If you love chocolate and peanut butter then you are in for a special treat with this rich and creamy peanut butter frosting that is paired with a moist chocolate cupcake. Then for an extra thrill, I top them with low-carb peanut butter cups and you have a decadent sugar-free dessert!

Making Chocolate Cupcakes Low Carb

When it comes to making low-carb and gluten-free cupcakes they are not hard but they do require some of the traditional ingredients to be modified.

You can’t simply look at a cupcake recipe in a cookbook and replace all those ingredients one-for-one with low-carb ingredients. That would result in an epic fail for sure.

I say this because as you may already know, baking with low-carb ingredients takes a little more science along with some trial and error.

I’m sure you’ll also agree that it isn’t fun to have a recipe fail and waste all the valuable ingredients. 

That being said, I’ve done the hard work of figuring out the science part for you on these cupcakes, and thankfully ingredients are pretty easy to find in local grocery stores these days.   

I use my chocolate cake recipe from this Strawberry Cover Chocolate Cake and just used it to make 12 cupcakes instead of a bunt cake.

You can also try your favorite chocolate cake recipe with this Peanut Butter Frosting if you have a recipe you really enjoy.

How To Frost Low-Carb Cupcakes

If you are like me you will agree that the frosting is the best part of any cupcake and making it look pretty is something I enjoy doing.

To frost the cupcakes like the ones in the pictures you’ll need a few simple tools but they are easily found on the cake decorating aisle of your local Walmart or stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels.

These tools are pretty inexpensive and once you purchase them you can use them over and over so you defiantly get your money’s worth of them.

To decorate a cupcake I recommend that you invest in reusable piping bags, one will work in a size 10 or 12 and a frosting tip.

For the tips, I prefer the 1M or a 2D size when decorating cupcakes. These tips are larger and you do not need to have any couplings to use them in your bags.

These tips are easy to use for beginners and will give you a pretty swirling effect on the tops of your cupcakes.

Here’s how you use the bag and tip to frost your cupcakes:

First, prepare your tools by washing your piping bag and tip if they are new. Next, drop your piping tip down into your piping bag and fill your bag with your frosting.

Remember to not overfill it as it will make icing a bit messier and be harder to hold comfortably.

If you would like to see more detailed information on exactly how to fill piping bags then check out this blog post with videos and step-by-step instructions for filling piping bags with and without a coupler.

Now that you have your frosting in your bag it’s time to do a simple swirl on each of the cupcakes. To do this you’ll start by placing your frosting tip in the center of your cupcake.

Gently squeeze the piping bag with your hand as you move your tip around the top of the cupcakes in a circular motion covering the top of the cupcake.

As you finish the first round lift the tip up some to build another layer of frosting on top of the first one to make the icing taller.

Once you’ve added two swirls of frosting stop squeezing the piping bag and slowly lift up the tip from the cupcake and you’ll have a perfectly iced cupcake.

Top the cupcake with a few pieces of sugar-free peanut butter cups like these Lily’s Peanut Butter Cups if desired and you are ready to enjoy some amazing cupcakes!

Can I Use A Keto Storebought Cake Mix

If you want to make this recipe even easier with a shortcut, you could totally use your favorite low-carb or Keto friendly cake mix from your local grocery store.  

Just keep in mind that those store-bought mixes will contain ingredients that not everyone will be on board with. 

However, if you don’t mind them and they work for your way of eating, then I say go for it and use the premade mixes.  

I’m not a huge fan of all the mixes and have only tried the Swerve Brand. It wasn’t horrible so if you can find that brand it might be one to try.

I’ve heard people warn about other mixes, such as the Birch Benders, and the Duncan Hines “Keto” mixes, so just know some mixes will be better than others.

Those mixes are also very expensive and in my local stores they are upwards of $7 for just one cake mix, I don’t know about you but that’s a no from me when it comes to value. 

I prefer to make my cupcakes from scratch, but I know that having those convenience mixes when you need things quickly without thinking can be helpful. 

Just keep in mind, that these mixes will have a plan unfriendly in them, and weigh out the pros and cons of using one on your journey. 

If you do choose to go with a store-bought mix, most Walmart stores have started two carry the Swerve and the King Author brand of cake mixes.

I have tried the Swerve vanilla cake mix and it was pretty good for a mix, but I’ve yet to try any others.

So let me know in the comments or message me on my Instagram to let me know which ones you’ve tried and what you thought of them. 

How To Make Low Carb Peanut Butter Frosting

If you’re familiar with making regular frosting with powdered sugar you may be wondering how it is possible to make a low-carb peanut butter frosting.

Thankfully it isn’t that hard of a swap out with all the wonderful sweeteners out on the market for low-carb dieters.

These sweeteners will range from erythritol to allulose and even some blends of stevia and monk fruit. All of these will work but will have varying degrees of sweetness so some adjustment to this recipe may be required if you stray from the sweetener I recommend in the recipe card.

No matter which sweetener you choose out of those I listed the most important part is to make sure it is the powdered variety and not in its granular form.

If you don’t purchase a powdered sweetener for the frosting it will have a gritty mouthfeel that isn’t always pleasant. In fact, it is honestly not something I enjoy at all.

So if all you have is the granular sweetener in your house and you don’t want to purchase a powdered form of your favorite never fear I have a solution.

Simply add your granular sweetener to a coffee grinder or a high-powered blender like a Vitamix and grind it down into a powder.

It is a little hard to get it as fine as the storebought powdered sweeteners but you can get it pretty close. Just know if it isn’t truly powdered fine, you may still get that slight gritty feel in the frosting.

Some of my favorite powdered sweeteners are Swerve Powered Erythritol, Besti Monk Fruit with Allulose, and the Pyure-powered sweetener found at most Walmarts on the baking aisle.

What’s The Best Way To Store Low Carb Frosting

Once you have this frosting made you can frost your cupcakes and serve right away if desired but if you want to make a batch of this frosting ahead or to keep it on hand for easy desserts you can totally make it and store it in the fridge for up to a week.

If you need to keep it longer than a week it will freeze well and keep in the freezer for up to a couple of months.

Just make sure you store it in an airtight container no matter if you freeze it or just keep it in the refrigerator so that it stays fresh longer.

When you are ready to use the frosting from a cold state you’ll need to let it sit out on the counter at room temperature for a few hours so that it softens back up and becomes spreadable again.

Tips For These Baking Low Carb Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Before you jump down to the recipe and get to baking your cupcakes take a look at these tips and variations that you can use to make the perfect cupcakes every time.

Peanut Allergy

If you or someone in your house is allergic to peanuts you can swap the peanut butter out for any natural nut butter that works best for you. You can even use a seed butter like Sunflower Butter.

Do you have to use almond flour?

I’ve only made these chocolate cupcakes with fine-milled almond flour and my almond protein powder but most nut flour will work. I’ve seen pecan and walnut flour at my local Walmart near the almond flour multiple times.

As for the almond flour protein you can totally replace that with coconut flour or oat fiber if you don’t have it.

Should I Use Muffin Wrappers: I prefer wrappers when baking these cupcakes. I feel like it just makes many things like cleaning up and removing the cupcakes from the pan so much easier.

If you don’t have any cupcake wrappers or just prefer not to use them make sure to use a nonstick muffin pan and even then spray it with cooking spray.

Better yet, skill the nonstick muffin pan, and go with a silicone cupcake pan just for double insurance that they will come out easily.

Jump To Recipe!

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Yield: 12 Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 32 minutes

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Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

• 2 cups of almond flour
• 1/4 cup Almond Flour Protein ( or 2 Tbsp Coconut Flour)
• 1 cup of Monk Fruit Allulose Blend
• 1/2 cup of a good cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons of butter, melted
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2/3 cup of natural peanut butter
• 2/3 cup of powdered Swerve (or 1 cup of Monk Fruit Allulose Blend)
• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

For The Optional Topping

• 2 Lily's Peanut Butter Cups, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake wrappers. I love to use these fancy paper wrappers because they are so pretty.
2. First, add all of the cupcake ingredients into a food processor or a blender starting with the wet ingredients first.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix the batter up well until it is smooth and there are no lumps.
4. Next, divide the cupcake batter between the 12 cupcake wrappers and place them in the preheated oven to bake for about 25 minutes.
5. Check the cupcakes by placing a toothpick into the center if it comes out clean it is ready. Overbaking will cause the cupcakes to dry out a bit more.
6. Let the cupcakes cool completely while you make the peanut butter frosting.
7. To make the frosting add the cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sweetener, vanilla, and heavy cream to a mixing bowl and mix until the cream cheese mixture has no lumps and it is light and fluffy.
8. Frost each of the cupcakes with the frosting and enjoy. If the frosting is too soft to pipe or you would like it to be firmer. Simply place the frosted cupcakes into the refrigerator and let them chill. The icing will firm up more as it chills.

Notes

These cupcakes use an Allulose sweetener. It can't be subtracted from the total carbs just as erythritol is but it is not a sugar alcohol. For the sake of showing the exact process of getting the next carbs for these cupcakes here is the breakdown: Total Carbs 42 grams minus the Allulose 32 grams and minus the Fiber 4.6 grams gives you a 5.5 Net Carb count per Cupcake. Please note these are the nutrition facts of just the cupcakes if you add the peanut butter cups on top as garnish the number will increase.

Nutrition Information

Yield

12

Serving Size

1 Cupcake
Amount Per ServingCalories 386Total Fat 36gSaturated Fat 12gTrans Fat 0gCholesterol 110mgSodium 175mgCarbohydrates 10.8gNet Carbohydrates 5.4gFiber 4.55gProtein 18g

I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using the exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.

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Keri Bucci

I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!