My Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes are an all-time fan favorite. That’s because they taste incredible and they’re super easy to make! This easy paleo dessert recipe is made with only 7 ingredients. To throw these together all you need is coconut flour, eggs, palm shortening, honey, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Given that the entire batch of cupcakes contains only 2 tablespoons of honey, they’re also a fantastic low-carb cupcake recipe. If you’ve been wondering how to make vanilla cupcakes, then this easy gluten-free cupcake recipe is your answer!
Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes are perfect for your birthday celebrations. They’re gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and best of all since they’re made with coconut flour, they’re a nut-free paleo cupcake. Yes, for all of you nut-free folks, this is the perfect nut-free dessert. If you are looking for more nut-free recipes, don’t miss out on my Nut-Free Recipes page.
Frost these incredible Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes with my easy Paleo Chocolate Frosting recipe for your paleo birthday celebrations. I hope you enjoy these Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes as much as we do. They’re quite a treat.
Paleo Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ⅛ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 large eggs
- ¼ cup palm shortening
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine coconut flour, salt, and baking soda
- Pulse in eggs, shortening, honey, and vanilla
- Divide batter between 6 cups in a paper lined muffin pan
- Bake at 350°F for 20-24 minutes
- Cool for 1 hour
- Frost with Paleo Chocolate Frosting
- Serve
Equipment
I haven’t tried making this recipe without eggs, so not sure if that will work. If you are on an egg-free diet, check out my Egg-Free Recipes page.
In terms of other substitution questions regarding this recipe, I wish I had a crystal ball and could predict which substitutions would work and which wouldn’t. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found such a thing! If I did it would save me the 10 rounds or so I do of testing every recipe on this website. The only way I get an answer to a substitution question is to test it. So go for it guys. Test out your substitutions, and after you do, leave a comment so that others can learn from you in this incredible Elana’s Pantry community.
Here are some of my other nut-free paleo dessert recipes for you!
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CC says
Hello:
I made your chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting from the Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook. The flavor is great…but the frosting is super soft – almost runny. The consistency is like whipped cream that has been sitting out. It just fell off the cake. I can’t find the marshmallow frosting recipe here on the site. Can you please give me a tip as to what I might do differently next time to avoid this?
Thanks,
CC
Elana says
Hi CC, thanks for your comment! The Marshmallow Frosting recipe is exclusive to my book, as most of the recipes in my cookbooks are. Your results would indicate that the egg whites were not whipped to stiff peaks :-)
Cranberry Lady says
These are absolutely delicous! Thank you for you wonderful recipes for my paleo family and I.
Elana says
Cranberry Lady, so great to hear that these are absolutely delicious!
Maria says
I’ve seen the question posed a few times about whether these can be frozen successfully, but haven’t seen any response. Curious if anyone has frozen them yet and can recommend. Am desperate for an option for my son to have at daycare. Thanks in advance.
Elana says
Maria, I’m so sorry I haven’t tried that and cannot provide you with the answer! Everything in my house gets eaten so quickly with the gaggle of teenagers that hang out here, that sometimes it is a challenge to take photos before the food is gone! If you are in a pinch you might try freezing 1 cupcake to see if it works. If you do please stop back by and let us know how it goes :-)
Christy says
I have frozen these without frosting. successfully
Elana says
Thanks Christy!
ali says
for my birthday I am going to try these
do you think it would work if I solidified up the coconut oil a little in the fridge before I put it in here??
I cannot stomach palm oil well or dairy for that matter and really just want a good birthday free of gastrointestinal distress.
Elana says
Ali, I haven’t tried that so not sure, if you do experiment please let us know how it goes! Happy birthday!
Amy Geyer says
I tried these tonight using coconut oil. My mistake was that I used cold eggs after putting the coconut oil into the flour mixture. The flour and coconut oil turned hard and eventually after I had everything together in the mixer it was lumpy. I baked them anyway and they have a great flavor. A little more eggy then probably normal because the flour didn’t absorb the eggs right due to being clumped with the oil. Definitely going to try again with room temp eggs or maybe flax eggs since I want to get away from eggs also. I also substituted organic no sugar added apple sauce for the honey because I am on a no sugar diet. Over all I like them and I will try again another day. Thank you for the recipe. Healthy treats for the win.
Elana says
You’re welcome Amy!
Amanda says
Made these tonight! Delicious! I topped them with a vanilla buttercream I whipped up…4 oz grass fed butter, 1/2 c. palm shortening, 1.5 oz honey, and 1/2 c. coconut cream. Thanks for the inspiration!
Elana says
Amanda, so glad to hear these were delicious!
Ginger says
Is there a way I could use this recipe for a sheet cake?
Elana says
Ginger, I haven’t tried that so not sure. If you do please let us know how it goes.
Jen says
I’ve made a sheet cake! Just double or triple it.
Amanda says
I subbed 4 tbs of grass fed butter in place of the shortening, and only got enough batter for 4 cupcakes exactly (which were delicious!). Was my lack of batter due to the substitution? Anyone else use butter and fall short?
Elana says
Amanda, I would not imagine that this substitution would shrink your yield. Next time you make the cupcakes, you may want to use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out the batter, and level it with a knife each time you scoop :-)
Maria says
first time baking these. Tried the technique using 1/4 cup but only got 5 cupcakes. Not dissatisfied at all, but it is most curious that quantities vary. Followed instructions exactly but used organic grass fed butter instead of palm shortening.
Elana says
Thanks for letting us know that Maria!
Semira says
Could it be the size of the cupcake tin? I have 3 different sizes :-)
Kristie Burchit says
We substituted Kerry gold butter for shortening and honey we substituted Coconut nectar. Turned out nicely.
Looking for a sugar free option for chocolate frosting if anyone has ideas please let me know. Thank you!
Elana says
Kristie, so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes! Here’s a link to my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe:
https://elanaspantry.com/chocolate-buttercream-frosting/
Enjoy!
Elana
Ana says
Can anybody tell me what the consistency should be prior to baking? Should it be like a regular cake made with wheat flour?
Mine turned out to be very liquid. The butter and the rest didn’t mix well (didn’t have palm shortening). After baking they were greasy on the bottom, where there was also a bubble of air.
Taste was good though, just need to figure out how to make it more “caky”
Cannot compare coconut flour brands, since I do not live in the US…
Elana says
Hi Ana, thanks for sharing your concerns. Here’s a link to the brands of coconut flour that work in my recipes, they are all available online and you can have them shipped to you:
https://elanaspantry.com/ingredients/coconut-flour/
That might be the issue with these not turning out cakey enough. It could also be that you used butter instead of palm shortening. Hopefully, with these tips you will enjoy the cupcakes more in the future.
Elana
Karen says
I have been Paleo for a couple of years and I have to say these are the best cupcakes w/Chocolate frosting I have EVER made! They were light and so good even my son liked them and he doesn’t like when I cook healthy treats. Thank you so much for creating this recipe!
Jen says
This is very good recipe, easy simple, will definately use again. Made a Classic, dense and moist vanilla cake. I also added heaping tblspoon of pureed soaked apricots along with 1 tblspn of raw sugar instead of 2 tblspns honey and it came out fabulous. Very happy.