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If you’re hoping to serve delicious gluten-free chocolate cupcakes for a birthday party or special event, this almond flour cupcake recipe is for you. These cupcakes have a tender crumb and a flavor that rivals your favorite cupcake recipe!
These Paleo chocolate cupcakes are made with blanched almond flour, so they don’t bake up quite as tall as a bakery cupcake, but they have an amazing taste and texture without using any white flour or sugar. Instead, they are naturally sweetened with maple syrup and require minimal oil, since almonds already contain healthy fats.
Top them with your favorite chocolate frosting, and you’ll have a seriously impressive homemade dessert.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Featured Review
“I loooove these chocolate cupcakes and love how decadent they taste with such clean ingredients! A party of 10 year olds also loved them so they are perfect in my book, definitely serving these up at every party!” – Katie
Almond Flour Cupcake Ingredients
- Blanched Almond Flour. This recipe calls for blanched almond flour, which means the almonds’ skins are removed before they are finely ground. This creates fluffier baked goods than almond meal, which includes almond skins. (You’ll see brown specks in almond meal, so it’s easy to see the difference.)
- Cacao Powder. I always keep raw cacao powder in my pantry, because it’s less processed. However, regular cocoa powder should work in this recipe, too!
- Eggs. These add protein and structure to the cupcakes. Don’t use an egg substitute here! A flax egg or another egg substitute will make sunken, gooey cupcakes.
- Coconut Oil. Only 2 tablespoons of oil are required for this recipe, and you can use any other oil you prefer, such as olive or avocado oil.
- Maple Syrup. Not to be confused with processed pancake syrup, your package should list only one ingredient: pure maple syrup. This natural sweetener pairs perfectly with chocolate-flavored recipes!
- Pantry Staples. Baking powder provides lift (don’t confuse this with baking soda!), and vanilla and salt complete the flavor.
Note: Some comments have recommended adding 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to help the cupcakes rise even more. If you keep that on hand, try it!
How to Make cupcakes with Almond Flour
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper cupcake liners.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. You can whisk these dry ingredients together first, if you’d like to break up any clumps in the flour, but it’s not necessary since there’s no risk of over-mixing gluten-free cupcake batter.
Next, add in the maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract. It’s best if you can let the eggs and maple syrup come to room temperature before mixing the batter, but this will still work even if they are cold from the fridge. If you’re using cold ingredients, stir in the coconut oil last, so the eggs and maple syrup can lose some of their chill as you stir.
Step 2:
Stir the wet ingredients into the batter until it looks smooth, then add the coconut oil and mix again. Use a 1/4 cup to scoop the batter and pour it into the prepared muffin pan.
Once the batter has been divided evenly among the muffin cups, bake the cupcakes at 350ºF for 25 minutes. You’ll know the cupcakes are done when the centers feel firm to a light touch, or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with minimal crumbs.
Step 3:
Let the cupcakes cool completely in the pan, at least 30 minutes.
Once they are cool, you can top them with your favorite frosting and sprinkles. (Buttercream frosting will melt if you add it to cupcakes that are still warm, so be patient!)
Storage Tips
Leftover cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you want to make these ahead of time, you can store them in the fridge before frosting them, too! This chocolate cupcake recipe can also be frozen for up to 3 months if stored in a tightly sealed container.
Note: If you store these cupcakes at room temperature without covering them, they may dry out overnight. When stored in an airtight container at room temperature (or tightly covered with plastic wrap if you leave them in the pan), almond flour cupcakes can develop a sticky top. They still taste good, but it’s something to keep in mind when storing. The fridge is the best for their texture.
Chocolate Almond Flour Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ¾ cups blanched almond flour
- ½ cup raw cacao powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (I use Real Salt brand)
- ¾ cup maple syrup , at room temperature
- 4 large eggs , at room temperature (see notes)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, cacao powder, baking powder, salt, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla. Stir well, and be sure to break up any clumps that form until the batter is smooth. Stir in the coconut oil last, so that it will be less likely to clump from touching any cold ingredients.
- Once the batter is smooth, use a ¼ cup measure to pour the batter into the prepared cupcake liners. They should all be relatively full from this amount of batter. Bake at 350ºF until the center of the cupcakes feel firm to a light touch, about 25 minutes.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely in the pan; it's okay if they have a slight dip in the center. When they are cool, you can frost them or decorate as you like.
- These cupcakes should last for up to 5 days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More Recipes to Try
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Almond Meal Cookies
- Almond Flour Cake
- Banana Bread with Almond Flour
- Almond Flour Pancakes
- Biscotti with Almond Flour
If you try these Chocolate Almond Flour Cupcakes, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like them.
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Could you cook this at a lower temperature to use the almond flour more safely? I was shooting to use it in cake pans. Missing some ingredients for your other chocolate cake option! Thanks!
5 stars. I tweaked this a bit. I used 1/2 as much maple syrup. 1 cup of shredded zucchini – towel dried, 1 T coconut oil, as I feel coconut oil should be part of the recipe – needs some fat for nutritional outcome… My mom is diabetic. I added a pinch of cloves and a pinch of cinnamon. More of an adult cupcake/muffin. I LOVE your recipes!! Thank you so much! You have changed my baking!I can bake. No empty calories. Power house food! Thank you!
Oopsie. I used 1/2 cup maple syrup, rather than 3/4 cup. Tasted just righ to my taste buds. 3/4 made my teeth hurt. 😉 Everyone still loved the 3/4 cup version, but this one was better for us. <3
Oops. And I added one or two T of coconut flour – for the moistness of the zucchini. 😉
5 plus stars! I made the cupcakes today! I had almond meal, flour and they turned out phenomenal!I de for my sister-in-law who doesn’t eat gluten. She didn’t know a person could make cupcakes gluten free. I am not gluten intolerant, but I don’t eat sweets, really. I will eat these, though. Healthy ingredients. Not empty calories. LOVE you for all your recipes. I have been following you for years and years and years. Thank you, so much. Everything I make and share people fall off their chairs and love! Blessing to you!
These came out great ! I used a dark chocolate cocoa powder because that is what I had in the pantry, and a mini-bundt pan (6 tiny bundt cakes instead of 12 muffins) – this recipe makes 4 of the mini-bundt cakes). They taste great and will be made again for my kid’s birthday gathering (one kid if GF), I’ll just use 1.5 times the recipe and make 6 mini-bundts 🙂
Moist, tasty and satisfies both the sweet and the chocolate craving. Omg, no gluten, no dairy and the maple syrup doesn’t have the same inflammation response as traditional sugar. My husband made these for me & I couldn’t love him more for it!
So easy!so good! Gone in less than a day. Thank you♥️
Excited to make these for my son’s birthday. How would you modify cooking time to make it as a cake? (in a springform) Thanks
I still have to try that, so I’m not 100% positive, but I’m guess this recipe would fill a 9-inch pan and then I’d probably bake it for 30 to 45 minutes. (Until the center doesn’t jiggle and feels firm to a light touch.)
Megan, your advice here was spot on. I used a 9-inch square pan and the cake was perfectly done in 40 minutes. Delicious, too.
My cupcakes collapse in the middle! Why is that?
It’s normal for there to be a small dip in the middle of a cupcake with grain-free baking. I tried this recipe over 13 times, and this was the very best flavor and texture, despite the dip in the middle, so I posted it because this is what I would want to eat and my kids gobbled them up. If you want them to rise up in the center like a cupcake made with white flour, you need to start adding other type of flour to the mix, like coconut flour or arrowroot starch, but then that will start to compromise the flavor.
I added 1/2 tsp. arrowroot starch to the recipe, and they rose in the middle. I also let the batter sit for 30 minutes before adding the coconut oil. Texture was cake-like but wouldn’t say it was extra moist. A very lightweight cupcake. Good flavor. My kids loved them! Will definitely make them again. I love that they are made from better ingredients than normal cupcakes.
Made these for Mother’s Day and they were super simple to make with my 3yo and so delicious! Thank you for amazing and healthy recipes.
These are delicious and so easy to make!