Chocolate Low Carb Cupcakes – Nutella Frosting

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Deliciously moist low carb chocolate cupcakes with a sugar free Nutella frosting. Made with gluten-free coconut flour, a secret ingredient makes them moist.

I’ve been having some cake cravings lately. I think I just browse to many yummy recipes on Pinterest and probably saw a few to many tasty cakes. It’s tough for me to resist eating more cake than I should so I scaled these down to cupcakes.

I used my German Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipe as a base for these cupcakes. It’s the best chocolate cake recipe I have, but it’s often passed up by those who don’t care for the pecan frosting.

The secret to making these delicious and super moist low carb gluten free chocolate cupcakes is adding finely grated zucchini to the batter. If you use just coconut flour, the cake can tend to be a little dry. But, using shredded and drained zucchini ensures you’ll get a moist cake every time.

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For the frosting, I used a 100% natural sugar free hazelnut chocolate spread called Nutilight to make a yummy low carb Nutella frosting. I received a jar in my March 2016 Keto Krate box. If you don’t like hazelnut or have a nut allergy, you can just top the cupcake with a plain chocolate frosting.

You’ll get about 8 cupcakes from the recipe. To bake a one layer cake, you’d need to double the recipe. For a two layer cake, the recipe would need to be tripled or quadrupled.

I used the fine grate side of my box grater to get the zucchini shredded into tiny pieces. I used a whole medium sized zucchini. It’s grated so fine that no one will even know there’s zucchini in the chocolate cupcakes.

I usually don’t bother using cupcake liners because I have a stoneware muffin pan that has been seasoned. However, I had some cute cupcake papers in the pantry so I decided to use them.

For me, buttercream is the only frosting to put on a cake. Whipped cream based frostings are okay, but using a butter base has much more flavor. Adding the hazelnut spread adds a nice touch.

If you don’t have the hazelnut spread, you could make your own or just sub in cocoa and a sweetened flavored syrup or a couple drops of a flavored stevia concentrate. You could probably even use peanut or almond butter instead.

I guarantee this is one of the best, if not the best low carb chocolate cake you will ever try. It’s nut-free and dairy-free so it can be served to those with these common allergies.

These low carb chocolate cupcakes are so good, your kids will never know they have a veggie snuck in. And, they are way healthier than the sugar loaded cupcakes most kids eat these days.

I know my family of non-lowcarbers would never know these are low carb cupcakes. They are perfect for diabetics, too. Most of the sugar-free cake mixes marketed towards diabetics are loaded with food additives and artificial ingredients. Not these tasty low carb chocolate cupcakes!

These yummy gluten free chocolate cupcakes with hazelnut chocolate frosting did not last long in my house. I’m glad I only got eight cupcakes out of the recipe so I didn’t over indulge! I still have a lot of the Nutilight spread left in the jar so I’ll have to find more recipes to use it in. I suppose I could just eat it plain out of the jar on spread on a slice of Soul Bread!

Low Carb Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

3 from 1 vote

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Chocolate Cupcakes - Nutella Frosting

Deliciously moist low carb chocolate cupcakes with a sugar free Nutella frosting. Made with gluten-free coconut flour, a secret ingredient makes them moist.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 8 cupcakes

Calories 235 kcal

Author Lisa | Low Carb Yum

Ingredients

CAKE:

• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup Swerve or baking sweetener of choice
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil liquified
• 2 large eggs slightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup zucchini finely grated

FROSTING:

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1 ounce cream cheese softened at room temperature
• 1 cup Swerve confectioners or other powdered sweetener
• 1/4 cup Nutilight or other low carb hazelnut chocolate spread
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dash salt

Instructions

CAKE:

1. Stir together coconut flour, cocoa, sweetener, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. Mix in eggs, coconut oil, and vailla extract until well blended.
3. Squeeze any excess moisture out of zucchini by placing it in a clean kitchen towel. Then, stir it into into batter.
4. Divide batter between 8 cupcake mold lined or greased.
5. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean.

FROSTING:

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
2. Gradually beat in the powdered sweetener until well mixed in.
3. Add the hazelnut chocolate spread and beat in.
4. Mix in the heavy cream, vanilla extract and salt and beat to fluffy.

Recipe Notes

Frosting could be reduced to half as there was a lot for the number of cupcakes.
4.0g net carbs per cupcake with 30g erythritol (erythritol can be reduced significantly by reducing frosting amount)

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate Cupcakes - Nutella Frosting

Amount Per Serving (1 g)

Calories 235 Calories from Fat 205

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 22.8g 35%

Saturated Fat 14.2g 71%

Cholesterol 86mg 29%

Sodium 256mg 11%

Total Carbohydrates 9.3g 3%

Dietary Fiber 5.3g 21%

Sugars 0.8g

Protein 3.7g 7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.