Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but in cupcake not cone! Fluffy two-toned cupcakes topped with whipped dairy-free berry frosting. Vegan and gluten-free!
I love a good fluffy sweet vanilla cupcake. But I also love a rich decadent chocolate cupcake. So if ice cream tubs can combine both into one scoop, why can’t the same science apply to cupcakes?
The answer: IT CAN.
And no, I’m not forgetting the strawberry – I would never. I am a firm believer that during the summer months every dessert should involve berries somehow someway. But we gotta bake before we can berry frost, so I’m just keeping things in chronological cupcake order.
The cupcakes. I am employing my favorite flour combo for these cupcakes: almond + oat. If you want nut-free, try these. If you want grain-free, try these. But if you just trust me, I promise the texture this flour combo creates is worth stocking your pantry with both.
Rather than making two separate batters, we are doing most of the mixing in one big bowl and then dividing into two at the very end to create chocolate and vanilla. The chocolate bowl gets a quarter cup of cocoa, and the vanilla a quarter cup of tapioca starch. You can probably skip the tapioca, but the cupcake might be a bit more crumbly.
These two tone-beauties puff up perfectly in the oven (especially if you aggressively fill the cupcake pan to the almost top like I do), and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vegan/gf cupcake liner come off so clean. Which, if you didn’t know, is the mark of good cupcake moisture/texture.
The frosting. The berry component to complete our Neapolitan trio. At this point you’ve already pulled off two flavors of cupcake in one, so we kept the frosting super simple. Simply whip together coconut cream and freeze dried strawberries until light and fluffy.
It’s not super sweet, sweet enough for me, but feel free to add a little more sugar if you wish. Freeze dried berries really do work best to not water down the coconut cream, plus the flavor is stronger and a little extra tart.
I did not come up with or create these ice cream inspired cupcakes alone though, these and their beautiful video happened with the help of my good friends Sonya and Dan. So bookmark these babies and maybe have your own spontaneous sprinkle-filled Saturday with friends – 11/10 recommend!
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Neapolitan Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 cupcakes 1x
- Category: cupcakes
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
Vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but in cupcake not cone! Fluffy two-toned cupcakes topped with whipped dairy-free berry frosting. Vegan and gluten-free!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120g) applesauce
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut oil
- 1 cup (120g) almond milk
- 1/3 cup (105g) agave*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups (210) oat flour
- 1 1/2 cups (180g) almond flour
- 1/3 cup (50g) cane sugar*
- 1/4 cup (30g) tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Strawberry Frosting**
- 1 cup coconut cream
- 1 cup (25g) freeze dried strawberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Whisk together the applesauce, coconut oil, almond milk, agave, and vanilla.
- In a separate book, whisk together the almond flour, oat flour, cane sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until lump free.
- Add the wet to the dry and stir to combine.
- Separate batter into 2 bowls. Stir the tapioca starch into one half and the cocoa powder into the other.
- Line a cupcake pan with paper liners (or spray with nonstick spray).
- Fill each cupcake halfway with the vanilla batter. Top with chocolate batter, filling almost all the way to the top.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350ºF. When done, they should spring back when lightly pressed in the center.
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, grind the freeze dried strawberries to a fine powder. Whisk into the coconut cream until smooth and pink. Chill until ready to frost.
- Frost cooled cupcakes, top with sprinkles if desired, and eat!
Notes
*I chose agave and cane sugar since they are lighter in color for the vanilla batter, but you can use maple syrup and coconut sugar if desired.
**This frosting is not sweetened. Personally I find the cupcakes sweet enough to balance it, but feel free to add 2-4 tbsp powdered sugar if desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 427
- Sugar: 17g
- Sodium: 262mg
- Fat: 13g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 41g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 7g
Keywords: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, frosting, dessert, gluten free, vegan, egg free, dairy free, healthy
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These look fabulous! Do they need refrigeration if made a few days in advance?
Yes I recommend it! They will stay much fresher that way 🙂
Oh schweet – thank you!! I think I’ll make & pack these babies up for a weekend motorcycle trip I have coming up in two weeks!
Can the almond flour be replaced by whole wheat pastry flour? so excited to try these!
Hmm I think you’d be better off replacing both with whole wheat flour (2.5-3 cups), but they might be a bit drier since the almond flour has a lot of natural moisture than a grain based flour like wheat will not. You could add an extra 1/4 cup coconut oil to help with that!
I used 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and kept the coconut oil and apple sauce the same amounts. They turned out divine!
So good to know!! I am happy you enjoyed them Melissa🤗
Can I replace the coconut oil with more applesauce?
You can but they will be a bit gummy and less light/fluffy. I really recommend the oil, but up to you of course 🙂
Can you use all oat flour in place of the almond flour. Where in the instructions do you use the cane sugar, it doesn’t say.
You whisk the sugar in with the dry ingredients, and I do not recommend all oat flour for this one unfortunately. I have this cupcake recipe that uses only oat if you prefer: https://www.feastingonfruit.com/vegan-vanilla-cupcakes/
These are SO MUCH FUN! I actually prefer other ice cream flavors (vanilla, cookies n cream, or something with caramel) but I am all about this trio in cake form! With a handful of fresh berries these are summer dessert perfection =)
It’s never been my favorite ice cream flavor either, but translates just scrumptiously to cake I think! Thanks my dear💕
These look amazing! Was just wondering if you could recommend a substitute for the almond flour?
Excuse me, I most definitely meant to type oat flour! My apologies
All good😊 The oat flour could be swapped with buckwheat or quinoa for other GF options, or all purpose/wheat would work too!
Thank you. Definitely gonna try make these this week
Let me know if you do 🙂
Hello. Thank you very much for this recipe. Is there any substitute for applesauce and also can I omit the tapioca flour?
You can omit the tapioca, but the cupcakes may be a tad more crumbly. And you could swap the applesauce for yogurt!
Do you think this could translate into a cake? Would it still set up or be too fragile?
I do think it will work, yes! Not in a loaf pan but in a 9″ round cake pan, sure 🙂
Can these be made oil free?
You could try nut/seed butter or more applesauce, but they won’t be as moist/fluffy!
I was nervous because I don’t see a binder in here (egg, gum, etc) but they held together pretty well! I measured the strawberries, and one cup was only 14g, so I ground the whole bag, and 34g wasn’t a cup, so I’m not sure what the solution was there. Unfortunately, the texture was not cake like at all, very gummy, even with the called for grams. Speaking of which, THANK YOU. Baking with gfdf recipes is so much easier with weight measurements!
Peace Be With You,
Michelle
★★★
Bummer they didn’t work for you, mine were not gummy at all so not sure why that happened. Did you mix by hand or with an electric mixer? That’s the only other possible issue I can think of😕
Hi, can we replace tapoica flour with corn starch and agave with agar powder? Thanks!
Corn starch will work, yes! Agar and agave are not substitutes for one another though, maple syrup or honey would work!
Thanks for this recipe Natalie. My daughter is going to lose it when she sees these at her next birthday party. It can be tricky to find lovely gluten-free cakes that all the kids will love – we normally make half regular and and order gluten-free. We don’t have to now. Thanks again.
Soooooo much easier to make just one batch, I am so happy you found them and I hope you and your daughter both love them! Keep me updated Amanda😊
Does the icing melt if left at room temperature? I’m thinking of making these and taking them some place, but they will have to survive in a cooler with ice for a little under 2 hours. Thoughts on this?
Yes it does unfortunately, coconut cream based frostings have to be kept chilled. I’d bring the frosting and cupcakes separate in a cooler and then frost once you get there!
If I was to replace the coconut oil, what would you recommend, melted vegan butter or a liquid oil?
Either will work fine here! Melted vegan butter will have more flavor, so I’d recommend that one. Enjoy Anna 🙂