Seven years ago, I came up with the idea to cook my way through the alphabet. Each week, I planned to prepare a dish that started with the next letter, and it had to be something I had never before tried to make… Or if I had, then I needed to come up with my own recipe entirely from scratch.
When I shared my idea with a close friend, she suggested starting a blog to document my adventure. Although I initially balked at the idea, I eventually called my computer whiz brother, and he patiently walked me through the process.
Seven years ago today, I hit “Publish” on my very first blog post. Twenty-six weeks later, when I finished my Alphabet Adventure, I realized how much I loved spending time in my kitchen, trying new recipes and snapping pictures of the treats and sharing everything on my blog… So I decided to continue.
Because of that decision, I’ve attended numerous conferences and retreats and workshops, gone on live TV, written a cookbook, worked with amazing brands like Bob’s Red Mill and Red Star Yeast… And I even bought a house from the income I’ve earned with Amy’s Healthy Baking as my full-time job.
Crazy, isn’t it? How starting my blog on a whim lead to all of that?
So today is the 7th birthday of Amy’s Healthy Baking—and what better way to celebrate than with these Healthier Funfetti Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting?? They’re tender and sweet, topped with rich chocolaty swirls (I am a chocoholic, after all!), and taste better than anything from a bakery!
And since they’re just 132 calories, including the stunning frosting swirls… I think I just might celebrate with two! ✌?
To make these healthier birthday cupcakes, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour. Yes, white whole wheat flour actually exists—and it’s not a combination of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour! It’s made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. White wheat has a lighter taste and texture, as well as the same exact health benefits of regular whole wheat flour. This makes it perfect for letting the tender texture of baked goods shine, like with these cupcakes!
With just ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil (but I truly prefer the flavor of butter!) and no egg yolks, the rest of their tender texture comes from… Greek yogurt! You knew I was going to say that, right?? I ♡ Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your cupcakes a protein boost too!
You’ll skip the granulated sugar of traditional recipes and sweeten your celebration cupcakes with vanilla stevia, another one of my favorite ingredients! Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean eating friendly!). It’s very concentrated too—you just need 1 tablespoon for the entire dozen! This is the kind I use because I love its warm flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertastes like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, but I buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Of course… You can’t make funfetti cupcakes without the sprinkles! To make these healthier, I used naturally dyed sprinkles (these ones!). No artificial colors whatsoever! Aren’t they pretty?? If you want to use sprinkles already in your cupboard, that’s totally fine! Just make sure they’re jimmies (aka the long, thin ones) and not nonpareils (aka this tiny spheres). The latter will bleed and dissolve and make your batter gray, but jimmies hold their shape and color!
One more important tip! You must coat your cupcakes liners with nonstick cooking spray before adding in the batter! This low-fat batter sticks to cupcake liners like superglue, so that nifty trick ensures your liners peel away from your cupcakes much more easily!
And now for the frosting! Just look at those gorgeous swirls… And they’re easier to create than you think!
The frosting consists of Greek yogurt, cocoa powder (like this!), more vanilla stevia (like this!), and chocolate instant pudding mix (like this!). Yes, instant pudding mix! That’s the secret ingredient that makes the frosting stiff enough to pipe. Without it, your frosting wouldn’t hold its shape, and you’d need to spread it on top of your cupcakes with a knife instead.
Hint: If you want a frosting recipe without instant pudding, try this one of mine! It’s supremely rich and fudgy!
How cute and festive do these cupcakes look?? Perfect for a birthday celebration of any kind! ??? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your cupcakes and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Healthier Funfetti Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting | | Print |
- for the cupcakes
- 2 ¼ cups (270g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla stevia
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup (240mL) nonfat milk
- ¼ cup (48g) naturally dyed sprinkles (see Notes)
- for the frosting
- 2 cups (480g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (20g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 2 servings (16g) sugar-free, fat-free instant chocolate pudding mix (see Notes)
- ⅝ tsp vanilla stevia, or adjusted to taste
- To prepare the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, and coat the liners with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla, and vanilla stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 4 equal parts.) Gently fold in the sprinkles.
- Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners. Bake at 350°F for 20-22 minutes or until the centers feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes bake, prepare the frosting. Add the Greek yogurt, cocoa powder, instant pudding, and vanilla stevia to a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Cover the top of the bowl with foil, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, pipe the chocolate frosting on top just before serving.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
I highly recommend using the vanilla stevia! It’s one of my favorite ingredients (you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine!), and I buy it online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. If you prefer not to use stevia in the cupcakes, substitute ¾ cup (180mL) of agave, honey, or pure maple syrup for the vanilla stevia. Reduce the milk to ¼ cup (60mL) if using any of those liquid sweeteners. (The batter should be fairly thick, similar to muffin batter.) If you prefer not to use the vanilla stevia in the frosting, then substitute 1 ½ teaspoons of this powdered stevia OR ¼ cup of Truvia or granulated sugar.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
For the naturally dyed sprinkles, I used these. (← I ordered them online there too!) You must use jimmies (the long, thin sprinkles) or confetti-style (large circles, stars, or other shapes). Do NOT use nonpareils (the tiny spheres). Nonpareils completely dissolve and turn your cupcake batter gray in color, while the jimmies and confetti-style sprinkles maintain their shape and color.
If you like more sprinkles in your funfetti cupcakes, increase the amount by an additional 1-2 tablespoons!
You just need the dry instant pudding mix—don’t prepare it according to the package directions! For a more classic spreadable (not pipe-able) chocolate frosting that does NOT use instant pudding (and is clean-eating friendly), use this recipe of mine.
{gluten-free, low fat, lower sugar}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
♡ Healthy Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
♡ Healthy Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
♡ Healthy Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes
♡ Healthier Double Chocolate Funfetti Cookies
♡ Healthier Funfetti Cake Batter Granola Bars
P.S. The Funfetti Cupcake cake batter in the Lightning McQueen cake pan turned out to be a major hit for this evening’s birthday party!! 🙂 I also used one of your Greek yogurt/pudding mix vanilla frosting recipes to decoratively pipe the cake with a star-tip, and it turned out super cute and yummy. The best part is that I can feel good about feeding this pretty cake to my family, because of its healthier qualities–like so many of your recipes that we use. Thank you for developing and sharing this recipe–and for personally helping me adapt it for this occasion!!
YAY!!! Oh my goodness, my heart is SO happy right now — it’s about to leap out of my chest! I’m so glad the cake was a huge hit, and I’m truly honored that you used one of my frosting recipes to decorate it. I think I should ask you to make my birthday cake this year! 😉 I can’t wait to hear what recipe you and your family try next!
Which brand of nonfat plain Greek yogurt is the best one for your recipes?
My current favorite is Fage, especially for frosting! It seems to be the thickest of the Greek yogurt brands I’ve tried, so it holds its shape the best in my frosting recipes. 🙂 Chobani also works well, and I’ve also been known to buy whatever is on sale, especially if I’m using it inside of batter, rather than just for making frosting. 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cupcakes Heather!
Thank you a lot for this recipe!!!! My girlfriend would like to transform this into a cake. Could you please tell me how can we adapt the recipe so we can make it into a cake? 😊
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Gabriela! I actually don’t recommend using this recipe to make a standard round cake or layer cake. This is because pan sizes can actually affect how recipes turn out, especially ones made with stevia instead of sugar.
With stevia-sweetened recipes, pans that are too wide will often result in sunken middles. This is because sugar actually contributes to the structure of cakes, not just sweetness. The sugar molecules become intertwined with the other molecules (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, gluten [a protein], etc) to form the structure of the baked goods. When you remove the sugar molecules, it’s like removing mortar from a brick chimney… It’ll all fall apart!
So recipes sweetened with stevia (or many other no-calorie sweeteners!) will lack that structural component, and if the pans are too wide, the cakes will sink. (Unfortunately, I’ve learned this from personal experience when I’ve tried baking my cupcake recipes inside of 9″-round, 9″-square, and 9×13″ cake pans! 😉 )
Does that make sense?
Yikes! Another recipe using Instant Pudding mix and calling it healthy? Look at the ingredients in Instant Pudding mix…
Boo 🙁
Ingredients
Modified Cornstarch, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Maltodextrin, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate And Disodium Phosphate (For Thickening), Contains Less Than 2% Of Natural And Artificial Flavor, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Calcium Sulfate, Xanthan Gum, Mono- And Diglycerides (Prevent Foaming), Aspartame† And Acesulfame Potassium (Sweeteners), Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Artificial Color, Bha (Preservative). � Phenylketoneurics: Contains Phenylalanine
I really appreciate your interest in this recipe of mine too April! I’ve actually provided an alternative that doesn’t use instant pudding mix in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly under the Instructions). I know how easy it can be to miss that! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cupcakes!