I wish you could reach right through your screen and grab one of these delightful lemony cupcakes. Their sweet, tangy flavor is reminiscent of lemondrop candies, except these are good for you!
These sweet little cupcakes are made with nutritious coconut flour, which yields a light, moist baked good. Top them with my simple Creamy Lemon Frosting and youβve got a delicious little bite-sized treat perfect for any celebration!
And speaking of celebrations … these little cuties also make a great patriotic dessert for Memorial Day, July 4th or any day you’re feeling patriotic. Check out my Red, White & Blueberry Cupcakes special guest post for details.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup organic coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup pure honey (I prefer sage honey due to its mild flavor)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted (or coconut oil)
- 4 large eggs
- 3 tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1 tbsp, plus 1 tsp fresh organic lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Zest lemons first, then juice them; set aside. (Save one teaspoon of zest for frosting.)
- In a small bowl, combine coconut flour, baking soda and salt.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on low speed to beat together the honey and melted butter until creamy. Then, beat in eggs, lemon juice and zest until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, blending until batter is smooth and fluffy. (Using an electric hand mixer, or stand mixer, to whip up a fluffy batter is key to making the texture of these cupcakes light and moist.)
- Spoon batter into a 24-cup mini-muffin tin lined with mini-muffin baking cups, making sure not to overfill the cups.
- Bake approximately 10-12 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (These mini-cupcakes will not brown, unless over-baked.)
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely. Top with Creamy Lemon Frosting, if desired.
Notes
If you prefer to make regular-sized cupcakes, this batter will yield about 8 cupcakes. Simply follow steps listed above, and extend the bake time to approximately 15 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
(Please note: Baking regular-sized cupcakes will result in slightly over-browned bottoms. To help reduce this a bit, may want to double-line the muffin tins with two paper-liners per muffin cup.)
i wish i could grab one through the screen too! they look so delicious! and they’re so beautiful too! i love the lemonn zest on top! thanks for shairng!
My pleasure! They are my favorite cupcake. I just adore lemon, as you can probably tell π
Appreciate all your kind comments! You’re such an encourager! Blessings, Kelly
Where in the world does a person find coconut flour? I’m kinda new to this whole eating and cooking healthy thing, and I am trying, but it’s especially hard when the ingredients are so foreign to me!
Hi, Tammy! Learning to eat GF is sometimes like learning a foreign language – LOL! But I try to keep it as simple as possible on my site by pretty much sticking to the most nutritious of the GF choices. And when it comes to baking my two favorite highly nutritious choices are coconut flour and blanched almond flour.
Coconut flour has a slight sweet coconut taste to it as it’s the dried ground meat of the coconut. It requires more eggs and liquid due to it’s high fiber absorbent properties (it’s like a little sponge), but it creates wonderfully moist and delicious GF baked goods without all those extra starches usually required in GF baking.
Personally, I use Bob Red Mill’s organic coconut flour, because it’s available through the Azure Standard co-op I belong to. I recommend calling to see if there is an Azure co-op in your area as the prices are great! (www.azurestandard.com) But you can also find Bob’s Red Mill brand and other brands of coconut flour via online sources, including amazon and a company called Tropical Traditions who sells everything coconut. So just check around for the best pricing.
As far as blanched almond flour goes – it’s another highly nutritious and delicious GF flour made from finely ground blanched almonds (almonds with their skins removed). And again, it doesn’t require a lot of fuss to bake with it. So I recommend you give it a try as well. I prefer Honeyville Grains brand but Bob’s Red Mill also makes it. The one drawback to blanched almond flour though is that it can be very expensive, so I tend to wait until it goes on sale at Honeyville (sign up for the email subscription) and then I buy it in bulk. Or if you’re in the Azure co-op it is much more economical to purchase than via retail stores.
Hope this helps! Keep on making slow, steady changes, as those lead to healthy changes that last a lifetime!
Blessings to you, Kelly
By the way, this doesn’t relate to this particular recipe, but I was wondering how raw honey is distinct from clover honey? I usually buy clover honey from Wal-Mart (their generic brand), and the only ingredient listed is honey. I’ve been thinking of buying honey from a beekeeper down the street (we just moved here) just to go local, but would that honey be raw? If so, how is it better?
One more question, and I’ll leave you alone. I just noticed how many calories are in my favorite brand of creamy peanut butter–wow! I dislike the texture and taste of natural peanut butter, though. Any tips?
I purchase gallon-size containers of liquid raw honey through the Azure Standard co-op that I just mentioned in answer to your first question below because the price through Azure is so affordable. But if you’re baking/cooking with honey you’re basically destroying it’s raw properties so getting a good quality pure clover honey is fine. If you’re going to use honey in uncooked recipes though, brands like Really Raw honey (also sold by Azure and in whole food markets, etc.) are great because they contain all of the natural antioxidants, enzymes and vitamins and minerals, as well as the nutraceuticals (help neutralize damaging free radical activity), etc. that are so beneficial for your health. Here’s an article from my friend Katie at Kitchen Stewardship that helps explain about raw honey:
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/06/28/a-sweet-sweet-summer-does-raw-honey-have-health-benefits/
As far as peanut butter goes, have you tried other types of natural nut butters, perhaps you would like almond butter better – that’s our preferred nut butter. There are also some healthier no-stir type natural peanut butters that have a little evaporated organic sugar added, which may be more palatable to you as you make the transition from those creamy commercial brands to something healthier. Perhaps the best tip I have would be what I did when we had cousins visiting (who were used to the commercial PB brand) – I simply took the all-natural peanut butter and stirred in some raw honey and it was so sweet and yummy they ate it! π
Hope this helps! Lots of blessings, Kelly π
Thank you so much for taking the time to so thoroughly answer my beginner questions! I truly do appreciate it!
It’s my pleasure! Feel free to ask questions anytime! I’m happy to help! Blessings, Kelly π
I know this is an older comment, but I have a suggestion about the peanut butter. I was having a hard time switching to natural until I tried Smuckers all natural. The Smuckers brand does have salt added, but it’s a good brand to start with. Even my husband who is picky about flavor likes it. Now that I’m used to the natural, I buy an organic brand with no salt added.
Thanks, Brandi! I always appreciate my readers taking time to share advice and helpful hints! I couldn’t agree more, eating healthier is all about taking progressive small steps forward and then you’ll look back one day and be really surprised by how far you’ve come! π
These look wonderful. I love anything lemony. Thanks for sharing this recipe…the photos are delicious! : )
My pleasure! I’m so happy you like these – they taste divine! I’m with you, if it’s lemony, it’s good! LOL! Thanks for taking the time to leave a sweet note! Blessings, Kelly π
Okay, these dainty cupcakes are too good to resist. I’m going to try this recipe with Tofu in place of the eggs and see how they turn out. Thanks for sharing in our recipe hop this week!
Hi, Mary! I just had someone make substitutions in this recipe and it didn’t turn out well. Coconut flour requires the right balance of liquids and binders to create a light, fluffy baked good. So I hope the soft tofu will work, but can’t make any guarantees, as you know since you have a food blog. I pray you get good results and enjoy them! These little cuties are definitely a family favorite! Lots of blessings, Kelly π
So I made them today and the batter was VERY soupy. I substitute the honey with molasses. I had to add an extra 1/2 cup c. flour and extra 2/3 whole wheat pastry flour. they came up very moist but a little to dense. I had to bake them for 20 minutes.
That’s quite odd because we make these frequently (it’s not a new recipe) and the batter is always thick and the results are moist and delicious as shown in the photos. I see you made a substitution for the honey. Perhaps that was the problem, and adding a full cup of coconut flour would make these really dense, particularly combining coconut flour with wheat flour. I promise that if you follow the recipe exactly, these will come out just perfect. Unfortunately, with baking it’s truly an exact science of how ingredients interact with each other during the baking process, so substitutions often have poor results. I hope you have “batter” luck next time! (Sorry for the pun!) Blessings, Kelly
I have never baked with c. flour before but your recipe seemed so easy and quick. I am going to make them again, definitely with honey π
awesome. sorry it didn’t go as planned. that happens to me a lot as i attempt to create new recipes. but it’s never fun! blessings to you!! π
Oh my, that looks so good. Lemon and cupcakes. Two of my favorite things!
Thanks so much! I appreciate you leaving a kind note! π Blessings, Kelly
I LOVE lemon! π it has such a distinct taste! π Stopping by to say hello from the Allergy Free Wednesday linky! π Happy to connect with you π Cindy
Thanks, Cindy! So happy to meet you! Thanks for leaving a kind note! Lots of blessings, Kelly
Omygoodness!!! These were great:) I followed the recipe exactly and used the creamy lemon frosting. I was about to give up on coconut flour because every single recipe with coconut flour we have tried tasted horrible:( Then I got lucky enough to come across your blog:) Thank you so much! Now I’m off to try more of your recipes:)
What a compliment, Tiffany! Thank you! So happy you and your family enjoyed these as much as we do! Appreciate you taking the time to leave a kind word of encouragement! What a blessing you are! π Kelly
Kelly, I’m trying to prep in advance for a party next week…have you tried to freeze these? I’m not very familiar with coconut flour. Thanks!
Hi, Jenna! You could freeze the cupcakes, but not the frosting. Just be sure to thoroughly defrost the cupcakes before frosting them. They will be a lot moister than baking them fresh and refrigerating overnight. But the taste will still be good. Lots of blessings, Kelly π
Sounds great, definitely gonna try them!
Thanks, Mary! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Blessings to you, Kelly π
π Thanks for the kind words Kelly! I cannot wait to make these.
So glad the Lord crossed our paths, Sara! Hope to meet in person sometime soon! Blessings, Kelly π
And BTW, I LOVE the flag!
hi! Do you have a plain vanilla cupcake version? I see chocolate but wondering how I could adjust these to be vanilla cupcakes(sub lemon for vanilla but not sure how much?) and use of of your icings listed. Any suggestions? π Thanks.
Leslee
Hi, Leslee. Thanks for your note. I haven’t attempted a coconut vanilla cake yet, but I’m pretty sure if you do a google search for coconut flour vanilla cupcakes, you’ll probably come across lots of options π I am currently working on an almond flour vanilla cupcake recipe, so keep an eye for that one soon. Blessings, Kelly
Hi, I need to make a GF and nut free birthday cake for a dear friend.
Have you ever tried this recipe in cake form?
I may just make your chocolate cake, but I know she loves lemons!
I just found your site and love it, thank you.
Hi, Carly! I haven’t tried this in cake form, but would suspect the baking time will vary dramatically. And would recommend if you do that you make it a sheet cake, rather than try to make a cake that you would remove from the pan. Thank you so much for your kind words! Welcome! So glad you’re here! Blessings, Kelly π
Omg I just discovered this blog! all these recipes Looks so AMAZING! I can’t wait to try them, I’ve been looking all over the internet to put the coconut flour I bought the other day to good use, and I think I’ve just found the perfect recipe! can’t wait to try these, thank you!
wonderful! WELCOME! so glad you’re here! π
Hi there. I was wondering how I might make this recipe orange flavored rather than lemon. Any suggestions? It’s for my son’s 4th birthday party on Saturday. Thanks!
Hi, Shauna. I haven’t tried it myself, but you may just try substituting the lemon juice and zest with fresh squeezed orange juice and orange zest for the cupcakes. And use orange extract and orange zest as a substitute for the lemon ingredients in the frosting. Happy birthday to your little guy! π
I made these today and they taste great, but the batter seemed very thick. more dough like than batter. It is my first time cooking with coconut flour. They didn’t look very pretty once cooked(more macaroon like), but will be ok when covered with frosting. Any suggestions on what might have gone wrong?
Hi, Erin. We make these quite often and they always look just like the photo. So if you followed the recipe exactly (no substitutions), then perhaps your brand of coconut flour is a lot more absorbent? Coconut flour is like a sponge and it needs far more liquid than other flours. Or perhaps the issue was related to how you measured the coconut flour? It’s important to spoon and level, so you’re not using too much of it, as scooping the flour with the measuring cup can compress the flour and increase the amount. Hope this helps. Blessings, Kelly π
Thanks,
We will be trying them again. My daughter measured the coconut flour so maybe that was the issue.
well, in that case, the cupcakes were perfect! π
I literally just made these! Had to bake them for 30mins though – probably coz of my muffin pan and did double liner cups. I skipped frosting but topped with coconut flakes + pinch of brown sugar. They look sooooo good, hopefully they taste great too.
Thanks for your sweet note. Your addition of coconut flakes sounds wondering! Yum!
I am making these tonight. We love anything lemon and I recently switched to gf and 99% paleo. I cannot wait to make these.
I am also adding a touch of pureed strawberry to the frosting. Strawberry lemonade frosting. Yum
That sounds wonderful! π
yay! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. It’s hard to eat just one, or two, or three. LOL! π
I finished them. They are for a friend’s birthday tomorrow. They turned out just like the picture! Not to sweet. The frosting is A~mazing. These are fabulous. Thank you !! Totally fills the need for a little “cheat” while transitioning to no processed food. π
Hooray! So glad you have a fun treat for tomorrow’s birthday celebration! Appreciate you leaving a kind note! π Have fun celebrating!
Your recipes sound amazing, my question is about the eggs, can they be subbed (4 is a lot to sub)? My son is allergic. We use ground flax seed and ener g egg replacer, just worried about the # required. (Hoping someone has tried this already).
Hi, Michelle. I haven’t tried substituting with an egg replacement. I do know coconut flour is extremely absorbent and that it does require more eggs than typical GF flours for that reason, but also because the eggs are the binder as well. You may want to take a look at Jeanette’s site as she recommends using flax or chia, but again, it’s going to take some tinkering with the recipe to make it work. π
http://jeanetteshealthyliving.com/2013/03/12-tips-for-baking-with-coconut-flour.html
Tried this recipe today! It was delicious and I recommend it to everyone. The cupcake was so moist considered it being gluten free and the fluffiness was medium, not super fluffy but not flat and condensed either. For everyone whose reading this make sure to use a fresh lemon, because if you use an older or softer lemon it will be a lot harder to zest the lemons. Anyways point is I tried them and they were so good. I made them into bigger cupcakes and put them in the oven for 20 min and that was perfect because it was golden brown on top. Thanks for the recipe!
You are SO welcome and thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review of the recipe! I appreciate it! Blessings, Kelly
Just made these for my daughter’s birthday party. Big hit! No one said they tasted funny! π
They DO bake better than other coconut flour recipes I’ve made. Great job!
Thanks, Darcy! So glad everyone enjoyed them! It’s so fun when we can show people that healthy GF foods taste great! And happy birthday to your daughter! π