How Many Calories Are in Other Cupcakes?

The Cupcake Calorie Problem

Most people have no idea just how many calories are packed into a standard bakery or homemade cupcake. According to EatingWell magazine, written by registered dietitian Lainey Younkin, M.S., RD, LDN, the numbers vary widely — and they're eye-opening.

"Cupcakes are high in sugar and saturated fat, two nutrients that should be consumed in moderation. Women should stay under 24 grams of added sugar per day, and men should aim for less than 36 grams per day."

— Lainey Younkin, M.S., RD, LDN, EatingWell

How Do Common Cupcakes Compare?

Here's what the EatingWell article found for typical cupcakes:

Homemade Cupcakes

  • Vanilla cupcake with creamy vanilla frosting: 411 calories, 46g sugar, 18g fat
  • Chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting: 473 calories, 58g sugar, 23g fat
  • Vanilla cupcake without frosting: 224 calories, 13g sugar, 13g fat

Bakery Cupcakes

  • Bakery cupcake with vanilla frosting: 400 calories, 34g sugar, 23g fat
  • Mini bakery cupcake with frosting: 90 calories, 10g sugar, 3g fat

Store-Bought Box Mix

  • Yellow cupcake (dry box mix only EXCLUDING calories from wet ingredients like eggs, butter and oil) with 2 tbsp vanilla frosting: 240 calories, 29g sugar, 9g fat +++

"There is a lot of variation in calories between different types of cupcakes depending on how you make them or where you get them."

— Lainey Younkin, M.S., RD, LDN, EatingWell

Then There's The Good Cupcakes

Our cupcakes are 150 calories each max, fully decorated. Compare that to a standard bakery cupcake at 400+ calories and 34g of sugar — that's nearly 10x less sugar and less than half the calories.

Unfrosted, a chocolate cupcake is only 79 calories and a vanilla at 85 calories. We know this as recipes are fixed - we simply divide to get a per cupcake number.

The rest comes from frosting and they vary, depending on what you choose. Frosting recipes  / calorie counts are also fixed. We simply calculate per cupcake based on weight of frosting used.

We've rethought every element of the recipe, to bring you a cupcake that genuinely tastes indulgent — without the calorie load or the sugar crash.

Wait... what about our cakes?

Don't worry. Our cakes and frosting are made from the same low calorie recipes. Check out our reviews!

No guilt. Just joy.

Source: "How Many Calories Are in Your Cupcake?", Lainey Younkin, M.S., RD, LDN, EatingWell. Updated December 13, 2021.