It totally depends on the cupcake of course, but keto cupcakes can have less than 5g of net carbs, while fully loaded filled cupcakes with a ton of frosting on top can have way more. No matter what calorie diet you’re on, you can find a chocolate cupcake that works for you!
Can you watch your carbs and still eat chocolate cupcakes?
Yes! Chocolate lovers, take a deep breath and relax – you can get your chocolate fix even if you’re on a low carb diet. That delicious, complex chocolate flavor comes from the pod of the cacao plant, which once extracted typically takes the form of unsweetened cocoa powder. Most of the carbs in chocolate desserts comes from added sugar so the good news is that there’s no need for an artificial chocolate substitute. Most low carb cupcakes recipes make adjustments around the sugar and the carb-containing flour but stick to the real thing when it comes to the chocolate.
What about the carbs in fillings and frosting?
The same goes for chocolate frosting, which is also usually flavored using cocoa powder. Chocolate flavored or not, the bulk of the carbs in frosting comes from the other ingredients.
- Buttercream frosting carbs are in the powdered sugar, butter and milk. You’ve probably seen regular (granulated) sugar substitutes but did you know there is such a thing as zero-calorie (so zero carb!) powdered sugar? It’s true! Most grocery stores have expanded their baking ingredient aisles to include these low carb options, but if yours hasn’t yet you can order it online by searching ‘zero calorie powdered sugar’, and you’ll see choices like Truvia, a stevia-based powdered sugar substitute.
- Cream cheese frosting recipes can be adjusted for how much sugar you use. The tanginess of the cream cheese is a great counterpoint to the sweetness of a cupcake. In fact, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting is one of the top cupcake flavor combinations! And of course, you can use a sugar substitution here just like you can for buttercream.
- The difference in the spectrum of nonfat milk or skim milk to heavy cream is the amount of fat in the milk. Skim milk has less fat but it still contains lactose, the natural sugar found in milk.
You’ve got to add the total carbs for the cupcake, filling, and frosting to get a true accounting of all of the carbs.
The cake recipe for chocolate cupcakes is typically a combination of flour, eggs, oil, salt, cocoa powder, and baking soda or powder. Fancier recipes might add buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt or pudding mix for different texture, flavor or moistness of the cake.
Most of the carbs in the cake recipe comes from the flour, so lower carb flour options like almond flour can make a big difference if you’re trying to keep the carb count down.
Be sure and read the nutrition information on the ingredients to understand if this is where more carbs than you think are sneaking into your cupcakes.
If you’re trying to eat a healthier diet but still have a cupcake here and there, homemade cupcakes are probably your best option. In any large city you can find at least one or two bakeries that offer low carb chocolate cupcakes, and many popular brands have a version. Fun fact, chocolate cupcakes are by far the most common low carb cupcake to be found.
But we have to give a mention to additives and preservatives found in commercial options. We don’t think there’s a point to watching carbs if the tradeoff is a bunch of junk chemicals.
Here’s an example of what’s in a commercially made chocolate cupcake:
Hostess Chocolate Cupcake Nutrition Facts
Total fat 6g
- Saturated Fat 2.5g
- Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 5mg
Sodium 240mg
Total Carbohydrates 29g
- Dietary Fiber 1g
- Total Sugars 19g
- Includes 19g Added Sugars
Protein 1g
Vitamin D 0mcg
Calcium 110mcg
Iron 1.3mg
Potassium 0mg
Hostess Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that ingredients be listed in the order of predominance, meaning ingredients used the most down to ingredients used the least.
The maker doesn’t have to give away the exact proportions of their secret recipe but consumers may want to know what is in any particular food product in case of food allergies, as part of a weight loss effort or for general nutrition advice.
Here are the ingredients of Hostess chocolate cupcakes:
Sugar – common sugar is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose.
Water
Enriched Flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate or reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid) – the bran and germ is removed from regular flour, so iron and B vitamins are added back.
High fructose corn syrup – made from corn starch, some proportion of glucose has been enzymatically converted to fructose.
Palm oil – a vegetable oil derived from the palm tree. Palm oil contains about the same amount of saturated fat as butter.
Corn syrup – also from corn starch, corn syrup is 100% glucose.
Cocoa – chocolate!
Soybean oil – a vegetable oil derived from the soybean plant.
Tallow – a form of rendered animal fat.
(2% or less):
- glycerin – used to retain moisture
- cocoa processed with alkalai
- modified cornstarch – used for texture
- baking soda – to help the batter rise when baked
- salt – also known as sodium chloride
- corn starch – a carbohydrate extracted from the endosperm of corn
- dextrose – a simple sugar made from corn and chemically identical to glucose
- whey – a protein found in milk
- hydrogenated tallow
- inulin – a type of fiber found in certain plant foods, most commonly chicory
- egg
- calcium carbonate – contains calcium and acts as a preservative
- sorbic acid and potassium sorbate (to retain freshness)
- calcium sulfate – another source of calcium
- enzymes
- egg whites
- mono and diglycerides
- sodium acid pyrophosphate – used to adjust the pH, maintain color and improve water-holding capacity
- cottonseed oil
- natural and artificial flavors
- sodium stearoyl lactylate – adds softness and extends the shelf life of dough
- agar – a natural vegetable gelatin
- xanthan gum – a food stabilizer and thickener
- soy lecithin – a natural emulsifier used as an antioxidant and flavor protector
- polysorbate 60 – an emulsifier
- cellulose gum – insoluble plant fiber used to improve texture and mouthfeel
- locust bean gum – natural plant-based fiber used as a thickener
- monocalcium phosphate – helps the batter rise without yeast
- titanium dioxide – for color
- disodium phosphate – used to thicken, stabilize and maintain moisture
- sunflower oil – vegetable oil derived from sunflower seeds
- chocolate liquor – a semi-liquid form of pure chocolate
- defatted soy flour – prevents food from getting stale
This list is quite different from the typical homemade cupcake ingredient list isn’t it? We’re not picking on Hostess here – many popular brands of cupcakes use similar additives to prolong the shelf life of their cupcakes.
Nutrition facts for your favorite brand of chocolate cupcakes
You can find a detailed list of nutrition facts for the most popular brands of cupcakes over on My Food Diary, including keto choices.
Fun Facts About Cupcakes
- National Cupcake Day is December 15th!
- The first mention of the description of a cupcake can be traced back to 1796 in a recipe written by Amelia Simmons in American Cookery.
- Until the 1920s, cupcakes were not decorated with frosting. Nowadays you can find frosting in pretty much every flavor.
- About 770,000,000 cupcakes are eaten in the United States every year.
- Originally, cupcakes were baked in heavy pottery cups, small coffee mugs, individual ramekins, and other small pottery-type dishes.
Did you a chocolate cupcake that works for you? Comment below!