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Chocolate Whole Wheat Olive Oil Cupcakes are going to be a staple in your home for your chocoholics. There are just some foods that certain people can’t give up. Chocolate is often one of them. If you are a chocolate lover but need to watch your diet, give this chocolate cake with whole wheat flour, coconut sugar, and olive oil a try. If you’re watching your cholesterol, you can use most egg replacement products to mix into the batter and it doesn’t affect the taste of this cake.
This recipe is adapted from the Deep Dark Chocolate Cake recipe by Hershey’s. This cake is what my mom made all the time for bake sales, parties, you name it. It was often requested by friends and family because it was so good! Now that I’m older and have several family members with diabetes, we’ve made a conscious decision to eat less white flour.
If your family is not so open to such a change, you can easily swap the whole wheat flour for white flour or a combination of the two. But honestly, you can’t tell much of the difference with the whole wheat flour if you are not used to eating baked goods made with whole wheat. Some people have told me that there’s a deeper umami (savory) flavor compared to other chocolate cakes. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to help your loved ones with a less processed baked good that might even help to keep your blood sugar from spiking too high.
Health Benefits: Chocolate
So many people tout the health benefits of dark chocolate – antioxidants in dark chocolate, delicious taste, feel–good mood food, you name it. Recent studies and articles have renewed concerns about the high levels of toxic metals like lead and cadmium in various forms of chocolate. Cocoa powder, the purest form of chocolate, has the highest concentration of these heavy metals. Because the human body has trouble getting rid of these toxic metals, they just stay there and accumulate! Some foods like garlic might be able to help clean the metals out of the body, but more studies are needed to confirm this.
Consumer Reports published an article in December 2023 that confirmed high levels of toxic metals in many chocolate products out on the market. Eat This Not That wrote about the safest chocolate products out there, one of which is Navitas Organics Organic Cacao Powder. I was lucky to get it for a great price at Costco. You can visit Amazon’s website to get the details or buy some if you want to immediately switch to a safer chocolate product.
Health Benefits: Coconut Sugar
Coconut sugar is supposed to be slightly better for you than white granulated sugar because it is less processed. Coconut sugar is brown because it still has the nutrients from the sap of the coconut palm tree that naturally occurs. However, it still has the same amount of sweetness and calories, so it’s still an occasionally used sweetener in our house.
It is becoming easier to find coconut sugar in grocery stores. Hopefully if we all are intentional with our sugar choices we can help to make the cost of coconut sugar lower with the increased demand making coconut sugar production more lucrative and prevalent in the world. Check out the coconut sugar I used in the Amazon Affiliate link above.
If your coconut sugar is a little clumpy, a stainless steel mesh strainer and the back of a spoon will do just the trick to help you break up those larger pieces for smooth mixing into your baked goods. These Cuisinart Mesh Strainers will last you a lifetime:
Desserts and Portion Control
Instead of making a large cake, I love to make cupcakes. Cupcakes help tremendously with portion control. It’s hard to say no to an entire slice of a two-layer cake that is sometimes more than twice the size of a cupcake. Making cupcakes once can let you have a healthy treat for months as these cupcakes freeze well unfrosted for up to three months. This way you only bake once and have a weekly treat that will not break the bank and save you from the temptation of grocery store or bakery desserts with may more saturated fat and sugar.
Of course, don’t let me stop you from baking a cake. Sometimes you just need a cake.
Keep those sweet cravings at bay with these healthier-for-you dessert recipes.
Chocolate Whole Wheat Olive Oil Cupcakes
Equipment
- 2 12-cup muffin pans
- 24 cupcake liners optional
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 Large bowl with pouring lip preferred
- 1 large stainless steel mesh strainer optional
- 1 whisk or electric hand mixer
- 1 coffee mug microwave safe
- 1 spatula
- 1 stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
- olive oil spray or canola oil spray
- 1 ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder packed
- 1 ¾ cup coconut sugar or palm sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
- 1 recipe Lower Fat Cream Cheese and Whipped Cream Frosting
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake pan with liners and spray with olive oil spray. Grease and flour pan(s) if making a cake.
- Stir flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. If you have clumps of coconut sugar, you can use a fine mesh strainer to sift the ingredients together, so they are well blended. Then use the back of a spoon to push the clumps of sugar through the strainer to breakup the big clumps.
- Add milk, eggs, olive oil, and vanilla extract and beat with a whisk or electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be very thick.
- Microwave water in coffee mug for 90 seconds. Add hot water to the batter and mix well to combine. The batter will become very watery.
- Pour batter into the pans or cupcake pan. Scrape any batter clinging to the bowl with a spatula.
- For cupcakes: bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick poked through the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 24 cupcakes.
- For 9” round pans: bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick poked through the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes.
- For 13” x 9” x 2” baking pan: bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick poked through the middle comes out clean.
- While the cupcakes are cooling, put softened cream cheese and sugar into a mixer with a whisk attachment. You can also place it in a bowl and use a hand mixer. Mix on medium speed for about 3 minutes until slightly whipped. Add heavy whipping cream to bowl. Mix/whisk on medium-to-medium-high speed for about 5 minutes until it looks like it doubled in volume. Makes 4 cups of frosting.
- Once the cupcakes are cool, frost with the cream cheese and whipped cream frosting. Use about 2 tablespoons of frosting per cupcake. You will have about ½ cup of frosting leftover.
