Following our trials and tribulations as we attempt to remove all grains, many starchy vegetables and most sugars from our diet while maintaining our love of good food! We strive to make all of our recipes GAPS and/or SCD compliant. Note: We didn't know about "Grain-Free Gourmet" when we chose our name. We are not affiliated with those good folks.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Almond coconut cupcakes with marshmallow frosting

It was my son's second birthday last week, so we decided to celebrate with some friends and a few treats. I modified this cupcake recipe from one I found on Elana's Pantry. It does contain baking soda, which is allowed on SCD, but not GAPS. So be warned.

All of the kids gobbled these up, even the non-GAPS ones! My son just licked the frosting off the top, but that was OK, it was his birthday, after all.


The frosting is modified from the honey frosting recipe in Breaking the Vicious Cycle. I found theirs to be way too sticky. This one is a lot lighter and fluffier. It makes a good base or topping for other desserts too. It's used in the peanut butter pie recipe, which will be coming soon.

Ingredients for Cupcakes

6 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 tsp. almond extract

Method for Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper or silicone.

Warm honey and melt coconut oil together over medium low heat. Sift coconut flour, salt, and baking soda into the eggs and beat with a hand mixer. Add warm honey/oil mixture while continuing to beat until thoroughly blended. Add almond extract and blend until smooth. Pour into lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. These will brown quite a bit because of the honey. Cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for Frosting

3 egg whites at room temperature
1 cup honey
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Method for Frosting

Beat egg whites until foamy. Boil honey until it forms a hard ball in cold water (about 210 degrees on a candy thermometer, if I remember correctly). My honey just starts to smell like it's scorching when I'm at the right temperature. Don't burn the honey though or it will taste gross (trust me).

With the mixer running, continue to beat the egg whites while adding the boiling honey. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. This makes way more frosting than you will need for the cupcakes. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of days (theoretically).

8 comments:

  1. These are incredible! If I can have these I'll never have the need for grain-flour cakes again!

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  2. I made cupcakes out of my Cinnamon Apple Cake recipe, and frosted them with the marshmallow frosting. This time I cooked the honey just right, and the frosting is amazing - thick, creamy, smooth, and glossy in a pearly sort of way. I just dipped the cupcakes upside down into the bowl, and they came up with a beautiful swirl and perfect peak. I sprinkled slivered toasted almonds on top for decoration. I frosted 24 cupcakes and still had at least a cup and a half of frosting left. This frosting recipe is amazingly easy and delicious.

    Tracy in Berkeley

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  3. I love cooking with coconut flour! Not as heavy as nut flours and much better for blood sugar than tapioca or rice options. Only beef I have is I go through a ton of eggs! For some super fun, add a bit of kefir to the batter and it gives it a sour bite. I love to do that when adding blueberries.

    Thank you!

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  4. If I sub vanilla in for the almond, would this be a safe recipe for a child's 1st. Birthday? I ask bc of the honey... Or, is it safe bc you bake/boil it?

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  5. Well, I am not a medical expert, but I believe the prohibition on honey for infants is only up to one year of age, so a one year old should be safe. With the frosting, there would be no problem with any age consuming it, as it is boiled for some time, and heat deactivates botulism spores. With the cake, I cannot be sure if the amount of heat and aeration would be sufficient for inactivation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For some reason I couldn't finish my comment in the previous post. I wanted to add that you should put a call into your child's pediatrician, if you feel unsure. They should be able to easily handle a question like this over the phone. My comments are never intended to replace medical advice and are only based on my recollections of information I have read over the years. New information (and advice based on it) can come to light at any time.

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  6. These look yummy! Do you think the marshmallow frosting would work for sugar cookies, too (with a little coloring)?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure this would work well on sugar cookies, but the honey might cause some sogginess after awhile. Better to eat them up quickly ;-)

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