Beautiful Snickers Protein Cupcakes with a soft protein chocolate cupcake, protein caramel filling and protein peanut butter frosting. Healthy filled Snickers cupcakes are sugar free, low fat, and easily Vegan too!
Jump to RecipeThe protein caramel filling on these Snickers cupcakes was hands down my favorite part of this recipe! So smooth and rich and such a good combination with the soft chocolate cupcake. It really just melts in your mouth!
And a very easy and healthy dessert here too, since it uses all clean ingredients – whole wheat, no sugar, and no extra butter or oil either!
Ingredients for Snickers Protein Cupcakes
These Snickers protein cupcakes are made with healthy ingredients, sweetened with protein powder, filled with protein caramel, topped with a protein peanut butter frosting and peanuts too. Here’s what you need for these healthy cupcakes:
For the Snickers Chocolate Protein Cupcake
- Chocolate Protein Powder needed for a high protein cupcake and also replaces the ‘sugar’.
I used Whey-Casein Chocolate Donut protein powder from HTLT Supps (Quest Nutrition also works) and whey protein powder from Dymatize. - Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- Black Cocoa Powder or regular cocoa
- 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
The Protein Caramel to fill in:
- Peanut Butter Powder, also known as Powdered Peanut Butter. I recommend Lakanto for a sugar free version (the code HAYLSKITCHEN gives you a discount). Or you could use the one from PbFit too.
- Peanut Butter
- Vanilla Protein Powder: I used HTLT Supps or Quest Nutrition Vanilla whey-caesin here.
- Sugar free Maple Syrup for low calorie caramel with no sugar!
I use the sugar free monk fruit maple syrup from Lakanto (code HAYLSKITCHEN gets you a discount) - Some Water
For the Protein Peanut Butter Frosting:
- Vanilla Protein Powder: I recommend HTLT Supps or Quest Nutrition Vanilla here since it’s whey-casein and blends well with the yogurt.
- Non-fat Greek Yogurt
- Peanut Butter Powder
- A bit of Unsweetened Almond Milk
And then
- Chopped Peanuts and Chocolate to top!
Tips for the perfect Protein Powder Snickers Cupcakes Recipe
While this protein powder Snickers cupcake recipe is easy, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Grease the cupcake liners if they aren’t silicon.
This will allow the protein powder cupcakes to come off easily.
- Use melted Butter so that it mixes well into the healthy Snickers candy 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 cupcakes 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 cupcakes.
- 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-fill baking pan cavities or the cupcake batter will overflow!
- Don’t over-bake the mini cake bites or they might get tough; Remove when the tester/knife comes out just dry; Little moisture is okay.
- Let stuffed cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting, or the filling and frosting will melt away.
- Add water and milk in caramel and frosting little at a time – too much will give you a very runny mixture.
How to Store Snickers Cupcakes with Filling
This Snickers cupcake recipe is a good meal prep snack or dessert and can be stored on the counter, in the fridge or freezer too.
Place Snickers cupcakes with filling in an airtight container and you can keep them on the countertop for 2-3 hours, fridge for 5 days or freezer for 2-3 months.
To defrost frozen Vegan Snickers cupcakes, leave them on the countertop or place them in the fridge overnight. I would not recommend using the microwave.
Alternatives for Healthy Snickers Cupcakes
I made these healthy Snickers cupcakes low fat, low calorie and sugar free with the set of ingredients above, but here’s some options to try. I havn’t given them all a go yet, so I can’t say how they all would work.
- 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)
- Black Cocoa: Regular Unsweetened Cocoa
- Unsweetened Applesauce: Mashed Banana or Pumpkin Puree
- Melted Butter: Melted Coconut Oil or Dairy Free Butter
- Lemon Juice: Apple Cider Vinegar or White Vinegar
Alternatives for Snickers Cupcake Fililng:
- Peanut Butter Powder: 1½ Tbsp Peanut Butter, but reduce water to 1 Tbsp
- Sugar-Free Maple Syrup: Regular Maple Syrup
Options for Snickers Cupcake Frosting
- Greek Yogurt: Coconut Yogurt
- Almond Milk: Regular milk
- Peanut Butter Powder: 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter, but reduce milk to 1 Tbsp
For a Vegan Snickers Cupcake Recipe:
Use a plant based protein powder, dairy free butter and coconut yogurt as alternatives and turn this Snickers cupcake recipe Vegan!
Some Unique Cupcake Recipes with Protein Powder
- Dirt Pudding Protein Cupcakes
- Stuffed Protein Cupcakes!
- Protein Apple Cupcakes with Protein Peanut Butter Frosting
- Mini Chocolate Protein Cakes
- Maple Bacon Protein Cupcakes
- Peanut Butter Protein Cupcakes – Like Tagalong Cookies
More Candy Inspired Protein Powder desserts:
- Protein Snickers Ice Cream Bars
- Homemade Protein Snickers Bars
- Peanut Butter Protein Twix Bars
- Kitkat Protein Bars
Snickers Protein Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, see post for subs, 60g
- ½ cup Chocolate Protein Powder, Whey, 45g, about 1½ scoops
- ⅓ cup Chocolate Protein Powder, Whey-casein, 30g, about 1 scoops
- ¼ cup Black Cocoa, or Cacao Powder, 20g
- 3 Tbsp Zero Calorie 1:1 Sugar Replacement, 36g
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¾ cup Hot Water, 180ml
- ½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce, 120g
- ½ Tbsp Melted Butter, 7g
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
Protein Caramel:
- 2 Tbsp Vanilla Protein Power, Whey-casein, 11g
- 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter Powder, 12g
- 1¼ Tbsp Peanut Butter, 20g
- 3 Tbsp Maple Syrup, Sugar-free recommended below, 45ml
- 2 Tbsp Water, 30ml
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- ¾ cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt, 168g
- ½ cup Vanilla Protein Power, Whey-casein, 45g
- 3 Tbsp Peanut Butter Powder, 18g
- 2 Tbsp Unsweetened Almond Milk, 30ml
Topping:
- 2 tsp Chopped Peanuts, 10g
- Optional, chopped Chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F, line 9 cups of a muffin pan with cupcake lines, and lightly spray insides with cooking spray (or use non-stick pan).
- 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 cupcake cavities, dividing equally.Batter should be ¾ way to the top (it will overflow if too much).Don’t let the batter sit out.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes.Toothpick inserted into the center should come out dry.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan.Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 15 minutes.
Caramel Filling:
- Let cupcakes cool completely.
- Use a tsp measure to make a hollow cavity at the top of the cupcakes (go about half way deep).
- In a bowl, combine protein powder, peanut butter powder, peanut butter, maple syrup and water (little at a time). Mix until smooth.
- Fill caramel into cupcake hollows, then cover with small piece of cupcake top (which was removed).
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- In a bowl, combine Greek Yogurt, protein powder, peanut butter powder and almond milk (little at a time) and mix until smooth.
- Scoop out and spread frosting on top of cupcakes, sprinkle on chopped peanuts and chocolate.
Notes
- Taste the batter and see if you need some extra sweetener; I’d recommend stevia if needed.
- Nutrition value is 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
- Quest Nutrition Vanilla Milkshake Protein Powder
- Lakanto Maple Flavored Syrup
- Use code HAYLSKITCHEN for 15% off your order
- Lakanto Peanut Butter Powder
- Use code HAYLSKITCHEN for 15% off your order
- Servings: 9 cupcakes | Serving size: 1
- Calories: 145cal
- Fat: 3.4g | Saturated fat: 0.7g
- Carbohydrates: 15.9g | Fiber: 3.4g | Sugar: 2g
- Protein: 16.6g
These were delicious! I made a big batch and ate them for breakfast every morning for a week. I love that I can eat foods that taste indulgent and still stay within my macros!
Cupcakes for breakfast is the way to go! I’m so happy you liked the recipe and can’t wait to see what you go for next!