Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

Lemon Zucchini Cupcake w/Cream Cheese Frosting

This will be a quick post, as the recipe I used was adapted from one already listed online. Thanks, Martha!

I made these for a friend's birthday, and just changed things up a bit to suit my taste, and make them more festive. (Side vent: M complained that these were not 'cupcakes,' but more like sweet bread with frosting. That boy is so spoiled nowadays when it comes to sweet treats. Puh!)

I'm too lazy to transcribe the recipe, but if you look at the link, I just nixed the spices in favor of the zest of one lemon (I don't know why, but it seems I need to add lemon zest to everything lately), used light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar, and added my own adorable decorative flair atop the cream cheese frosting. (Also, if I were to make the frosting again, I would decrease the sugar by about 1/3, and maybe add some yogurt to temper the sugariness.)

En masse

Cute, right? I shaved some extra dark chocolate over the frosting to cut the sweetness a little. I also had some leftover zucchini, and while in the shower and waiting for the cupcakes to cool, I got the brilliant idea to make little zucchini tuiles.

Here's how it goes:

Zucchini Tuiles:

Zucchini

Lemon juice

10x (confectioner's) sugar

Silpat

Nonstick cooking spray

Mandoline (or a very sharp knife and some patience)

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Slice the zucchini as paper thin as possible, without it falling apart. Soak slices in a shallow dish of lemon juice for about 5 minutes. Remove and lay them out on a paper towel to dry, dabbing the tops.

Spray silpat with nonstick spray, and wipe off gently with paper towel.

Lay zucchini out on silpat.

Dust a thick layer of confectioner's sugar through a strainer over zucchini, until they look white.

Flip and repeat.

Cook in oven until the sugar is caramelized (lower oven to 250 or 275 if the zucchini looks like it's cooking too much).
Remove from oven, and let cool for a few seconds.
Very carefully (hot!) remove and fold in half twice to make a flower shape, one by one. If they start to become hard, flash them in the oven for 3 minutes or so to re-soften them. (This step might be too uncomfortable for people whose hands have not already lost all sensitivity to temperature due to working in a kitchen. If that is the case, the tuiles are quite pretty even lying flat, and taste like delicious little lemon candy, with a slight vegetal note.)

[Note: the more discerning viewer might notice that my cupcakes are a little unconventional in form, and lacking cupcake liners. That's 'cause I don't own a cupcake pan, and so made these in my popover pan, sans papers. Resourceful!]