My keto chocolate cupcakes have a moist and fluffy coconut flour crumb and a dreamy-creamy frosting. This easy sugar free chocolate cupcake recipe is only 4.1g net carbs per serve.
"Such a wonderful treat for chocoholics, yum! So moist and absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe!" (Kim)
I first posted these sugar free cupcakes in 2016 and they have been a reader favorite ever since.
Today, I re-made this recipe to take new (better) images. I also added more details to the post.
The best part? I got to eat the cupcakes again!
When a recipe is over 8 years old, it's easy to think that "it can't be that good, because it's old". But you know, good recipes stay good. And with a little tweak, I managed to make the frosting EVEN YUMMIER.
If you have a birthday party or celebration coming up, these cupcakes are going to be a hit with your guests. They taste sinfully chocolatey and have a light yet moist and fluffy crumb. You'd never guess they are keto.
Also try my classic (vanilla flavored) keto cupcakes.
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What's To Love About This Recipe
Easy and quick! The cupcakes come together with only 5 minutes of prep.
Low carb: By using coconut flour instead of wheat and a sugar free sweetener instead of sugar, we are keeping the net carbs at only 4.1g per cupcake.
Dairy-free: No butter needed! The cupcake batter calls for coconut oil. I also swapped the original chocolate icing with a dairy-free avocado chocolate frosting similar to the one from my keto avocado brownies.
Ingredients
You'll find exact quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of the post, but I wanted to give you a bit of extra info right here:
CUPCAKES
- Coconut Flour - Sift it first if it is clumpy. Also, to ensure you don't accidentally use too much, measure it with kitchen scales.
- Cocoa Powder - Must be unsweetened cocoa powder. Cacao powder is also fine.
- Sweetener - When I first published the recipe, I used granulated erythritol. Now I make it with allulose. I give you amounts for both in the recipe card.
- Eggs - Should be room temperature so the cupcakes rise well.
- Coconut Oil - Melted and cooled. You could also use butter.
- Baking Powder - Check that it is fresh!
- Cinnamon and Vanilla - Both enhance the flavor, but are not essential.
- Chocolate - I added chopped 90% Lindt chocolate into the batter. You can also use sugar free chocolate chips.
FROSTING
- Avocado - Must be ripe, with soft green flesh and no dark spots.
- Cocoa Powder and Powdered Sweetener
Optionally, you could add a pinch of salt and ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract to the frosting.
(The chocolate icing from my original recipe is now in the "Variations" section below.)
Instructions
It is simple to make keto chocolate cupcakes. Here are the basic steps.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed method with ingredient amounts, timings and nutrition information.
STEP 1
In a food processor or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, blend your wet ingredients - eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract.
STEP 2
Add the dry ingredients - cocoa powder, baking powder, coconut flour, vanilla extract and sweetener of choice - and blend until smooth.
STEP 3
Stir in the chopped chocolate or sugar free chocolate chips.
STEP 4
Fill the cupcake batter into paper muffin liners or directly into a silicone muffin pan.
STEP 5
Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven until the tops are lightly domed and a toothpick inserted comes out without any crumbs sticking.
STEP 6
Blend the avocado, cocoa powder and powdered sweetener until smooth. Fill into a piping bag and pipe onto the fully cooled cupcakes.
Katrin's Recipe Notes
#1 Taste the batter. And adjust the sweetener if necessary. We all have a different idea of what the perfect amount of sweetness is.
#2 Fill the paper cups to ¾ height with batter. This way, the cupcakes have little domes, but are flat enough for the frosting. The mixture makes 8 cupcakes. (I made only 7 this time around and realised that 8 would have been perfect.)
#3 Don't over-bake! We don't want the cupcakes to dry out. The tops should feel spongy - this means they are done.
#4 No piping bag? Spread the chocolate avocado frosting over the cupcakes with a knife or spatula.
Variations
Katrin's original chocolate icing: Melt 2 ounces (50g) dark chocolate with 2 tablespoons (30g) butter. Stir in 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and ¼ cup of powdered sweetener. Let the mixture cool until it thickens. Then, spread it over the cupcakes.
Here is an image of the chocolate cupcakes from 2016 with the original sugar free icing:
No frosting: If you're not into frosting or icing, just leave it out - and enjoy these cupcakes as keto chocolate muffins instead.
Recipe FAQs
I am not a doctor. But I know that my mother in law is type 2 diabetic and she can eat these sugar free cupcakes without spiking her blood sugar levels. Therefore, you could call this a diabetic chocolate cupcake recipe.
You can bake the cupcakes up to 3 days in advance and then add the frosting on the day you want to serve them. Just make sure to store them in an airtight container so they do not dry out.
Yes, the recipe makes 12 mini cupcakes. Bake these for around 14 minutes.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Keto cupcakes freeze well for up to 3 months. The frosting lightens a little when frozen. However, it returns back to normal once you have defrosted it fully.
More Keto Chocolate Treats
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Recipe
Keto Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 4 large or 5 medium eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil 60ml, melted and cooled (or use butter)
- ¼ cup coconut flour 30g
- 4 tablespoon cocoa powder 25g
- ¼ cup granulated sweetener 50g, or ½ cup (75g) powdered allulose
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 oz dark chocolate 50g, chopped (I used a 90% variety), or use sugar free chocolate chips
Chocolate Frosting
- 2 ripe avocados 1 scant cup / 220g / 7.76 oz, flesh only
- ½ cup cocoa powder 43g
- 5 tablespoon powdered erythritol or 6-7 tablespoon powdered allulose
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Heat the oven to 175 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit.
- In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer or in a food processor, blend the eggs until fluffy and pale in colour. Then, add the melted and cooled coconut oil and the vanilla extract and blend until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients - coconut flour, cocoa powder, sweetener of choice, baking powder and cinnamon. Blend until a smooth batter forms.
- Stir in the chopped chocolate.
- Spoon the batter into a muffin pan lined with paper cups. Bake for around 20 minutes or until the tops are spongy and firm to the touch.
For the Frosting
- Place all the frosting ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape dwn the sides in between to ensure no green specks remain. Adjust the sweetness to taste.
- Fill the frosting into a piping bag and pipe over the fully cooled cupcakes. Or, simply spread the frosting over with a knife or spatula.
Tami P.
Hello Katrin
Just made the sugar free chocolate cupcakes- DELISH! even without the icing!!! I use the Lakanto monkfruit (golden) for my low carb baking and I really like it. Thank you for another great recipe!
Katrin
Fantastic!! I like mine without icing too - even though it always looks so impressive with it
Katrin
Of course you can sub with stevia powder, just check though that it is a 1 : 1 replacement for sugar, as erythritol or xylitol is. I've had stevia powder in the past which was twice as sweet as sugar, so if yours is one of those, make sure you adjust the quantity.
Linda
Which sweetener has no nasty after taste...?
And when u put the oven temperature please list the American temperature also..Ty
Katrin
Hi Linda, I like the Sukrin erythritol/stevia sweeteners and recently tried the So Nourished erythritol/monkfruit sweetener, which I also liked. You'll still get a bit of a cooling aftertaste, but I find that together with the chocolate, which is a strong taste, you don't really notice it. It'll never be EXACTLY the same as sugar 🙂 These muffins should be baked at 350 Fahrenheit - I'll add it to the recipe.
M
OMG! Tried these tonight and they are absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe
Katrin
You are so welcome! I'm really happy you like them 🙂
Lindy Hawthorne
Hi. I haven't used coconut flour before. I use almond meal but thinking of using both now as someone said that almonds have some bad fats in them. Im wondering how only one quarter of a cup of coconut flour makes eight cakes ???. Does it expand a lot ???
thanks in advance
Katrin
Yes, coconut flour is a LOT more absorbent than almond flour. hope you'll try it - I love it!!
Ciara
Is it ok to freeze these?
Caron
Hi love the sound of these and would love to try. Both hubby and my daughter are type 1 Diabetic so these would make a great treat however I'm not keen on the erythritol. Can you suggest an alternative to using this? I also don't like stevia as it has a horrible after taste.
Katrin
Hello Caron, you could try a mixture of stevia and erythritol (or stevia and xylitol). That way you get less of each taste - that metallic taste stevia can have and the cooling sensation you get from erythritol or xylitol. I do find there are great differences especially in stevia - I recently tried the Better Stevia brand an really liked it. Otherwise you could look into inulin. I have not tried it yet, but it is a low carb sweetener as well.
Caron
Hi Katrin thanks for your reply. I think I am going to try a fruit substitute either dates or banana? Will see how they go. Cheers.
Pat
I was stressed and I need something to make me feel better. then I found your recipe on the website, coconut flour and coconut oil, dairy free as I need. i start baking tight after I finished reading the last line. I start doing all except that I replaced the chocolate bar with sugar-free chocolate chips and Too lazy to do frosting so leave it out. the taste and texture are still very good. It was a little crunchy on the H and soft inside. Thanks again for sharing and baking this and it come out good definitely make me feel better
Claire
Hi Katrin
I have just made these for my 10 year old son (and me!) who is on a gluten and sugar free diet for health reasons. I am really impressed - they are delicious. I didn't make the icing but they were definitely good enough without :). I used a combination of xylitol and stevia crystals instead of erythritol because that's what I had in the house. I just wondered if you prefer erythritol to xylitol and if you have any thoughts on the matter of which is best - there's a lot of conflicting information on the web!
Thank you so much for all of your recipes. I have tried many of them and they are bookmarked as firm favourites. They've really been a lifesaver for us.
Katrin
Hello Claire, thank you for your comment and great that you liked the muffins as much as we did over here! I am with you on the icing - it is not really necessary but everyone else in my family likes it. This one is very chocolatey though and not as sweet as other icings!
I have settled on erythritol because I am not convinced by the taste of stevia on its own (I find it very metallic and strong and only like it when used in conjunction with fruit such as banana where it is masked enough). The erythritol I use at them moment has a tiny bit of stevia in it (I use Sukrin), which works well. I think erythritol and xylitol taste pretty much the same, but as xylitol still raises blood sugar erythritol definitely wins. I have also heard from a couple of people that they do not tolerate xylitol well and get crampy stomachs. I haven't had any issues with it, but it's something to think about when you cook for others. Also, xylitol is toxic to dogs. Hope this helps!
Joan
These look yummy. I can't wait to try them. Just have a question. Can you replace erythritol with Truvia baking blend?
Katrin
I have never used Truvia, just checked it out online. I am sure you can replace the erythritol with it, though you would increase the sugar content of the muffins. Hope you enjoy the muffins!