Fluffy keto chocolate cupcakes are made with coconut flour and frosted with a generous amount of creamy, delicious peanut butter frosting.
These delicious cupcakes are made with coconut flour. They are amazing! Wonderfully fluffy and sweet. The frosting is superb.
Even my teenage kids, who don't eat a keto or a low-carb diet, love these cupcakes. And this is the best compliment a keto baker can hope for! 🧁
The perfect keto birthday treat
The first time I made these keto chocolate cupcakes, it was for my husband's birthday. He loves the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. It's his favorite.
Back in his high carb days, his favorite candy was Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. These days, he loves my keto peanut butter bars.
But for his birthday, I wanted a cake or cupcakes. I experimented quite a bit until I reached perfection, and I'm glad that I didn't give up.
These cupcakes are wonderful. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! (By the way, these vanilla keto cupcakes, made with almond flour, are excellent too).
The ingredients you'll need
Here's an overview of what you'll need to make these keto chocolate cupcakes. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below:
Eggs: I use large eggs in most of my recipes, this one included.
Unsalted butter: I love using European butter, it's so flavorful.
Whole milk: Or use heavy cream if you oppose to using milk in keto recipes.
Sweetener: I use stevia glycerite. You might be able to replace that with a granulated sweetener, but I haven't tried that.
Vanilla extract: Try to use the real thing - pure vanilla extract - and not the artificially flavored stuff.
Coconut flour: It's extremely absorbent, so try to measure it by weight if you can.
Cocoa powder: Use a natural cocoa powder in this recipe (not Dutch-processed).
Kosher salt: If using fine salt, use half the amount listed.
baking soda: If you'd like to try using gluten-free baking powder (though I haven't tested it in this recipe), remember that ¼ teaspoon of baking soda is equivalent to 1 teaspoon of baking powder.
For the frosting: Cream cheese, powdered peanut butter, and a sweetener.
How to make keto chocolate cupcakes
It's so easy! Scroll down to the recipe card for the detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:
1. Mix the cupcake ingredients by hand, using a hand whisk, in the order listed. I usually start with the liquid ingredient, then gradually add the dry ingredients. The baking soda is added last, to ensure it doesn't lose its potency.
2. Divide the mixture between six greased foil liners. For some reason, the batter sticks to paper liners but not to foil liners.
3. Bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes at 350°F.
4. Cool them completely on a cooling rack before frosting.
How to make the peanut butter frosting
The peanut butter frosting is creamy and decadent, and you get quite a bit of it on each cupcake!
Another good frosting is this Greek yogurt frosting, and this basic vanilla keto cream cheese frosting is excellent. Sometimes I use this keto chocolate mousse as frosting. But I really like the peanut butter frosting with these cupcakes.
I make the frosting with PB2 (powdered peanut butter), which I buy at Whole Foods and is also widely available online. While you can certainly make frosting using real peanut butter, it's the ease of blending the PB2 into the frosting that makes me choose it in this recipe.
To make the frosting, I simply whisk the ingredients by hand until fluffy, adding a bit of water if needed.
How to sweeten keto chocolate cupcakes
I sweeten these cupcakes with stevia glycerite (product link provided below in the recipe card). I like this sweetener because it nearly eliminates the bitter aftertaste typical to stevia.
The amount of stevia I use is equal to ½ cup of sugar. You can experiment with a granulated sweetener if you wish and see if it works.
15g carbs per cupcake - is that keto?
It's true that a generously frosted cupcake has 15g carbs. But it also has 6g fiber. One way to lower the carb count is to replace the milk with heavy cream.
I'm not a fan of this option because it only shaves 1g of carbs off, while significantly increasing calories. I like to keep my dessert calories low - that's why I use reduced-fat cream cheese in the frosting.
I provided the nutrition info for both options (milk and heavy cream) below in the recipe card. Alternatively, you can try using water instead of milk.
Use a natural cocoa powder in this recipe
Since this recipe relies on baking soda as a leavening agent, you should use natural cocoa powder, and not Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
The Dutched cocoa powder is not acidic so it won’t react with the baking soda, and the keto chocolate cupcakes will be flat rather than fluffy.
If you only have Dutch-processed cocoa powder, you should substitute 2 teaspoons of baking powder for the ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
Use foil liners
It's been my experience that coconut flour muffins and cupcakes stick pretty badly to paper liners, even if well-greased, but they don't stick to greased foil liners.
This was very noticeable when I made these keto lemon poppy seed muffins. But it happens with other coconut flour baked goods as well. So I highly recommend that you use foil liners when making this recipe.
What about leftovers?
Once completely cool, leftovers of these keto chocolate cupcakes keep well in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 3-4 days. Do take them out of the fridge 30 minutes before you plan on enjoying them.
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Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes:
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons stevia glycerite (equals ½ cup sugar)
- ½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup coconut flour (56 grams)
- ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
- ⅛ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Frosting:
- 8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
- 8 tablespoons powdered peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon (scant) stevia glycerite (equals about ¼ cup powdered sugar)*
- 1-2 tablespoons water, if needed
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 6 muffin cups with foil (not paper) liners, and grease the liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs. One by one, whisk in the butter, milk, stevia, and vanilla.
- Mix in the coconut flour, then the cocoa powder, kosher salt, and baking soda.
- Using a 4-tablespoon ice cream scoop, transfer the batter to the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake until set and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.
- Cool the cupcakes completely, about 30 minutes on a cooling rack, before frosting.
- To make the frosting, place the cream cheese, PB2, and stevia in a medium bowl. Whisk until completely blended, light and fluffy. You can also mix the frosting in your food processor. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water, if needed, to achieve a creamy consistency.
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Remove them from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.
NOTES
NUTRITION PER SERVING
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 