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 made the cupcakes today. It turned out very dry. I spooned the cocoa powder and flour into the measuring cup so I think I measured them correctly.
How long do I need to whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla extract for? Just until they are incorporated? I don’t want to give up. I want to make it again. Please advise.
Yes, you just need to whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla until they’re fully incorporated. If the cupcakes were dry, it does sound like there were too many dry ingredients — unless you made any substitutions or decreased the amount of milk, Greek yogurt, or sugar? How was their flavor? Was it dark chocolaty, or were the cupcakes bitter? We’ll figure out what happened so your next batch turns out better Winnie! 🙂
hi amy,
can i reduce the amount of baking powder? what will it do to the cake and how much should i reduce it by? baking powder tends to upset my stomach and 2 tsp for such a small recipe seems like a lot.
I appreciate your interest in my recipe Baylie! I haven’t tried reducing the baking powder in this recipe. If you use less, the cupcakes won’t rise as high and will turn out denser. Does baking soda upset your stomach as well?
Are there any other healthy alternatives besides using greek yogurt? can i use unsweetened apple sauce instead do you think?
Thanks.
Regular yogurt or non-dairy yogurt would be the best substitutes for the Greek yogurt, if you’re able to use those Kalyna! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the cupcakes!
Hi! Made this frosting and it’s super dark and tasty…but wondering if you could add like a little scoop of cream cheese or something to give it tang and cut the bitterness? I love dark chocolate but it’s for my 4 yr old’s chocolate zucchini cake (delicious! My go-to for bday parties) and thought this might need something…. Thanks!
I’m really glad you enjoyed the frosting Joanna! If you’re making if your your 4-year-old’s chocolate zucchini cake, I wouldn’t recommend cream cheese. It would add a tangy-ness, but it wouldn’t cut the bitterness. Instead, I’d recommend replacing the milk with additional agave. 🙂 I’d love to hear how that tweak works for you and your little one!
Fantastic recipe! I made a few substitutions (oat flour for regular flour) and they turned out really well. The icing is amazing too!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cupcakes Michelle! Thanks for letting me know oat flour works — I always love hearing what tweaks turn out well! 🙂
no need to use self raising flour ? so its just all purpose flour that is needed ?
Yes, regular all-purpose flour plus the required baking powder! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cupcakes!
alrights !! thank you !!
is plain flour the same as all-purpose flour ?
If the only ingredient is “flour,” then yes! And regular sugar is the same as granulated sugar, at least here in the US. 🙂
can i use regular sugar instead of granulated sugar ?
I tried this and they’re YUM. The frosting gives it an awesome flavor. My cupcakes came out a little dry though -I am not sure what I did wrong.
The recipe is brilliant and so easy!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cupcakes Riddhi! 🙂 How did you measure the cocoa powder? Did you scoop it directly from the container with your measuring cups, by chance?
No I didn’t. I used your measuring technique.
However I may have put little less than the stipulated Greek yogurt. Could that be the reason?
Definitely!!! Not enough Greek yogurt would totally make these dry. ? How much less do you think you used?
So I didn’t manage to hide the bananas to make the scones… But every cloud has a silver lining, because I discovered this recipe yesterday and smothered one of my chocolate cakes with this frosting! It was SO good and rich. Will definitely recommend this frosting when I post my recipe 🙂
I’m so glad you loved this frosting Cindy!! That means so much to me that you’d recommend it — I’m honored! 🙂 PS I’m a huge fan of silver linings!! 😉