These Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes were a big hit with guests when I made them for a friend’s wedding. They’re a great option for those who are not able to eat sugar!
Years ago, my son’s kindergarten teacher asked me to make cupcakes for her wedding. I made a lot of white wedding cake cupcakes, but she wanted me to make a dozen that were sugar free for some guests who couldn’t have sugar. I baked some chocolate cupcakes with Splenda, and she was very happy. Alternative sweeteners have gotten better over the years, so we just recently re-tested this recipe using monk fruit sweetener and we found that this type of sweetener was a nice improvement for the taste of these sugar free chocolate cupcakes.
Ingredients needed:
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- boiling water
- sifted cake flour
- Monk Fruit zero calorie sweetener (brand recommendations are included in the recipe)
- baking soda and salt
- butter
- eggs
- milk
- vanilla extract
How to make Sugar Free Cupcakes:
The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.
Remove from the pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
Frost your sugar free chocolate cupcakes with sugar free chocolate frosting. These are a delicious cupcake for the sugar free crowd. Enjoy!
You might be interested in this post: How to make Wedding Cupcakes, where I included all of the information needed for making your own wedding cupcakes.
Sweetener Notes:
We used Better Body Foods Monk Fruit Zero Calorie Sweetener for this recipe. It’s a Monk Fruit Erythritol blend. Other brands are Splenda Monk Fruit and Lakanto. They are all available at Walmart. We tested the recipe with Walmart brand Good Value Stevia and there was too much of a chemical taste. We did not test the recipe with any other kinds of alternative sweeteners.
The Best Cupcake Recipes:
- Margarita Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Pina Colada Cupcakes
- Pink Strawberry Cupcakes
- Pink Champagne Cupcakes
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe Details
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup boiling water
- 1½ cups sifted cake flour (sift, then measure)
- 1 cup Monk Fruit Zero Calorie Sweetener (SEE NOTES BELOW)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers.
- In a small bowl, combine the cocoa powder and boiling water, whisking until blended and smooth; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, monk fruit sweetener, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and mix with an electric mixer until the mixture is crumbly.
- In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk, cocoa mixture and vanilla. Add ⅓ of the wet mixture to the dry mixture. Beat on low speed with electric mixer until blended. Beat at medium speed for an additional 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth (scrape down sides of bowl, as needed). Repeat two more times, until all the wet mixture has been added.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake pan. Fill 10 cupcakes for a fuller cupcake, or 12 for smaller cupcakes.
- Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the pan; cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
- Sweetener Notes: We used Better Body Foods Monk Fruit Zero Calorie Sweetener for this recipe. It's a Monk Fruit Erythritol blend. Other brands are Splenda Monk Fruit and Lakanto. They are all available at Walmart.
I have been baking with Splenda for years but have bee trying other sugar substitutes that are diabetic friendly really love swerve they make both confectioners and granular can made English toffee that sugar eaters couldn’t tell the difference also Xyla I’ve made donuts, ice cream and ice cream sandwiches no after taste with either of these products like you get with Splenda . I also use 1:2 almond flour 1/2 regular flour to cut carbs
I was asked to do a sugar free cake for a bday. I’m not a good cake person. I make everything into cupcakes. This time I turned the cupcakes into a cake! I used a 9′ round. I just watched my bake time carefully. I had to double the recipe in order to not have the cake back to thin. I used Trivia baking blend and only 3\4cup for a single recipe. I also used coffee instead of water. It was delicious!
I made a frosting out of sugar free chocolate pudding,cream cheese and sugar free whipped cream! It Was Amazing!
Happy to hear!
I’m excited to try this recipe. My son is turning 1 soon and my 5 year old is a type 1 diabetic so I’ve been trying to find a good cupcake recipe to keep the carbs cut back a bit.
Thank you – my favorite Aunt is coming over to visit & she has a sweet tooth plus is diabetic. I want to give her something she enjoys and I will certainly try this recipe.
hi this sounds like an awesome cupcake.
i just had stomach surgery and im not aloud to have sugar so im deffinetly gonna make these with the recipe for sugar free frosting 🙂
thanks for the recipe.I will make this cake for my fathers birthday.
Just popped some in the oven for my mother who’s diabetic, have to say looks yummy already! 🙂
Hello! I am so glad to see other brides requesting sugar free cupcakes! I too am making sugar free cupcakes, 1 dozen, per a brides request. Although, Spenda isn’t good for anyone to eat because of the asparteme. I use two, all natural prodcucts found and made naturally. They are called Xylitol and coconut palm sugar. Both work great in baking with no funny aftertaste. I grind the Xylitol up to a powder, add cornstarch, and use that for my sugar free powdered sugar. Makes a wonderful sugar-free pwdered sugar. Nex time you need to make sugar free cupcakes, I would give them a try. Your cupcakes are beautiful!
Love these! Needed sugar free cupcakes for à wedding tomorrow (bride’s dad is diabetic) and I was an absolute “deer in THE headlights” as far as diabetic foods / cakes are concerned! Just made them and they are GREAT! Thanks à bunch for posting this recipe!!!
Greetings from South Africa!!!
HI! I made tthese not long ago for my Daughter Abigial who has sever exczema and MRSA she isnt Allowed sugar! she loved them@ i use Nativa and only 1/2 cup instead of whole cup as very sweet! I will be makeing them tonight for her 7th birthday on 19th dec and melt sugar free chocolate to dribble on top of cupcake .with sugar free candy on top!
ill put them in cupcake cases and stand on cupcake stand . as birthday cake!
thank you its hard getting sugar free stuff!especiqlly for child!Ruth
i am 12 and have had diabetes since i was 5 and love sweet things but cant often have them so im always looking for a good sugar free recipe to try so this realy helps me out
I tried this recipe a few weeks ago.. I love love loved them am making another batch of cupcakes today… thank You so much..
I made these for a fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association here in Anchorage. They are amazing even with out the frosting! Thanks for sharing the recipe and I LOVE your website.
Happy to hear they worked out!
**Well I have been looking for a “good” sugar free cup cake for my hubby for a long time and I have to say this one is very good. I made a few changes, (1) I put a 1/2 of brewed coffee in place of that boiling water,(you can smell it but can’t taste it,) to bring out the choc. flavor even more.(2) I made a hole into thefinished cooked cupcakewith a small melon baller and mixed up some sugar free chioc. pudding using some light cream not milk and after it was set I filled the cake holesover the top alittle and put that little plug of cake back in it just made a choc fudgey topping to drissel over them. I used 2oz. of unsweeten baking choc. (chopped) and 1/4 c. of lite cream and microwave in short times til melted and shinny then add 2 tblsp. of splenda and splash of vanilla stir well and taste for sweetness. then drizzle by spoons full to cover top of cake. it is almost as good as the hostess cup cake topping of choc. fudge.. try it if you love choc and cant use sugar this is for you.
thanks for the recipe
my hubby is in love for the treats I have made him and next I will try for a vanilla
a friend Lorna Deane 3-7-11
@Lorna Deane, Thanks for the tips! Very helpful for those who may wish to try this one 🙂
I just made these at the request of a client. I doubled everything the recipe called for because they requested 2 dozen. I tried to QC one and the first bite was okay. I had a deep “sugar” aftertaste so I tried a second bite and wow…this is almost too sweet. Next time I will cut back on the Splenda and the vanilla. Very nice texture though. Very light and fluffy. Make sure you fill the cup completely to have nice full cupcakes.
@Karolyn Hampton, Thanks so much for your feedback. It’s so tough to work w/ Splenda- the results are never very good. Will try cutting back the splenda next time I have to make these!
I made these last July for my daughter’s first birthday party. Everyone loved them – most of them couldn’t even tell they were sugar-free!
I made these cupcakes for my husband and his family who are diabetics. My husband wasn’t able to finish a whole cupcake. He told my that they were horrible. I had to apologize to my family. My husband said they were too bitter and had no sweetness to them.
Thank you! I’m making cupcakes for Easter and though I was told I didn’t need to bring anything sugar free (three diabetics will be there) and I wanted to make some for them. This is perfect.
I am so glad you posted this…I just got a request from a bride for a small splenda cake and was dreading finding one to use. This sounds perfect!
I can’t eat sugar and I have been using Splenda for many years now. Of course I prefer sugar, but I gain a lot of weight if I have it. Diabetes runs in family and I want to be carefulas well.
I don’t follow the intructions listed in the Splenda box.
For a 2 cups flour cake, I only use 4 TBSP of Splenda, otherwise I cannot handle the taste.
Normally I don’t like sweet treats too sweet, than it works for me.