Secretly Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes
These secretly healthy chocolate cupcakes are free from white refined sugars and are naturally sweetened. With only a little butter they’re also light and fluffy treats. Great for toddler snacks or desserts.
Servings 10 cupcakes
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana
- ½ cup maple syrup (120 ml)
- 45 grams butter melted
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon natural yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Dry Ingredients
- ¾ cup self-raising flour (90 grams)
- ¼ cup cocoa powder (25 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Cream Cheese Icing
- 220 grams ricotta cheese (just under 1 cup)
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ tablespoon cocoa powder
Instructions
Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat an oven to 180°C or 350°F. Grease a muffin tray or line it with paper cupcake cases.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mash your banana well with a fork.
- Mix in the maple syrup and melted butter. Then beat in the egg and vegetable oil.
- Finally add the vanilla extract and natural yogurt.
- Pour in your dry ingredients to the bowl starting with the self-raising flour. Then add the cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
- Mix until just combined. You should have a thick chocolatey batter.
- Spoon the mixture into each of your cupcake cases until about ⅔ full.
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature while you make the icing.
Cream Cheese Icing
- Mix the ricotta cheese with the maple syrup and cocoa powder until smooth.
- If you can, chill the mixture in the fridge for an hour or so to firm it up.
- Spoon into a piping tool or a plastic food bag with the corner snipped off.
- Hold the bag over a cupcake and push the mixture through the hole while moving it in concentric circles to make swirls of icing.
- Decorate with sprinkles or chocolate chips (optional)