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:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ⅔ cup dark cocoa
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ⅓ cup egg white protein powder
- 1 tablespoon instant coffee optional, improves chocolate flavour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ¾ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
Cream Filling:
- 1 13.5 oz can full-fat coconut milk refrigerated overnight
- 5 tablespoon powdered Swerve Sweetener divided use
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Ganache:
- 2 ½ tablespoon Kelapo coconut oil
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 3 tablespoon powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 325F and line 15 muffins cups with paper liners (parchment ones are best for non-stickability). I realize this is an awkward number of cupcakes but it's how the recipe came out! I did my last 3 after the first 12 were baked.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut flour, meringue powder, instant coffee, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat coconut oil with sweetener until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.
- Beat in half of the almond flour mixture, and then almond milk.Beat in remaining almond flour mixture until well combined.
- Fill each muffin cup about ⅔ full with batter and bake 18 to 22 minutes, until just firm to the touch and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool 10 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Using a knife or a 1 inch round cookie cutter, core each cupcake and cut just the top off each core (to put back on the filled cupcakes).
Cream Filling:
- Remove can of coconut milk from the fridge and flip it upside down. Open can and pour off all the coconut water (reserve for smoothies or some other use).
- Scoop out all of the coconut cream and place in large bowl.
- Add 3 tablespoon powdered sweetener and vanilla extract and beat until it resembles whipped cream.
- Spoon filling into center of each cupcake and then top with thin top from cupcake cores. You will have some leftover cream filling and will use some of it for the white squiggles across the top.
- Refrigerate cupcakes while preparing ganache.
Chocolate Ganache:
- Melt coconut oil, chocolate and sweetener in a small pot over low heat, stirring until smooth.
- Stir in cocoa powder until smooth.
- Let sit 20 to 30 minutes until thickened, (but don't let it completely cool or it will become too hard - you want it thick enough to spread over the tops of the cakes).
- Remove cupcakes from fridge and use a spoon to spread ganache over the top of each. Chill until set.
- For the white writing across the top, mix 2 tablespoon of leftover coconut cream filling with remaining 2 tablespoon powdered Swerve until smooth.
- Spoon into a plastic baggie with the very tip cut off and pipe onto cooled cupcakes in whatever design you wish.
Sherrie Lee Nelson says
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!
Alison says
Happy Birthday!
Leslie says
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
Carolyn says
The brand I have is Deb El and I got it at Whole Foods. It is simply pasteurized egg whites, no sugar.
Leslie says
Thanks. I knew you’d have one without sugar!
Judy Barnes Baker says
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!
Pam says
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.
Christine Mayfield says
I was just thinking I wish I could find a low-carb hostess copycat recipe. So glad I found and subscribed to your blog.
Debra says
Happy Birthday Carolyn! Hope you have a great day enjoying these fabulous cupcakes. They sound delicious!
DessertForTwo says
Happy Birthday, Carolyn!!! 🙂
Leslie says
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
Eric says
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.
Sarah G says
Happy birthday and I hope you are experiencing some great and much-needed Spring-time weather today!
catriona says
Happy Birthday! Thank you for all you do.
Alyssa (Everyday Maven) says
Happy Birthday Carolyn!!!!
Jeanette | Jeanette's Healthy Living says
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.
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
Those are seriously fantastic! I think I would eat way too many of these in one sitting.
Rica says
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.
Mary Anna says
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!!
Carolyn says
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.
Anna Jados says
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?
Carolyn says
I have NO idea! Hmmmm. What brand is it? I think I used Taste of Thai for this last one…
Anna Jados says
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?
LISA says
You can purchase coconut cream straight away and it would work too! I can’t wait to try this!
Donna Hardin says
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.
Carolyn says
Yes, I think the clear NuStevia will be fine. I use NuNaturals a lot.
Cindy Maddux says
Happy Birthday! These look so delicious.