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!
Lori says
Total hit with my kids and their mates. Ages 16 months to 6 years old! and of course my husband and I loved them as well! And I didn’t even have time to frost them so they were plain and awesome!! Super fast to make (all in about 30 mins) and had all the ingredients in the cupboard. My 4 year old wants me to make them again, of course. Thanks!!
Heidi says
https://elanaspantry.com/weekly-paleo-meal-plan/
She’s already answered this question. You could also google “paleo meal plan” or “paleo recipes simple”. I bet you’d come up with a ton of stuff. Also, the book “Wheat Belly” sounds like it would help you out. It has some good recipes and meal plans.
Lily says
Made a half batch of these today exactly as written – delicious! I called them “chocolate muffins” to market them to the kids, hedging my bets in case they weren’t sweet, but they said “they taste like brownies!” Would definitely be a solid cupcake with frosting. Will make again.
Jennifer Richards says
I just made these. They were nice and moist.
~Kate F. says
This is the most amazing paleo chocolate cake. I made a 3x batch and it fit a 13X9″ rectangular pan perfectly. Followed the recipe exactly. Be careful to use room temperature eggs so your coconut oil doesn’t solidify!! If that does happen to you, leave your batter bowl on top of your stove while the oven pre-heats. Stir it every 5 minutes or so, just until the coconut oil melts again. :)
Serene in Singapore says
Oh my! This will be a keeper for when the sweet cravings hit. Everyone here loved it. Thanks for sharing this easy to make recipe. Btw lazy me did not use my food processor, I just whisked everything up :P
Michelle says
Is the frosting recipe up yet?? got to make these! :)
Elana says
Michelle, here’s a link to my Paleo Chocolate Frosting for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-chocolate-frosting/
Enjoy!
Elana
Shari in NC says
Elana,
Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe!
Andrea McGloin says
These cupcakes look amazing, and like all of your recipes, I’m sure they will taste just as amazing. I have a question though and while I know you cannot answer it I’m hoping someone else will have some input. I love anything coconut, but sadly, I cannot eat it as it upsets my stomach sometimes for days. I recently bought some cacao butter and tried it today for the first time in place of coconut oil. Tasted wonderful in my cookie recipe and seemed to work. I’m wondering if I could use that in the cupcake recipe as well? And then maybe substitute almond flour instead of coconut flour, but perhaps that would make the cupcake too grainy?? Anyone have any ideas!
~Kate F. says
Elana has a really good almond flour chocolate cake recipe in her book on pg. 84.
Andrea says
YUMMY!
These were a hit with the under 10 and over 40 crowd. You’ve become my go-to resource for anything paleo dessert-y.
Thank you SO much.
~Andrea