How to Make 100 Calorie Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
February 3rd, 2011 § 51 Comments
Dear Universe,
I was sending you a pink bowed box with twelve moist and fudgy cupcakes nestled inside. Just a simple gift from one dear friend to another. I even hand wrote a note and tucked it inside to let you know that each bitty brownie cake is only 100 calories. And whole grain. And nonfat. And made from real, wholesome ingredients.
You’d have been downright smitten with me.
Unfortunately, I ate them all. One by one. Crumb after moist crumb.
I hope you’ll understand. What’s that saying about it being the thought that counts? Well, that.
Very truly yours,
Chocolate covered in Seattle
It is a rare occasion that I pull something from my oven that does not contain butter and a full week’s worth of sugar as recommended by USDA dietary guidelines. Because in my mind, if you can be mindful and eat just one of an ooey gooey, then there’s no reason not to push the limits of decadence and sweet splendor.
But sometimes it’s equally as splendid when those ooey gooeys are wholesome and light. When they feel good and taste good too.
Each of these cupcakes is moist, tender, soft crumbed, and plenty chocolatey. And unlike lots of healthy baking projects I’ve tried, these are ones I would serve to someone other than Daniel. Healthy yet fabulous enough to share with friends and strangers. They’re gently sweet and have a decidedly lighter texture than most of the non fat cake recipes I’ve tried.
And I may be mistaken… but I think that any calories saved in cake form should be spent in frosting? Someone tell me where I’m wrong.
I make these all the time for Daniel and I to have for a light dessert. I even took to freezing them (unfrosted), and then pulling one out on a casual Wednesday night, warming it in the microwave, and plopping a scoop of ice cream on top for a healthier brownie sundae.
Here is how you can have your cake and eat it too, all for 100 calories:
Combine a cup of milk with 1 teaspoon of vinegar, preferably apple cider vinegar. Set that aside for a few minutes so that it can curdle, like buttermilk.
You can use dairy milk or nondairy milk, nonfat milk or whole. I’ve tried all varieties- everything from almond milk to 1% to soy. All work well. The point is to create a light buttermilk (though using less acid than a traditional buttermilk), which will chemically react with the baking soda in the recipe to help the cupcakes rise while baking.
In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients: 1/2 cup all purpose white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (you can also use whole wheat pastry flour with even better results), 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set this mixture aside.
Note: I’ve used all variations of flour blends. Using all white flour produces the lightest, fluffiest texture, and the one most closely resembling a standard, full-fat cupcake. The balance I’ve chosen- using 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat- is quite perfect. Nutritionally, you’re getting a better-for-you dessert, and the texture isn’t compromised. Using all whole wheat flour turns out well too, it’s just that the cupcakes bake up denser. If you want to use 100% whole grains in the recipe, though, I’d recommend whole wheat pastry flour, as it lends a softer, more tender texture than traditional whole wheat flour. Use whatever you like.
Now, in a large mixing bowl, combine 3/4 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup of apple sauce and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
I’m replacing the fat in the recipe with applesauce here with great results. The cupcakes are extra moist from the substitution, but they are a bit heavier in texture because of it. I really like this aspect though, and find their slight density satisfying.
Pour in the milk mixture. You’ll notice that the milk has begun to separate and curdle.
Give all wet ingredients a thorough stir.
Add your dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir just until incorporated. The batter will be much thinner and more runny than traditional cake batters, almost like a pancake batter.
Line a 12 cup cupcake tin with paper liners and lightly spritz each of them with nonstick cooking spray. Divide the batter evenly among the cups and bake for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
Let the cupcakes cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan set on top of a wire cooling rack before removing from the pan to cool completely. When they’re cool, frost with your favorite fluffy whipped vanilla frosting, or try mine: Best Whipped Frosting
100 Calorie Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
makes 12
- 1 cup nonfat or low fat milk, dairy or nondairy
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup all purpose flour –OR- whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Spritz them lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
In a small bowl, stir together milk and vinegar. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, applesauce, and vanilla. Pour in the now curdled milk and mix all ingredients well.
Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be thin and wet, similar to a runny pancake batter. Divide it evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Bake for about 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing to cool completely.
Once the cupcakes are cool, top them with my favorite light and fluffy whipped frosting, found here: Best Whipped Frosting.
Nutrition for 1 cupcake (unfrosted):
Calories: 108.7, Fat: 0.6g, Cholesterol: 1mg, Sodium: 15.4mg, Carb: 29.7g, Fiber: 1.2g, Sugars: 20.5g, Protein 2.2g
Everything about this post made me want to make them NOW and eat them NOW. They look great and love that they don’t seem to sacrifice taste.
Thanks Debbie!
Love your blog and these cupcakes look absolutely delicious! Could I persuade you to go back to using the larger font though? My eyes aren’t the best.
Hi Cassie! Sorry about the small font- I’ll switch back!
I will definitely be trying these out in the near future! Obviously they didn’t taste like 100 calories! Can’t wait to try this recipe.
These sound amazing!!! Only 100 calories?! Seems too good to be true
These look amazing! I think i’m going make them for my girlfriends for V-Day, but with red frosting, thanks for the recipe!
Ooo, super cute with red frosting I bet!
After the day I’ve had, I think I could devour the whole batch.
Amazing!
Those look delicious!
Thank you Matt!
You had me @ 100 calorie moist chocolate cupcake…lol…another one for the recipe book! BTW…the pics are amazing. What’s your secret for photographing food? Thanks!
Thanks Jeanne!! I always try to shoot with as much natural light as possible- mostly next to the big window in my living room. I also use the macro setting on my camera to get a really close, sharp image. I also find nothing more beautiful than a crisp, clean white plate. I like to let the food shine, you know? But honestly, I’m really not much of a photographer and I know very very little about how to do it!
those look delicious. My hubby is going on nutrisystem and this will be a great way to add a healthier treat to his plan. Thanks so much. Are they 100 calories before the frosting or after? also, have you ever had black bottom cupcakes? Just put a cheesecake type mix (light cream cheese, sugar, egg and choc chips) on top of the choc cupcake and bake. No need for frosting…devine!
Hey Peggy, These are 100 calories before frosting. And mmm, yes, black bottom cupcakes are deeelish!
[...] and luckily, my wish for a ‘healthier’ baked good was answered when I saw a recipe for Moist Chocolate Cupcakes. Ahhh! These babies are currently in the oven bakin’ [...]
You are a genius. I love you.
Yummm! No other words needed.
Fab-u-lous!
Mandy
Yum-eee!
i am dying for one of these right now! yum! i love that you included the nutrient breakdown – thank you!
I’ll take two batches. Oh wait, this isn’t an ordering service. These look fabulous! I want them now.
AWE.SOME! I have to make this! I have been hearing about how fabulous that book is and now I have to try this! Looks so moist!
I’m always so nervous to bake with applesauce because I’m afraid it’ll turn into a big, dry, dense mess. But I trust you, so I’m going to have to make these! Lord knows I need more 100 calorie chocolate items in my diet.
This is insane. You are earning your blog title – I want to fly you to Chicago.
Thank you Chelsey!
These look amazing! And only 100 calories?!?! Awesome!
Oh my, looks wonderful! How did you get the frosting on so perfectly??
Hi Whitney! Thanks! I piped it on using a pastry bag and a Wilton #2D tip!
[...] Can You Stay for Dinner? « How to Make 100 Calorie Moist Chocolate Cupcakes [...]
Oh yes, the frosting is the best part!!!
Chocolate Cupcakes are THE BEST! Yours look beyond delicious!
Thank you Kat!!
[...] – 100 calorie Chocolate cupcakes – another recipe from Can You Stay for Dinner. I used whole-wheat pastry flour and made regular [...]
[...] 100 Calorie Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes [...]
I love you. Really, I do. I love your words, I love your pictures, and I love most of your food. But I made these tonight in the hopes of surprising two co-workers tomorrow for their birthday….and perhaps it’s my lack of baking ability….but they didn’t taste very good. They were moist, but the flavor and sweetness was lacking. And the tops sunk after I took them out, even though I was oh-so-gentle with them.
I made the frosting to go with them, and I didn’t like the results either. And, like others reported, the frosting was trying to separate. But again, I am not good at baking…I’m good at cooking…so maybe it was user error.
All I know is that tomorrow I will take my little cups of disappointment to work and tell them that I truly hope it’s the thought that counts. And could someone go pick up a cake?
I just want to leave an additional comment about the cupcake and frosting recipes.
I went ahead and frosted the cupcakes and put them in a container and stored them in the frig overnight. I took them to work the next morning and put a note on the container that said, “These suck. Sorry!” (lol!) Anyway, people still wanted to try them and they said they weren’t that bad. In fact, my boss had two of them. And I had two of them, too. I still think the flavor needs something….not sure what…..but they are definitely the moistest little buggers, which is much better than eating a dry cupcake! I scraped the frosting off of my cupcakes because I’m trying to lose weight, but the residual frosting tasted okay.
Some people commented that they were good, and some thought they were just okay…..so I think if a person is trying to watch what they eat and want a low calorie treat, this wouldn’t be a bad recipe to try. I had doubled the cupcake recipe and then I doubled the frosting recipe and I should not have doubled the frosting recipe. I had to throw out a TON of frosting. All that yummy butter in the trash. 
And we didn’t go buy a cake to make up for it.
I love all of Isa Chandra’s cupcakes! I’m partial to her Vegan Mocha Chocolate Chip ones (http://www.thesecondlunch.com/2010/01/vegan-mocha-chip-muffins/). I had a vegan co-worker who made it difficult to keep healthy at work with all the phenomenal baking she did.
In regards to the previous commenter, Oh Noes! There are a couple of things that could go wrong flavor-wise, and I think the best fix is making sure that you have a really really good cocoa powder. This makes a *huge* difference. I’d try Valrhona or Scharffen Berger over the traditional Hershey’s in this case. (They also taste great with a sprinkle of cinnamon in the fall). If she is having trouble with falling muffins, it’s likely that the baking powder/soda is too old, or the type of dairy or non-dairy. I usually use almond milk with relative success.
Also, I made a batch of these tonight in NH as we batten down the hatches… I find that it is good to have cupcakes in times of distress. Hope you are having fun in NOLA, and travel safely!
[...] in the throes of a chocolate need, I made these little diddies. I followed the recipe, word for word, using cow milk and therefore making my version [...]
These were AWESOME.
I had been satisfying my sweet tooth with low fat ice cream treats, but have been craving some kind of baked yumminess. These whipped up in a flash, and they taste DIVINE. I couldn’t quite bring myself to make the frosting (too rich for my calorie watching at the moment), but I made some fresh whipped cream (low fat Cool Whip would work, too) for the top and gobbled it up. The 12 year old loved it, too.
THANK YOU ANDIE! These will be a waist-saving weapon in my arsenal for a long time to come.
These cupcakes look amazing! thank you for the recipe. But I have a question, can I replace the apple sauce with honey? and the brown sugar with artificial sugar?
[...] intrigued by this one. If someone tries it before me, let me know what you think… ??? 100 calorie moist chocolate cupcakes It looks like they’re bigger than a thimble, so that’s not how they get away with the [...]
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[...] of the things that I tried was CanYouStayForDinner’s Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes…only mine weren’t quite vegan because I used milk of a bovine nature – but it was [...]
OMG.. only words.
These cupcakes are so freaken good! I mean it.
As someone whos tried A LOT of low cal, low fat dessert recipes… this is the best by far. So guilt free,I love it!
The best part is that, the next day their still so moist and delicious.. maybe even better than the first day! They pretty much taste like a gooey moist chocolate brownie. HEAVEN.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. Keep making more recipes just like this one!
Maybe even a low calorie, low fat vanilla cupcake in the near future?
SO GOOD! I just recently lost 45 pounds and am trying to find ways to maintain it.. but still have a treat here and there! These are perfect. Love your blog, you’re such an inspiration!
Well, THESE are getting baked this weekend. Furnace is out (of course, because no one can come until Monday) so extra baking will be integral to keeping the house warm. Thanks for these, Andie, and thanks for continuing to be my biggest weight loss inspiration.
WOW!!! I was really unsure about these. I am SO glad I made them!!! these are AWESOME cupcakes! So moist and delicious! This recipe is a KEEPER!!! Thank you!
[...] How To Make 100 Calorie Cupcakes from Can You Stay For Dinner [...]
I just made these today, and I was surprised at how good they were! I even used regular whole wheat flour since I couldn’t find the wheat pastry flour. I wasn’t expecting much after tasting the batter, but once baked they were awesome! My 3 year old helped me make them and he said they were the best cupcakes in the whole wide world! lol We also made your buffalo chicken rolls the other day and loved them too! I’m loving your blog, thank you for sharing!
Wow, this cupcake is absolutely amazing! I would have never imagined that a cupcake without oil, butter or eggs could taste this yummy!
I love the way you give us a step-by-step explanation of how to prepare each dish. Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone!
If you don’t mind, I shared this recipe in my blog
I’m excited to give these a shot! They look delicious, and hey, they’re healthy! But I do have a question, do I need to add apple cider vinegar, or can that be an option?