This recipe is adapted from iFoodReal.

Total Time: 2 hours, 25 mins baking, 1 hour setting

Brownie Time: 45 mins for the brownie base

Makes approx. 20 cake pops

Ingredients

Zucchini Not-Brownies

• 2 cups zucchini, grated (~1 zucchini)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plain flour

Cake Pops

• ~1 1/2 cups Icing Mix
• ~1/2 cups Margerine
• Dash of Milk
• 500g White chocolate

Method

Zucchini Not-Brownies

1. Grate zucchini and set aside. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and line a baking dish with baking paper and butter.
2. In a large bowl, add egg, oil, brown sugar and vanilla essence; whisk to combine. Add cocoa, baking soda and salt; mix well.
3. Give zucchini a decent squeeze (do not ring out completely). Over-doing it leads to drier brownies, which is somewhat helpful for the cake pops, less so for brownies (this recipe is not suitable for straight brownies).
4. Add zucchini to the bowl and stir. Add flour and mix gently until combined.
5. Transfer batter into prepared baking dish and level with spatula. Bake for approx. 25 minutes. You want them to be more cake-y and less brownie-y. A skewer inserted should come out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and baking dish, and let cool.

Cake Pops

1. Combine the icing mix and the margerine. I never actually measure my buttercream ingredients, so these are estimates from Taste. Add milk (tiny amounts at a time, maybe 1/4 tsp.) until the buttercream is a spreadable consistency.
2. Line a baking tray (or some other flat surface that can be placed in the freezer) with baking paper.
3. Place the now cool brownies into a bowl and mash with a fork. I did this the next day, so the brownies were easier to smoosh than if they were fresh.
4. Add approx. 1 cup of buttercream to the brownie mash and mix. This is easiest with your hands so you can really distrubute the buttercream. The mix should stick together but not be so sloppy that it can’t hold it’s shape.
5. Form balls, approx. 2-3cm in diameter (or however big you want really. Just remember: bigger balls means a smaller chocolate to brownie ratio). Place the on the baking tray/bal receptacle and set in the freezer for about 30 mins, depending on the size of your balls.
6. Melt half the white chocolate in the microwave, starting off at 30 seconds and then in 10 second bursts until melted. Add in the other half of the chocolate and stir until melted. This will temper your chocolate (give it a nice *snap* when you bite into it).
7. Place the balls into the white chocolate, coat and place back on the baking tray. Traditionally cake pops are made with a stick in the ball, like a lollipop. I chose not to do this, however I think this resulted in messier balls. I used a fork to remove the balls from the chocolate and place them on the tray.
8. Freeze for a further 30 mins or until the chocolate has set. Enjoy!

I have kept mine in the freezer, uncovered for 2 weeks, so as long as they’re kept chilled they will keep for a long time. Imagine if I actually looked after the food and put it in an air-tight container!