Almond Flour Cupcakes (Keto, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)

These Almond Flour Cupcakes are moist, fluffy, and healthy vanilla cupcakes made with almond flour.

Bonus, these are keto cupcakes 100% sugar-free and dairy-free with only 3 grams of net carbs per serving.

It’s that time of the year when we should start practicing our cupcakes skills for Christmas, right?

After my keto lemon cupcakes, here are vanilla keto cupcakes made with the most delicious buttercream frosting and sugar-free sprinkles for a touch of color.

How To Make Almond Flour Cupcakes

There’s nothing easier than making these delicious almond flour gluten-free cupcakes! All you need are a few ingredients and some top tips to make these baked goods, moist and delicious.

Ingredients

The key to making delicious cupcakes with almond flour is to use ingredients at room temperature. Don’t use eggs or almond milk straight out from the fridge or the cupcakes comes out dense:

• Blanched Almond Flour – This is not the same as almond meal. If you never baked with keto flours before, especially almond flour, you should know that almond meal is not the one to choose to make fluffy almond flour baked goods. Almond flour is a light, fine and golden flour made of blanched almond.
• Granulated Sweetener – To keep this recipe keto-friendly, I used erythritol but any granulated sweetener works in the recipe. If you are looking for paleo cupcakes, use coconut sugar as a healthy swap.
• Large Eggs – Not small, not medium but large eggs at room temperature. Eggs add the best fluffy texture to gluten-free cupcakes. Note that the recipe won’t work with egg replacers. Also, you must use eggs at room temperature, take them out from the fridge at least 30 minutes before making the recipe.
• Unsweetened Almond Milk
• Baking Powder – You can swap baking powder for baking soda. Double up the amount of called in the recipe.
• Melted Coconut Oil – You can use butter too but the recipe won’t make gluten-free, dairy-free cupcakes anymore!
• Vanilla Extract – yes, that’s one tablespoon! These are keto vanilla cupcakes and you want that vanilla flavor to pop!

Preheating Oven

Before you start the recipe, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with lightly oiled cupcake paper liners. Set it aside.

Combine Ingredients

Now, in a mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients: almond flour, baking powder, and granulated sweetener. Whisk to evenly combine the dry ingredients together and avoid lumps.

In another bowl, whisk eggs, almond milk and melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Make sure that all ingredients are at the same temperature.

Now, stir the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until a thick cupcake batter forms. Don’t expect a light runny batter like you sued to have when baking with flour.

Almond flour muffin, cupcakes, or almond flour bread batter always look thicker, gritty and that’s normal. Don’t thin out the batter.

Baking Cookies

Now, fill 12 cupcake paper cases with the batter – I used about 1/4 cup per cupcake.

Bake in the center rack of the preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top. If the cupcake tops brown too fast, tent the muffin tray with a piece of foil to prevent the top from darkening.

Check the baking time by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cupcakes. It should come out dry with no crumbs.

Cooling down

Cool the cupcakes down on a cooling rack immediately after baking. Don’t cool down in the pan or they trap some moisture.

Cupcake Frosting

These keto vanilla cupcakes are even better with some frosting. You can make the keto buttercream frosting below or make my Keto Cream Cheese Frosting.

To make the frosting you need:

• Softened butter or dairy-free butter if you don’t eat dairy. Some dairy-free butter blocks are made of coconut oil and are keto-friendly.
• Powdered erythritol
• Vanilla stevia drops – the reason I use stevia drops and powdered erythritol is to boost the sweetness of the frosting and avoid too much sugar alcohol sweetener. In fact, erythritol tends to cool down the batter, and sometimes, it splits the frosting. So it’s better to add only a small amount and balance sweetness with stevia drops.

Use the paddle attachment of your stand mixer to beat butter until creamy. Then, stir in the remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust sweetness if desired.

Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes once they are cooled.

Decorate with a pinch of sugar-free sprinkle for colors!

Storage Instructions

Store the cupcakes for up to 4 days in a cake box in the fridge.

Or, freeze the cupcakes in a zip-lock bag and thaw at room temperature the day before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions