PrettyFood

Creating memories around the table

  • Home
  • Capers
    • Hours and Location
    • Capers News
    • What’s New
    • Product Spotlight
  • Recipes
    • Visual Recipe Index
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Side Dishes
    • Snacks
    • Soups
  • Advice
    • The Basics
    • Ask PrettyFood
    • Critiques
    • Essentials
    • Gadgets & Tools
  • Make it Pretty
    • Tablescapes
    • Flowers
    • Garnishes
    • Holidays & Celebrations
    • Takeout Tricks
  • On the Road
    • Chicago
    • Florence
    • Honolulu
    • Los Cabos
    • Louisville
    • Napa Valley
    • Paris
    • Santa Fe
    • Scottsdale
    • Seattle
  • Special Features
    • A Week of Low-Carb Meals
    • More from Mary Beth
  • About
    • About PrettyFood
    • Contact Us
Home / Recipes / Desserts / Secret Ingredient Cupcakes

Secret Ingredient Cupcakes

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Secret Ingredient Cupcakes These sweet little things were born from a happy accident. I planned to make cupcakes using the recipe from Chef George Stella’s cookbook for birthday cake. Developed by his wife Rachel, it is an amazing treat and it lends itself well to cupcakes — you just need to bake them for a much shorter time than you would a full-sized cake.
Alas, I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients. When my sweet tooth calls, however, I must answer, so I scrounged through the pantry and came up with a plan. The resulting recipe uses coconut flour in place of some of the almond flour, adds an extra egg, and boosts the sweetener. The finished product was quite a success.

  • 2 cups ground almond flour (buy it, or make your own by whirring unblanched almonds in a food processor until they turn to a fine powder)
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour (available through your health food store or online — it’s great for breading things, too!)
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 7/8 cup Splenda
  • 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar Diabeti-sweet (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, use a whisk to beat the 6 eggs together with the water until the mixture is a pretty yellow color. Add the baking powder and sweeteners. Next, throw the two types of flour in. Add the vanilla.

Step 1

Mix the ingredients well. If the batter is too stiff, add a teaspoon or so of water. Don’t thin it out too much or you’ll have a disaster on your hands.

Step 2

Spoon the mixture into muffin tins. I prefer the silicone ones, lightly sprayed with cooking spray. You can also throw a tiny bit of the coconut flour or the Splenda in each muffin cup after you’ve sprayed it as extra insurance against sticking.

Step 3

Bake for 17 or 18 minutes. They should be lightly browned (they won’t be real brown because we’re not using sugar) and a toothpick plunged into the middle shouldn’t come out with big gooey globs on it.

Step 4

While the cupcakes cool on a rack, mix together your icing:

  • 4 tbsp. unsalted butter (softened)
  • 8 oz. softened cream cheese
  • 7/8 cup Splenda
  • 1 Tbsp. vanilla

For variety, you could add a capful of almond extract, lemon extract, or coconut extract to the icing, or just be a purist and leave it as is. Obviously, you could also add a few drops of food coloring or some nonpareils (does anyone have any clue how to pronounce that word and what in the world it means, other than pretty sprinkly stuff?) to the top. Let your mood move you (Unless you are in a foul mood, in which case someone else needs to take over kitchen duties for a while).

Apply the icing. If you’re really ambitious, get out your cake decorating bag and tips and pipe on the icing. Even if you just made the icing smooth and piped on little icing “pearls,” the effect would be stunning.

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes, but if you’re alone and 6 somehow “disappear” and you want to claim the recipe only made 6, I swear I won’t tell. This seems like a waste of breath, but I’ll tell you anyway — should you have any leftovers, they should be refrigerated.

Coconut Cupcakes

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
« Melon Wrapped in Prosciutto
Spinach Salad with Water Chestnuts »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Our store and more •

With Capers Emporium, Mary Beth and Michael Guard have given PrettyFood.com a real home — a large retail store where people can purchase elements to set beautiful tables, concoct wonderful meals, play with gadgets, take cooking classes, and much more!. Read more »

• Hours & Location •

Now open seven days a week!

Sundays Noon – 4 p.m.
Mondays 11:00 – 5:00
Tuesdays 11:00 – 5:00
Wednesdays 11:00 – 5:00
Thursdays 11:00 – 5:00
Fridays 11:00 – 5:00
Saturdays 11:00 – 5:00

MAP »

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Email

• Find Recipes •

Newsletter

Receive The News Bite each month.

By Course

Archives


● Farmers Market to Table
● On the Grill
● Dining Outdoors
● Time-Saving Tools
● Mary Beth's Faves

• Visual Recipe Index •

View all of Mary Beth's delicious recipes at once with our Visual Recipe Index.

• Popular •

Crudités

Preparing to Make a Recipe

Cranberry Goat Cheese Pudding Layers

• Tags •

Appetizers Asian Bacon Beef Breakfast Cheese Chicken Christmas Daily Meals December Desserts Dishes Easter Eggs Fall Farmers Market Fish Flowers Fruit Grilling Halloween Italian Low-Carb Meat Mexican Outdoors Parties party food Pasta popular Quick & Easy Seafood Seattle 2010 Snacks Southwest Spring Summer tablescape Thanksgiving Travel Turkey Vegetables Vegetarian Videos Winter
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Visual Recipe Index
    • Appetizers
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Side Dishes
    • Snacks
    • Soups
  • Advice
    • The Basics
    • Ask PrettyFood
    • Critiques
    • Essentials
    • Gadgets & Tools
  • Make it Pretty
    • Tablescapes
    • Garnishes
    • Holidays & Celebrations
    • Takeout Tricks
  • On the Road
    • Chicago
    • Florence
    • Honolulu
    • Los Cabos
    • Louisville
    • Napa Valley
    • Paris
    • Santa Fe
    • Scottsdale
    • Seattle
  • Special Features
    • A Week of Low-Carb Meals
    • More From Mary Beth
  • About

f-facebook f-twitter f-pinterest f-rss f-email
Contact Us
Site Map

Copyright © 2025 · PrettyFood | Privacy Policy