I don’t get very excited about Halloween. I’ve never been trick or treating before and I don’t have any memories of carving pumpkins. Children in the UK these days might have a different experience of the holiday but when I was growing up it just wasn’t a big deal.
I know it’s quite the opposite across the Atlantic and that my US readers have probably been looking forward to the 31st October for weeks! The “spooky spiderweb” decoration on my cupcakes was with my American friends in mind, but everyone, anywhere in the world, can and should make these!
I think everyone should be able to enjoy a treat and so I tried to cover as many bases as possible by making this recipe, not only vegan, but gluten-free, grain-free, and oil-free (I couldn’t manage nut-free as well this time, sorry!) too!
I was positively jumping up and down when I tried the finished product! Ultra light, ultra fluffy and ultra moist, you really would have NO idea that I’d made these cupcakes without any of those things.
Check out that fluffy crumb!
A little shout-out to blogger friend Brandi of The Vegan 8 for introducing me to the magic combination of almond flour and potato starch. The almond flour keeps things moist and rich and the potato starch brings structure and lightness. I’ve done some of my own experimenting and have found that, while tapioca starch and potato starch are *fairly* interchangeable, tapioca can dry baked goods out a little.
I made these a little coconutty since we all know it’s a favourite flavour of mine, but without coconut extract the coconut flavour is very mild so the recipe would work well as a regular vanilla cupcake too.
I topped them with an easy chocolate ganache, and, instead of a sugary icing, used pure coconut butter to make my spider web design. The pattern isn’t hard to do and you certainly don’t need any fancy equipment- I simply used a freezer bag (with a tiny end cut off) and a toothpick. Of course you can decorate these any way you like for the appropriate occasion.
Ingredients
- 1 C (125 g) Almond flour (Ground almonds UK name)
- 1/2 C (75 g) Potato starch (NOT flour)
- 1/4 C (20 g) Shredded coconut
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 C Coconut sugar (75g)
- 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp Coconut extract (optional)
- 3/4 C Coconut milk (the kind from a can),well whisked
- 1/2 C Apple purée/unsweetened applesauce
- 80 g/ 3oz Dark chocolate (OR 1/2 C Chocolate chips)
- 2 Tbsp Coconut milk
- Coconut butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a cupcake tin with paper/foil cases.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients, making sure there are no lumps remaining.
- In another bowl, whisk together the extracts, coconut milk and apple purée.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and stir well to combine.
- Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases (10-12) and bake for 20 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes then place the cupcakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before topping.
- For the ganache, melt the chocolate in a bain marie or glass bowl placed over a pot of boiling water. Whisk in the coconut milk (it should thicken a little).
- Spread the cooled cupcakes with ganache then make the spider web design.
- Spoon a few tbsp coconut butter into a freezer bag (or piping bag with a fine nozzle) and allow to cool slightly to thicken a little. Snip a tiny corner off the bag and pipe 3-4 concentric circles on top of the cupcakes. Drag a toothpick from the centre to the edge of the cake at regular intervals through each circle to create the spider web effect.
Whether you make these cupcakes for Halloween or for another occasion, I hope you like them as much as me! And please do share your feedback, I love hearing from you.
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These are so gorgeous and spooky, I love them! Love the spider web effect too, and of course all that chocolate ganache
This is precisely why I never use oil, the almond flour makes it possible to not need it and I’ve never seen anybody use this SO EASY combo before. I have found through experimentation that you just don’t need 3-4 flours for gluten-free baking, which is so wonderful. Makes life easier, haha.
Awww thanks Emma for the shoutout! I’m so glad you love the combo! This is just like my sweet potato cinnamon muffin flour combo and I just love it, just like you do now.
As far as tapioca, it will actually make things too dense and gummy/wet if you were to swap out the potato starch, which wouldn’t work at all! The potato starch gives the closest resemblance to all purpose flour, which is why I love it so much. I do love tapioca too, which I use as the egg binder when I’m not using heavy fruit/veggies purees instead.
I posted cupcakes yesterday too with this combo and they are some of my favorite ever
Thanks again Emma…so glad you love it! xo
Just seen your cupcakes Brandi, they look so delicious too. Thank YOU for sharing your baking secrets with us! I adore this flour combo. Definitely works great for a light, fluffy result.
I thought of you when I decided to use coconut butter for my spider web design too 😀
Yes, the nearest we ever got to a carved pumpkin was a carved swede when we were little! I think the pumpkin craze in the UK is pretty new really!! My Daughter in law carves the most AMAZING pumpkins but then she is Canadian!
Beautiful little cupcakes Emma, funny I was thinking about trying coconut milk in cupcakes today, how funny! The design is beautiful and the crumb looks perfect!
A carved swede is a lovely image! You’re definitely right on the pumpkin craze here and most people just throw them away after carving anyway, rather than baking with the flesh like they do stateside.
The coconut milk keeps these even more moist- so delicious!
These are awesome Emma! The cake looks so light & moist, and what a cool web design! I’m still not confident at baking gluten free, but it’s something I’d definitely like to work on. Where do you buy your almond flour & potato starch?
Thanks Sharon. The spider web decoration isn’t perfect but I was decorating and photographing after 10 pm so I was happy with the result given the circumstances! The cakes themselves are definitely light and moist. By almond flour I mean what’s known as “ground almonds” here (available in supermarkets) and potato starch I buy online from Goodness Direct (where I buy all my nuts/seeds, grains, beans and baking stuff from.
wow these look so delicious - I love coconut and almond meal so they tick my boxes. I think the only time I have carved a pumpkin was in the UK - perhaps because we had a good flat for putting the lit pumpkins in the window - no one seems our windows here! and perhaps when sylvia is bigger we might try more carving. For now I think halloween is fun for doing all the fun food for kids just like your cupcakes.
Glad to hear you’re a coconut fan 😉 I definitely think Halloween can be a fun occasion, especially if you’ve got little ones and can create new traditions with them. There are so many great ideas out there for spooky treats!
Your spider web Gf cupcakes with tha delicious frosting look just wonderful & amazing too!
Yum yumy umm with a vegan café latte! 😉
Thanks Sophie! I like them as a tea-time treat but with a cup of coffee would definitely be great too
I grew up with a mother who said Halloween was an American thing and so in Australia we didn’t need to celebrate it. I did do the odd trick or treating bout with friends in my younger years, but it really wasn’t a big deal for us either. So, it has been quite a surprise to see it feature so prominently here! It is a good excuse for fun food though - and these look very fun indeed. I love how ‘free’ they are too
I agree- Any excuse for some playing in the kitchen!
I didn’t realise Australia was like the UK in not celebrating Halloween and imagined it would be quite big over there for some reason.
these really do look so fluffy and perfect! and coconut + chocolate is HEAVEN! for someone who isn’t excited for halloween, you certainly hit it out of the park with this one <3
Haha, any excuse for some kitchen playtime. I made and photographed these late at night after work! A bit of down time 😉
Wow! I’m amazed by the crumb!
Thanks Annie! I’m still amazed too!
Aaah, you created pure magic. Right in time for Halloween with all the magic creatures walking around. Actually, though, I’m with you on it: just a regular old day for me. I figure we just don’t go wild with it in Europe in general. I remember I celebrate one (!) huge party as a child and then never again. If it meant eating spiderweb cupcakes, however, you’d probably get me excited again … That recipe looks perfect, Emma.
I love that idea! It must have been the magic in the air working in my favour for these fluffy cupcakes 😉
I did go to a few Halloween parties growing up and the games were fun but I’m much more into Christmas!
Aaah, yes, Christmas. Can you believe it’s less than two months away?! Insane. Where did the year go? Not like I was opposed to breaking out the Christmas decorations and cookie baking but I could do without the cold.
Super cute! Interesting note about potato vs. tapioca starch-tapioca is much easier to find around here, and I’d been wondering what differences to expect if I ever tried substituting.
Thanks Catherine
Tapioca is easier to find in stores here too but I tend to order a lot of ingredients online and the place I buy my nuts/seeds, beans and grains has a good selection of baking stuff too.
It’s definitely worth getting hold of potato starch if you can.
Not only are these cute, but they are healthy as well. I’m pinning them so I can make the basic cupcake for other occasions as well.
Thanks Judee. They’re certainly much healthier than your average cupcake! Just as tasty too
Oh my goodness these are too cute 😉
I love the icing web of course but I also love that they’re not half icing / half cake.
I like to taste a touch of icing not gag on the sugar. Cheers for these! So cute.
Thanks Angela. I’m exactly the same on the cupcake front - I can’t deal with frosting mountains! Just a little is enough for me
Happy Halloween!
These are so pretty, Emma!! I just got a book all about coconut and I broke down and bought the starches to make some baked goods. Now I am excited to try your cupcakes next!
Thanks Janet. The decoration isn’t perfect but I figured the homemade look can be rather nice anyway 😉
Can’t wait to hear what you think when you try the recipe.
These look amazing! We’ve never carved pumpkins (I’m in the UK but 18, and so halloween has been fairly big in my memory) but we did have pumpkin risotto a few times on Halloween. And we always get quite a few trick o treaters (apart from the year after my parents gave out fruit). Also, seeing my friends pictures on Facebook, pumpkin carving is so last year, carve a pineapple instead!!! (Although they’re all students- maybe pineapples are just cheaper?)
Thanks Ana, I wasn’t in earlier but apparently we had a load of trick or treaters too. Perhaps Halloween is getting a bit more attention these days. I haven’t seen a carved pineapple though!
They look amazing - so fluffy and moist!
Do you think I could sub arrowroot for the potato starch?
{Teffy’s Perks} X
Thanks Teffy- they really are!
Did you see my note on tapioca instead of potato starch? I think that arrowroot would be more similar to tapioca in that it gives a slightly drier result but I think they’d probably still be good! Let me know if you try it!
I’ve got a lot of time for spooky food, particularly when it involves cake. These are so insanely cute.
Halloween goes way up in my estimation when there are cupcakes to be had 😉
I made these today and they are delicious…so moist and light! I was amazed…great recipe!
Thank you for sharing!