With spring right around the corner, these coconut flour cupcakes are the treat you need to brighten up your day!
Can we talk for a minute about how my toddler can sprinkle toasted coconut onto cupcakes more artfully than I can?
I’m not even kidding. I was bent over the table, sprinkling little bits of coconut over each cupcake, when she reached across, grabbed a handful, and started helping.
The cupcakes in the picture are her cupcakes.
On another note, I really do try to make healthy treats. No really. I do.
Or at least, I try to make them partially healthy, ya know? Like switching from white sugar to unprocessed cane sugar, and investing in 50lbs of coconut flour so we can cut down on our grain consumption.
Honestly, I feel pretty good about these coconut flour cupcakes. Yes, there is some sugar, but it’s a dessert so… what’s the problem? And maybe I’m just grasping at straws, but I think the eggs offset that a bit (right?).
After all, eggs are a borderline superfood (right?). And speaking of which, I’m super excited that I just found a guy near town who sells free-range duck eggs! Gabriel tested allergic to chicken eggs over a year ago, which has made baking kind of complicated (thank the Lord for flax seed egg replacer!), so trust me – this is exciting! (Update, we raise our own duck eggs now.)
Duck eggs or chicken, it doesn’t matter, these coconut flour cupcakes were a huge hit. Soft, fluffy, and coconutty. Perfect. I can’t believe they’re grain-free!
If you’re looking for an indulgent icing that isn’t too heavy on the sugar to top these with, I highly recommend Italian Buttercream Icing. You’ll feel like a legit chef making that icing, but the mixer does all the heavy lifting for you.
Coconut Flour Cupcakes
Coconut Flour Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup light olive oil or melted coconut oil
- 2/3 cup sugar (I used evaporated cane sugar)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
- 6 large eggs
- 2 Tablespoons water (or milk)
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Whisk oil sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, and water.
- Mix coconut flour and baking powder.
- Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and stir to combine well.
- Grease a dozen muffin cups, or line with paper cupcake liners.
- Fill each liner 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center rack of the oven for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Remove the cupcakes from oven. Let them cool for five minutes before removing cupcakes from the pan to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Cool completely before icing with your choice of icing – My favorite is Italian Meringue Buttercream, or whipped cream. Yum!
- Enjoy!
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YUM!!! I love baking with coconut flour!
Looks super tasty! Love your website!
HI! I am unfamiliar with GF baking, but want to have a cupcake option available for a birthday party this weekend. I just wanted to double check that it is only 1/2 cup of coconut flour? Does this make a dozen regular size or mini cupcakes? These look amazing!
Yes, it makes a dozen regular sized cupcakes. A little bit of coconut flour goes a long way. 🙂
I was wondering if I could use coconut sugar Instead of regular sugar or the evaporated cane sugar?
Yes, that should work well. 🙂
While these are a good idea, I didn’t care for them. It was like eating a corn meal muffin. Too heavy and eggy. I’m wondering if they can be lighted up by using less eggs and maybe whipping the egg whites and folding them in to aim for a lighter result. I’m a very experienced baker but would consider tweaking this recipe a little.
Just made these. Delicious! Thank you for sharing.
Glad you like them! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
These were delicious thank you so much!
Could you use honey in these?
I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe, but I just finished a paleo chocolate cupcake recipe, and in that I used one cup of honey, and increased the flour to 2/3 cup. Hope that helps! 🙂
I found that they were very greasy. They taste good though so I may make them again with a little less oil.
The first time I made these I didn’t melt the coconut oil and they were very greasy. Then the second time I made them I melted the oil and didn’t use cupcake liners, so they turned out much better.
I jest made them:) one Word: DELICIOUS!!!!! :):) I added blueberies and chocolate. . :):):) thx for recipie:)
Glad you liked them. 🙂 Blueberries and chocolate are the best, right?!
I love this recipe. I have made them several times. I am using 3T Xylitol and 1 T Liquid Stevia instead of sugar. Mine aren’t as fluffy and good looking at yours are. I need to bake them til they are golden like you did. Fab photo.
That substitution is for 1/2 the recipe, which is what I make.
Thanks for sharing your modification Stacey!
Have you made these with flaxseed egg replacer? If so, will I get the same results?
I haven’t, and I’m not sure it would work without a lot of changes – primarily replacing the protein found in the eggs with something – maybe pea protein – for structure.
Sorry I’m not helping much.
I made these today and substituted flax “eggs” for the eggs and coconut sugar instead of regular sugar.
They were very dark in color (brown) and the center did not seem to bake correctly either.
Do you have any suggestions to help prevent this? I also live at a higher altitude. Would that be part of the problem?
I honestly think it’s probably the flax egg. I’m guessing it lacks the protein needed to for structure, which prevents them from rising and setting up. Sorry it didn’t work out!
I made those today and they’re really tasty. Super moist and super fluffy. A bit too sweet though, so next time I will reduce the amount of sugar. Thanks for the recipe!
I am so glad you shared this recipe! It’s going to help our little Elise have a healthy birthday treat! Thank you.
You’re very welcome! Happy birthday little one! 🙂
Making these right now as we speak. The batch didn’t make a full dozen of cupcakes, I ended up having to turn up my oven to bake longer as 18-20 mins was not long enough. Hopefully they come out tasting good. They seem to be grainy.
These turned out so well for me! Super light and fluffy with an awesome flavor. I cooked them for 20 minutes and they were perfectly golden. As someone who is GF and loves (I mean loves) cake I am very happy to have found this recipe. Thank you!!
Yay! That’s so good to hear! You totally just made my day. 🙂
Can I use Stevia instead of sugar, if so how much? I am on a Keto Dieto and I would love to bake these but I can´t with the sugar.
Thank you
I’m not very experienced baking with stevia, so I’m not sure. However, sugar acts as a liquid in baking, so you’ll definitely have to adjust for it.
These taste good! and I happy to have found this recipe simple and straight forward. My only trouble was they dropped in the center once I took them out of the oven ;-I should the egg mixture be fluffy before you add the flour in?
I will try again tomorrow. Praying for more success:)
Hmmm. Maybe they just needed more time in the oven? That’s usually the reason for cake dropping as it cools. 🙂
Try using aquafaba as an egg replacer. It’s magic, and amazing and makes things so light and fluffy!
My cupcakes ended up cornbready texture as well, which I’m not sure how to fix. I added lemon juice instead of water to mine though. Lemony. Yum!!
★★★★
Do you think it would be possible to substitute the eggs for apple sauce? The little boy I want to make these for can’t have nuts, eggs, or dairy and it’s so difficult to find a recipe for cupcakes that doesn’t contain any of those.
I’m not sure that would work, because of the lack of protein and binding substance. Coconut flour doesn’t hold together on it’s own without something like egg. Sorry!
Wacky Cake recipe would work – i have been making it for over 2 years for my little boy! it’s delicious.
This looks really good! So you made these for your son with the flaxseed replacement? My son is allergic to eggs to =( I haven’t tried the duck eggs so i need to do that. Thank you this may be a great hit for his birthday.
No, unfortunately, I’ve never made these without eggs. I’m not sure it would work.
Elise, I would love to try and make these. I am looking to make a moist and fluffy cupcake using coconut or almond flour. I have only recently started experimenting. Would I be able to substitute the oil for butter instead?
Yes.
Why did my cupcakes fall? Tried the recipe twice but happened both times when I took them out of the oven. Please help.
Never mind I just realized that I used coconut sugar instead of coconut flour. Sorry
Just made these! Delicious!
Another person mentioned a similarity to cornbread… It’s true that it’s a bit like cornbread because of the cornmeal-y consistency … but the coconut brings out the dessert side! For me it was sweet enough without having to add any icing.
Will definitely make again!
And will be trying out the chocolate version as well!
Thanks so much
I am wondering if the coconut flour is responsible for the graininess. 🤔 I might try leaving out all or most of the sweetener on purpose to see if they could be used like corn muffins with chili. I do Keto and make a mean Keto chili!
Yes, if you leave the sugar out they will be drier and more crumbly.
I put this in an 8 inch square cake pan instead of cupcakes and baked it for 25 minutes. It had great texture and was moist and delicious!
Awesome!
They are very good but I would like to see the calories, fat ext brake down and some sugar free options. I added stivia.
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Hi, I’m wondering if I can use flax as a good replacement for 6 eggs. Also, can this be made into a small cake instead of cupcakes?
Several readers have told me that they’ve successfully made these into a cake, however, I’m not sure whether the flax would have the same structural affect as real eggs.
it looks yum but the temperture is C or F
Fahrenheit.
Where is the recipe? I cannot see it?
So sorry about that! It’s back now.
thanks soo much!
I really wanted to love these but all I could taste was egg and baking soda. They were also very greasy. Followed recipe exactly except I only used egg whites because I can’t have the yolks. Maybe some tweaking would improve texture and taste.
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Hello there,
Can’t wait to make these, they look delicious.
Do you think I could leave out the sugar and replace it with a banana?
Thanks
I don’t think it will be the same, but you could try it.
Were moist and delicious, everyone loved them. Made them as mini-cupcakes and had a can of whipped topping so everyone could add their own, if desired. Had a problem with them sticking to the pan, had greased it with butter. Going to try it with cupcake liners next time. Coconut oil became clumps when added to cold liquid and looked really greasy while cooking – but resulting product was perfect!
★★★★★
Thank you for this recipe. These turned out perfect for me. To suit me, I swapped the olive oil/coconut oil for avocado oil and sugar for cofectioner swerve.
How many Protein, Carbs., Fat, Calories, and Sugars per serving?
Can you make a cake with this recipe?
Yes, but you’ll want it to be relatively thin to facilitate loft.
I have multiple food allergies and have to adhere to a strict Paleo/nut-free diet. These were sooooo good! Thank you so much for sharing!
★★★★★
So glad I could help!
These cupcakes are not bad, but I found them to be too eggy (which I expected from the amount called for in the recipe). They taste pretty good with icing! Thanks for sharing the recipe
★★★
I used your recipe to make donuts today, but made some adjustments to make them Keto. I used erythritol instead of sugar and added sparkling water which gave them a good fluffy, spongy texture. I then coated them in erythritol and cinnamon, and some erythritol and milk icing. They were a hit in my house 😊
★★★★★
Do you have a breakdown of nutrition facts for these cupcakes?
Could I use sunflower oil instead !
Yes.