Keto Cupcakes (Vanilla)

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Keto cupcakes are a wonderful afternoon treat and perfect for any celebration! Expect a moist and fluffy vanilla flavoured crumb, topped by a lush cream cheese frosting. This easy sugar-free cupcakes recipe is absolutely fail-safe and suitable even for baking novices!

cupcakes with vanilla and strawberry frosting and strawberries on a cake stand

Everyone needs a really good cupcake recipe in their repertoire and this is mine!

I'll be honest with you. I never liked "real" cupcakes. I always found them too sweet, especially the frosting. At kiddie parties, I'd take a bite and then hide my plate behind a pot plant.

Everything has changed with these keto vanilla cupcakes! Not only are they low carb and gluten-free, they also ACTUALLY taste delicious.

The texture of the crumb is soft and moist yet fluffy. It tastes like a pound cake - none of that dry, brittle texture you get with shop-bought cupcakes.

The frosting is silky-creamy, but not overly sweet. I actually made two different frostings - one is a cream cheese frosting, the other one a strawberry buttercream frosting using real strawberry puree.

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🌟 Why I Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
Recipe FAQs
Variations
Storage
Related Recipes
Recipe

🌟 Why I Love This Recipe

The PERFECT cupcake texture! The crumb is soft, moist and beautifully fluffy. It is complemented by a velvety, creamy frosting. The combination of the two is rather pleasurable.
Tasty! Warm vanilla flavor in the cakes, topped with a buttery, sweet but not over-sweet frosting.
Low in carbs: One sugar free cupcake contains only 3.5g net carbs, making it 100% suitable for anyone on keto.
Easy. This is a recipe even baking beginners can master. It is only 10 minutes prep and if you don't have a piping bag, simply spoon the frosting over the cupcakes!

Ingredients

Eggs - large and room temperature. Fridge cold eggs prevent cupcakes from rising.
Butter
Cream cheese - Use a full fat cream cheese (I like Philadelphia). In the cupcake, this can be replaced with Greek yoghurt or sour cream.
Unsweetened almond milk
Granulated sweetener - I used an erythritol monk fruit sweetener, which is a 1:1 sugar alternative. Allulose or Bocha Sweet also work. For the frosting, the sugar substitute MUST be powdered.
Almond flour - I'm using ground almonds, which is equivalent to regular almond flour in the US. If you're using super-fine almond flour, reduce the amount by 2 tablespoons.
Coconut flour - It complements almond flour and is also high in fibre. Read more about the benefits of coconut flour.
Baking powder - Check that it is fresh (it should fizz when you put a little in cold water)
Vanilla extract - For a luxury version of this recipe, use the seeds from 1 vanilla pod instead!

Instructions

This section contains step-by-step instructions and photos that show how to make this recipe. See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

whisked eggs in a mixing bowl and a mixer

STEP 1

In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer or in a food processor, beat the eggs until pale, thick and double in size.

adding low carb flour to wet ingredients

STEP 2

Add the sweetener, butter, cream cheese, unsweetened almond milk and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth.

STEP 3

Stir together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl (option to add a pinch of salt). Then add them to the wet ingredients and blend until you have a smooth batter.

cupcake batter in paper cups in a cupcake pan

STEP 4

Fill the keto cupcake batter into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners and bake in the oven until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

STEP 5

Let the cupcakes cool completely.

cream cheese frosting in a bowl with a mixer

STEP 6

For the vanilla frosting, mix together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and then slowly pour in the powdered sweetener. Fill the frosting into a piping bag and pipe over the cupcakes.

Katrin's Top Tips & Notes

#1 You can probably stretch the batter to 10 cups. Mine rose quite a bit, and since we're adding the frosting, there's no need for a large rounded dome top.

#2 The cupcake batter is only gently sweet, because we're adding the sweet frosting on top. For sweeter cupcakes add up to ⅔ cup (130g) of sweetener.

#3 It is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL that you're using both room temperature butter and cream cheese for the frosting. I have tried to make it with cold ingredients, and this causes the frosting to curdle and split.

piping cream cheese frosting onto vanilla cupcakes

Recipe FAQs

Can I use just almond flour?

Yes. Use 275 grams or 2 ¾ cup of almond flour.

How do I make the cupcakes nut free?

Use a 50/50 blend of sunflower seed and sesame seed flour in place of the almond flour.

How can I make these dairy-free?

Replace the butter with coconut oil and the cream cheese with coconut cream. For the frosting, use vegan cream cheese and vegan butter.

Can I make them without eggs?

I have not tested a vegan egg replacer such as flax eggs for this recipe.

Can I use this recipe to make a cake?

Yes! A reader just told me that he used the batter to make a cake in a 8x8 inchcake pan with great results. He baked it at 180C / 350F. The oven time increased a little. I would test it for doneness at 25-30 minutes and also put aluminium foil over the top for the remainder of the baking duration to prevent overbrowning.

Variations

Try different flavors for this keto cupcake recipe:

Lemon: Replace the almond milk with lemon juice and grate in fresh lemon zest.
Peanut butter: Swap the cream cheese with soft peanut butter.
Chocolate: Add 6 tablespoons cocoa powder and more milk as needed to loosen.
Red Velvet: a few drops of red food colouring.
Strawberry - Make my strawberry muffins and top them with the strawberry buttercream
Chocolate chip - add sugar-free chocolate chips

Or, change the topping:

Use my keto cheesecake fluff - it's a mixture of cream cheese and whipped cream (plus a couple of secret ingredients!)
Chocolate frosting: Simply add 2 tablespoons cocoa powder to the vanilla frosting ingredients.
Decorate with sugar free whipped cream and berries.

fork taking a piece of a vanilla cupcake in a paper cup on a plate

Storage

Refrigerator: The frosting stays firm at room temperature, but I do recommend to store keto cupcakes in the fridge if you don't eat them on the same day.

Freezer: You can freeze them for up to 3 months. If possible, freeze them plain and add the frosting before you serve. However, it's possible to freeze them with the frosting as well.

Her are more sugar free cupcakes and other keto desserts to try: