Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes

I have probably made these cupcakes (or variations of them) more than any other recipe in my entire life.  This has been adapted from a few different recipes, and I have made many different variations just using the same basics of coconut flour and eggs.  It's hard to go wrong with these two key ingredients!  Just note with coconut flour that a little goes a long way - you definitely don't need the same sort of quantities that you would use with wheat flour. 

This version is gluten free as well as fructose free, and if using coconut oil (and no cream cheese icing) it is also dairy free - all of which come in useful in our extended family with all sorts of food intolerances.

These cupcakes are beautifully moist and dense. They have received compliments from so many people who had no idea that they were fructose or gluten free.  And as with most coconut flour recipes, they actually get better after a couple of days in the fridge - they keep really well for at least 5 days or so, and they freeze great too.

(with blueberry cream cheese icing)

Coconut vanilla cupcakes

(makes 12)

6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Beat eggs and add coconut oil, syrup and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Add dry ingredients. Blend with a hand mixer until smooth.

Pour into well greased muffin tins or into cupcake papers.

Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes.


These go with lots of different icings and fillings, but my favourite is cream cheese icing.


Cream Cheese Icing

250g cream cheese
100g butter (optional)
Dextrose or rice syrup to taste (around 1/2 to 1 cup)
Vanilla extract

Soften cream cheese and butter and mix until smooth. Add dextrose and vanilla and mix to combine.



Some variations I have tried to this recipe:

Lemon and coconut - add lemon rind, lemon juice and dessicated/shredded coconut

Raspberry and white chocolate - add fresh or frozen raspberries and white chocolate drops (make your own out of cocoa butter and sweetener for a fructose free version), and use melted cocoa butter instead of butter in the icing for an extra chocolate-y taste

Strawberry and dark chocolate - add a whole strawberry (I used tinned ones in the middle of winter) and a piece of 70% or 85% Lindt chocolate to the centre before baking - particularly nice to eat straight from the oven without any icing, and a great easy dessert to whip up at the last minute :-)

Mango and cream cheese - add a slice of mango and chunk of cream cheese to the centre instead of icing

And pretty much anything else you can think of! Coconut flour is great to work with because it is quite hard to mess it up! I rarely measure my ingredients, and several times I have completely messed up quantities by doubling the recipe but forgetting to double everything, or deciding to make 18 muffins instead of 12 but accidentally doubling some ingredients instead, and they have always turned out ok!

Enjoy! :-)