Recipe: Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes
It’s hard not to love a chocolate cupcakes, but most of the time they’re loaded with sugar and if you use a box mix they can be full of preservatives and artificial additives. Not these! We have made our gluten-free cupcakes using organic ingredients, sugar alternatives plus a can of pumpkin to keep these healthy cupcakes moist and delicious without adding unhealthy calories.
Taste-tested by my entire family these cupcakes are a winner and everyone will love them!
Healthy Cupcake Ingredients
When it comes to baking healthy cupcakes it’s all about using trusted, safe ingredients. Trust me when I say, I’ve tried so many alternative ingredients and these are the products that are safe to eat AND still taste like what you expect.
- Navitas Organics Cacao Powder: Organic, Non-GMO, Fair Trade, Gluten-Free
- Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
- Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour: Gluten-Free and Grain-Free Flour For Baking, Certified Paleo & Non-GMO Verified, Made From 100% Yuca Root
- Organic pumpkin puree: Pumpkin is extremely high in antioxidants and beta-carotene, which can help regenerate cells in the body making pumpkin a tasty and effective “anti-aging” food.
- Avocado Oil has a mild flavor and is a great alternative to vegetable oils that can be very inflammatory.
- Maple Syrup is our sugar alternative in this healthy cupcake recipe. Please read
the ingredients on your maple syrup– there should only be ONE: pure maple syrup. If there are any others listed, throw it in the garbage! - I use an egg in this recipe. You can actually skip it if you are egg-free. the pumpkin does a sufficient job holding these cupcakes together.
- The milk and vinegar create homemade buttermilk. I like making my own so that I can use goat milk. I haven’t experienced using nut milks but if you do, let me know how it turns out!
- You’re making gluten-free cupcakes so you have to be sure your baking powder is also gluten-free. When I started doing gluten-free baking I didn’t realize there was a difference so it’s worth mentioning!
Tips For Making This Gluten-Free Cupcakes Recipe
Spoon your gluten-free flour into the measuring cup or use a scale to measure.
Mik the dry ingredients separate from the wet and when combining make sure you don’t over-mix.
Don’t overfill your muffin cups
Gluten-Free Cupcake Frosting Options
Greek Yogurt Frosting (sugar-free recipe)
Simple Mills Organic Chocolate Frosting (Premade, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Made with Organic Coconut Oil)
Quick Buttercream Frosting:
Use 6 oz of butter (or vegan butter) and 5 ounces of 70% (or higher) dark chocolate, roughly chopped.
Melt butter and dark chocolate together in a small saucepan until smooth, stirring constantly.
Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Once cooled, remove chocolate and whip with a handheld mixer for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. Lather buttercream over cooled cupcakes.
Gluten-Free Vairations
Sprinkles are fun topping decoration but watch out for the generic ones in the grocery store, they are filled with harmful dyes and ingredients. I love Supernatural Sprinkles They are natural, nonpareils, contain no artificial dyes, are soy-free, gluten-free, and vegan.
Depending on the occasion, you may want to get creative with coloring your batter. Supernatural Food Coloring is my go-to food dye powder. It comes in 4 Natural Colors, No Artificial Dyes, Gluten-Free, and Vegan.
This healthy cupcake is also a perfect option for a baby’s first birthday. It’s highly recommended to refrain from introducing a baby to added sugar until later in life but who can say no to giving a one-year-old a cake to smash?
I’ve made this same cupcake recipe in small spring form pans for my son’s first birthday and it turned out wonderful!
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup 1 to 1 gluten-free flour
- 1/2 cup cassava flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk (I use goats milk)
- 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 24 serving(s)
Ingredients
- 1 box Immaculate chocolate cake mix
- 1 (16-ounce) can pumpkin
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup water
- Optional Buttercream
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 5 ounces 70% (or higher) dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- OR
- Coconut butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with 24 cupcake liners.
- In an electric mixer, beat chocolate cake mix, pumpkin, egg whites, and 1/2 cup water for 2 minutes to create a smooth batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out mostly clean.
- While the cupcakes are baking, melt butter and dark chocolate together in a small saucepan until smooth, stirring constantly. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.
- Once cooled, remove chocolate and whip with a hand held mixer for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. Lather buttercream over cooled cupcakes.
- Alternatively, for a lower calorie/lower fat frosting, scoop a few tablespoons of coconut butter from the center of the jar. Warm in the microwave for a few seconds and drizzle over cupcakes.
Nutrition Information Per Serving
Serving Size: 1 cupcake
Calories: 175
Protein: 4 gram(s)
Fat: 6 gram(s)
Carbohydrates: 25 gram(s)
Fiber: 2 gram(s)
Sugar: 14 gram(s)
Recipe Cuisine: American
From the kitchen of: Get Healthy U