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Vegan Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes

August 19, 2020 · Natalie 44 Comments

Fluffy golden Vegan Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes with sweet raspberry frosting and a soft delicate crumb you’d never guess is egg and grain free!

There is nothing more exquisitely simple than a classic vanilla cupcake. And even though we’re breaking a lot of ingredient traditions here, the first bite floating away on fluffy sweet clouds of cake and birthday memories part is in full effect.

I lost count of the number or trial half batches and bags of cassava flour and late night baking/tasting sessions around take 7, and I think even my oven lost faith for a while. But we powered through. Tweaked and changed and optimized for fluffiest cupcake crumb. Stayed true to the mission of creating a grain-free and egg-free (nut-free too if you need them to be!) recipe. So finally here they are: Vegan Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients

Like I said, not exactly traditional. But not too crazy complicated either. Here’s the breakdown:

Instead of all purpose flour: We are using a mix of cassava flour – grain and nut-free, but the most similar to all purpose that I’ve found – and just a little bit of coconut flour to improve the crumb.
Instead of sugar: I tested this so many ways, but a combination of granulated and liquid sweetener worked best. This could be cane or coconut sugar for the granulated, and agave or honey or maple syrup for the liquid.
Instead of butter: Coconut oil works best, sorry to my oil free friends but they were just too heavy with nut butter and too dry without some sort of fat source.
Instead of milk: As many vegan cupcakes do, we are using a mixture of almond milk and apple cider vinegar. This creates a “buttermilk” like consistency and the acid of the vinegar also helps activate the baking soda for rise.
The usuals: Gotta have ’em – salt, vanilla, and leavening (baking soda).

Raspberry Frosting

The beauty of vanilla cupcakes is that they are a perfect canvas for any kind of frosting or topping you want (or none at all!). Dip or drizzle with chocolate ganache. Dollop on some simple coconut whipped cream and berries. Swirl with a decadent contrast of chocolate frosting. Or make this light and summery, sweet-tart, raspberry frosting.

It is a cashew based frosting partially sweetened and colored pink with freeze dried raspberries. You do need to soak the cashews and chill the frosting so it thickens after blending, so I actually recommend making this part first. It can be a little trickier to pipe than a traditional buttercream, so a messy rustic smear works just as well.

Cupcake Baking Tips

Err on the side of baking longer rather than under-baking. I recommend toothpick testing or pressing the middles to make sure they aren’t at all mushy. They should be very golden and domed when done.
Fill the cupcakes 3/4 of the way or even a little more, without eggs they won’t rise as much as a traditional cupcake.
Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting, otherwise your frosting will melt right off.
Double the batch if you share a house/kitchen with lots of other humans, they are hard to share.

More Cupcake Recipes

These vegan/paleo chocolate cupcakes are their dark and decadent counterpart
Or for an oat flour vanilla cupcake, try this recipe
These fruit-sweetened chocolate cupcakes (and there is a vanilla version) are a long time reader favorite
And since it’s almost fall, something spiced

Vegan Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes

★★★★ 3.7 from 3 reviews

Author: Natalie
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Total Time: 37 minutes
Yield: 8 cupcakes 1x
Category: cupcakes
Method: baking
Cuisine: american

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Description

Fluffy, golden, Vegan Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes with sweet raspberry frosting and a soft delicate crumb you’d never guess is egg and grain free!

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/4 cup (175g) cassava flour
2 tbsp (15g) coconut flour*
1/3 cup (80g) cane sugar or coconut sugar**
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup (105g) maple syrup or agave
3/4 cup (180g) almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup (100g) coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Frosting***

1 1/4 cups (150g) raw cashews, soaked at least 4 hours
1 cup (25g) freeze dried raspberries****
2 tbsp (40g) maple syrup or agave
2 tbsp coconut oil
Pinch of salt
Almond milk to blend if needed

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Stir the apple cider vinegar into the almond milk and set aside.
Whisk together the cassava flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt until lump free.
In a separate bowl, combine the maple syrup or agave, cane sugar, milk mixture, coconut oil, and vanilla (all at room temp or warmer).
Add wet to dry, and mix to combine.
Scoop into a cupcake pan (either grease or use paper liners) filling each almost to the top. You will get 6-8 depending on your pan.
Bake for 20-22 minutes at 350ºF until golden brown on top and they spring back when you lightly press the center.
Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting, grind the freeze dried raspberries to a powder. Drain the cashews, and blend with the maple syrup, coconut oil, and salt on high until very smooth. Add the raspberry powder one spoonful at a time to achieve desired color. Chill to thicken.
Frost cooled cupcakes, and eat!

Notes

*You can swap it with 1/4 cup more cassava flour, but the coconut flour gives the cupcakes a much more defined crumb.

**Either will taste delicious, the cane sugar will preserve the lighter vanilla color.

***Or be lazy, buy vegan frosting, and just add the berry powder.

****Other freeze dried berries would be fine too, or you can use natural food coloring.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 cupcake
Calories: 455
Sugar: 21g
Sodium: 259mg
Fat: 27g
Saturated Fat: 16g
Carbohydrates: 49g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 3g

Keywords: vegan, gluten free, grain free, birthday, vanilla, easy, healthy, cassava, cake, paleo, raspberry, frosting, cashew

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Mini Key Lime Pies

August 14, 2020 · Natalie 22 Comments

Summer’s favorite citrus pie made mini! These key lime pies bring the classic creamy sweet tang with a dairy-free filling and crumbly gluten-free oat crust.

Mini Key Lime Pies (vegan + gluten-free)

Limes vs. Key Limes

There is one more small detail I need to disclose up top – I did not use key limes for this recipe. *GASP* But that’s because:

They are small and yield little juice so you will need 278 of them
They are very seasonal, so not around long
Also not easy to find everywhere
And more expensive
And the flavor difference is slight

So what I’m trying to say is REGULAR LIMES WORK TOO. We are not five-star pastry chefs, we are just average everyday humans who enjoy an occasional lime dessert in the summertime and aren’t too bothered if our limes are a smidge less aromatic.

I’m not denying there is a difference. But once you mix it with the cream and bake it with the crust and eat it with your hands because mini individual pies allow for that, it’s hardly noticeable. And please for the love of all things citrus, do not use bottled juice. I will cry and it will be awkward for all of us.

Key Lime Crust

The creaminess of key lime is best complimented by a crumbly salty-sweet crust, of course the traditional being graham cracker based. But in the name of gluten-free and healthier options, we are using oats instead of crackers and SunButter instead of butter butter. A little sugar and salt boost the flavor, and processing the oats before mixing makes for the perfect not-flour-but-not-oatmeal crumble consistency.

Key Lime Filling

In the name of keeping these nut-free, I opted to not use raw cashews like so many vegan key lime recipes do. So coconut was the best creamy alternative. I experimented quite a bit here, and ended up with a coconut cream + nondairy yogurt filling combination that I love. You can use all coconut cream if you prefer, but I like the added tang from the yogurt. If you want to try it with all yogurt, I recommend Greek yogurt (dairy or nondairy) for the best rich texture.

How To Make Mini Key Lime Pies

Make the crust, and par-bake for 15 minutes. This gives it time to get a little toasty on its own and prevents sogginess later.
Make the filling. I tested a stovetop version of the filling, but I preferred the consistency with baking the filling as well. Plus less cleanup and arm work.
Bake both together, another 20 minutes or so but at a lower temperature.
Chill overnight. Or you can freeze them to speed this up, but they need to be completely cold to set properly.

Whipped cream would be delicious on top, but as you can see I didn’t have any and I also didn’t have any trouble devouring them without.

So in the name of embracing the remainder of summer and making fall treats wait their turn, I hope you make these Mini Key Lime Pies your end-of-August own!