I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and I typically stay away from baking. However, I love CUPCAKES!!! After a dessert conversation with some friends on Friday and watching Cupcake Wars, my sweet tooth was aroused. Honestly, I’ve never been that good at baking. I like to throw things in last minute, change it up and NOT follow a recipe. I am the perfect storm during the cooking process. As many good bakers have told me, you have to be pretty precise with measurements. And as, Carter will tell you, I am a rule breaker. Not a rule follower. So, me + baking usually = disaster. The good thing about paleo-ish baking – you don’t have to be super precise because you’re not dealing with temperamental flours, gluten and all that jazz. These cupcakes are proof! I mixed it up a little, switched out some ingredients and used the recipes more as a guideline. The original recipes were the Chocolate Cake and Marshmallow Frosting from Elana’s pantry gluten free cookbook. I used coconut nectar and coconut palm sugar in place of agave nectar. You can find both of these at Healthy Home Market. They are raw sweeteners from the coconut palm tree that are low on the glycemic index. The nectar is simply coconut palm sap and the sugar is simply the coconut palm sap crystallized – so both are actually considered raw foods.
Photo-steps to making cupcakes!
Here’s what I did:
Chocolate Cake
2 cups of blanched almond flour
1/4 cup unsweetened coco powder
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (this could be cut down a little)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (this could also be cut down a little)
1/2 cup raw coconut nectar
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (this is in the original recipe, I left it out and didn’t notice) but I did add a teaspoon of water – also when choosing a vanilla extract – look at the ingredient list… they put all of kinds of crap in vanilla extract! They have a brand at Healthy Home market that is natural vanilla bean extract – without any additives.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I used my oil mister to spray the cupcake cups with grapeseed oil. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a medium bowl. Then stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Scoop batter into the cupcake cups. Bake for about 30 minutes (or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean)
Marshmallow Frosting
1/2 cup raw coconut nectar
2 egg whites
In a small saucepan heat the coconut nectar (the original recipe calls for agave nectar and to boil it. I did this to the coconut nectar and I think it changed the taste a little too much) you want to heat the nectar just before a boil – so that it because less tacky and easy to move and pour. SO you want to keep the temperature low and continuously stir. In a large bowl – using a hand mixer whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once that is achieved and the nectar is ready – slowly pour the nectar into the egg whites , whisking until it’s completely blended. This will create a tan-ish color frosting with a caramel hint. So. Good. I think adding some vanilla extract to this would be amazing! Next time!
Let the cupcakes cool completely before adding the frosting. I tried to get fancy and place the frosting in a frosting bag and do the whole fancy cupcake swirl… that didn’t work out so well. The frosting isn’t sturdy enough to stand up on it’s own. I may have needed to whip the egg whites a little longer. But just frosting the cupcakes with a spatula worked great. The original recipe says you can store the frosting in a mason jar for up to 24 hours. Our cupcakes lasted in the fridge for 3 days… and I swear they got better with age!
