These are simply the best low carb chocolate cupcakes around, made with sunflower seed flour to be nut-free too. Top them with super dark sugar-free chocolate frosting for a total chocolate blackout!
One thing I am very thankful for in this low carb journey is that I don’t have any food allergies. Unless you consider diabetes a kind of allergy. Or maybe it’s more of a food intolerance. Yes, that’s it. I am carb-intolerant. Which obviously puts a lot of foods on my restricted list. But nuts are not on that list, and have been integral to my growth as a low carb recipe developer. Almond flour and I are on intimate terms and I feel like I wouldn’t have become the baker I am without it. But I know that not everyone is so lucky. A great many of you are allergic to nuts or have a family member who is, and that can make low carb cooking and baking particularly difficult. So many recipes, mine included, are almond flour based. To be sure, I also work a great deal with coconut flour and I’ve come up with some amazing recipes that don’t contain any nuts at all. But almond flour is my go to and that can make many of my recipes inaccessible to those with nut allergies.
Anyone who has worked with coconut flour knows that it’s not a great substitute for almond flour. It’s an amazing ingredient on its own, but it behaves so differently that you can’t simply take an almond flour recipe and swap in the same amount of coconut flour. You really have to rework the whole recipe from the ground up, with less coconut flour, more eggs, more liquid and sometimes more fat. Readers leave me comments all the time asking how they can swap one for the other in a particular recipe and more often than not, I simply point them to a completely different recipe. It’s just too difficult to walk everyone through the ins and outs of these two VERY different flours.
I had heard of sunflower seed flour a while ago and I began recommending that as a substitute for almond flour for people who can’t have nuts. But the truth is, I hadn’t ever tried it myself and really I was guessing that it was a good replacement. I finally decided that I had to purchase some and test it out myself, so that I can truly guide my readers on substitutions. I thought it best to get some commercially ground sunflower seed flour in the hopes that it would be finely ground enough to be a true replacement for almond flour. I found this Sunflower Seed Powdered Meal on Amazon and it looked like just the thing.
I wanted it try it out as a direct replacement for almond flour in one of my already established recipes. And since my youngest child’s birthday was this past Monday, I thought I’d make some sunflower seed chocolate cupcakes to honour the occasion. I simply took the batter from my Low Carb Chocolate Pound Cake and turned it into cupcakes. And to keep it truly nut-free, I used water instead of almond milk. They baked up beautifully, rising just right and not sinking when they cooled. And they were tender and moist and taste as good as any chocolate cupcake I’ve ever had. And then I topped them with really dark chocolate frosting, called them blackout cupcakes and we devoured them. The end.
The moral of the story is that you can indeed replace almond flour with sunflower seed flour/meal and I intend to keep on working with it. Do be warned that if it’s not a chocolate recipe, it does give your baked goods a funny greenish cast. More on that to come, because I have some sunflower seed chocolate chip cookies to share with you soon!
- 2 cups sunflower seed flour
- 1/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup coconut flour or another 3/4 cup sunflower seed flour, if allergic to coconut as well
- 1/3 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 & 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules optional, enhances chocolate flavour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp liquid stevia extract
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1/2 cup water
- 5 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder
- 2 cups powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 325F and line 15 standard-sized muffin cups with paper liners (or use silicone muffin cups). You may need to do this in batches if you only have one muffin tin.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sunflower seed flour, cocoa powder, coconut flour, whey protein, baking powder, instant coffee and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter with sweetener until well combined. Beat in eggs, vanilla and stevia extract. Beat in half of the sunflower seed flour mixture and then beat in the water. Add remaining sunflower seed flour mixture and beat until fully combined.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups to about 3/4 full. Bake 23 to 25 minutes or until cupcakes are puffed, slightly cracked on the top and firm to the touch.
- Remove and let cool completely.
- In a glass measuring cup, combine cream and water and mix well.
- In a large bowl, beat melted butter with cocoa powder until well combined. Add 1 cup of the powdered sweetener and stir without turning on your beaters first (otherwise it will create a huge cloud of dust all over!). Then beat in the sweetener until smooth.
- Add about half of the cream/water mixture and beat together, then add remaining powdered Swerve. Add cream/water mixture a little at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Pipe or spread frosting on cooled cupcakes and serve.
Serves 15. Each serving has 8.3 g of carbs and 4.08 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 4.22 g.
Food energy: 306kcal
Saturated fatty acids: 13.28g
Total fat: 27.47g
Calories from fat: 247
Cholesterol: 104mg
Carbohydrate: 8.30g
Total dietary fiber: 4.08g
Protein: 8.56g
Sodium: 348mg
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Stacey says
Do you have any thoughts as to baking with nuts/nut flour? I have heard about the fats in almonds/almond flour not being heat stable as well as being really high in inflammatory fatty acids – any thoughts? I’m trying to read around and find out what I can, but where it seems like pretty much all of your baked goods are based around almond flour, I was just wondering your thoughts as another point of view. Your recipes are great – thank you!!
Carolyn says
I have found few truly reputable sources for that info and I don’t eat only almond flour (I have a family of 5 to feed so one of my dessert recipes gets split up among us all over several days). I know that’s the “talk” going around in paleo communities but many of them are just regurgitating what they’ve read from one another. It’s the balance between O3 and O6 you need to worry about and since I eat plenty of foods with a lot of O3 fatty acids, I don’t think there is a real issue. That is simply my own opinion and each person needs to decide for themselves.
Jan says
These look great! Was that a 1:1 substitution of sunflower seed flower for almond flour in your original recipe? That’s what it sounds like to me – I would probably use almond flour rather than buy another flour. Thanks!
Carolyn says
Yes, it was 1:1 so go ahead and make it with almond flour.
Cecelia says
I did not understand 1:1. Does that mean you use the same amount of almond flour in place of sunflower flour?
Carolyn says
Yes, exactly. Where I had 2 cups of almond flour, I simply put in 2 cups of sunflower seed flour.
roni says
OMG. I was craving a chocolate black out cake. Thanks.
tess says
i don’t want to be a downer, but don’t people with tree-nut allergies have a problem with coconuts, too? my DIL is one of them, and was excited about sending this to her, till i saw the actual ingredients….
Carolyn says
No, not that many people have allergies to both, actually. Some do, but by no means the majority. However, you could replace the coconut flour in this recipe with another 3/4 cup of sunflower seed flour.
tess says
thanks! that’s very helpful!
Mama Owl says
Thanks! I was just thinking the same thing. “Rats! I thought she said nut free!” and then I read the coconut flour 🙁 BTW, I sub sunflower flour all the time for almond for my daughter. I have never had it turn green though. Yikes!
Carolyn says
Okay,from the sounds of it, I should maybe amend the recipe to include instructions for using all sunflower seed flour. Would that help, do you think?
Malainie says
These look decadent! Would Ghiradelli’s Unsweetened Baking Cocoa work as well as the Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa?
Carolyn says
Yes, but you won’t get as intensely dark a colour or flavour. But I do love Ghirardelli for many recipes!
Josee says
Hi Carolyn, would you happen to know how long after the expiry date does the Swerve Sweetener last? Thanks!
Carolyn says
No, I don’t know. I use mine up pretty quickly. I wouldn’t think erythritol would go “bad”.
Catherine says
Delicious!! Absolutely delicious!!! ~ Catherine
Judith says
I didn’t know Swerve even had an expiration date. I think it is meaningless because I just use up a bag of erythritol that’s been around here for five years.
Josee says
Yes, it is listed on the bottom of the bag; My health food store gave me one for free because it is 1 yr old & just thought I would check before using it. Oh, & over the summer my other bag of granulated Swerve got rock hard, does anyone know if it is still edible? I put it into the food processor to break it down but just want to be sure that it is still edible. Thanks to all1
Carolyn says
The old packaging for Swerve allowed it to get hard so they switched packaging. But yes, it’s completely edible, you just need to break it up.
Josee says
Thanks a bunch for your help!
Angela says
You have whey protein powder in many of your recipes… what use does this have and is it possible to omit it?
Carolyn says
Gluten is a protein and in its absence, another dry protein helps the baked goods rise and hold their shape. You could also use hemp protein or powdered egg whites (meringue powder, just be sure not to get the sweetened kind!).
Jen says
I was using hemp protein powder for awhile instead of whey and everything I baked had a funny taste – a bit like playdough. Once I switched to unflavoured whey powder it made a huge difference.
Teresia says
I have some hazelnut flour and I’ve been looking for a good recipe to use it on. Do you have any experience with using it and if so would the flavors blend ok here do you think? The fat/carb profile of hazelnut flour is very similar to almond flour.
Carolyn says
Hazelnut flour is one of my favourites! Yes, you could use it here. It’s typically not ground as fine as almond or this sunflower flour, but it will work and will taste great.
Francesca says
Hi Carolyn, I love your blog and especially you attitude, so positive! I think I’ll start trying some of your recipes, I don’t have diabetes but I’ll like to reduce my carb intake anyway.
As for hazelnut flour, I can tell you-because I tried last week- that you can achieve a very decent finely milled flour. I toasted and removed the peel from the hazelnuts and then grated them with the grating disc in my food processor. Now, the problem I have is with the design of my food processor, a magimix. There is a gap between the disc and the sides of the bowl, so while grating small pieces would fall under…this means I had to sift the flour.
In the past I owned a Bosch stand mixer with food processor. That machine didn’t have the issue! I could grate fine. The other alternative is to look for one of those hand cranked machines…I’m Italian and in my area the most of the sweets are with almonds and people use to make their own flour at home. Maybe I’ll try with a tool like this http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-70950-SaladXpress-Processor/dp/B00IA2EKIS/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1Q8RMWMKP9WR62MRSY5Z
Francesca says
Sorry, I was keep looking on amazon, this looks so much better!
http://www.amazon.com/Westmark-Germany-Delight-Excellent-Chocolate/dp/B000BV94NC/ref=pd_sim_sbs_k_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZA672EXT7E4H3BF133D
It has the star tip grater. Sorry, I get to excited in my discoveries. Hazelnut meal can be expensive and with that nasty peel! You can by hazelnut much cheaper at TJ’s and they are easier to peel than almonds (in that case it’s not really worthed).
Carolyn says
Thanks for your suggestions, Francesca!
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
I’ve never had a blackout cake before but this looks like fun for halloween!
Amanda says
Looks delicious!
Linda says
I really have enjoyed baking with Swerve & using your fantastic recipes. One question, though…. I know your main issue is keeping down the carbs for diabetics, etc., but what about a person with Candida issues? My problems have seemed to resurface after enjoying “Swerved” desserts over the past 3 months. My diabetic hubby is doing well with this, but not me. Should I switch over to xylitol?
Carolyn says
Hmmm, that’s a good question. I don’t really know what Candida is or what causes it. Is there any chance it’s another ingredient in the recipe? I can’t see it being the erythritol, if you don’t have issues with xylitol so maybe it’s the oligosaccharides in the swerve that are the issue? Don’t really know, just throwing out suggestions!
Trina says
OMG!!! I could eat the entire bowl of batter!!! It was soooo yummy…better than regular cake batter…seriously! I can’t wait till these are out of the oven!! One question….I ground my own raw sunflower seeds in a food processor and it didn’t come out super fine like almond flour. Is there a way to grind a finer texture?? Thank you sooooo much for this recipe!!!!!
Carolyn says
Do you have a coffee grinder? You can get it a little finer that way, although you need to do it in small batches.
Peter Piper says
Absolutely… grind it with oat fiber (NOT oat bran). Oat fiber is ZERO net carbs). just put a 1:1 ratio of oat fiber and sunflower seeds into your food processor or grinder and blend or grind until you no longer see any sunflower seeds. Then sift it through a strainer or sieve. Mine comes out very fine this way.
Cindy Robinson, CHC says
Swerve components reportedly feed yeast which will fire up candida. If you are having symptoms then I would say it is true. Stop using the product, I’d symptoms subside then you will know it is a product you can’t use. Candida can be very dangerous. What on earth is candida? Candida is a fungus, which is a form of yeast, and a very small amount of it lives in your mouth and intestines. Its job is to aid with digestion and nutrient absorption but, when overproduced, candida breaks down the wall of the intestine and penetrates the bloodstream, releasing toxic byproducts into your body and causing leaky gut. This can lead to many different health problems, ranging from digestive issues to depression.
Molly H says
These look amazing – I will have to try them out!
As for the greenish cast…I’ve read that it’s the reaction of the sunflower seed with baking powder. I made some peanut butter cookies once, but used some sunflower seed better in there as well, and they slowly turned a forest green over the course of a day and half. Still tasty – but definitely very iffy looking, LOL. I had to tell everyone I gave them to that they actually hadn’t gone bad!
Carolyn says
Molly, that’s interesting. On my first batch of cookies, I used baking soda. I just made them again today with baking powder. I am curious to see if they turn green again.
Elis Pariera says
Hello!
I have a question about the frosting. Which kind of cream? Thanks in advance.
Carolyn says
Whipping cream.
Stacey says
Hi Carolyn
i noticed your suggestions for whey powder substitutes. Would you use the same amount(1:1) of meringue powder for the whey in the recipe?
Thanks so much
Carolyn says
Yes, because they typically have about the same amount of protein.
Bonnie says
I made these with almond flour and the cupcakes were very moist and yummy. The icing turned out kinda awful though lol. I could have done something wrong but I think I’ll use another icing recipe I’ve tried before next time.
Molly says
I hope this doesn’t sound weird, but I might love you. I am just starting on this low carb journey and this is exactly what I need to have in my back pocket for the next time I feel the urge to bake something.
Carolyn says
Thanks, Molly!
Molly says
And I have a tree nut allergy but no coconut allergy. So this recipe is perfection for me!
Moria says
Would it be possible to use Splenda in the frosting instead of Swerve?
Carolyn says
Very doubtful. They have very different consistencies. Splenda does not work like powdered icing sugar, the way Swerve does.
Courtney says
I made these tonight. The taste is fantastic. I used almond breeze unsweetened chocolate almond milk in place of the water in the cake ingredients.
The icing, even though I followed to the exact ingredients and measurements and steps, did not come out smooth . still smelled heavenly and tasted just as good.
Carolyn says
One thing that can make a difference is the temperature of your cream/water mixture. If it’s really cold, it makes the butter clump up and you don’t get a smooth frosting. Make sure it’s room temp!
Courtney says
Thanks for the tip. ill definitely try that next time since these are definitely on the keeper list!
Bonnie says
This is my second time making these and I had the same problem both times. The first time I ended up using another recipe and throwing it out but this time I was determined to make it work.
It seems my cocoa didn’t fully dissolve into the butter despite appearances. So, when I added the sweetener and cream mixture it really looked weird. I searched googled for solutions. Then, I tried warming it up in the microwave and mixing it some more. It worked and everything turned out great this time. 🙂
Carolyn says
What brand of cocoa powder are you using?
Bonnie says
Hershey’s but not the “special dark”. It’s just “natural unsweetened”.
Carolyn says
That’s possible the issue, although I can’t say for sure. The frosting recipe is adapted from the back of the Hershey’s Dark container and it really is a different cocoa powder than the regular.
Heather says
I followed the ingredients exactly – with the exception of using a erythritol blend instead of swerve… And they sort of taste like play dough…. What am I doing wrong??
Carolyn says
What’s in your erythritol blend?
Jen says
I used to use Hemp protein powder and it made everything I baked taste of playdough. Not sure what protein powder you are using but it could be this.
Carolyn says
You can use whey protein or egg white protein instead.
Natalie Joel says
Hi what could I use instead of whey powder
Carolyn says
Egg white protein powder.
Jen says
The problem I have with this low carb cooking is that when I make a cake I tend to eat huge pieces and then go back for more so probably undoing all the good I’ve done with cutting most of the carbs out of the recipe. So that’s why I am now leaning towards baking cupcakes and muffins instead. They are great for portion control.
I tried this recipe last week and it was really tasty and moist. I used ganache frosting instead (as I love ganache) and put a few chocolate chips in the batter and it worked well. I also froze some of the cupcakes without icing on and let them defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours and they tasted just as good.
They are like little mini delicious chocolate cakes.
Carolyn says
I have a few fun recipes for small cakes…two to four servings. I have a classic yellow cake and a cake with chocolate ganache frosting. Check them out!
Lindsey says
I have tried whey and egg white protein and can’t stand the taste of anything with either of them. Is there a flour I could sub for? Maybe if I added Xanthan gum? Thank you.
Carolyn says
You can skip it altogether but your cakes won’t have quite so fine a consistency.
Lindsey says
Maybe I’ll try have a batch without and then half a batch with and see which is better. Thank you!
Anekha says
Thanks for all the posts on baking with ground sunflower seeds. I have been wondering if I can use sunflower seeds to bake and never considered I could make a flour with them! The only diet that seems to keep major inflammation in check and stop the paralysis and pain I was suffering. So that means no sucrose, no starch, no maltose. So most grains and grain substitutes are out! No coconut flour (too high in sucrose) ditto almond/and all other nut meals. No quinoa, no chia…. As are most fruits and vegetables. I have about 6 veggies in my diet and only 2 fruits. 🙁
The diet works but I teeter on the brink of starvation and sunflower seeds help keep me going, but are massively boring to eat plain. I manage main meals ok, but with such a low calorie count its hard to make it last without some decent snack options. If I can learn to bake some crackers and simple cakes and breads with sunflower seeds my life will be so much better! I really appreciate all your sunflower seed recipes. My birthday is coming up and I am so looking forward to trying to have a cake!
Carolyn says
I have a cracker recipe that uses the sunflower seeds too. I find it can be a great replacement for almond flour, the only caveat being that it turns green in non-chocolate recipes if you don’t offset it with a little acid like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
Anekha says
Thanks for the tip re vinegar. Well I grabbed the last few cups of sunflower seed in my pantry and stuck it in the blender and it turned to a beautiful fine powder without blowing up the machine so I threw caution to the wind and made a loaf of yeasted bread. I have no trouble with yeast. I made a loaf that mixed ground sunflower seed and grated potato to keep it moist and it actually turned out really nice. It makes a dense flat bread akin to focaccia. It has been the first time in a long time I could eat something and feel full.
I think it would make a great pizza base, so I also baked a little round of dough with lots of basil, garlic oil, olives, parmesan and oregano. It was a great lunch. The plain loaf had quite a bitter aftertaste that was hidden in the herbed loaf, but I found that the next day the plain loaf had no aftertaste, maybe it just needed to cool?
I look forward to trying something else with the sunflower flour. I’ll try the cracker recipe next!
Cheryl from Melbourne Australia says
I gave this a go on the weekend and the batter was too thick to pour. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why but you get enough of common sense with baking when you do enough for a year (haha). So I added few more eggs and unsweetened almond milk. I realise now I missed the “1/2 cup water” for the muffin batter. But even then it would have been too thick and I’m pretty sure I got all the other measurements correct. I suppose I just up the water amount to make it more of a batter? However, this attempt was not a complete loss. I improvised and made it into a sheet cake instead. Cut into small squares, it yielded 50 pieces and still yummy 🙂
Carolyn says
Good for you for improvising. I have to say if you measured correctly, I wonder if somehow your cocoa powder is much thicker than mine. Now, keep in mind that low carb batters are often much thicker than regular ones. But if it was super thick then yes, I would add a tbsp or two more water until it thins out.
Cheryl from Melbourne Australia says
I used the same brand of cocoa powder, only difference is mine wasn’t the extra dark one. If I try this recipe again, I’ll see how I go when I do have the missing 1/2 cup added into it 🙂 Thanks!
Amy says
I made these over the weekend and they are DELISH! It was my first experiment with sunflower flour and I am beyond impressed. I am not a fan of coconut or almond so this was great!
I was wondering, do you think its possible to convert this to a more brownie like recipe? I think this base would make a fabulous brownie as well. Any input you have would be appreciated!
Carolyn says
Check out my brownie recipes that have almond flour and then swap that for sunflower seed flour and there you go!
Kate says
I made these with almond flour and lakanto monk fruit sweetener. I also used chocolate whey powder because that’s what I had on hand; I used 1/2 cup sweetener since the powder is sweetened. Holy cow they are fantastic!!! As close to the “real” thing as I think is possible to get. They have a good density and crumb, not too dry, and no hint of artificial sugar taste. Yum.