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♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
On our second Valentine’s Day together, my guy and I actually celebrated the night before. We lived in a college town at the time, which meant that at least 75% of the students planned to head downtown for a date, so making a reservation was next to impossible, let alone finding a table without one.
So on February 13, we got a little dressed up and drove over to one of the nicer sushi places. He ordered teriyaki chicken, I chose a smattering of sushi rolls, and we split everything between us. With me being an indecisive person, that was a really sweet gesture from him!
Although the waitress tried to offer us a dessert menu, mentioning green tea ice cream, cheesecake, and fresh fruit, we politely declined. We already had dessert plans elsewhere…
At the Whole Foods bakery next door! One of my high school friends actually worked in the bakery at a different Whole Foods in another town, and she gave me lots of tips on which desserts were the best. So for my sweet treat for Valentine’s Day, I chose the vegan chocolate cupcake because it had some of the fudgiest chocolate frosting I’ve ever eaten.
Are you surprised? (Probably not…)
To prepare for Valentine’s Day this year, I baked cupcakes too, but I swapped out the fudgy frosting for a fruity one. My guy isn’t the biggest fan of chocolate, but since he loves berries, I hoped that would tempt him to at least try at bite. The final result was these Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes!
They start with my favorite dark chocolate cupcake base. Countless readers have baked them, and many have said that they taste better than a bakery’s! These cupcakes are extremely moist and rich, meant for true chocoholics and not so much for the faint-of-chocolate-heart.
The ingredients list is fairly straightforward, but I want to stress one main thing when it comes to mixing up the batter. Alternating additions are mandatory. This means that you mix in some dry ingredients, followed by some milk, and continue switching until you’ve incorporated all of both. Alternating additions prevent over-mixing the batter, which would overdevelop the gluten strands and make your cupcakes tough and rubbery. So keep them tender and moist with alternating additions!
The frosting is one of my all-time favorite things. Because I dislike the taste of powdered sugar, I actually use Greek yogurt as the base for mine! Instead of sugar, the frosting is packed with protein—sneaky, aren’t we?
For the fruit flavor, we’ll use frozen raspberries that have been thawed, puréed, and reduced. You want to reduce the raspberry purée because otherwise, there would be too much liquid in the frosting, which would make it runny.
Combine the yogurt and purée with some instant pudding mix, and the frosting will be stiff enough to pipe for those elegant swirls! And if you have any left over? I highly recommend eating it straight from a bowl with a spoon. It’s mostly Greek yogurt with fruit, so it’s automatically healthy!
So… Is it time for dessert yet?
| Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes | | Print |
- for the cupcakes
- 1 c (80g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured correctly)
- ¾ c (90g) all-purpose flour (measured correctly)
- 2 tsp (9g) baking powder
- ¼ tsp (2g) salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla extract
- ⅔ c (128g) granulated sugar
- ¼ c (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ c (120mL) nonfat milk
- for the frosting
- ⅔ c (93g) frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed
- 2 c (520g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 servings (about 14g) sugar-free, fat-free vanilla instant pudding mix
- 2 tbsp (56g) Truvia (or other sweetener, to taste)
- 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 butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the sugar. Mix in the yogurt, stirring 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.
- While the cupcakes bake, prepare the frosting. Pulse the thawed raspberries until they’re puréed. Add the purée to a small pot, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the purée has reduced by half. Cool completely.
- Add the Greek yogurt, pudding mix, and Truvia to a large bowl, and beat for 2 minutes, or until thickened. Mix in the raspberry purée. Chill for at least 2 hours before piping onto the cooled cupcakes. (If chilling longer, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap.)
You will only need about ¾ of the frosting, which has been taken into account for the Nutrition Information (see link below).
Try to frost the cupcakes just before serving, but if you have any leftovers with frosting, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator (due to the yogurt in the frosting).
This recipe is also easily halved if baking for a smaller crowd!
{low fat, low calorie}
More chocolate raspberry cupcake recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes by Handle the Heat
♥ Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes by Life, Love and Sugar
♥ Raspberry Hot Chocolate Cupcakes by Your Cup of Cake
♥ Chocolate Raspberry Brownie Cupcakes by Love From The Oven
What a clever idea for the frosting!
Thank you so much Maria!
I like the idea of celebrating before the actual day. Or after even. These look so good you could eat them and celebrate ALL WEEK!
Thanks Brittany! I love your idea of all three — before, after, and all week! 😉
Can I just eat the frosting for breakfast?! 🙂 Those are gorgeous cupcakes!
YES! Totally Brianne. I actually did that a few days ago! 😉
HEYYYYYY MAMA. Sharing the ceeeerap out of this amazing recipe.
You’re the BEST Lee — thank you so much!! 🙂
I so love that the frosting on this is made with Greek yogurt!! Chocolate and raspberry desserts are probably my favorite combo when it comes to fancier treats!
Thanks Lisa! I couldn’t agree more about the fancy treat flavor combo. I automatically feel elegant when I’m eating them!
Whole foods would be my perfect date place, seriously! These cupcakes are gorgeous!
Thanks Dorothy! I couldn’t agree more about WF. Love that place!
Made these today and they were SO GREAT! Fresh and light tasting… a sweet treat, but one that I definitely wouldn’t feel guilty about eating for breakfast! 😉
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Andrea! I love your idea of eating them for breakfast… That’s exactly why we’re friends. 😉
Celebrating the night before is so smart! That vegan chocolate cupcake sounds delicious, but this one with its berry frosting is totally up my alley. Your guy and I have similar taste;) Will you be celebrating on the actual day this year? What are your plans?
Thanks Sarah! Oof, I have absolutely no idea what we’re doing for Valentine’s Day yet… But as far as I know, he doesn’t have plans! Hopefully we’ll go out the night before again; I never like competing with crowds. Do you and Lucas have any fun plans yet?
None yet! We never celebrated it before because our anniversary was a week before, but now that we celebrate a wedding anniversary instead, maybe we should start doing Vday again? In the past, we’d each get ingredients to make each other a surprise dish and spend the day cooking together. Maybe we’ll do that again!
I’m a firm believer in the idea that you can never have too many special date nights, even if they are inexpensive and low-key, so I totally think you should start celebrating Valentine’s Day again. I LOVE your idea of spending the day cooking together. That sounds so perfect for you two!
I’ll take a dozen please
That’s quite a compliment; thank you!
Hi Amy!
I LOVE dark chocolate and raspberry so I’m excited to try this recipe, but I’m wondering: I’m gluten free, sugar-free and dairy-free – have you ever tried making these with almond flour, stevia (rather than granular sugar) and coconut yogurt and almond/coconut milk? Maybe I’ll have to experiment and let you know how it goes?? 🙂
I haven’t specifically tried some of those substitutions Darci, but I think they should all work! My preferred GF flour blend for these would be ½ cup millet flour, 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour, 2 tablespoons of almond flour, and ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum. I’ve used that blend to convert other recipes to GF, so I’m fairly confident that will turn out! I’m not a huge fan of stevia, but it should work. If you’re using the powdered kind where 1 teaspoon of stevia is equivalent to 1 tablespoon of sugar (or any other kind that’s sweeter than sugar), you’ll need to add more milk so the batter consistency turns out moist and thick, not dry. And yes, any dairy-free yogurt and milk will work!
Thank you so much Amy. Can’t wait to get in the kitchen!