Chocolate-coconut cupcakes (gluten free)

You might remember last month when I announced that today, February 25th, is Canada’s Inaugural National Cupcake Day for SPCAs and Humane Societies.  I’m pleased to say that I am nearly half-way towards meeting my fundraising goal for this important cause and I hope today’s post and recipe will help me reach it!  Since I’m not in a position to hold a bake sale today (I wish!  I am sure the boys would much rather host a bake sale than have French class!), I am hosting a kind of virtual/ in real life event. Whereby I post these cupcakes here and take the “in real life” cupcakes to work today to share with my colleagues.

Because it’s Monday, you know. Sweet treats are always welcomed in the staff room, especially on Monday mornings.

Today I wanted to experiment with some gluten-free cupcakes to surprise some of my gluten-free colleagues. Generally speaking, flourless cakes contain nut flours (I have been experimenting with a fabulous hazelnut-chocolate cake that is nearly ready to share here!) but one of my colleagues has a severe nut allergy so I was really keen to try a cake with coconut flour for today’s cupcakes.  Chocolate and coconut is one of my favourite combinations and I have been wanting to experiment with the coconut flour I picked up from Nuts.com recently.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you won’t be familiar with much gluten-free baking (apart from macarons, that is – naturally gluten-free but they do contain nuts) at all. It’s not really my thing. As you can see by my first attempt at these cupcakes:

Nope, no shame is showing “real life” here! I used coconut oil and chocolate chips and no baking powder or soda in those babies. They tasted good – kind of fudgey – but a little dry and, well, pretty darned ugly….

So it was back to the drawing board kitchen counter.  The cake mix is a bit of an adaptation of the aforementioned flourless chocolate cake but since coconut flour is thirsty, I had to make sure I had enough wet ingredients cope.  I also added a little baking soda and powder and was thrilled to see they rose beautifully!

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Chocolate-coconut cupcakes (Gluten Free)

Print

A light and fluffy chocolate cupcake - you'll never guess it's gluten free!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 125g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup milk

For the ganache

• 1/4 cup (60mL) 35% (whipping) cream
• 75g semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• coconut for sprinkling

Instructions

Make the cake

1. Pre-heat oven to 350˚F/ 180˚C.
2. Prepare 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
3. In a microwave or in a small saucepan on medium-high heat, melt the butter and cocoa powder. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. In a medium bowl, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until just thick and creamy.
6. Fold in the slightly cooled cocoa/ butter mix then the coconut flour, baking soda and baking powder.
7. Mix in the milk, gently with a rubber spatula.
8. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in the beaten egg whites.
9. Pour mixture into muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes.
10. Allow cakes to cool in the tray for about 10 minutes before removing them to cook completely on a wire rack.
11. Once they are completely cooled, you are ready to ice with the ganache

Make

1. Bring the cream to a simmer in a saucepan, then pour over the chocolate chips.
2. Allow to stand for a few minutes, then using a whisk, carefully blend the chocolate and cream until it's smooth.
3. Whisk in the butter.

Decorate the cupcakes

1. Using a small ladle or a piping bag, pour the ganache into the centre of each cupcake.
2. Smooth over the top of the cakes with a small knife or a an offset spatula.
3. Sprinkle with coconut.

did you make this recipe?

please leave a comment or review on the blog or share a photo and tag me on Instagram @eatlivtravwrite !

I’ve only had some crumbs of this but was impressed with the texture, the “crumb” and the fluffiness!  Win!  I frosted them with a simple chocolate ganache and some shredded coconut – because the cake is not so sweet (not much sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder) they can handle the sweet topping. Pretty darned proud of myself!!

Other cupcakes you might also enjoy:
National Cupcake Day 2013: Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2014: Jaffington Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2015: Little Orange and Almond Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2016: Jam and Cream Butterfly Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2017: Strawberry Yoghurt Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2018: Double Chocolate Buckwheat Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2019: Fudge-y Chocolate Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2020: Lemon-Blueberry Financiers

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