These no-sugar added chocolate brownie cupcakes make the perfect rich, decadent and healthy treat for babies, children and adults! Especially great for baby’s first birthday! {Gluten-free, paleo, no sugar-added}
A couple of weeks ago, it was our little guy’s first birthday.
*Tear.*
I can barely wrap my head around the fact that a year has already gone by.
People aren’t joking when they say that first year goes by fast.
I recall thinking about his first birthday party months ago and wondering what I could serve him for a nice little birthday treat.
If you’ve been following along with our baby feeding journey, you’ll probably recall that we’ve been trying to feed him a balance of foods (mostly what we’re eating), while limiting sodium intake and the addition of sugar to his diet (you can read more about that in my 5 tips for planning healthy meals for babies post here.
So far, any sweetness in his diet has come primarily from fruit.
My philosophy is, right now, he doesn’t even know that sugar exists and it doesn’t contribute any nutritional value, so why bother giving it to him? He doesn’t seem to miss it when I don’t incorporate it, so might as well stick to no-added sugar for as long as possible, right?
So based on this thought process, I wanted to come up with a recipe for him that didn’t have any added sugar, but still looked and tasted close to the real thing.
That’s how these No Sugar-Added Brownie Cupcakes came about.
I started by tweaking these 4-ingredient flourless chocolate brownie cups. My husband and I really enjoyed these, but I didn’t want to give baby the protein powder since it can be hard on baby’s kidneys so I simply eliminated that ingredient for his cupcakes.
Next, I had a vision of creating a chocolate icing that mimicked a buttercream icing since I wanted to pipe it on and make it look extra fancy.
After all, everybody needs a fancy treat on their birthday.
I’m sure he wouldn’t have cared if I slapped the frosting on the cupcake with a knife, placed it as a blob on his tray, or let him lick it off the floor (seriously, this kid would eat food in any form). But I wanted to make it special for him.
No worries though. The ingredients are definitely NOT fancy. They’re actually quite simple.
Sweet potato.
Avocado.
Dates to add that natural sweetness.
Unsweetened cocoa powder to incorporate that rich flavour.
And a touch of coconut oil and vanilla extract.
Blend all of these ingredients together and you get a nice creamy, rich chocolate icing that is loaded with healthy fats, vitamin A, C, potassium, fibre and antioxidants.
That is one nutrient-packed frosting!
Keep in mind that there is no added sugar so the frosting (or cupcakes for that matter) are not overly sweet. If serving these to adults, you may wish to add a couple tablespoons of maple syrup or desired sweetener to the icing to sweeten it up a bit more, to taste.
Alternatively, you could try this chocolate frosting without powdered sugar or peanut butter cream cheese frosting for a sweeter option.
Personally, my husband and I both thought they were fine just the way they were and baby LOVED them.
He had chocolate all over his hands, face, and hair. He basically stuck his hands right into the chocolatey mixture and stuffed it into his face.
He looked like a little monster. It was quite cute.
Be forewarned — the little ones may need a bath after this fudge-y treat.
Table of Contents
Just a few tips for these No-Sugar Added Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes:
- I recommend using really ripe bananas for the cupcakes as that is the primary ingredient used to sweeten them up. I like to take all of those really overripe bananas that are starting to go brown and store them in the freezer to use for recipes like this one!
- You’ll want to cook the sweet potato until it’s very soft. You can achieve this by boiling the chopped sweet potato in water, steaming it or roasting it in the oven.
- Similarly, you’ll want to use a really ripe avocado. Smooth and creamy is the texture we’re going for, so a rock hard avocado probably wouldn’t be the best option for this recipe since, I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want any avocado chunks floating around in my frosting.
- I always find that the dates that I get are fairly hard and difficult to blend initially, so I like to soak them in boiling water (I just put the kettle on and pour the boiling water in a bowl with the dates) for about 20 minutes or so until they soften up. That way, they’ll be nice and soft and will blend more easily into the frosting mixture.
- You can top the cupcakes either by smoothing the frosting on with a knife, or if you want to get extra fancy, I like using the Wilton 1M star piping tip and piping bags to pipe the icing on. It might seem intimidating, but it’s really easy. Just insert the tip into the hole in the top of the piping bag, fill up the piping bag with the frosting, give it a squeeze to get the air out, gently moving the frosting into the tip and swirl onto the brownie cupcakes.
- If you have remaining icing, you can either freeze it in a container or simply use it as a fruit dip, or as a spread on your other favourite baked goodies. I’m sure you won’t have a problem finding a use for this decadent frosting.
At the end of the day, these brownie chocolate cupcakes make a great healthy treat for babies, children and adults and are especially fun for your little one’s birthday!
More similar recipes
- Healthy Chocolate Cake
- Healthy Baked Donuts Recipe
- Almond Flour Brownies
- Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Vegan Chickpea Brownies
- 4-Ingredient Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cups
- No-Bake Flourless Chocolate Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
No-Sugar Added Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the chocolate brownie cupcakes:
- 4 1/2 overripe bananas mashed
- 3/4 cup smooth almond butter I like to use the drippy kind
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
For the sweet potato frosting:
- 1 3/4 cup diced sweet potato or about 1 medium sweet potato
- 1/2 cup mashed avocado or about 1 medium avocado
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup pitted dates soaked in boiling water to soften
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with silicone baking cups or spray with cooking spray.
- Mash bananas in a bowl until mostly smooth (there can be some lumps) and stir in the almond butter and cocoa powder until well combined.
- Evenly distribute the mixture among 12 cups in the muffin tin.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until brownies are cooked through.
- Meanwhile, steam or boil the sweet potatoes in a pot until soft. Once cooked, put them in a bowl of ice cold water to cool.
- Soak the dates in a bowl of boiling water to soften for at least 20 minutes.
- Combine the sweet potato with the remaining ingredients in a food processor or powerful blender until smooth.
- Place the frosting in the fridge for about a half an hour to harden a bit.
- Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cupcakes with a knife. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to four days or in the freezer for up to a month.
Notes
Nutrition
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Marcela A says
Can I replace almond butter by peanut butter?
Elysia Cartlidge says
Yes for sure!
Laura says
Ahhh I’m loving this but they aren’t seeming to cook… are they just SUPPER DUPER GOOEY!?
Elysia Cartlidge says
Oh no! It’s tough to know why they aren’t cooking through without more information. They do tend to be quite moist, but generally firm up as they cool. Did they firm up after taking them out of the oven?
Laura says
Hi thanks for responding! I just kept cooking them .. it seems I ALWAYS have to cook things longer than directions don’t know why… I have a new oven and I live in California Bay Area so normal weather conditions no altitude…
They did turn out AMAZING !!! i am the only one I know who doesn’t feed thier children cane sugar or much any other added sugars… I always make my 4 year old something to bring to birthday parties.. this time I made and brought whole batch and his friend passed up his cake to have these with my son. I took great joy watching them licking the frosting and smiling and giggling with each other!!!! Thank you!!
It’s so hard to find recipes with no sugar substitutes!
Elysia Cartlidge says
Thanks so much for returning to let me know how they turned out! I’m so happy to hear that they were a hit! It could be that your oven doesn’t run very hot so that may be why the recipe required some additional cooking time. Good for you for making healthier snacks for your son to bring along to parties, that’s awesome! I can totally relate to the difficulty of finding recipes with no added sugar, so I’m happy I could help out :)
Jessica says
For those with nut allergies, can you use sunflower seed butter instead?
Elysia Cartlidge says
Yes, sunflower seed butter should work just fine as a substitute!
Kk says
Thank goodness!! Do you know how hard it is to find recipes like this??? Most say “sugar free” or “no added sugar” and then list 60 ways ‘til Sunday to use a sugar replacement//artificial sweetener. This is exactly what I have been looking for- thank you SO much for sharing.
Elysia Cartlidge says
My pleasure! I know they can be tough to find because I went on a similar hunt a few months back. I figured if I was looking for recipes like this, others probably were too. Glad I could help out!
Eli says
For the nut butter, did you do salt and sugar free kind for that as well?
Elysia Cartlidge says
Yes, for the nut butter I used a natural almond butter without the added salt and sugar. Hope that helps!
Natalie says
Looks so delicious and chocolatey! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Elysia Cartlidge says
Thanks Natalie! Our little guy loved them!