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Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

May 18, 2009

dark-chocolate-cupcakes.jpg

One food misconception I hear all the time is that eating healthy means sacrificing the foods you love most. For example, a bunch of my friends don't like to let their kids have snacks like cake or cupcakes for all the obvious reasons and so the kids have to miss out on fun things like chocolate cupcakes at birthday parties. I can't think of many things more heartbreaking than seeing a little one at a party having to eat a banana while all the other kids' faces are covered in chocolate frosting. Well, here at weelicious, we're always up for a challenge. Is there a healthy cupcake with absolutely no refined sugar that parents can be happy to serve their kids and even the most discriminating chocoholic will love?

Well, after testing these cupcake and ganache ( a fancy word for icing) recipes over a dozen times this past week, I can confidently say the answer is yes! Not only is this recipe delicious, it's also the easiest version we tried. All you have to do is dump the ingredients into the mixer, stir, pour and bake! And by using agave instead of sugar, you sacrifice none of the flavor of traditional chocolate cupcakes. Another bonus? You can even make them vegan by using oil instead of butter and rice, almond or soy milk instead of cow's milk. Either way, what you get is a light, perfectly sweet chocolate cupcake that every kid will love. I took a whole batch over to Kenya's sports group on Monday and they disappeared in minutes and even the most health conscious moms were happy!

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Dark Chocolate Cupcakes  (12 Cupcakes)

  • Prep Time:5 minutes,
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes,
  • Total Time: 25 minutes,

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup butter (melted) or oil
  • 2/3 cup agave
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar

  •
  • chocolate ganache
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup agave or honey
  • 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
  • 3 ounces unsalted butter

Preparation

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. 2. Place ingredients in a mixer or mixing bowl in the order listed and mix well to combine. Batter should be free of lumps. (No need to sift the dry ingredients or place in separate bowls. This is a dump in the bowl, mix and bake recipe).
  3. 3. Fill greased or line muffin cups with batter about 3/4 full.
  4. 5. Bake for 20-22 minutes for regular sized and 15 minutes for mini cupcakes.
  5. 6. Cool and frost.

  7. To make the chocolate ganache frosting:
  8. 1. Heat the cream and agave in a small saucepan just to a boil, whisking to combine.
  9. 2. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate. Whisk constantly until chocolate is melted.
  10. 3. Pour into a bowl and add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time until icing is smooth and butter is incorporated.
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Comments






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  1. Martina

    April 11, 2013 at 2:36 pm

    Reply

    I recently purchased a box of King Arthur’s unbleached cake flour blend for another recipe. Can I use it in this recipe? If so, would I change any other ingredients? Thanks!

    • catherine

      April 11, 2013 at 4:22 pm

      Reply

      You should be okay to use that flour with no other alterations :)

  2. Tina

    January 25, 2013 at 2:27 am

    Reply

    I noticed there are few different Agave products at our local Whole Foods; light, dark, raw, etc. What kind do you use in your recipes?

    • catherine

      January 25, 2013 at 11:36 am

      Reply

      I use light! You can use dark, but it might change the color of the dish!

  3. Kate Baldwin

    December 19, 2012 at 8:27 am

    Reply

    I tripled this recipe and made it into a multi-layer cake for my son’s second birthday. It made one rectangular casserole pan, one 9 by 9 square pan, and a few cupcakes. I stacked them all together and topped it with cream cheese`cocoa icing, and then decorated it with a mini loader, digger, dumptruck, chocoalte rocks, and black sanding sugar to make it look like a construction site. The cake recipe was perfect! It was thick, which made a firm cake, perfect for this kind of decorating. It was so easy to make, too. This is definitely a recipe I’m going to come back to over the years.

  4. Mary Seidman

    December 6, 2012 at 9:47 pm

    Reply

    Loved the Ganache but I may have done it incorrectly because I had only used 2 TBsp of butter and it was a lil runny. It was still awesome, specially for my chocolate loving husband : ) Also, I made a cake instead of cupcakes. The mix was a bit thick and I kept using milk. It tasted great!

  5. claronow

    October 11, 2012 at 11:58 am

    Reply

    Question about the icing: can I use cocoa powder instead of shaved chocolate? If so, how much would you recommend?

  6. Naomi

    September 21, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    Reply

    I just made these and they taste like glue… I’m a former vegan baker so I know what I’m doing… what do you think happened?!

    • catherine

      September 24, 2012 at 11:51 am

      Reply

      Without being there I can’t know for sure what happened. How did you measure your ingredients? You may have used too much flour or not enough liquid. I scoop the flour into the measuring cups with a spoon and then level with the flat side of a knife. If you pack your flour in the cups or scoop directly from the container you would end up with more flour than I used. What type of flour did you use?

  7. Lindsey

    September 16, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    Reply

    Why does it call for vinegar? I am just curious since I”ve never seen it with other cupcake recipes.

    • catherine

      September 17, 2012 at 10:58 am

      Reply

      Since this recipe has no eggs the baking soda and vinegar work together to leaven and bind the cake!

  8. Debbi

    August 6, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Reply

    Thanks so much for this recipe Catherine. I live in Uk and trying to find good healthy recipes as many of my family and friends have allergies or can’t tolerate some things. My hubby is on Gluten free diet i’m diabetic (althoughI can eat most things as long as I limit the amount) and my son has ADHD so additives not good for him and my tutor at college is Dairy Free so this was so helpful

  9. Michelle

    June 26, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Reply

    Just tried the recipe in cake pop pans and it worked beautifully… home make cake pops or doughnut holes :) would the ganache icing be firm enough to hold on the the cake pop? If not, can you suggest an icing recipe that would work. Thanks for all your great recipes :)

    • catherine

      June 26, 2012 at 12:17 pm

      Reply

      The icing will hold to the cake pop, but you would probably have to let it dry.

  10. catherine

    May 23, 2012 at 11:38 am

    Reply

    Vegetable or Canola!

  11. Natasha

    May 22, 2012 at 11:17 pm

    Reply

    Vegetable oil or olive oil?

  12. Janet

    May 10, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Reply

    I found this recipe very salty. I reduced the salt by at least half. 1 banana instead of the butter works great too. Just be sure to spray your liners so the cupcake doesn’t stick to it.

  13. Marcie Peterson

    May 7, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    Reply

    These look so good. I am going to try them. I added this link to my site. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
    Marcie

  14. Helen

    April 2, 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Reply

    Is it possible to substitute the ap flour for whole wheat flour? I would actually love to use coconut flour but I know the consistency is different. So looking forward to making these!!

  15. Jessica

    March 20, 2012 at 9:47 pm

    Reply

    These are soooo easy and perfect for freezing…thank you!! I subbed banana for the oil and they were great as a choc banana cupcake! Perfect for kiddos that can’t get enough banana. :)

  16. tiffany

    March 4, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    Reply

    If I wanted to make this a cake what size pan would I use? And long would you bake it. I live in Colorado so at high altitude?

  17. Lori

    February 17, 2012 at 11:27 pm

    Reply

    Is it correct for me to assume that the Cocoa Powder is unsweetened and the vinegar is white vinegar? Thank you!

    • catherine

      February 20, 2012 at 6:35 pm

      Reply

      Yes, I always use unsweetened cocoa powder so I sometimes forget to specify! Yes, white vinegar! Oy, sometimes this mommy’s brain gets a little scrambled!

  18. Marisa

    February 8, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    Reply

    Can these be sent through the mail? Do you suggest over night? Is it better to use a shipping store, rather than the US Postal Services?

    Thank you for your speedy reply.

    Sincerely,

    Marisa DiFalco

  19. Marisa

    February 8, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    Reply

    Hello. I would like to make these, but I need to know if they will hold up if shipped by mail. I have to and these to Florida and Colorado. Also, is it okay to use regular mail, or should I go to a mail shipping store?

    Thank you for your speedy reply.

    Sincerely,

    Marisa DiFalco

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  22. amandat

    December 6, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    Reply

    absolutly love this recipe! (and all the other weelicious ones) its not super sweet which is great for my 1 year olds first cake and it is super easy to make not weird ingredients or time consuming details. thanks for another go to recipe!

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    October 23, 2011 at 11:14 am

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  25. twosmooshcats

    September 3, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    Reply

    What kind of vinegar did you use?

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