Shortly after Thanksgiving, I stopped by the mailbox to collect our weekly Safeway circular and monthly Comcast bill, nearly bumping into my neighbor and his 8-year-old daughter as they pulled out their own pamphlets and brochures. We exchanged pleasantries as we strolled back towards our driveways, and as we parted, I overheard his little girl advise, “Daddy, you should wish for chocolate cake for after dinner!”
My chocoholic heart smiled.
An hour later, I knocked on their door with a plate of homemade gingerbread, apologizing that it wasn’t the chocolate cake she wanted. My neighbor chuckled a bit and replied, “It’s okay; the kids will be happy to eat it anyway!”
Then two days before Christmas Eve, I spotted the little girl standing beside their front lawn at the end of my afternoon walk. She waved, exclaiming, “Hi Amy!” I knelt down to talk, and she proudly modeled her new sparkly teal ballet flats from Target, purchased just that afternoon for her Christmas Day outfit.
To continue our conversation, I asked, “Are you excited for New Years too?”
“Oh yes,” she responded. “It’s my birthday next month!”
“What day?” I inquired.
“January 26th,” she replied.
When her mom beckoned her back inside, I immediately raced home and circled the date in bright red Sharpie on my calendar, as well as January 12th, giving me a 2-week reminder to develop a chocolate cupcake recipe. Yes, despite my self-proclaimed out-of-control chocoholism, I didn’t actually have a chocolate cake recipe to call my own—and that needed to change!
After tempting lots of you with Instagram pictures, I finally perfected my recipe for Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes! They’re incredibly decadent and intensely chocolaty, topped with a generous layer of rich fudgy frosting. Despite their sinfully indulgent flavor, these cupcakes are secretly skinny—they clock in at less than 200 calories each!
Many luscious chocolate cake recipes require a few more steps—blooming cocoa powder, melting dark chocolate, creaming butter and sugar—but not this one! It’s about as easy as a box mix: just whisk the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. No electric mixer required!
For the dry ingredients, you’ll actually use more cocoa powder than flour. Without any melted chocolate, the cocoa provides all of the chocolate flavor, so you’ll need 1 full cup. (Make sure you measure it correctly, just like with flour!)
I generally prefer my chocolate cakes on the denser side—but not as heavy or thick as brownies—so I added a little extra baking powder to ensure these cupcakes turned out densely airy… If that makes any sense. Not as light as angel food cake, just really moist with lots of teensy tiny air pockets inside.
These low-fat cupcakes only contain 2 tablespoons of oil! The rest of the moisture comes from Greek yogurt, one of my secret weapons in healthier baking. It keeps these cupcakes incredibly tender without adding excess calories. Greek yogurt tends to clump a bit when added to the wet ingredients, so make sure you whisk it in really well.
I mixed in 1 full tablespoon of vanilla extract, which is more than most recipes require. I know, I know… You’re probably scratching your head and thinking, “Amy’s gone crazy! I thought we were baking chocolate cupcakes… Not vanilla!” But the vanilla actually enhances the chocolate flavor, much like the tiny amount of coffee included in other recipes.
To finish the batter, alternate between stirring the dry ingredients and the milk into the egg mixture. This method prevents overworking the flour’s gluten strands. Overworked gluten results in tough, chewy cupcakes instead of the tender texture we want. Just use a fork or wooden spoon—no electric mixer needed!
I highly recommend baking the cupcakes in foil liners, like I used for my original recipe testing (seen in this Instagram picture.). I chose paper liners for these blog photographs, and they soaked up some of the moisture in the batter, leaving the cupcakes’ bottoms slightly drier than in my test batches. Either way, low-fat cupcakes almost always adhere to any kind of liner as if you superglued them together. So spray the liners with nonstick cooking spray—it prevents them from sticking!
I based this fudgy frosting off of my rich dark chocolate truffle recipes. You only need 4 ingredients: cocoa powder, vanilla, milk, and honey or agave. That’s right; no powdered sugar or electric mixer involved (so you won’t end up with that huge white mushroom cloud billowing out of your bowl)! Just stir those 4 things together with a fork until you reach the perfect fudgy consistency; then spread it on top of the cooled cupcakes. So simple!
From their tender texture to their thick fudgy frosting, these Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes simply exude decadence. They’re a chocolate lover’s dream: every intense chocolaty bite melts in your mouth, drawing you back for more until you’ve polished off every moist crumb and luxurious swirl of frosting. With their sinfully rich flavor, nobody will believe these cupcakes are actually healthy!
I knocked on my neighbors’ door with a plate of these cupcakes on Monday, the day after their daughter’s celebration. (I didn’t want to steal the thunder from the cake on her real birthday!) When she saw the treats, her eyes widened and she shyly whispered, “Thank you!”
The entire time, her younger brother giddily jumped up and down beside their mom, finally asking, “Will you bake me chocolate cupcakes for my birthday? With sprinkles?”
These moist cupcakes are a chocolate lover’s dream! They’re really decadent, and the rich fudgy frosting is the perfect finishing touch. Store any leftover cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 4 or 5 days.
- To prepare the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F and place foil cupcake liners in 12 muffin cups. Lightly coat the liners with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the sugar and Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour, and stirring in each until just barely incorporated. (Note: For best results, add the flour in 3 equal portions and the milk in 2 equal portions.)
- Divide the batter between the prepared liners. Bake at 350° for 21 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To prepare the frosting, add the cocoa powder, honey or agave, vanilla, and 8 teaspoons of milk to a medium bowl. Stir until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, continue stirring in the remaining milk until the desired consistency is achieved. Spread on top of the cooled cupcakes.
Notes: I highly recommend foil liners! The cupcakes will stick less and stay moister than if you use paper liners. If you forget to spray the liners (foil OR paper), place the cupcakes in an airtight container for 12-24 hours to help loosen them from the liners.
If you use honey in the frosting, it will have a subtle honey undertone. Agave provides a slightly cleaner chocolate flavor, but both taste equally rich and decadent.
This recipe is also easily halved if baking for a smaller crowd!
I loved these so much! They turned out perfectly and my whole family is in love:) Thank you so much for posting this recipe!!
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the cupcakes Delaney! 🙂
I was v excited about this recipe but the cupcakes turned out very dry. I took them out earlier as well at 19 mins 🙁
I’m sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out as you expected Cherry; that must have been disappointing. If they turned out dry, there was probably too much cocoa powder in the batter. How did you measure that? I’ve found that when I scoop it directly from the container, as opposed to using the spoon and level method (I describe more about that here), I end up with 1.5 times as much cocoa powder. That would definitely cause the texture issue you described!
These cupcakes look soon yummy…… My daughter is going to love it.
Thanks Haydee! I really hope she does, and she’s so lucky that you want to bake them for her. You’re so sweet! 🙂
Hey! These look great! I have a couple of questions though; can I use coconut suga instead of hotmail sugar? Can I use almond flour or oat flour instead of all purpose flour? Can I coconut oil as my vegtable oil? Thanks xx Rosie
Thanks Rosie! Yes to the coconut sugar and coconut oil. I’d recommend white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour over almond or oat flour, if you have either of those. Both of the options that you listed will result in cupcakes with a denser texture. I hope you enjoy them if you try them!
Hi Amy, these cupcakes look amazing. I found your website when I was searching for healthy chocolate frosting recipes. I would like to make this into a double layer cake. Can I just use a standard round pan, double the recipe, and use same temperature and length of time?
Yes, you can definitely convert this recipe to a layer cake! To do so, I’d recommend doubling the recipe but baking it in two round cake pans instead of one. You can bake it at the same temperature, but the baking time may vary. The individual cake layers will be done when the centers feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. I hope you enjoy the recipe Rina!
I don’t have any Greek yogurt, are there any substitutions for Greek yogurt?
Regular yogurt would work just fine Phoebe, if you have that! I hope you enjoy the cupcakes!
I am going to make this recipe for my boyfriend for his birthday, but I want to make it into a rectangle cake. Do you have a pan size preference that would work best for a rectangle cake? Also, it would need to bake longer than the cupcakes right? Thank for your help! I am so excited!!
You’re so kind to bake your boyfriend a homemade cake for his birthday Diana! I’d recommend a 9″-square pan, and yes, the cake may require slightly longer than the cupcakes to bake. I’d still start checking on it around 20 minutes to be safe, and it’ll be done when the center feels firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. I can’t wait to hear what both of you think! 🙂
Thank you for the advice on the pan size and it only needed 20 minutes to bake, even though it was in a cake form!! It was perfect!!! The cake was a HUGE hit!! I used coconut oil, instead of canola oil and I also used coconut nectar, instead of agave for the frosting!! I also used coconut sugar!! I suppose you can gather a theme here… 😉 It was incredible. I took a picture of it to share with you but can’t figure out how to paste it. Oh well…just know it was very good and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it and I didn’t tell them it was a healthier version!! :o)
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it Diana!! I definite sense a theme… And that’s too funny, because I’ll be posting “that” type of version sometime soon! 😉 I’d love to see your picture!! You can either email it to me or share it on Instagram with #amyshealthybaking — I’ll see it either way! 🙂
Hi Amy! I just love the looks of those cupcakes! can I substitute stevia or splenda for sugar in the cupcakes? Thanks 🙂
Yes, you should be able to Sharna! If using granulated Splenda (their cup-for-cup sugar equivalent), use the same amount of that as sugar. The steiva substitute will be a little trickier since it depends on the type of stevia and its sweetness level that you’re using. If using a fairly concentrated stevia (like the vanilla creme stevia or the stevia powder that I love!), then you’ll need to add additional milk (most likely between ½ to ¾ cup) to compensate for the missing volume. I’d love to hear what you try and how the cupcakes out for you! 🙂
Hi! I just came across this post – looks so good!!! How long will the icing last in the fridge?
Thanks! The frosting will last at least a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cupcakes Britt! 🙂
Hi there, can I use applesauce instead of the oil ? Or would they make them too dry ? ?
This looks great ! ??
No, do not use applesauce. The cupcakes would turn out tough and gummy with that substitution. I’m excited to hear what you think of them if you try the recipe! 🙂