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There are several cupcake/ muffin recipes here and one for frosting. All recipes are:
Organic (if you choose)
No sugar or sweetener (besides banana, applesauce, and pure monkfruit extract)
No dairy
No soy
No artificial dyes
No refined/ PUFA oils
No hydrogenated shortening
No rice flour
Ingredients also avoid heavy metals
Gluten free optional
1. Vegan Vanilla Banana Cupcakes with No Added Sugar (Gluten Free Option)
Ingredients:
• 1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour (or substitute gluten free all purpose flour).
• ½ tsp salt (see my salt guide for low lead options)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup applesauce and/or mashed banana
• 1/3 cup water or non-dairy milk
• ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp vanilla or other extract
• 1 Tbsp vinegar (white, apple cider or coconut)
• 1tsp pure monkfruit powder. Here is an Amazon associates link to the one I use: https://amzn.to/47p0xCb
Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and combine with the baking soda and salt.
Mix wet ingredients together in a separate bowl, and then add to dry ingredients.
Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix; tiny lumps are fine.
Pour evenly into greased cupcake pans (makes about 12). I recommend stainless steel pans. If you use liners, If You Care brand is what I would choose (Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3BaOQjJ. If you want to use colorful liners, you can add those after baking and slide them over the If You Care ones.
Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the cupcakes at 20 minutes and if a toothpick inserted into the center doesn’t come out clean, then put them back in for a further 5 minutes. Repeat until done.
For a low sugar frosting recipe, see bottom of this page.
2. Vegan Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with No Added Sugar
Ingredients:
Same as above but substitute ¼ cup of the flour with cacao powder. See my guide about low lead chocolate. Here is an Amazon associates link for the one I use: https://amzn.to/3YFtDcw
For a chocolate 🍫 peppermint variation, use only applesauce instead of banana, and substitute the vanilla extract with peppermint extract instead.
Allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.
For a store-bought peppermint frosting, try this one, which is a brand I use if I don’t want to make frosting and am ok having a bit of sugar: Amazon associates link https://amzn.to/3YJaTbW
3. Banana Almond Muffins with No Added Sugar (Gluten-Free + Vegan)
Ingredients:
- 2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp flaxseed meal + 5 Tbsp water or 2 small eggs if you’re not vegan)
- 2 medium ripe bananas
- 3 Tbsp applesauce
- 3 Tbsp unsweetened plant milk or water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
- 1 cup almond flour or meal
- 2/3 cup quinoa flour or other gluten free flour
In a large bowl, prepare flax eggs by mixing flaxseed + water and letting rest for a few minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and grease or line a stainless steel muffin tin. There will probably be about 8 muffins.
Next add bananas and mash or purée with a mixer. Add applesauce, baking powder, vanilla, water and stir.
Add almond meal and quinoa flour and stir once more.
Pour evenly into greased cupcake pans (makes about 12). I recommend stainless steel pans. If you use liners, If You Care brand is what I would choose.
Bake for 30-40 (+) minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and they become somewhat firm to the touch with a little give. They should appear golden brown on top.
Remove from oven and let rest in pan for 5 minutes. Then they can be removed to finish cooling.
Can be stored in an airtight container for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
4. Banana Muffins / Cupcakes with No Added Sugar (Gluten Free Options)
No Picture, but they look similar to #2, or a cross between #2 and #3, but more of a toasty golden brown.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (225 grams) mashed ripe bananas (about 2 ½ medium or 2 large bananas) or applesauce or a combination of both
- ¼ cup (56 grams) milk of choice or water
- ⅓ cup (75 grams) melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon white or ACV vinegar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (see my salt/spice guide), plus more to swirl on top if desired
- 1 ¾ cups (220 grams) white whole wheat flour, regular whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour blend, spelt flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or oat flour (but use 2.5 cups). If you use a blend of cassava and quinoa flours, you’ll get a softer texture that makes a good cupcake substitute. Cassava is often high lead though; I’m trying to a low heavy metal option, now that we know the level of heavy metal risk.
- Optional: 54 drops monkfruit extract. This is a good idea if you use more applesauce vs banana. (Amazon associates link to the one I use: https://amzn.to/3FMCDE1)
- Optional: ½ cup mix-ins like chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips, raisins, chopped dried fruit, fresh banana slices, blueberries, etc.
Mix all ingredients except flour. Add flour and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix; tiny lumps are fine.
Pour evenly into greased cupcake pans. I recommend stainless steel pans. If you use liners, If You Care brand is what I would choose.
Place into the oven preheated to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the cupcakes at 20 minutes and if a toothpick inserted into the center doesn’t come out clean, then put them back in for a further 5 minutes. Repeat until done. Cool thoroughly.
Vegan, Lower Sugar Decorating Frosting
This recipe makes quite a bit of frosting. If you have excess, it can be frozen. or you can try to cut the recipe in half.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds organic powdered/confectioners’ sugar (cane sugar is best for texture and organic ensures it is vegan. I explain further in this post). 3.5- 4 cups equals one pound.
- Low sugar option: Substitute some of the sugar with tapioca flour (UPDATE: I’m trying to a low heavy metal option, now that we know the level of heavy metal risk) . The more you substitute, the less sweet the frosting will be. You can experiment with stevia or monk fruit to help add more sweetness.
- 1 and ⅓ cup organic palm oil shortening by Nutiva (Amazon associates link) or Spectrum
- ½ cup plant milk or water
- 2 teaspoons organic vanilla or other extract
- Pinch of salt (optional)
- Natural food dye (in my opinion, the best as far as toxicity of ingredients is India Tree [Amazon Associates link] brand)
Mix one cup at a time of sugar with small amounts of liquid, using en electric mixer. Add vanilla and and food coloring last. To make the color swirl pattern shown in my photos, I mixed small bowls with a different color in each, and then put some of each in the piping bag with a long cake decorating spatula.
The tricky part is getting a perfect consistency. Sometimes you need more water, sometimes a little less water. But the great thing is that you can manipulate the icing to get the proper consistency by adding more water or more confectioners’ sugar. Consistency is very important; it needs to be thin enough to squeeze through a piping tool, but firm enough to hold a shape.
More Links:
Check out my Facebook post about tips for healthier baking.
And for all of my heathy recipes, see this album.
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