A while back, daughter Liz shared a recipe that substituted 15 ounces of canned pumpkin puree for all the wet ingredients required in an 18.25 oz. chocolate cake mix. According to the reviews, the pumpkin produced delicious low-fat chocolate cupcakes or cookies. The only problem was that Ray and I don’t eat refined sugar so we don’t use cake mixes. (Of course, if you do, then you can easily try that substitution.)

Instead, I used a chocolate cupcake recipe from the Baking in America cookbook, removed the wet ingredients and the refined sugar, then added fresh pumpkin puree, maple sugar, and maple syrup. The result was a chocolate cupcake that was moist, rich, delicious, and also had a perfect consistency. I’m sure a low-fat cream cheese frosting would not be too sinful, but the truth is that these cupcakes were so good even without frosting that I ate two!

Here’s my modified recipe, which does not taste non-fat or even maple-sweetened. It is just plain delicious.

If you try this recipe, please let me know how it turns out. I’d love to hear.

Non-fat Maple-Sweetened Chocolate Cupcakes

1 ¼ cup sifted all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup maple sugar
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 cup pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin with Pam.
Resift the flour with the baking soda, salt, and cocoa and place in a mixing bowl.
Add maple sugar and all other ingredients and mix on medium with an electric mixer until smooth, about 1 minute, then shift to medium-high and beat for 1 more minute until fluffy.
Divide batter evenly among the muffin tins.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the middle bounces back.
Cool for 5 minutes before frosting or eating.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package of low-fat cream cheese
½ – 1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup honey

Mix with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy.
Spread on cupcakes.