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!
amanda says
Great recipe! I have made almost all your cupcake recipes and this one by far resembles the crumb of a “real” cupcake the most. Also I used maple syrup because I was out of raw honey and it still came out great. Freeze well also. Thank you!!
Melissa says
I made these a couple of days ago. I had all of the ingredients on hand except for the cacao powder so I used my gluten free protein powder instead and they came out great!
Tiffany says
These cupcakes are absolutely amazing! Thanks for the wonderfully simply recipe!!!
Susan says
Thanks for the recipe and for the very interesting videos.
CJ at Food Stories says
These look great, Elana :-)
Shannon says
I made these cupcakes today using coconut oil that tastes more coconutty (tropical traditions is the brand we use) and they came out so yummy! Looking forward to your paleo icing :)
Denise says
I made these last night (frosted with a little stevia-sweetened whipped cream) and they are wonderful. This recipe made 8 cupcakes for me, too. They have just a little bit of coconut taste to go with the chocolate. I used coconut nectar instead of agave, and I also used dutch-process cocoa with no problems (you can’t always substitute one for the other). I confess, I also had one for breakfast this morning. I made these because I don’t have any almond flour on hand yet–I just discovered this blog last week (through “Wheat Belly” author William Davis’ blog, wheatbellyblog.com) and ordered Elana’s two cookbooks right away. I can’t wait to try everything else!
nikki says
**How many cupcakes it makes?**
8 cupcakes
If you would like to fill a standard muffin pan that fits 12 make a 1 1/2 batch of this recipe (one recipe plus one cut in half)
Made these last night & they are delicious.
Perfect texture & fast recipe to make.
Thought they would have strong egg taste but they don’t :D
Used homemade chocolate hazelnut spread for frosting. So yummy & you need don’t too much.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe Elana!
Lea G. says
I find that vegan palm shortening makes GREAT frosting/icing. I make my own powdered sugar in my vitamix by mixing coconut palm sugar and arrowroot powder on the highest setting. After that, in a sauce pan add coconut milk (I like to use cashew milk for it’s creamy texture), cacoa powder and mix until well blendend then cool. Add the vegan palm shortening to the powdered sugar and use a hand blender then slowly drip in the cooled chocolate mixture. Wah-la!!! chocolate frosting. :-)
Elena Ballam says
From one Elena to another, thanks for this recipe. :) My husband and I are exploring paleo, and while we aren’t 100% committed at this point, most of our meals could be considered paleo. Just this week I made a batch of regular (chock full of sugar!) cupcakes for a bake sale, and after eating a few, I can legimitately say I feel like crap! I’m starting to realize that the “good” taste of sugar and flour-filled foods is just not worth the health implications and icky after feeling. Seeing this recipe posted today helps me to realize that there ARE options for sweet treats for paleos! Thanks!