These grain-free Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes are absolutely perfect for birthday celebrations. Because so many of you have nut allergies, I decided this had to be a nut-free cupcake recipe! Be sure to check out my Nut-Free Recipes page if you are on a nut-free diet, or if your children go to a school with a nut-free food policy.
Made with coconut oil, these cupcakes are also a fabulous dairy-free dessert. While I’ve been on a strict grain-free diet since 2001, my recipes continue to evolve within the grain-free genre, as I learn more about various healthy foods. Coconut oil has been a favorite ingredient of mine for some time, but for the past year or so my focus has been on eating as much coconut oil as I can. Sometimes that means eating it straight out of the jar, other times I add it to everything I cook. Most days I do both.
A good deal of anecdotal evidence points to coconut oil as a fabulous brain food. Here’s a video that discusses the health benefits of coconut oil.
Did you ever notice that the rise of various brain disorders (ADD, Autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, etc.) happened to take place in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when the fat-free diet was all the rage? I think many people’s brains may have been malnourished by the pervasive lack of fat in the Standard American Diet during this period.
My Paleo Chocolate Cupcake recipe is full of good fat! I hope your family enjoys these gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free chocolate cupcakes as much as we do!
Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup cacao powder
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- ⅓ cup honey
Instructions
- Pulse together dry ingredients in a food processor
- Pulse in wet ingredients
- Line a muffin pan with paper liners and scoop ¼ cup batter into each
- Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes
- Cool and serve
Frost these Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes with my amazing Paleo Chocolate Frosting. Here are some of my other easy paleo cupcake recipes!
angela says
Hi there! I am interested in your recipes, but many of them still include sugars like honey. I am strictly no-sugar, and use stevia for my baking. Can you share your thoughts about how the substitution would affect your recipes, primarily in the baking category?
Elana says
Hi Angela, unfortunately, I don’t think swapping out a typical sweetener with stevia will work. If you experiment and find a great substitution for the sweeteners in my baking recipes please stop back by and let us know! Also, if you are avoiding even natural sweeteners you may want to take a look at my Candida Diet Recipes page here:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/candida/
Enjoy!
Elana
WC says
I use stevia liquid extract for all these recipes and it works well.
Often substitute butter for oil and that is also fine.
Jo says
I cook with grapeseed oil and not coconut oil. I see some of your recipes call for grapeseed oil, which I’m happy about, but can I just substitute grapeseed oil in recipes, like this paleo chocolate cupcake recipe. Will it turn out the same?
Thank you! I am inspired by your simple and healthy recipes. Happy Halloween!
Elana says
Hi Jo, thanks for your comment! Rather than adapting the recipes and experimenting, I would recommend using the ones from the earlier years on this site (my use of grapeseed oil was more frequent then), or check out my first two books, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook and Gluten-Free Cupcakes which also use it frequently.
Briana says
Do you think rice malt syrup may work instead of honey?
Briana says
Obviously it’s not paleo! But for a sugar free alternative?
Elana says
Briana, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes!
Oyku says
Can I replace coconut flour and coconut oil with regular flour and regular oil? Does the ratio stay the same? And also, would the taste have a drastic change if I did? Lots of love
Emma says
coconut flour generally is used in less quantities than normal flours as it absorbs a lot of liquid. normally its around 1/3 or 1/4 cup coconut flour when normal recipes use a whole cup.
Shana says
So I stumbled upon your site when deciding to change my dietary habits and you were a huge part of the reason I chose to go grain-free. I’m glad I did because I have been getting unexplained hives 75% of the time after eating for 12 years and no doctor or allergist could pinpoint the issue; I’ve been on allergy medication to counter it ever since. I have been grain-free for a month now and I haven’t had one outbreak of hives, my belly no longer bloats and, combined with exercise, I’ve lost 8 pounds. My energy levels are through the roof when I was normally sluggish no matter what I did. Today I finally decided to treat myself to these. I made them without the frosting and I cannot believe how wonderfully they came out. It was quick, easy, and they taste amazing. Thank you so much!
Elana says
You’re welcome Shana! Happy to help :-)
Karishma says
Is there a substitute for eggs ? If so, in what quantity ?
Elana says
Karishma, I haven’t tried that so not sure. Here’s a link to my Egg-Free Recipes page for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/egg-free/
Enjoy!
Elana
Rochelle says
Made these tonight and they were so easy start to finish and so delicious. Even my picky non paleo husband liked them. A+
Elana says
Rochelle, thanks for the A+!!!
Simon says
I tried this recipe recently and I loved it! I am not on the paleo diet, but I do try to limit the amount of refined grains and sugars I consume, so I will definitely be making these again. Thanks for the recipe!
Monica says
Thank you for sharing! My son has many food allergies, which include all grains. These cupcakes help to make him be a part of the celebration. I will have to go buy your cupcake book for sure now!
Agnieszka says
I made these today as a tryout before my daughter’s birthday. They turned out great (I used grass fed butter instead of coconut oil). My daughter ate one and begged for more ;)
I will be trying your vanilla cupcakes too, otherwise it’s just going to be chocolate birthday.
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