lemon almond flour cupcakes with blueberry whipped cream frosting
April 5, 2012 As promised, dessert!
Today is my uncle’s birthday [Happy Birthday Uncle Alan!!!], so before leaving town we had a mini celebration. I think everyone felt a little emptiness in the room with my grandpa not being there, but we ate, laughed, and joked to keep our minds busy. Just as he wanted.
Before cupcakes we slurped on tomato soup and crunched on toasty grilled cheese sandwiches. An always delicious and comforting meal.
I thought for today we would start things off with cupcakes.
Lemon and blueberry is a combination that will never get old. Don’t you agree?
I wanted to keep the blueberry flavor in the frosting and the lemon in the cupcakes. I also wanted to keep the recipe as simple as possible. The easiest way to do that is by using almond flour. No crazy combination of gluten free flours, starches, and gums. Just almond flour!
It’s hard to believe ground almonds can be turned into such a delicious dessert.
And for the frosting?
A simple combination of heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, blueberries and honey.
A fluffy, slightly sweet frosting, with a hint of blueberry.
I wanted to keep the frosting nice and light to let the lemon almond cupcake shine.
Almond Flour Lemon Cupcakes [yields 10 cupcakes] adapted from orange blossom cupcakes
- 3c blanched almond flour
- 1/4c coconut oil, melted
- 1/2c raw honey
- 3 eggs
- 2t vanilla extract
- 2t lemon extract
- 2t lemon zest
- 1/2t salt
- 1/2t baking soda
- Preheat your oven to 325* and position a rack in the center. Line a cupcake pan with 10 cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, melted coconut oil, vanilla, lemon, and lemon zest until smooth.
- Combine the wet with the dry and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. It should result in a thick, pourable batter.
- Empty batter evenly into the lined cupcake tin.
- Bake for 23-27min, until a toothpick comes out clean and they are golden brown on top.
- Remove from the pan and let fully cool before frosting.
notes: You want to be sure and use blanched almond flour and not almond meal. You can make this at home [or buy it pre-ground] in a high speed blender or food processor using raw blanched almonds. Only blend about 3/4c of a cup at a time and scrape the sides as needed until very fine. Be careful not to over process as the mixture will start to turn into nut butter. It heats slightly when you grind, so make sure to let it cool a bit before storing in a sealed container in the fridge.
Blueberry Whipped Cream Frosting
- 1c heavy whipping cream
- 4oz cream cheese [full fat]
- 1/2c blueberries
- 6T raw honey
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the blueberries and honey and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to simmer for 6-8min. Stir frequently.
- Pour in a bowl and set in the refrigerator until completely chilled.
- In a cold metal bowl, whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form [I used the whisk attachment with a hand mixer]. Refrigerate for 15min.
- In another bowl, whip the cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
- Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese and whip until fully combined and stiff.
- With an immersion blender [or regular blender should work] blend the blueberry honey mixture until smooth.
- Whisk the blueberry mixture with the cream mixture until fully combined.
- Refrigerate for at least 15min before spreading on fully cooled cupcakes.
- Keep cupcakes refrigerated once frosted.
notes: This is a very soft frosting. I don’t think it would work well for a layer cake because of how soft it is. If you want to stiffen it up, you can always use powdered sugar instead of honey and add more until desired sweetness and consistency is reached. If the 6T of honey is not sweet enough for your taste buds, I would use powdered sugar instead of more honey to sweeten. Avoid using frozen blueberries, as it may make the mixture too wet.
Soup’s on tomorrow!
Ashley
cakes, dessert, gluten free, grain free 
Reader Comments (32)
Ashley--> Definitely! It should fit perfectly in a 9" pan, but the baking time will increase. Not sure quite how long though. Looking at another similar recipe on Roost Blog, you may want to increase the oven temp to 350*. http://www.roostblog.com/roost/harvest-cake-with-vanilla-cream.html
Ashley--> Great question! This is kind of funny too, because both times I've baked with solely almond flour it's been in Ohio. I'll have to give them a try now that I'm back in Colorado. When making them in Ohio they didn't seem wet at all but also didn't resemble wheat flour. It's a much more dense + moist texture than wheat flour. If I were to make these in Colorado, I would increase my oven temp to 350* and bake them for a slightly shorter amount of time. Typically, I also decrease the baking powder by 1/8-1/4t for every teaspoon used, but this recipe doesn't call for any to be used. Elana, from Elana's pantry, bakes with a lot of almond and coconut flour and she actually lives in Colorado. I'm not sure if she includes high altitude adjustments or if her recipes work at any altitude as is. I do typically include high altitude adjustments, and will make mention of it when I try this recipe in Colorado. Thanks Becky!
Ashley--> Almond flour is amazing. As is honey! :)
Ashley--> I'm sure there is a way! I love that dessert and should probably try making a GF version soon!
PS LOVE the second picture down - that looks like art work :)
Ashley--> Thanks so much!
blessings,
Christi
Ashley--> Thank you for your kind words, Christi! Good luck figuring out your digestive issues.
Terrific !
I love blueberry, but in France (where I am from) they are rare & very expensive.
I would love have one :-)
Ashley--> Aw, thank you!
Ashley--> Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Ashley--> You may be able to use full fat ricotta cheese, marscapone cheese, or possibly butter. I'm not 100% sure though.
Ashley--> I haven't tried leaving the baking soda out but every almond flour/meal recipe I've seen does include it. And thanks about the blog. Much appreciated. :)
Ashley--> You could definitely use a can of full fat coconut milk to make coconut whipped cream. I've done it before and it works really well! Freezing the can for about 30min or fully refrigerating are key in getting it to whip, as does using a cold metal bowl + whisk attachment. Enjoy!
Ashley--> You can definitely make coconut milk whipped cream [with full fat coconut milk] but it may become too wet with the blueberries mixed in. The cream cheese helps to thicken the mixture a bit.