Easy Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes
These paleo chocolate cupcakes with chocolate avocado frosting are incredibly easy and filled with nut butter! They’re the perfect treat for all ages and completely gluten free!
Get ready for these life-changing paleo chocolate cupcakes. Trust me, there’s no going back! These cupcakes are not only easy as heck, but they’re also completely gluten-free, paleo, and taste like a freaking dream.
From the actual cake to the frosting, these paleo chocolate cupcakes are not only my favorite, but a fully approved favorite of the whole family’s! Proud moment, I know 😉 The best part is that they don’t even require a bowl, just a machine. That machine is the food processor, and it’s literally become my best friend.
Aside from the chocolate cupcakes. So second best friend. Shhh!
But seriously, the food process is a life saver and makes the whole clean up process so easy, AND you end up with The Great British Baking Show-quality paleo chocolate cupcakes that will please any crowd. I mean any.
These cupcakes are even nut-allergy friendly! That’s right! If you just swap out the nut butter filling with your favorite seed or coconut butter, they become completely nut free for my allergy friends 🙂
Oh, yeah! I didn’t even tell you that part! I’m going to teach you how to fill your paleo chocolate cupcakes so you can level up those baking skills! It’s a good day, my friends!
So yes, it’s actually easy peezy lemon squeezy. My trick? Don’t bake the filling in the middle like a lava cake. You’re actually going to spoon the filling in after the cupcakes have been baked and cooled! But more on that later. Let’s get to the ingredients.
So what do you need for these paleo chocolate cupcakes?
I’m so glad you asked! The main ingredient is going to be:
Sweet potato! My favorite ingredient apparently haha! The sweet potato is a wonderful base though because it provides a nice sweetness to it without having to add much sugar or syrup to counteract any bitterness from the cacao. It also bakes really nicely and becomes spongey with the eggs and baking soda. Plus, I mean, it’s just full of nutrients so why not have your cake and eat it too?!
Next up we have eggs! I used 3 in this recipe because there’s a whole lot of sweet potato that goes into these paleo chocolate cupcakes!
You’re going to also need cacao powder! That really goes without saying because, well, they’re chocolate cupcakes! But a note on cacao powder, for the best chocolate flavor, I highly recommend going for a quality cacao powder. No offense to the cocoa powders out there, but real cacao is going to be much more decadent. You know I love Imlak’esh Organics for their cacao powder so check that out!
Then we’re also going to be using coconut flour, oil, and milk! I know, all of the coconut! The coconut flour is KEY though because it absorbs a lot of moisture, and let’s be honest, sweet potato is pretty moist (sorry to everyone who hates that word!). So use the flour!
And finally: avocado. That’s right! I’m also going to show you how to make your own chocolate avocado frosting! Don’t worry, it tastes like a chocolate mousse, and it is addictive. I was totally one of those kids who just ate the frosting, so frosting-eaters: REJOICE!
Now, I mentioned this above, but the food processor will really be key here. You could totally mix this all by hand but it is a little labor intensive. Great arm workout, don’t get me wrong, but it’ll save you time too! Plus, I find the batter is way more mixed. But I could also just be weak and unskilled lol.
This is especially true for the avocado frosting. I’m not a professional guacamole maker, but I would imagine it takes incredible dedication to get that avocado to be a complete puree. So for the paleo chocolate frosting, I decided to blend 2 avocados in my food processor, along with the cacao, maple syrup, and coconut milk!
It was absolutely perfect. The texture was stiff, yet soft and creamy. Just what you want for a frosting! Plus the chocolate flavor was just out of this world with a little maple syrup 😉 Goes a long way!
Moment of silence to admire the above photo.
Okay, Britt, but how the heck do I get the filling in there?
I promised you I would get to it! So it’s actually quite simple, and it’s a trick I picked up from some cooking shows.
All you have to do is cut a small circle in the top of the paleo chocolate cupcake. Only cut about a centimeter into the cupcake. Then remove the circle and spoon a little of the cake out onto a plate (save that for later snacking haha!).
Place about a teaspoon of whatever nut, seed, or coconut butter you’re using (heck use peanut butter if you want!) and then place the little circle back on top!
BINGO! You’ve got yourself a paleo chocolate cupcake filled with a delicious filling!
You can’t even tell that you manually added the filling on top! Pretty cool, right? And it’s such a crowd-pleaser. I mean, people will be blown away when you bring these paleo chocolate cupcakes to your next party.
They look like they were made at the top [allergy-friendly] bakery in NYC! Alright, I’m not that good, but we’re working on it 😉 I’m sure you can do even better! I think it would be fun to use some piping bags with actual frosting nozzles to get all of those fun ripples you typically see…maybe something to try next time?
I bet these would be amazing with a vanilla frosting too! Speaking of which, I really need to get onto making a paleo vanilla cupcake! Unlike most people, vanilla is really my favorite flavor. I know everyone says it’s not a flavor, BUT IT TOTALLY IS! Have you not noticed that 99% of chocolate recipes require vanilla!? It’s like the foundation of a house but more like that awesome basement-turned-rec-room you create. Like could totally stand on it’s own but it also adds such value to the recipe.
Yes, I just compared vanilla to a rec-room basement. Okay, I’m done writing I think, I’ve reached a new level of weird over here!
But anyways, do give these paleo chocolate cupcakes a go and when you do, I would love to see! Feel free to share on Instagram or tag me on Pinterest 🙂
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
PrintEasy Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: baked goods, Dessert
Description
These paleo chocolate cupcakes with chocolate avocado frosting are incredibly easy and filled with nut butter! They’re the perfect treat for all ages and completely gluten free!
Ingredients
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling
- 20 oz sweet potato (about 2 large) (baked, skin removed)
- 2/3 cup cacao powder
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup coconut or almond milk
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 4 tbsp nut butter (divided)
Chocolate Avocado Frosting
- 2 large avocados (extra ripe)
- 1/2 cup coconut or almond milk
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a large food processor, puree sweet potato.
- Add in all ingredients except for the nut butter and blend until smooth.
- Spoon batter evenly into the 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake for about 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool before adding in nut butter. Once the cupcakes are cool, cut a small circle into the top of the cupcake.
- Remove circular top and spoon a little of the cake out onto a plate. Add about 1 tsp of nut butter into the middle of the cupcake and place circular top back onto the cupcake.
- Repeat for the rest of the cupcakes.
Frosting
- Puree avocados, cacao, milk, vanilla, and maple syrup in a large food processor.
- To pipe the frosting, spoon frosting into a large plastic bag and snip the corner of the bag with scissors. Squeeze on top of each cupcake once they’re cooled.
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