Delicious and moist cupcakes with strawberry flavour and rich buttercream frosting: you can have them even if you are on a low-carb diet! Making these cupcakes is very easy and everyone would love them!
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Why is this recipe good
These cupcakes are great for parties or to have a dessert at home when you are on keto. They are also great if you are not following any specific diet but you want to limit the carbohydrates. The cupcakes are moist and tender and the frosting is rich, creamy and with wonderful cocoa taste.
Last but not least this recipe is easy, perfect for unexperienced bakers. The most time consuming part is to make the strawberry puree that you would use in the batter.
Main ingredients
These cupcakes are made with coconut flour which is easy to find and not as expensive as other low-carb flours. The recipe calls also for flax seed meal which improves the texture.
I use xylitol for most of my low-carb desserts because of its benefits for the teeth but you can use any kind of low-carb sweetener you like: just adjust the proportions accordingly.
Other ingredients for this recipe are:
- oil: I prefer olive oil but you can use other
- heavy cream or coconut milk
- eggs
- strawberries
- cocoa powder
- butter
- baking powder
- vanilla
You will find the exact quantities below the post, in the recipe card.
Preparation summary
To make the batter, first you need to whisk the xylitol and the oil very well. Add one by one the rest of the wet ingredients. At the end add the dry ingredients and mix to make a smooth batter.
Bake the cupcakes and let them cool until room temperature.
To make the frosting you need to use an electric mixer. Beat the butter together with the xylitol and the cocoa, adding little by little from the coconut milk (or heavy cream). The frosting should become light and fluffy.
A note about the sweetener
While in the batter you can use a sweetener with almost any consistency (liquid, powdered or granulated) in the frosting you need powdered xylitol or erythritol that resemble confectioners sugar. The recipe won’t work with any other consistency.
Powdered stevia is not a good idea as it tends to be concentrated and you won’t need more than 1-2 tablespoon for this recipe. But for this frosting you would need at least about ½ cup of the sweetener in order to add volume as well, apart from sweetness.
Ultimately if you are not following a low-carb diet, you can use 1 cup (120 g) confectioners sugar.
I hope you would like this recipe! My family enjoyed a lot the cupcakes, even though nobody is on a diet at home.
I would be glad to know how they were if you made them!
📝 Recipe
Keto Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
Ingredients
For the strawberry puree:
- 6 oz/ 170 g strawberries, fresh or frozen
For the cupcakes:
- ½ cup/ 120 g strawberry puree
- 2 tbsp/ 16 g flax seed meal
- ½ cup/ 60 g coconut flour
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup/ 60 ml vegetable oil, I recommend EVO oil
- ½ cup/ 80 g xylitol
- ⅓ cup/ 80 ml heavy cream, or coconut milk
- 1,5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the frosting:
- ½ cup/ 100 g xylitol
- ½ cup/ 120 g butter, soft
- ½ cup/ 50 g cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp/ 30 ml heavy cream, or coconut milk
Instructions
Strawberry puree:
- Heat the strawberries in a saucepan and let them simmer for 10-15 minutes, until they thicken. Let cool for 10-15 minutes and then puree in a blender until smooth. The resulting quantity should be about ½ cup or 120 ml, just enough for the recipe.
- Let the puree cool until room temperature before using it for the cupcakes. You can store it in the fridge for up to a week.
Cupcakes:
- Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cases. Preheat oven to 360º F/ 180º C.
- In a small bowl combine flax seed meal and baking powder. Mix very well and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together oil and xylitol until smooth. Gradually add eggs, vanilla, cream and strawberry puree. Whisk after each addition, until smooth.
- At the end add the flax seed meal and the coconut flour. Mix gently with a rubber spatula until absorbed.
- Use a tablespoon or an ice cream scoop to fill the cupcakes about ¾ full.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops become golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool until room temperature before frosting them.
Frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the powdered xylitol and cocoa powder. Make sure no lumps remain.
- Add the soft butter and start beating with an electric mixer at a low speed. Little by little add the milk and gradually increase the speed. Beat for about 1-2 minutes until the frosting becomes soft and fluffy.
- Use a piping bag and a large star or round tip (or no tip) to frost the cupcakes.
Notes
- Store the cupcakes in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months.
- You can use any low-carb sweetener for the cupcake batter, no matter of its consistency.
- For the frosting you need a powdered sweetener, even if it is not xylitol. However avoid powdered stevia or any other sweetener that is very concentrated as it has to add volume to the frosting and not only taste. You need at least ½ cup sweetener for the frosting (if you use that quantity of stevia, the taste would not be nice).
Darlene
Thank you so much for sharing these. They look like they will be delicious.
Daniela
Thank you, Darlene! I am glad you like them.
Laurie
Hello, I am wanting to make these as they sound delish. I wanted to verify how much baking powder to put in this. In the recipe above it has 1,5 tsp so I am not sure. Thank you so much.
Daniela
Hi Laurie, I am glad you like the cupcakes! Indeed, it is 1,5 teaspoons baking powder.
Niyatee Ravipati
Would this be good without the frosting too?
Daniela
Hi Niyatee, I believe so but this recipe was designed together with the frosting so I personally prefer it with it.