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I’m not a big dessert person, but when I do want something sweet, I like to have the healthiest treat I can make so….I like to eat paleo – my favorites being paleo chocolate chip cookies or paleo blueberry muffins. I usually make blueberry muffins for birthday parties and get-togethers because I never had a chance to experiment with making vanilla paleo cupcakes.
But, for family game night this past weekend, I wanted something different everyone could try, vanilla paleo cupcakes. My mom doesn’t eat chocolate so I wanted to make a vanilla paleo friendly cupcake that tasted great! It’s easier to get a paleo recipe to taste great when it has chocolate in it because chocolate almost always makes anything taste good. So, creating a recipe for vanilla paleo cupcakes required many more tries, but so worth it!
I’ve been meaning to share my vanilla paleo cupcake recipe for months now, but have just been so busy I hadn’t a chance to take some good pictures of the cupcakes. When I was making the cupcakes yesterday for a family game night, I thought I would take some pictures since it was a nice sunny day.
Everyone just loved these paleo vanilla cupcakes – even my toughest customers…. my brothers who both don’t eat gluten free! They gobbled up two each!
This is my favorite recipe for paleo cupcakes because they are healthy and taste so delicious! The cupcakes are made with only coconut flour, so they are completely gluten free. They are also paleo and dairy-free.
They are moist, soft, and have a texture similar to regular cupcakes without tasting eggy.
Baking with Coconut Flour:
For this paleo cupcakes recipe, the only type of flour you‘ll be using is coconut flour. Coconut flour is a healthy flour to use. Coconut flour is high in fiber, protein and healthy fats. Foods high in fiber can help with digestive issues, such as constipation. It is also low in sugar and carbohydrates, so it won’t cause your blood sugar to spike. This is especially helpful for those with diabetes. So, even though cupcakes are a sweet treat, this is pretty much the healthiest version of a cupcake, yet it tastes just as good as a regular cupcake (at least I think so).
Vanilla Coconut Flour Paleo Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (measure when liquid)
- 2 tablespoons milk (regular milk, coconut milk or water works)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir well until thoroughly mixed.
- Use a spoon to scoop batter into baking cups.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Frosting Options:
For these vanilla paleo cupcakes, I always just use coconut butter as a frosting. It tastes like frosting and is healthier frosting option! Here are some of my other recipes for paleo frosting I use, for both chocolate and pink frosting.
I’ve made these a few times now and they turned out great every time!! People are always skeptical when I tell them they are gluten and dairy free. I try to tell them they are more of a bread consistency than cake but aren’t as dense. I have tried adding Cinnamon and cocoa powder. They also turned out well. I do have a question though, have you tried to configure the nutritional info on these? If so could you please let me know? Thank you for this great recipe. It definitely one I’ll continue to use and experiment with!
So, I made these tonight and they were amazing! I topped them with a homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting and made mini parfaits with some reddiwhip…..so good!! But, if I wanted to make these again without the honey because I’m keto and honey is crazy high in carbs and sugar what would be the amount of natural sweetner to substitute?? Like monk fruit or swerve?? Thank you!
So glad you like them! Thank you for sharing how they turned out! You can use any amount you like. I’ve made these without honey and they still turn out really well.
Hi, I plan on making these, but I wanted to know first how well do they keep? How far in advance can I make them?
They keep great! You can keep them in the fridge for about a week. After that, I freeze them.
Has anybody used Erythritol sweetener with this?
OMG!!!
This is one of the best baked goods I ever made.
I’m on keto for diabetes control with less than 20g of carbs a day. Because of that, I made only half of the recipe but used melted butter instead of coconut oil and put all the batter into a mini loaf pan. Baked at 350F for 25 minutes and let rest out of the oven another 20. It’s amazing! I’m really, really surpised. I never thought that a gluten free / sugar free cake can taste like this.
Thank you so much!
So happy to hear you liked them! Thank you for sharing how they turned out.
How many does this make?
I believe I followed the recipe perfectly and rechecked after not turning out. I measured the coconut oil when liquid, but did not let my other ingredients get room temperature first. I did mix all ingredients together in one bowl. So, when I took them out of the oven, the batter had expanded and ran over the cups and spread out all over my cookie sheet. I want to try again….do you think not letting my ingredients warn was the problem?
This recipe makes about 8 to 10 cupcakes depending on how large you make them.
Hi, just wanna to check can i sub coconut oil to olive oil?
Yes, any type of oil will work.
My cupcakes were fluffy and delicious.
After reading all the comments I decided to beat the egg whites to add some air in the dough. Liquid coconut oil and cold eggs (could not wait for room temperature).
Will make it again!
So glad to hear you liked them! Thank you for sharing how they turned out 🙂
I would LOVE to make these but wondered about the amount to replace the honey with Monkfruit?? Has anyone done that?
Hi April, I have never tried that before. Let us know how it turns out if you give it a try.
They taste good I added a little fine coconut. Did not rise or look like yours at all.. disappointed not gonna le😟
Thank you for letting us know how they turned out. They should raise a little bit, but no where near as much as conventional cupcakes made with flour.
Can I eliminate the vinegar & use coconut sugar instead of honey? I’m not allowed acid foods or honey. They look delicious. I’d love to try them. Thanks, Pam
Yes, you can leave the vinegar out and use coconut sugar. Let us know how it turns out with your substitution if you give it a try.
I adapted it to make pineapple upside down cupcakes for an event where several of us were gluten free. Turned out fantastic!
Wow, that sounds amazing!
I made this using sunflower oil instead of coconut oil. Perfect crumb! I also made an apple upside down cake instead of muffins. I lined my 9×9 dish with thinly sliced apples and poured the batter on top. Into the oven, and it was done in 30 minutes. Spectacular. Will definitely become my go-to recipe for cake!
Yay! So glad you liked it!
Love them! Has anyone froze them?
Yes, I freeze them all the time. So happy to hear you love them!
Hi there! Thank you for posting this, I am very excited to try these! Do you know if it would be possible to use cassava flour instead of coconut flour? And if so, how much cassava flour would I need to use? Thanks again!
Hi Janalyn, you definitely can use cassava flour. I’m not sure how much you would need though. Maybe 1/4 cup more flour? Let us know if you try it out.
I’m glad I didn’t read the comments first as some aren’t very positive as far as how the recipe worked. But I just made these and they are delicious! Turned out perfectly!! I’m making a second batch as we speak and working out what to top them with. Thank you!!
So glad you liked them!
How do you get the frosting to look the way it does. I know I have coconut butter at home but to me it’s just like thicker coconut oil.
I add honey and coconut oil to it when I want to make it look nice! I put it in a decorating icing bag to swirl it on the cupcakes. Plain coconut butter tastes great but, it is hard to make it look neat 🙂
I don’t usually post any comments but I had to come back on here after I made those muffins. I love muffins especially vanilla but never ever tried any recipe just because the ingredients are always so complicated and usually they call for tons of almond flour which is very expensive in my country. I was so skeptical about those but thought I would give them a try. Oh boy was I glad that I did. They are insanely delicious!!! And so so so easy to make. A mean throw a couple of ingredients in a bowl,mix and bake. I didn’t made any frosting and they were perfect as it is. Definitely my go to recipe from now on. Thank you so much for sharing it 🙏🏻
Happy to hear you liked them! Thank you for sharing how they turned out 🙂
Have you tried them with an egg replacement? I am on a no gluten no egg no milk diet and am curious how they would turn out.
I haven’t tried an egg replacement for this recipe yet. Let us know how it turns out if you give it a try.
I was so excited to make these – I followed everything the recipe said – but mine came out so dense and greasy – batter was so liquidy. Any idea what I could have done wrong? The flavor is really good – I am not going to throw them out – but just nothing like the picture, all light and fluffy looking. I did read all the other comments and will definitely have everything at room temp when I try it again.
Hi Jennifer. Sorry to hear that. Did you let the ingredients warm up to room temperature before mixing them. Sometimes it can help to let the ingredients warm up a little bit especially if you use coconut oil.
I made them and they were a big hit… How many net carbs?
So glad you liked them! I haven’t calculated the net carbs. You can use an online calculator and just input the ingredients.
Yum! This looks amazing! What does the vinegar do for the bake?
The reaction between the ACV and baking soda helps them to rise a little bit more. You can leave both of those ingredients out if you want to though.
THESE WERE AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean I think I had fairies dancing on my tongue , makes too few , will have to double the batch next time which will be tomorrow 😂😂😂 thank you for sharing xx
Happy you liked them! Thanks for coming back and sharing your results.
How many carbs per serving? I’m counting carbs.
People may be getting a variation (like a denser cupcake, etc.) due to the milk they are using. The regular milk has proteins in it which will bind differently than a non-protein milk like coconut milk, etc. I am curious to know which milk is your (the author’s) regular go to for this recipe to see if I should use a protein based milk like almond, goat, or a non-protein. Can’t wait to try it!!
People may be getting variations when they make this due to the milk. Regular milk has proteins in it which will bind differently than say coconut or any non-protein milk. I am curious as to which milk exactly you use, Can’t wait to try.
Yes, great point!
This turned out great without any deviations from the recipe. They were darker than what it shows on the photo but that may be depends on the honey I used? All the same, they were moist and had a really good flavour. I didnt use any frosting. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
So glad you like it! It could be the honey. I think the lighting of my picture makes them look a little lighter than they actually are too.
These are amazing!! I followed the directions exactly. The middles of mine were sunken in but tasted so good they don’t even frosting. All my ingredients were room temperature and I sifted my dry ingredients. Great recipe!
Thanks Annna!
I made this recipe and it was very good. So moist with a lot of flavor. I didn’t deviate from the recipe and it came out perfect.
Really good! Couldn’t find the coconut butter but still really good.. as said in other comments I let the ingredients come to room temperature.. turned out better than I imagined! Thanks!
So happy to hear you like it!