing rumours that you can buy cream cheese in blocks?! This is obviously thicker than what we can get here (lucky people!). So anyway, because of cream cheese frosting being a little looser, it is sometimes harder to pipe.
Instead of stressing yourself out trying to pipe fancy patterns; just use a round piping nozzle! Not only do I like how this looks, it also means you won’t loose definition – because there isn’t any!
other recipes you might like
- Pistachio Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing
- Pistachio & Vanilla Cookies
- Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Double Orange Cake
Pin for later
Courgette Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese
Fluffy cupcakes filled with sharp lemon curd and covered in delicious cream cheese frosting. These Courgette Cupcakes with Lemon Curd & Cream Cheese are far too tasty to get put off by the fact they have courgette in them!
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 250 g courgettes coarsely grated
- 2 eggs
- 125 ml vegetable oil
- 150 g caster sugar
- 225 g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
For the filling:
- 120 g lemon curd
For the frosting:
- 200 g full fat cream cheese
- 75 g unsalted butter
- 500 g icing sugar
- zest of one lime finely grated
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 3 tbsp unsalted pistachios roughly chopped
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 160ºC (fan assisted, 180°C non fan) and line a cupcake tin with 18 cases
-
Rinse the courgettes and then grate them using a coarse grater – if the grater is too fine, the courgette will turn to mush
-
Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder to the bowl of your mixer. In a separate jug, whisk the eggs, oil and sugar until creamy.
-
Pour the egg mixture into the flour and mix until combined before adding in the grated courgette and mixing again
-
Divide the mix between the cupcake cases making sure you only fill them half way. Bake in the oven for 15-17 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean
-
Leave to cool for around 10 minutes then allow to cool completely on a wire rack
-
Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, make a a hole in the centre of each cupcake about 1cm down. I do this using an apple corer but you could use a small knife, just mind your fingers
-
Fill each hole with the lemon curd
-
To make the frosting, beat the butter until soft and then add the cream cheese and icing sugar and mix until completely smooth
-
Add the lime zest and juice. Mix until combined and set aside
-
Frost each cupcake and decorate with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information is given as a guide only.
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
There seems to be quite a few courgette cakes around at the moment (Guess it’s that time of year) but these are certainly the prettiest I’ve seen so far.
I love the idea of lemon curd in them too it makes them sound even more delicious.
Welcome and thank you for linking up to #CookBlogShare. Hope to see you there again.
CakePants says
What a unique and enchanting combination of flavors! Zucchini and lemon are both such bright, fresh ingredients that I can certainly imagine that they pair well together. These cupcakes look and sound wonderful!
Cat says
Thanks 🙂 Fresh is the way I describe them too – very tasty! x
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
I love the sound of these Cat. I have to admit that I’ve yet to try a cake with courgette, but I hear such amazing things about them plus my parents (who can be a little fussy) absolutely loved a courgette cake they tried a little while ago. #CookBlogShare
Angela x
Cat says
You really should try courgette cake! The flavour isn’t strong at all but with the lemon curd and cream cheese frosting they really are delicious – one of my favourite cupcakes!x
Jennifer @ Because Food Is Love says
Love the idea of adding zucchini to cupcakes. My kids aren’t fans of zucchini but as long as I put it in muffins, bread or even pancakes, they get so excited and eat it all up. Your pistachio topping is just beautiful!
Cat says
Haha these are definitely a great way of hiding the zucchini as like with the other things you already bake, they won’t even tell it is there. Thank you 🙂 x
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
I’m the same, not a huge fan of them as a vegetable, but love them in cupcakes! I love your addition of lemon cream cheese frosting too – yum!
Curly says
I’m getting better with them but definitely prefer them in cakes! Thanks 🙂
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
I will never get put off by any courgette bakes especially when they look as cute as these little cupcakes! Absolutely love the lemon curd surprise and cream cheese frosting is irresistible! Perfect summery bake to use up those pesky courgettes! Thank you for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
Curly says
Haha thanks Jo 🙂
Jenny Walters says
Oh,Oh,Oh! How gorgeous??? You are so the cup cake queen. These look and sound devastatingly good. I am drooling….delicious. Thank you so much for bringing them to #BakingCrumbs
Curly says
Aww Jenny you are too kind! Thank you 🙂
Shelley says
Made these today. I used some vanilla seeds in the frosting and a dash of lemon essence in the sponge, but apart from that followed this to a tee, and they turned out to be not only the nicest cakes I’ve ever made, but potentially the nicest cakes I’ve ever eaten. Pistachios were a great touch! Thanks for posting this. Will come back to this recipe again and again no doubt.
Curly says
Thank you so much for your lovely comment Shelley. I’m so pleased you liked them 🙂
Lou says
Lovely cakes and icing. But need to halve the icing ingredients!
Curly says
Hi, the recipe allows for a generous helping of frosting per cupcake. I will make sure the recipe states this. Glad you liked them 🙂