Healthy Gluten-free Cupcakes!
Enjoy these delicious and nourishing cupcakes for your next celebration! With the 4th of July around the corner, we decorated the cupcakes with a 4th of July theme, but you could decorate them in any way you like for a birthday party too! They are delicious enough for a party, and nourishing enough for breakfast. Adding blueberries or chocolate chips to the batter makes them perfect for breakfast muffins!
You can find our “America the Beautiful” 4th of July cupcake toppers in our Etsy shop. One side has lyrics from “America the Beautiful,” and the other side has images to illustrate the lyrics. It’s an instant download, and they can be easily printed and made, using just white cardstock, scissors, glue, and toothpicks. The cupcake toppers come in the 4th of July party bundle, including a coordinating garland and games. It’s a fun project for family and friends!
Find our cupcake toppers on Etsy!
Two kitchen items we love for making it easier to make cupcakes and muffins are the Greenlife Bakeware muffin pan and silicone baby spoons.
The Greenlife muffin pan is a healthy ceramic nonstick pan that is so easy to clean! (We often butter the pan, to be on the safe side, but it is probably not necessary.)
In order to avoid scratching the pan, we like to use silicone baby spoons to easily remove the cupcakes once they are done baking.
Light Buckwheat Flour
One key ingredient in this recipe is light buckwheat flour. This is an amazing gluten-free flour that, when used in combination with almond flour, makes deliciously moist baked goods. Sadly, it does not seem to be sold in many stores. However, you can find it online. We recommend buying it directly through Bouchard Family Farms, as they give significant discounts for buying multiple bags (as low as $8.50 per bag as of the writing of this post). If you just want to try one bag, it can also be found on Amazon. We have many recipes on www.sparklesandsprinkles.blog that call for light buckwheat flour… so you can find many ways to use it! Try our gluten-free pizza, gluten-free cut-out cookies, gluten-free microwave mug muffins… and more to come!
Ready to make cupcakes?
This recipe makes about 18 small cupcakes (with batter filling the muffin openings about 2/3 full).
The recipe is gluten-free. This recipe is low-carb and does not use refined sugar. If you are making these for a crowd used to a lot of sugar, we recommend using 4 Tbsp. maple syrup, or if you are trying to make the cupcakes as low-carb as possible, opt for only 2 Tbsp. maple syrup.
If you need a dairy-free recipe, simply use suggested dairy-free substitutions.
Allow the oven to preheat to 350 degrees F while preparing the batter.
Gather your ingredients:
1 cup light buckwheat flour
1 cup almond flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups Greek yogurt (OR dairy-free substitute)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 to 4 Tbsp. maple syrup or honey (or 4 packets SweetLeaf)
4 eggs
1 stick butter, melted; OR 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup almond milk
Optional: Toppings or additional ingredients of your choice – see below for some ideas
Gather your kitchen supplies:
Large mixing bowl
Measuring cups (2 cup liquid measuring cup, 1 cup, 1/4 cup)
Measuring spoons (1 Tbsp., 1 tsp.)
Mixing spoons
Muffin tray
Ice cream scooper
Silicone spoon
Spatula (not pictured) – to scrape the bowl
Fork (not pictured) – to whisk the eggs
Microwave safe bowl or mug (not pictured) – to melt butter
Let’s Make Cupcakes!
Step 1
Measure 1 cup light buckwheat flour.
Step 2
Pour 1 cup light buckwheat flour into the mixing bowl.
Step 3
Measure 1 cup almond flour.
step 4
Pour 1 cup almond flour into the mixing bowl.
Step 5
Measure 2 tsp. baking powder.
Step 6
Add 2 tsp. baking powder into the mixing bowl.
Step 7
Measure 1 tsp. baking soda.
Step 8
Add 1 tsp. baking soda into the mixing bowl.
Step 9
Stir together the dry ingredients until well mixed.
Step 10
Measure 2 cups Greek yogurt.
Step 11
Scoop yogurt into the mixing bowl.
Step 12
Measure 2 tsp. vanilla extract AND add it to the mixing bowl.
Step 13
Measure 2 to 4 Tbsp. honey or maple syrup AND add it to the mixing bowl. Or use 4 packets SweetLeaf.
Step 14
Crack 4 eggs into a mug or liquid measuring cup.
Step 15
Wisk the eggs with a fork.
Step 16
Pour the eggs into the mixing bowl.
Step 17
Stir until the batter is well combined.
Step 18
Place 1 stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl.
Step 19
Microwave about 30 seconds, or until the butter is melted.
Step 20
Pour the butter into the mixing bowl.
Step 21
Measure 1/4 cup almond milk.
Step 22
Pour the almond milk into the mixing bowl.
Step 23
Stir until well combined.
Step 24
Butter the muffin pan.
Step 25
Use an ice cream scooper to scoop the batter into the muffin pan. Fill each opening with 1 scoop for small cupcakes (for a total of about 18 cupcakes). If you would like larger cupcakes/muffins, add more batter to each opening (for a total of about 12 cupcakes). We made 18 small cupcakes in the photos you see here.
Step 26 (optional)
Add chocolate chips or blueberries, etc. to make these cupcakes more like muffins. We recommend placing a small amount of blueberries or chocolate chips on top of the batter in the muffin tin, then stirring gently with a silicone spoon. This helps the extra ingredients to be evenly dispearsed, rather than sink to the bottom of the muffin/cupcake.
Step 27
Place the cupcakes in your oven, preheated to 350 degrees F.
Step 28
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Larger cupcakes/muffins may need longer baking times. Bake until golden brown on top. Check that a toothpick comes out clean to be sure they are well baked.
Step 29
Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then use a silicone spoon to gently remove the cupcakes from the pan. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack and allow to completely cool before decorating them.
One more yummy variation: Want to make chocolate cupcakes?
Simply stir in 5 Tbsp cocoa powder and an extra 2 Tbsp maple syrup to the batter.
Decorate your cupcakes!
There are so many ways to decorate a cupcake! We suggest topping them with freshly whipped cream (see our easy recipe below) or Cocowhip for a dairy-free option. You could also use our butter-cream cheese frosting that we used in our cutout cookie recipe. As these toppings need to be refrigerated, we recommend decorating the cupcakes shortly before serving them. However, they can be decorated in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Be sure to store any leftovers in the refrigerator as well.
Homemade Whipped Cream!
Store bought frosting and whipped cream tends to be very sweet, but you can easily make your own with less sugar!
Step 1
Gather your ingredients: heavy cream (16 oz. container), sweetener (honey, maple syrup, or SweetLeaf), and vanilla extract (optional).
Step 2
Pour the heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Step 3
Using the whisk attachment, starting on a low speed, and increasing the speed gradually, whisk the heavy cream until it starts to stiffen.
Step 4
When the cream is almost as stiff as you would like it to be, add some sweetener (about 1 Tbsp. maple syrup to your taste) and vanilla (about 1 tsp. – optional).
Step 5
Continue to whip the cream, along with the sweetener and vanilla, until it gets as thick as you would like it to be. WARNING – Watch it carefully – it will turn to butter if it gets whipped too long.
Decorate!
We topped these cupcakes with whipped cream, then added blueberries and strawberries for a patriotic 4th of July theme. If you would like these “America the Beautiful” cupcakes toppers, they can be found on Etsy.
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