These paleo friendly almond flour cupcakes are rich, moist and made in one bowl! They’re completely gluten free and refined sugar free but taste like the most indulgent chocolate cupcake!
Almond flour never fails to amaze me. It honestly might be my favorite gluten free flour to work with. It keeps baked goods SO moist thanks to the fat content and gives a deliciously light and fluffy texture.
These almond flour cupcakes are based loosely off my my popular almond flour cake, but with some substitutions to simplify the recipe and of course make them work as cupcakes!
The texture is identical to that of a refined flour and sugar filled chocolate cupcake, you would truly never know these are made with such good for you ingredients!
You’ll need a base of almond flour to provide structure and moisture, plus tapioca starch to help bind things together and give a classic cupcake feel, cocoa for the chocolate, eggs for more binding and lift, then some honey, coconut sugar and canned coconut milk for MORE moisture. Did I mention these are moist?!
How to make paleo cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tray with 12 liners and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. When measuring the canned coconut milk, be sure to shake the can really well before measuring so the white part and the more watery part are well combined to create a smooth milk. Some brands don’t shake easily, so just add to a separate bowl and whisk together before measuring.
Add in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour, starch and cocoa powder. Whisk to combine until completely smooth. It might seem thick at first, but as the eggs break up it’ll become like a normal cake batter.
Add to the lined tray and fill each ⅔ of the way up. Bake for 20-24 minutes, I do 22 in my oven, but test with a toothpick. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from the oven.
Let cool in the tray for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Chocolate buttercream frosting
I just made a regular dairy free buttercream using dairy free butter, but if you follow a strict paleo diet, you are welcome to use palm oil shortening instead of the butter.
To make the frosting, add the room temperature butter to a bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat until creamy. Beat in the cocoa, then the powdered sugar, then the milk and vanilla.
Frost the cupcakes once fully cooled and top with berries and sprinkles if desired. I used these large piping tips to frost!
Ingredient Swaps
Tapioca Starch. I really think tapioca starch works best in these almond flour cupcakes, but you can safely sub for arrowroot if you have that instead. I don’t recommend corn starch since the proportions will change and you’ll need a slightly different amount.
Canned coconut milk. This ingredient is key for the moisture. I don’t recommend swapping for a regular non-dairy milk from a carton as those are more liquidy and watery.
Coconut sugar. You can use any granulated sugar here (except turbinado, I generally advise against using that for most things) such as light brown or regular white sugar.
Eggs. Unfortunately, this recipe really needs real eggs for best results. You are welcome to try an egg replacer, I’d be inclined to use a store bought one over flax eggs or apple sauce. If you need a vegan and gluten free recipe, you can try my vegan chocolate cupcakes instead!
Try these paleo recipes next!
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Almond Flour Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
Dry
- 1 ⅓ cup fine blanched almond flour
- ½ cup tapioca starch
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
Wet
- ¾ cup coconut or brown sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ cup full fat canned coconut milk
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- ¼ cup oil (any oil works, if using coconut oil, melt it then measure ¼ cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
Frosting
- ½ cup dairy free butter (can sub palm oil shortening if paleo)
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar (or paleo friendly replacement)
- 2-3 tbsp non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a muffin tray with 12 liners and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. It helps to measure the oil first, then the honey in the same ¼ measuring cup. The honey will slide right out thanks to the oil! When measuring the canned coconut milk, be sure to shake the can really well before measuring so the white part and the more watery part are well combined to create a smooth milk. Some brands don't shake easily, so just add to a separate bowl and whisk together before measuring if needed.
- Add in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour, starch and cocoa powder. Whisk to combine until completely smooth. It might seem thick at first, but as the eggs break up it'll become like a normal cake batter.
- Add to the lined tray and fill each ⅔ of the way up.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes, I do 21 in my oven, but test with a toothpick. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from the oven.
- Let cool in the tray for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
- To make the frosting, add the room temperature butter to a bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat until creamy. Beat in the cocoa, then the powdered sugar, then the milk and vanilla.
- Frost the cupcakes once fully cooled (I use these large piping tips) and top with berries and sprinkles if desired.
Karen
I love this recipe! do you think you could give me a different heathy chocolate frosting recipe?
Claire Cary
So happy you enjoyed it! I haven’t tried this one from Detoxinista myself, but I trust her and her recipes so I’m sure it would be great! I just don’t currently have my own healthy chocolate frosting on the blog 🙂 let me know if you try it!
Ashlyn
I made these exactly as the recipe called and they turned out PERFECT! Moist cupcakes and fluffy frosting! I used coconut oil and coconut sugar and usually those have a pretty distinct taste, but you couldn’t taste them at all in the cupcakes themselves!
Claire Cary
Perfect! So glad you enjoyed them. Refined coconut oil is the way to go if you want to avoid the coconut taste 🙂