You have no idea how big a deal this is for me.
So as you may have heard, I’m a food writer. I love food a whole heck of a lot. The experience of eating can bring me endless joy.
I will happily traverse the glove for tagine. Delicata squash is a miracle. I have this ridiculous notion that homemade Nutella is better than the jarred stuff. Clafoutis makes me squeal. (A cute, endearing kind of squeal. But that goes without saying, right?)
Although cupcakes can be the most overrated thing since sliced bread, they can also be one of life’s great pleasures. People have been eating cake since long before the dark ages (i.e. when MySpace was still popular), and they won’t stop anytime soon. Not if I have anything to say about it.
And I do. I always do. (Kelly Morrison. No opinion left unexpressed since 1997.)
Since I hold cake in such high regard, it has taken me years of researching, travelling, testing, and eating (admittedly my favorite part) to find the one recipe to put all the other the ones to shame. I will gladly scale the highest points of the cupcake mountains to find it. And speaking of points, I’m about to get to mine!
My friends, this is the one. Italics and all. The ultimate recipe. The highest point of the cupcake mountain.
Fluffy yet rich and perfectly sweet, these vanilla infused beauties are a real winner. And they’re so easy to make! The batter (which by the way is the most fabulous cake batter you have ever sampled) takes one bowl and two minutes to throw together. Because anyone who says they like taking hours to make a cake and cleaning lots of dishes is probably in Egypt. (Haha da Nile sounds like denial see it’s so funny that is doesn’t even need punctuation.)
You don’t even have to put in any extra effort to make the frosting! All you do is save a bit of the batter, mix it with chocolate, and BOOM. Cake batter frosting for no work and no extra calories. It’s pretty flipping fantastic.
Oh, and they’re 50 calories each.
FIFTY.
Cake.
Frosting.
Smiles.
Fifty calories.
Let’s do this thing.
First, you whip up your simple batter (saving 1/2 cup for later!), bake it, and behold your handiwork.
While you wait, take your reserved batter and mix it with chocolate. Yes, you’re going to be eating straight cake batter. I love you too.
Now spread it on your cupcakes. Be careful not to eat all the frosting first.
Might I suggest a healthy sprinkling of sprinkles?
Bask in the glory of the last cupcake recipe you will ever need. Enjoy my friends!
Adapted from The BEST Chocolate Cake Ever
THE ULTIMATE HEALTHY VANILLA CUPCAKES
- 1¼ cups white whole wheat flour OR ¾ cup almond meal plus ¾ cup coconut flour
- ¾ cup erythritol or sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup applesauce
- 1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, erythritol or sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add in the almond milk, vanilla extract, applesauce, and vinegar until the batter is uniform and no pockets of flour remain. Take care not to over stir. Scoop ½ cup of the batter into another bowl and set aside.
- Evenly distribute the batter into the cupcake liners. The trick to doing this is using an ice cream scoop. It makes the process very neat and keeps the cupcakes the same size so they bake evenly. Bake in the oven at 350°F for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.
- Meanwhile, add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon almond milk to the reserved ½ cup batter and stir until combined. Chill in the fridge until the cupcakes are completely cool. Spread the frosting over the cooled cupcakes and devour.
