Perfectly soft and tender, these Grain Free Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes are so luscious and easy to make too! They’re naturally sweetened, Paleo-friendly and so fun as a festive treat.
Cocoa based muffins with quality chocolate chunks plus chocolate buttercream frosting!
Chocolate lovers, these triple chocolate pumpkin cupcakes are for you!
These are probably my most favorite cupcakes ever. They're that good!
The texture is AMAZING! These cupcakes are incredibly soft and tender. I'm not going to mention the "M" word that's often used to describe baked goods, because well, the word is kind of weird for this context. I mean, I don't want to eat a cupcake that's watery and damp. Eewww.
I want a cupcake that has the perfect texture, nothing that's dry or too dense. And these cupcakes have the perfect texture and more.
Don't let the pumpkin throw you off, you can't taste it in these grain free chocolate cupcakes.
I know not everyone is a fan of pumpkin or chocolate pumpkin treats. I personally enjoy chocolate pumpkin treats, but for some, the pumpkin flavor can be too overpowering.
Have no fear with these cupcakes though, the pumpkin simply helps keep these cupcakes perfectly tender with a soft crumb.
There is so much chocolate goodness in these grain-free triple chocolate pumpkin cupcakes!
First you start with a chocolate base made with cocoa powder. For easy prep, everything goes into the blender and gets mixed up in seconds.
Then chunks of a quality chocolate bar get folded into the chocolate cupcake batter. While the cupcakes are baking, the chocolate frosting comes next. Homemade chocolate buttercream sweetened with honey to be exact.
This chocolate buttercream frosting is so good! It's just like my honey sweetened vanilla buttercream frosting, but cocoa powder is added and my goodness it's lip-smacking good!
If you've followed me for many years, back when I first started this blog over 7 years ago, then you will remember this chocolate buttercream frosting. It's an old recipe, one of the first that used to be on my blog and the photo of the chocolate cake with the chocolate buttercream frosting used to be on my original homepage header.
The quality of those photos are not up to my standard, so you'll find the recipe here now instead of on that older post.
For an extra special touch, really it makes it a quadruple chocolate layer, add more chopped up pieces of quality chocolate as a garnish on the tops of the frosted cupcakes.
Enjoy these special grain-free triple chocolate pumpkin cupcakes while pumpkin is in season. They are such a delicious treat!
Grain Free Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
Grain Free Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
Perfectly soft and tender, these Grain Free Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes are so luscious and easy to make too! They’re naturally sweetened, Paleo-friendly and so fun as a festive treat.
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes:
- ½ cup grass-fed butter or ghee
- ½ cup filtered water
- ½ cup pumpkin puree, preferably organic (I use this BPA-free one)
- ½ cup maple syrup or coconut nectar
- ¾ cup cassava flour (this is the only cassava flour I use and recommend)
- ¼ cup cocoa powder (this is the fair-trade cocoa I use)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (this is my favorite mineral-rich sea salt)
- 2 eggs, preferably pastured or organic
- ½ to cup quality, fair-trade chocolate bar, chopped
For the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- ½ cup grass-fed butter, softened or room temperature
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoon raw honey (I use local raw clover creamed)
- 3 to 4 tablespoon cocoa powder (use 3 tablespoon for lighter chocolate flavor)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (this is my favorite mineral-rich sea salt)
- ½ cup quality, fair-trade chocolate bar, chopped - for garnish
Instructions
To Make the Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with muffin/cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add healthy fat of choice and water and warm until the fat has melted. Remove from heat and pour into a high powered blender. Add the pumpkin, sweetener of choice, cassava flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, baking soda, salt and eggs in the order listed. Blend on low speed for a few seconds, then scrape down the sides and blend once more for a few seconds, just until combined. Do not over mix. Add the chocolate to the blender and give it a gentle stir with a spatula, just until incorporated.
- Pour the cupcake batter into lined muffin/cupcake wrappers and bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs. Depending on oven temperatures and your muffin pan, test your cupcake at 12 minutes to gauge how much longer they will need to bake. My oven bakes these cupcakes perfectly at 18 minutes.
- Allow the cupcakes to fully cool for at least 30 minutes before topping with the chocolate frosting. After frosting the cupcakes, sprinkle the tops of the frosting with chopped up chocolate.
To Make the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
- Fit a standing mixer with the flat beater (if you don't have a standing mixer, you could use a hand mixer or food processor instead) and mixing bowl.
- Add the butter, honey, cocoa powder and vanilla to the bowl and mix on low speed until the butter starts to soften. Increase the speed and whip until creamed and it begins to have a lighter brown color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down frosting with a spatula as needed.
Notes
Equipment: Muffin Pan, Muffin/Cupcake Liners, Small Saucepan, Blender, Standing Mixer & Bowl or Hand Mixer, Spatula
For the Quality Chocolate: I highly recommend the following quality chocolate.
For Paleo versions, I love these naturally sweetened chocolate bars and these honey-sweetened chocolate bars (the raspberry honey-sweetened chocolate bar is my favorite!). This is my favorite brand for sugar-free stevia-sweetened chocolate.
For the Frosting:
- Use a lighter color honey for the frosting (not wildflower honey) to ensure the flavor stays mild and not bold in flavor.
- Note: HONEY IS NOT INTENDED FOR BABIES UNDER 2 YEARS OLD.
- Storage: If storing for later, make sure to take the frosting out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before frosting so it's not so hard and will spread easier.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 483Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 366mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 4gSugar: 33gProtein: 6g
This nutritional information was auto-generated based on serving size, number of servings, and typical information for the ingredients listed. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, please calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients and amounts used, using your preferred nutrition calculator. Under no circumstances shall the this website and the author be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on the given nutritional information. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
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Renee D Kohley
Whaaat?! This looks so amazing Emily! I am definitely going to consider making these for our Halloween treat!
linda spiker
All I can say is wow!
Dawn Yoder
Oh my those look and sound amazing! One question I have, is there a low-carb substitute for the cassava flour? I'd love to share this gorgeous recipe with my THM followers but that item is not plan approved. I've also never worked with it so I'm not sure how it "behaves". Thanks!
Catherine Baez Sholl
I know a couple of chocolate lovers that would kill for this recipe! Gotta make it.
Joni Gomes
I love me some chocolate! These cupcakes looks amazing! Love that they are sweetened with maple syrup as well!
Karen @ Seasonal Cravings
I love anything triple chocolate and these look delicious. I have never used cassava flour but bake gluten free a lot. I need to try it!
ChihYu Smith
I love chocolate and pumpkins and these cupcakes look so moist flavorful and perfect for this holiday season. Must make!
Jean
Oh wow, Emily. These look incredible! Love the combo of pumpkin and chocolate, and I'm drooling over that frosting!
Hope
These look so good Emily! I love a good pumpkin and chocolate combination and that chocolate buttercream frosting with the extra chocolate on top - oh yes please!!
Lori
Wow, these look amazing! Can't wait to try this recipe. I've never tried a combination of pumpkin and chocolate. My two favorite things! Excited to make these 🙂
Irena Macri
Seriously, these are amazing! So decadent but with a lot less guilt attached as the ingredients are much healthier. Perfect fall treat!! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Emily.
Kari - Get Inspired Everyday!
These are incredible and so decadent looking! I'm always on board with chocolate, so triple chocolate is even more up my alley!
Megan Stevens
I have to say when you first mentioned an M word, I was afraid we were talking about mayonnaise, lol. My husband and I both think that's a bad word, but it's often used in cakes the make them Your M word, ha. Anyway, Yum! The chocolate chunk topping on these is so eye-catching and appealing!!
Tessa Simpson
These look too good to be true! What a treat these would make!
Laura
Oh wow, these sound divine! I bet the combo of butter and pumpkin gives these amazing texture. I'm gonna have to try this recipe next time I have an opportunity to make cupcakes!
Lindsey Dietz
OMG, Em! If it's wrong for me to want to eat every cupcake in those gorgeous photos, then I don't want to be right! Holy yum and WOW. I want, I want, I WANT!
jennifer
Chocolate and pumpkin is an amazing combination . . and I love how much moistness that pumpkin brings to a recipe! Trying this over the weekend, thanks for sharing!
Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama
These pretty much need to get in my belly NOW!!!!! I know you absolutely slayed this recipe and I cannot wait to get a kitchen back so I can make these.
Elaina
Your pics are gorgeous and these cupcakes sound ahh-mazing! I actually have a big unopened bag of cassava flour in my pantry, so I need to try these soon. I'd have to give away the rest so I don't eat them all myself, though. 😛
Astrid
Oh these cupcakes look so delicious! I have been craving something chocolaty and sweet lately -- these babies will definitely do the trick. Thanks for sharing!
Anya
These are so beautiful Emily. I love all that chocolate and way to go hiding that pumpkin!
Mirlene
Its currently past 10pm now and reading this post make me want to get up to make some cupcakes. They look so good. I know my chocolate lover 4 year old daughter will love this recipe!!! This recipe is genius with the pumpkin.
Amy Knight
These look delicious! I'll take anything pumpkin and chocolate.
Raia Todd
You know these have my name written alllll over them. 😉 So glad you're back in the kitchen, Emily!
Alene
This recipe looks divine! What do you think I can substitute for cassava flour. I have way too many gf flours. I just can't buy another! I am gluten free, but that's it. Thank you!
Emily Sunwell-Vidaurri
Hi Alene, I can't say for sure on a substitute since I haven't tried it that way. You could try using an all-purpose gluten-free blend instead, but I can't say for sure how it will turn out. I usually use Bob's Red Mill 1-1 gluten-free flour blend when I make GF baked goods, but I haven't tried swapping it with this recipe.
jill
can you sub oat, almond. coconut, or another flour for Cassava????
Emily Criswell
Hi Jill, no, I haven't tested this recipe with other flours - but you definitely cannot substitute with coconut flour because it will change the consistency. It's possible that you could use a gluten-free all purpose flour as a substitute (I like Namaste brand), because that would be closest flour-wise, but I can't say for sure since the recipe hasn't been tested with other flours.