Chocolate Cupcake for One To Meet Your Macros

Lately I’ve had a lot of people mention that they wish they could eat things like pizza, cupcakes, burgers and such while they are dieting. My response is that you can, you just have to get creative. Most of the time I’m met with a confused stare because unless you’re used to changing things up to meet your needs eating-wise, it can be difficult.

It’s not hard to learn though and once you do it, suddenly you become a master morpher. Yes, I just created that term this very second. That’s how I roll. So I wanted to give you a cupcake example of what I mean. Come along with me while we master morph a cupcake… A chocolate cupcake, of course.

Chocolate Cupcake for One 

• 3 Tbsp (28g) all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp (5g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp sugar/stevia blend
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg white
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened almond milk

Mix all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl or mug until blended. Microwave at 80% power for about 90 seconds until done. The top should still look a little bit moist on the top. Not wet, but not bone dry either. Like a cupcake, duh. 😉

As written, this makes one cupcake at approximately 122 calories – 6g protein, 24g carbs, 1g fat.

These macros are not bad at all for a cupcake, and you get the bonus that it’s single serve. This means you get a cupcake, but it doesn’t have a couple dozen friends to hang around and taunt you all evening. Now for the morphing.

I was having my cupcake at the end of the day when most of my macros had been used, so I needed to fit the cupcake into the remaining protein, fats, and carbs. Think of it like a puzzle. Here are some ideas:

• To add protein, use protein powder mixed with a little water to make a frosting and ice your cupcake. You can use half a scoop, a full scoop, or whatever amount you need. You can use Greek yogurt as a frosting as another option.
• To add fats, you can use coconut oil, walnut oil, or another oil in your frosting. You can also add a little bit of oil into the batter when you mix it to bump up the fat. You can melt a little peanut butter or almond butter and drizzle on top, or sprinkle on chopped nuts. Heck, fill the mug halfway with batter, drop in a blob of peanut butter, top with the remaining batter and make yourself a filled cupcake!
• To add carbs, you can replace the stevia blend with sugar or increase the sugar to 2 – 3 teaspoons. You can top your cupcake with marshmallow fluff like I did, or chocolate syrup, or sliced bananas, strawberries or other fruit.
• To lower carbs, you can replace part of the flour with a lower carb flour like almond meal or coconut flour. You can eat your cupcake without toppings. You can crumble half of the cupcake on top of something else like protein pudding, protein ice cream, sliced fruit, or yogurt. You still get the cupcake fun and flavor but fewer calories and macros.

Experiment with your toppings and get them to fit into your day. This is when you really get to have fun with your food, and make it your own. Now get to morphing and let me know what combinations you come up with. I’m dying to hear!