Vanilla Chocolate Zebra Cupcakes (Low Carb & Gluten Free)

Another cupcake recipe... Wahoo! But this time, even more extreme. A zebra cupcake (which is practically a vanilla and chocolate cupcake swirled together, but zebra sounds so much better...). I dyed my vanilla batter pink to look even cooler, but it turned kind of a faded and rusty pink. So you can dye yours whatever colour you want, just remember to add a lot of colouring because the coconut flour likes to absorb it. This vanilla cupcake batter recipe also has a secret...!

Makes 20 cupcakes

Ingredients for chocolate cupcake batter

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 oz (half a brick) plain cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup  xylitol

1/4 tsp stevia extract

3 eggs

2 egg whites

2 tsps vanilla

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

Dash of salt

1/2 tsp Guar gum

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Ingredients for vanilla cupcake batter

1 14 fl. oz can of white beans (I used Cannellini)

5 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsps butter, softened

1/4 tsp stevia extract

2/3 cup xylitol

5 tbsps coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

Directions for chocolate cupcake batter

Line two muffin tins with paper liners. Cream butter and cream cheese with xylitol and stevia until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs while continuously mixing. In a small bowl, whisk together almond flour, baking powder, salt, guar gum and cocoa powder. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients while continuously mixing. Add 2 tsps batter to each paper liner.

Directions for vanilla cupcake batter

Preheat oven to 350F. Rinse beans and dry. Blend beans, eggs and vanilla and salt in a blender until completely smooth. In a large bowl, cream butter, xylitol and stevia until light and fluffy. Add in bean mixture and beat. Mix in coconut flour, baking soda and baking powder until completely combined. Add 2 tsps vanilla batter on top of your chocolate batter, and alternate batters until a little bit fuller than 3/4 of the way up. Smack on the counter to flatten the tops and pop any air bubbles. Bake for 15-20 minutes or toothpick comes out clean. Cool overnight to get rid of any beany taste. Enjoy!

Nutritional Info

Coconut Cupcakes with Chocolate Filling and Coconut Buttercream

Cupcakes. 

The perfect way to chase away those school-is-starting-summer-is-ending blues...

Almost another two weeks until school for me... I wish summer went by slower, especially here on the island! But what better way to shoo those school-starting blues away than cupcakes? Coconut and chocolate cupcakes? In brand new paper liners? With toasted coconut on top? Thats what I thought too. Usually when baking with coconut oil, the oil seems to seperate and get oil all over your liners, and make your cupcakes super moist and sometimes soggy. Luckily for you, this recipe is so perfect that with the  combination of the super absorbant coconut flour and super oily coconut oil it makes it just right. I tried to make a coconut buttercream, but I powdered dried coconut and it made it a bit lumpy. It was SO delicious though, Im posting just in case you want to try, and beauty's in the flavour, not the looks, right?

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

3 eggs

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsps xylitol

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with 12 liners. Beat eggs in a medium bowl. Add in coconut oil, coconut milk, vanilla and xylitol. In a small bowl, whisk coconut flour, baking powder and salt together. Add coconut flour mixture to wet ingredients and beat until completely combined. Pour batter into muffin tin and put into the oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove from pan and place on a cooling rack. Best eaten next day because then the coconut flour has time to absorb the moisture.

Adapted from an All Day I Dream About Food blog recipe

Makes 2 cups chocolate filling

Ingredients

3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

4 tbsps butter

6 tbsps xylitol

1/2 cup whole milk or cream

Directions

Over medium high heat, melt chocolate and butter. When completely melted, add in xylitol and milk. Mix until completely smooth. Cool for half an hour or until thickened. Fill insides of your cupcakes.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups coconut buttercream

1 1/2 large egg whites

9 tbsps butter, softened

1/3 cup xylitol, powdered

1/3 cup unsweetened coconut, powdered

1/3 cup coconut milk

Directions

Beat egg whites and butter together. Add in xylitol, powdered coconut and coconut milk and whisk for about one or two minutes. Scoop into an icing or pastry bag fitted with a open star tip, ice your cupcakes and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Enjoy!

Adapted from a Healthy Indulgences blog recipe


Nutritional Info (per one cupcake with chocolate filling and coconut butter cream)
Low Carb
Calories: 293
Total Fat: 23 . 4g

Sat. Fat: 17 . 3g

Cholesterol: 64 . 5mg

Sodium: 101mg

Carbs: 14g

Fibre: 7 . 3g
Net. Carbs: 6 . 9g

Sugars: 0 . 7g
Protein: 8 . 5g

Homemade Coffee Ice Cream (Low Carb & Gluten Free)

Oops. I totally forgot I was going to post this until just a minute ago when I was scrolling through my previous posts... Well better late than never, right? Especially since it's this recipe! Ice cream is usually hard to make since it normally turns out rock hard or super melty. I must admit, I have not mastered the ice cream making skills, and I dont have an ice cream make either. Instead of using an ice cream maker, I used a method using Ziploc bags, ice and salt (which is posted below). Mine turned out melty, but the next day it was actually quite good. So dust off your ice cream maker (for those of you who have them) and lets get crackin'!

Makes 3 cups of ice cream

Ingredients

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/4 - 1/3 cup coffee beans 

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup xylitol

1/4 tsp guar or xanthan gum

Pinch of salt

Directions

Mix coffee beans, cream and almond milk in a bowl and soak for 2 hours or more, depending on how strong you'd like it. After it has soaked, heat the mixture in the microwave for 2 minutes. Strain out the coffee beans. Add your vanilla, egg yolks, xylitol, guar gum and salt and mix until completely combined. Microwave for another two minutes and stir. Whisk until there are no lumps. Chill in the freezer for an hour. Now, fire up the ol' ice cream maker and run your ice cream through it. Enjoy!

For those who don't have ice cream makers: Take two Ziploc bags, one medium and one large. Fill the medium bag with your chilled ice cream mixture and zip closed completely. Fill the large bag halfway with ice and 2 tablespoons salt (the salt keeps the ice from melting quickly). Put your medium bag into your large bag and zip closed. Shake vigorously for half an hour or until quite thick. Put into the freezer for another half an hour. Remove and enjoy!

Nutritional Info (per 1/2 cup)

Low Carb Coffee Ice Cream

Calories: 345 . 5g

Total Fat: 25 . 5g

Sat. Fat: 19 . 3g

Cholesterol: 248 . 3g

Sodium: 48 . 2g

Carbs: 3 . 4g

Fibre: 0 . 2g

Net. Carbs: 3 . 2g

Sugars: 0 . 8g

Protein: 3 . 5g

Breyers Coffee Frozen Dessert

Calories: 130

Total Fat: 7g

Sat. Fat: 4g

Cholesterol: 20mg

Sodium: 50mg

Carbs: 15g

Sugars: 14g

Protein: 2g