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!

sugar free chocolate cupcakes

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 displayed for making 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

four photos showing how to make chocolate cupcake batter

How to make Sugar Free Cupcakes:

The complete, printable recipe is at the end of this post.

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.

two photos showing chocolate cupcake batter in pan and then baked

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.

chocolate cupcakes unfrosted

Remove from the pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

piping frosting onto chocolate cupcake

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.

sugar free chocolate cupcake

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.

sugar free chocolate cupcake cut in half

The Best Cupcake Recipes:

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
5 from 3 votes

Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes

These chocolate cupcakes work well for those who can't have sugar. They're even better with the Sugar Free Chocolate Frosting!
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Servings: 12 cupcakes (nutritional info is for cake only)
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Ingredients

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.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupcake, Calories: 194kcal, Carbohydrates: 16g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 63mg, Sodium: 215mg, Potassium: 93mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 423IU, Calcium: 21mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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28 Comments

  1. emily casto says:

    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

  2. LeeAnn Flanders says:

    I tried this recipe a few weeks ago.. I love love loved them am making another batch of cupcakes today… thank You so much..

  3. Sara says:

    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.

    1. Lori Lange says:

      Happy to hear they worked out!

  4. Lorna Deane says:

    **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

    1. Lori Lange says:

      @Lorna Deane, Thanks for the tips! Very helpful for those who may wish to try this one 🙂

  5. Karolyn Hampton says:

    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.

    1. Lori Lange says:

      @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!

  6. Kristina says:

    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!

  7. tiffany says:

    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.

  8. Amber says:

    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.

  9. My Sweet & Saucy says:

    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!

  10. Claudia Lima says:

    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.