Vanilla Cupcakes!

When I started this wheatless thing, I knew I wouldn't miss eating things like pizza crust, breadsticks, bread, cake and cupcakes.  My first attempt at wheatfree and starchfree bread was flop, literally.  My expectations were that it would almost be an exact replica of bread but taste maybe a little different.  Well my bubble got burst very quickly and I told myself that baking was too much work and just not worth the results.  I could live without anything similar to those items I swore off.

Let's face it, most people like to have something different texture-wise other then veggies, meat, cheese and etc.  Weather it be the texture, taste or just out of habit it is a hard habit to break indeed.  So... I have found myself trying out wheatfree and starchfree alternatives and eating some tasty things as well as my very own words!

I cracked open my Wheat Belly Cookbook by Dr. William Davis to the Bakery Section.  I decided to make the Vanilla Cupcake recipe.  I didn't make the frosting that was listed because I didn't have the ingredients needed. Following is the recipe I used first and then below I'll shared some tweaks.  I always like to tweak a recipe to see if I can slide by on a cheaper alternative to almond meal or almond flour by using chickpea flour.

Vanilla Cupcakes

2 cups almond meal/flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 cup ground golden flaxseeds ( I use milled flaxseeds )

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda ( I didn't have soda so I used 1 tbs of additional baking powder )

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 eggs, separated

1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted ( I used butter )

1/2 cup Xylitol

2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Place 10 liners in a 12 muffin cup pan.

Whisk together all dry ingredients (except Xylitol) in a medium bowl.

Whisk together egg yolks, oil/butter, Xylitol, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form with an electric mixer on high.

Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.  Then fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture until well combined.  Basically it will eventually look like a big dough ball.  I use a Pampered Chef scoop to divide among the muffin cups.  Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

I liked this recipe, but I'm sure it would have been a lot better with the recommended icing.

Of course I tweaked and used Chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour the second time around to see if it would be a good cost effective alternative.  I liked it as well although they were different!

The main differences were of course coloring and the slight nutty taste from the almond meal and texture.  They were both dense and very filling.  The original batch seemed crumbly as the second batch didn't seem so much.  You will not get light, fluffy and barely there cake with this recipe and I don't mind that at all!  I will be making these again both ways!

I do think I will try this recipe and use the whoopie pie pans from Wilton instead of my regular muffin pan and paper cups. I think putting two together with icing in the middle would be awesome!  Kind of like Whoopie Pies or as I like to call them Moon Pies!

Below are pictures.  Enjoy!!!!

Folding in the egg mixture (1st batch with almond meal)

Finished 1st batch with a cream cheese/cinnamon icing.  The icing wasn't much to brag about and something I threw together that is why I didn't include the recipe!

The second batch with Garbanzo Bean flour.

Second batch with a closeup. You can see I overfilled the cups and they domed up.  Also notice the difference in color by using the Garbanzo Bean flour instead of Almond meal.  I topped it with Jiffy's Chocolate Hazelnut spread. Yummy!!!