A spot on Protein Chocolate Mud Cake with a dense chocolate cake and frosting – both high protein. This healthy chocolate mud cake is made with chocolate protein powder and cocoa, and is sugar free and Vegan too!
Jump to RecipeThe difference between a chocolate cake and a mud cake? A mud cake is more dense and smooth to cut and also doesn’t crumb too much; Just a rich and moist cake.
Well, this protein powder chocolate mud cake is not only rich and tasty, but made with all healthy ingredients too.
Ingredients for Protein Chocolate Mud Cake
This Protein Chocolate Mud Cake is made with a clean and healthy ingredients – whole wheat flour, no sugar and very little butter; The perfect healthy Mud Cake!
- Chocolate Protein Powder needed for a high protein cupcake and also replaces the ‘sugar’.
I used part Whey-Caesin Chocolate Donut protein powder from HTLT Supps and part Dymatize ISO 100 Chocolate Whey.
Quest Nutrition is another Whey-Casein that works well here. - Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1:1 Zero Calorie Sugar Substitute – I use Lakanto, to keep this recipe sugar free; (code HAYLSKITCHEN for a discount here)
- Hot Water
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Some Lemon Juice
- A bit of Melted Butter
- Baking Soda
And for the Protein Frosting
This recipe makes a chocolate mud cake without melted chocolate and sugar, and uses a protein powder frosting instead.
- Non-fat Greek Yogurt
- Chocolate Protein Powder; This is the source of sweetness in the protein frosting for this cake. No added sugar and chocolate in this recipe. Quest or HTLT Supps again here.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- A bit of Unsweetened Almond Milk
Tips for Chocolate Protein Powder Mud Cake
This protein powder chocolate mud cake recipe is really very easy to make!
For the Chocolate Mud Cake:
- Use melted Butter so that it mixes well into the healthy pudding cupcake batter.
- Don’t over-mix the batter!
Make sure you gently fold the dry mix into the wet to combine them.
If you over-mix it, the protein powder will make the low calorie protein cake tough, dense and gummy.
- Taste the batter and see if you need some extra sweetener. I’d recommend using stevia powder to maintain the consistency of the batter and have sugar free and healthy mudcake.
- Don’t let the batter sit out too long; Pour immediately into baking pan and bake.
This is to avoid any reactions between the ingredients.
- Don’t over-bake the cake or it will get tough; Remove when the tester/knife comes out just dry, but moist.
- Let cake cool completely before frosting or the frosting will melt.
For the Frosting in this Macro Friendly Chocolate Mud Ckae:
- Use whey-casein protein powder since it mixes well with the yogurt.
- Only add milk if necessary; Mix the frosting well first, and then add milk if still too dry.
How to store Easy Homemade Mud Cake Recipe?
This easy mud cake recipe is great for a meal prep dessert!
Store chocolate mud cake in an airtight container in the fridge for upto 4 days.
To freeze healthy chocolate mudcake, slice and wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and then place in freezer-safe zipper bags.
Thaw in fridge before eating.
Alternatives for Healthy Chocolate Mud Cake Recipe
For the perfect healthy chocolate mud cake recipe, I used protein powder and monk fruit sweetener to replace the sugar and I would highly suggest using the ingredients recommended.
I do have some alternatives you can try. I haven’t testing them all, so I can’t say how the recipe might turn out.
- Whole Wheat Pastry Flour: Use All purpose flour or 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour in the same amount by weight not cups.
- 1:1 Zero Calorie Sugar Replacement: Regular confectioners sugar or coconut sugar (this won’t be sugar free though, and also higher in calories)
- Unsweetened Applesauce: Mashed Banana or Pumpkin Puree
- Melted Butter: Melted Coconut Oil or Dairy Free Butter
- Lemon Juice: Apple Cider Vinegar or White Vinegar
- Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt
More Protein Powder Chococlate Cake Recipes:
- Dirt Pudding Protein Cupcakes – Unbelievably Soft
- Chocolate Protein Skillet Cake
- Chocolate Peppermint Protein Cake
- Low Carb Chocolate Protein Cake
Protein Chocolate Mud Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, see post for subs, 90g
- ⅔ cup Chocolate Protein Powder (Whey), 60g
- ½ cup Chocolate Protein Powder (Whey-casein), 45g
- 6 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, 30g
- 4½ Tbsp Zero Calorie 1:1 Sugar Replacement, 52g
- 1½ tsp Baking Soda
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp Hot Water, 270ml
- ¾ cup Unsweetened Applesauce, 180g
- 2 tsp tsp Melted Butter, 10g
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Frosting:
- ¾ cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt, 168g
- ⅔ cups Whey-Casein Vanilla Protein Powder, 60g
- 3 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, 15g
- 1 Tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk, 15ml
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 8” cake pan or baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, whisk flour, whey and whey-casein chocolate protein powders, unsweetened cocoa powder, zero calorie sugar replacement and baking soda.
- In a large bowl, whisk together hot water, applesauce, butter and lemon juice.
- Add dry mix to wet, and gently fold until just combined.DO NOT OVER-MIX or protein powder will make the cake dense.
- Pour batter into pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes.Don’t let the batter sit out.
- A tester inserted into the center should come out clean and center of cake springy to touch.
- Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
- In a bowl, combine protein powder and yogurt.
- Add Greek yogurt and mix until combined.Add milk only if too dry.
- Spread frosting over cake.
Notes
- Nutrition details are calculated using products recommended below.
- See post for alternate ingredients, tips and storage options.
- HTLT Supps Whey-Caesin Protein Powder
- Quest Nutrition Chocolate Milkshake Protein Powder
- Dymatize ISO 100 Gourmet Chocolate Whey Protein Powder
- Lakanto Golden Monkfruit Sweetener
- Use code HAYLSKITCHEN for 15% off your order
- Servings: 8 slices | Serving size: 1
- Calories: 175kcal
- Fat: 2.5g | Saturated fat: 0.5g
- Carbohydrates: 21.8g | Fiber: 4.6g | Sugar: 2.6g
- Protein: 23.8g
I love your recipes. I don’t use whey protein that isn’t a whey caesin blend. Will this turn out ok if I only use a whey caesin blend for both chocolate protein sources.
Hi Joni!
I’m so so excited that you want to try this recipe out!
I haven’t tried it with whey-casein only, but I know that since whey-casein absorbs more moisture than whey(only).
Here’s what I suggest:
Trying 1/2-batching the recipe
Bake them as cupcakes (1/2 recipe would make about 5 cupcakes). Bake for about 12-15 mins.
Use whey-casein only
Add about 2-3 Tbsp Applesauce to the mixture (make sure the batter is quite runny).
And then… LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! 🙂
I’d love to know if these subs work out!
I used the whey cassin blend, 1 cup applesauce, and subbed kodiac cakes mix for the wheat pastry flour. It was too much for 1 – 8” pan so I split it into 2 pans. I baked it for 17 minutes and it came out perfect. I did add the almond milk to the “frosting” so it would spread better between the layers of cake. It is 165 kcal and 22 gms protein per slice. Thank you so much for this recipe and your suggestions for substitutes. I wish I could add a picture it looks so good.
YASSS! I’m so happy this cake worked out so well and that you loved it so much Joni! Those calorie and protein numbers are so good too.
This cake turned out perfectly! You could even call it a snack cake and skip the frosting, but why do that? My frosting texture wasn’t quite right as I use whatever protein powder I have on hand so I added 2T whipped cream cheese and a little more milk until it was a perfect consistency. I froze some of the cake and just added frosting after I thawed the cake briefly in the microwave. This one will be on repeat!
I’m so thrilled you loved this one and managed to get the frosting to work Nancy!
Frosting is definitely key on this Protein Mud Cake, haha.
I’m so happy to know it worked out with freezing and thawing too 🙂