Healthy Coconut Quinoa Cupcakes
There are two types of people: people who go with the flow and do things on the fly, and people who are totally anal rigid and need to plan things.
I’m the planning type. Like, I need to schedule things or know of something in advance. If it’s not on my calendar, on my to-do list or reviewed fourteen times in my mind, it’s not happenin’ buddy. Maybe this is my way of conquering my former habit of procrastinating? Because if I mastered one skill (curse?) in my early life, it would be that.
My planning led me to make those yummy Vanilla Quinoa Cupcakes. However, the unplanned and alarming rate at which we finished off those cupcakes screwed up my baking schedule (yes, that exists). My calendar told me that I should have a steady supply of dessert for a week when I really had disorder, chaos, despair zero cupcakes and a garbage full of cupcake wrappers.
Insanity.
So due to my cupcake withdrawal, I needed to make the recipe again. I wanted to test out a new flavor and was also craving coconut, so I made Coconut Quinoa Cupcakes.
These cupcakes are incredibly moist, soft, and springy. It’s shocking that you can actually feel good about eating them!
These are equally as sweet and delicious as the original recipe it is based off of. It still has that distinct quinoa flavor, but that’s not a bad thing. The coconut and the frosting together come together to make the finest cupcake of all 🙂
For the frosting, I was actually just messing around throwing things in a bowl. I started with some coconut yogurt (the same kind used in the cupcakes) and whisked in powdered erythritol. I then whisked in melted coconut oil so it could firm up. It looked fine but after some more whisking it looked like the yogurt was separating or “curdling” … eh, not good. But I didn’t want to toss it so I tried to salvage it by tossing it all in a blender. And BAM! I got a smooth and creamy frosting! I gave it a taste and ended up adding coconut extract for more flavor, plus natural butter flavor to make it taste more “buttercream-y” delicious. I refrigerated the entire mixture for a little, until it was firm enough to pipe, then piped the frosting onto the cupcakes using my favorite star tip. You can obviously use whatever frosting you like though. I’ve got a ton of healthy frosting recipes on the blog!
Coconut and cupcakes is a match made in heaven, except now YOU are part of the equation!
That’s math we can all appreciate 😉
Healthy Coconut Quinoa Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 136g (1 cup) Quinoa Flour
- 136g (1 cup) Sweet White Sorghum Flour
- 2 tsp Double-Acting Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Xanthan Gum
- 240g (1 cup) Plain, Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt
- 1¼ cups Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Milk
- 1 tsp Coconut-Flavored Stevia Extract
- 1 tsp Natural Butter Flavor
- ½ tsp Coconut Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cupcake tin with parchment paper liners (make sure to use parchment liners, not paper liners, because paper liners might stick!)
- In a small bowl, whisk together the quinoa flour, sorghum flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, stevia, butter flavor, and coconut extract.
- Dump the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and whisk until everything is incorporated and any clumps are gone.
- Scoop batter into the prepared cupcake tin, then bake for ~27 minutes, or until surface of cupcakes spring back when tapped. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Frost with your frosting of choice, then serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
I think these cupcakes are best eaten the day after baking… the quinoa flour flavor weakens (which is a good thing, since it’s a bit grassy).
OH! Can you believe a delicious cupcake has only 110 calories?? And 2g of fat, 2g of fiber, and no added sugar? Ummm, yes please. I don’t think anyone could feel bad about eating a couple (or three) in a row 😉
Enjoy!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
These look delicious! Chocolate and coconut are one of my favourites.
I’m a planner too! These cupcakes are beautiful and adorable and look SO yummy! I am always in awe of your healthifying abilities!
I clicked on the yoghurt link and wish I hadn’t of! So jealous! It’s hard to even find soy yoghurt here in Ireland, to have almond would be AMAZING! Muffins sound amazing, is the mixture quite liquidy? Totally checking out the vanilla version too 🙂
can I replace Xanthan gum?
I added xanthan gum to the recipe because I made a batch without it and it crumbled very easily, due to it being gluten-free. I would suggest keeping it in or replacing it with another binder, such as guar gum. I have never used guar gum but from what I hear it has similar properties to xanthan gum. You can also try adding an egg or an egg replacer to help keep the cupcakes together. Good luck!
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Where can I find Double-Acting Baking Powder? I sooo want to make these!
Almost all baking powder is double acting baking powder, just check your label to be sure. I like to say the full ingredient name in my recipe 🙂
I am slowly becoming more and more convinced to purchase sorghum flour just so I can recreate the majority of your recipes! These cupcakes look TO DIE FOR. I actually visited a coffee shop and found these vegan cupcakes, but yours look almost the same and yours is much healthier!
I have no reason to eat gluten-free, so I don’t keep many gluten-free flours on hand. I do have quinoa flour, which I add to some multigrain baked goods as well as to make peanut butter snack cakes, but it’s bitter so I wouldn’t ever think to put it in a cupcake. I don’t have sweet sorghum flour and don’t want to spend the extra money to buy some just for a batch of cupcakes. Is it necessary to counteract the bitterness of the quinoa flour, or could I substitute it with whole wheat pastry flour?
Oooo, peanut butter snack cakes sound delicious! You can substitute sorghum flour with brown rice flour or whole wheat pastry flour 🙂
Hope you like the cupcakes!
Any suggestions for a substitute for the yogurt?