Guilt-Free Chocolate Cupcake

this is hands down THE BEST guilt-free CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE RECIPE i have ever tried. first and formost i must thank Stephchow for this fabulous fat free treat. recently she posted about her Chocolate Cream Pie and she mentioned that she used this cupcake recipe for the cake layers. well, i can't thank her enough for linking to an older post of hers that led me to this chocolate cupcake recipe.


for the photo i dressed them up a bit. of course the added peanuts and the dollop of Nutella adds a bit of the guilt back in, but it looks cute. the chopped peanuts are worth the extra calories, but i swear these don't really need a thing. oh...and i wanted to mention that they really were best the day of baking. i had one the next day and while it was still good, over the top guilt free good...it was best the day of. maybe if i had wrapped them tighter over night they would have kept that just baked texture.......hmmmm. i shall be more careful next time.

as you can see in the photos, i chose to try the wonder batter in a mini cake pan and it works just fine, really cute. i think it might work in any size pan. stephchow shows that it works in a 8" for a regular cake size so i think it's pretty flexible, just watch your cooking time...oh...and the recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes. mine made 6 cupcakes and 2 mini loaves, which i think translates to about 10 FULL cupcakes. i like a cupcake thats pushin' over the edge. the first one should be big enough so i don't feel the need for a second. hmph!...yeah right...who am i kidding. the problem with these is they're so guilt-free you think you can have 10! they're healthy and everything, but watch it...they are that good...mmmm...specially right out of the oven...i have to go make more today !


GUILT-FREE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

from STEPHCHOW. click HERE for original post and check out the other goodies she makes with a heathy spin.

Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 12)

1 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup splenda blend for baking

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup Hershey's 100% Cocoa Special Dark

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

dash salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chocolate chips (i used semi-sweet chips)

1 tsp cocoa and 1 tsp powdered sugar to dust cupcake tops

Preheat over to 350 F

Mix apple sauce, splenda, vanilla, beat in egg. In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon. Add flour mixture to wet mixture a little at a time, stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into 12 silicon muffin cups (or lightly greased cupcake tins)

Bake for about 20 minutes or until tops are firm to touch. Dust with cocoa/powdered sugar mixture.
MY NOTES........i used 6 baking cups (should have used silicone) and 2 mini loaf tins.

things i added...

approx 2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped roasted, salted virginia peanuts

AND 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (maybe a touch more)