Copycat Hostess Cupcakes. The classic childhood treat made over to be low carb, dairy free and grain free. Healthy indulgences!
Today is my 41st birthday. And you might think I made these low carb dairy-free Hostess Cupcakes to celebrate but I did not. See, in order to bring you a recipe, I have to make it, photograph it and write about it several days or even weeks in advance. So these pretty little things were actually made several weeks ago, and they weren’t with my birthday in mind at all. I just wanted them. Waiting until my birthday to make them was just not good enough for me. And really, should we have to wait for birthdays or other special occasions to eat cake? I think not.
I made these dairy-free for no other reason than I wanted to. I don’t have any issues with dairy myself and copious amounts of butter, cream and cheese pass my lips on a daily basis. But I’ve had a can of coconut milk in the fridge for some time, for the express purpose of making low carb coconut whipped cream. I thought it would make a great filling for some copycat Hostess Cupcakes. And I figured since I was going that far, I might as well go whole hog and make everything dairy-free. Food intolerances often got hand in hand, sadly, and many readers have expressed that they have a dairy intolerance along with a gluten or wheat intolerance. I am nothing if not accommodating to my readership!
It was good to challenge myself in this way. I figured it would be easy to adjust my standard recipes for dairy-free ingredients, and for the most part it was. But I learned a few little things in the process, useful tidbits for the dairy-free folks. I already knew that coconut oil makes things more tender than butter. Since these cupcakes needed to be sturdy enough to be filled, I used a little less coconut oil than I normally would butter. I also found that coconut whipped cream won’t stay as whipped at room temperature as traditional whipped cream, so I had to refrigerate the cupcakes to keep the filling from becoming too runny. And finally, coconut oil chocolate ganache…oh my. Very different than butter-based chocolate ganache. It was very runny when I first made it, so I couldn’t get it to stay on the tops of the cakes. I tried refrigerating it to thicken it up, but then it hardened up too quickly so I had to remelt it. Finally I whisked in some cocoa powder to firm it up and let it cool until it was just barely pourable. I spooned it over the tops of the cakes and spread it around.
The results of my dairy-free experiment were utterly delicious. And for those of you that aren’t coconut lovers, they didn’t taste like coconut at all. My kids, who can be a little funny when I use “different” ingredients, went absolutely gaga over these. They met all of my own expectations…chocolatey cupcakes with a creamy vanilla center and a chocolate glaze on top. Like the cupcakes of my youth without the guilt.
Copycat Hostess Cupcakes – Low Carb, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 recipe keto chocolate cupcakes
Cream Filling
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp grass-fed gelatin
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup powdered sweetener
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache
- 2 ¼ ounces sugar-free chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp allulose, (optional)
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Frosting for Swirls
- 1 ounce cream cheese, well softened
- 2 tbsp powdered sweetener
- 1 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Prepare the cupcakes according to the recipe. Let cool completely.
- Once cool, use a small (1-inch) round cookie cutter to cut out the center of each cupcake. You can also use a sharp knife to cut a 1 inch round hole. Reserve the cores of the cupcakes
Cream Filling
- Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle with the gelatin. Whisk to combine. Heat for about 30 seconds in the microwave and whisk until the gelatin is dissolved. Cool 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the cream, sweetener, and vanilla extract. Begin to beat at high speed and slowly pour in the water/gelatin mixture. Beat until the cream holds stiff peaks.
- Spoon or pipe the filling into the center of each cored cupcake, filling almost to the top. Cut the very top off of the cores and place overtop the filling.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place the chocolate chips and the allulose in a medium bowl. Heat the cream until simmering, then pour overtop the chocolate chips. Let sit a few minutes to melt, then whisk until smooth.
- Let cool a few minutes until thickened but still pourable. Spoon over the tops of the cupcakes and spread to the edges. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes to firm up.
Frosting for Swirls
- In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the powdered sweetener and the heavy cream.
- Snip off a small bit of the corner of a ziplock bag. Place the frosting inside and pipe little swirls across the top of each cupcake.
Nutrition
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Happy Birthday! You truly are a blessing to us all and are very much a life saver in sticking to a healthy diet for several different health challenges. Thank you so much! I hope you had a great day and an even better year!
Happy Birthday!
Hi,
Just a quick question about the meringue powder. The only ones I could find have sugar in the ingredients list. In fact, in some, sugar was the 1st ingredient. Is there a particular brand you recommend that won’t have sugar?
Thanks!
Leslie
The brand I have is Deb El and I got it at Whole Foods. It is simply pasteurized egg whites, no sugar.
Thanks. I knew you’d have one without sugar!
Happy birthday! Just remember that someday, 41 will sound really young to you! Enjoy it while you can.
I was thrilled to see that this is dairy free. I still can’t eat eggs or almonds, but am back on chocolate, so I can have the icing and filling!
Thank you for this great recipe, happy “B” day hope you had a fun one. I will make these for St. Patrick’s day tinting the filling green. They will look great with the green piping sitting on a plate with a green doily.
I was just thinking I wish I could find a low-carb hostess copycat recipe. So glad I found and subscribed to your blog.
Happy Birthday Carolyn! Hope you have a great day enjoying these fabulous cupcakes. They sound delicious!
Happy Birthday, Carolyn!!! 🙂
Happy, happy birthday! I’m just chiming in with my thanks for all your recipes. Hope you had a great day.
One of your CA fans…Leslie
Happy Birthday, Carolyn. Hope your day has been fun filled, and that you got to spend it with people you treasure. And I, too, want to extend my thanks for all the wonderful creations you manage, somehow, to come up with – they have certainly enriched my life and my diet, when I had feared my options were few. I am not sure how you manage to do it, and to post new recipes as often as you do, but I’m not complaining! Cheers.
Happy birthday and I hope you are experiencing some great and much-needed Spring-time weather today!
Happy Birthday! Thank you for all you do.
Happy Birthday Carolyn!!!!
Happy Birthday Carolyn! These look like the real deal, but so much better. Love that perfect swirling on top and thanks for all the tips on working with coconut oil and coconut milk.
Those are seriously fantastic! I think I would eat way too many of these in one sitting.
Happy Birthday Carolyn!
For your birthday, a little story. My brother and his wife live overseas, they have a daughter age 9. Sometime ago, I shared the book Wheat Belly with them, and my own story about going gluten free and losing my Asthma. So I think that they are trying to eat less gluten, but have been fooled by the media and the advertisers, that if a box or package from the store says it’s gluten-free it must be healthier. Last night, I was talking with my niece and I asked her what she had baked recently. She said brownies. I asked Box or Homemade. She said box, but then added that they had added two kinds of nuts. I begged to guess which kind. My guess was macadamia nuts and walnuts. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding….I was correct! My niece was charmed. So then, I told her we had just come back from visiting my in-laws, where my mother-in-law celebrated a milestone birthday. I asked my niece if she would care to guess how old my mother-in-law was. I gave her this hint: she was over 85, but under 92. She guessed 90. Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding…..she was correct! You win a new pillow!
Happy Birthday again Carolyn, I can’t wait to make this with my niece, the next time we are together.
Nice! I’ve actually been making your ganache (for the peanut butter tart or the nanaimo bars) with coconut oil all along. I love the way it firms up when chilled (kind of like that ‘magic shell’ stuff). For those I just pour it on (as the pan will contain it), but for cupcakes, maybe holding the cupcake upside down and dipping into the ganache would work? I’ve dipped fruit (raspberries, strawberries) in it, and I’ve also made little bonbon things out of the leftover crust of the peanut butter tart – at one point I mixed the leftover crust with a little peanut butter, rolled into balls and dipped in the ganache. yum!!
I actually tried the dipping, but couldn’t quite get it as thick on there as I wanted. I think if I were to do that, I would dip once, refrigerate them and then dip again to get a thicker coating.
Happy Birthday!! Today is also my husband’s birthday and I’m making your brownie cheesecake to celebrate. This recipe looks delicious! Question though – the last few cans of coconut milk I’ve had do not do what they are supposed to after I refrigerate them overnight. I open the can up, and the contents are rock hard and I have to scrape it out to get it out of the can, and then it obviously does not thicken at all because it’s so crumbly and hard. Does this mean I have a bad can of coconut milk?
I have NO idea! Hmmmm. What brand is it? I think I used Taste of Thai for this last one…
I tried with 2 cans of Taste of Thai and no luck! I bought Thai Kitchen this time so we’ll see if it works. You put it in the fridge unopened right? And don’t shake it or anything?
You can purchase coconut cream straight away and it would work too! I can’t wait to try this!
Happy Birthday! I am very excited to try! My Swerve order is expected to arrive today! Just to clarify…I have Clear NuStevia, is this stevia extract? I hope so! Typically, as I am still new to this type of baking, I am missing one ingredient, but if that’s the extract and my Swerve arrives, my guys will get a treat tonight!! Have a marvelous day!! Your Iowa friend.
Yes, I think the clear NuStevia will be fine. I use NuNaturals a lot.
Happy Birthday! These look so delicious.