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10/10/12

Sugar Free Chocolate Cupccakes and Sugar Free Buttercreme and 7 Minute Frostings

Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes and Sugar Free Marshmallow Frosting



Chocolate Cupcakes with mounds of marshmallowy frosting...  all sugar free and flour free.  Funny, I had no intention of baking these but let me tell you how this came about.

There is a popular yellow cupcake recipe that is on pretty much every low carb, sugar free recipe board, message board and blog.  You'll know it when you see it as it's the one you make with white beans.  It's intrigued me for years but I never usually have white beans on hand, and when I do, it's to make a white bean chili.  I finally made a point of buying white beans specifically for this recipe and made it on Sunday.  It was... beany.

The recipe says to let the cupcakes set 24 hours to get rid of the 'bean' flavor.  I tasted one soon after baking for comparison and then let them for 24 hours.  After 24 hours I tasted one and?  Still beany.  I figured I would top it with mounds of sugar free frosting.  Icing makes everything yummy right?  

Beany Cupcakes
I love my butter creme frosting but it takes 3 sticks of butter and I didn't want to run low before my next trip to the store, so instead, I opted to make my favorite 7 Minute Frosting, only using a sugar substitute this time.  A whippy, marshmallowy, delicous frosting my family loves.

And I did.
And I licked the beater... and closed my eyes and said, "Mmmmm"  and then said, "I am SOOO not wasting this incredible frosting on beany cupcakes!  This frosting deserves chocolate." 
And so it does.  And it did.  And chocolate cupcakes were whipped up and spoonfuls of Sugar Free 7 Minute Frosting was topped on.  And those beany cupcakes?  They are still naked.  Sitting in my freezer in a ZipLoc baggy. 


 Low Carb, Sugar Free Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes

1 heaping scoop (about 3 1/2 - 4 T) sugar free whey Dutch chocolate protein powder
1/4 c cocoa powder
3 1/2 - 4 T almond flour
3/4 t baking powder
dash salt
1/2 c Erythritol
1/2 c Splenda
2 t vanilla extract
1/3 c cold coffee or water if you don't want the coffee flavor
1 egg
1/2 stick butter (1/4 c)
1/4 c heavy cream

Mix the protein powder, cocoa, ground almonds, baking powder, salt, Erythritol, and Splenda in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk or mix to blend.  Add the cold coffee or water, vanilla, egg and butter.  Mix with an electric mixer until blended well.  Add the cream and carefully pulse so it doesn't splatter, mix until blended.

Spoon batter into about 6 regular sized cupcake paper lined muffin tins, filled about 3/4 full or to the top as they will fall while cooling to a flat top (they don't stay peaked like sugar and flour cupcakes do).

Bake at 350 until the centers are done.  Carefully remove and let cool completely before frosting.  


**UPDATE:  I have now found the final product depends strongly on the style and brand of Almond Flour you use.  If you use a very fine ground almond flour like Honeyville, you get a different result than if you grind the almonds yourself or use a Bob's Red Mill brand.  I find the Honeyville to be more flour like and need to cut down on the protein powder or the result is more dry than if you home-ground almonds or Bobs.


Sugar Free Butter Cream Vanilla Frosting

3/4 c granular Xylitol 
1/4 c water
3 large egg whites (separate and use the yolks in another recipe)
3 sticks real butter
2 T vanilla extract or use half vanilla sf syrup and half extract
*If you taste test it and find your personal tastes would like it sweeter, use 5-10 drops liquid sweetener

In a saucepan, place the water and Xylitol. Heat over medium high until it comes to 240 degrees.  With normal sugar this would be soft ball stage but because Xylitol and Splenda do not thicken, you cannot test this by traditional soft ball stage.

As you are heating the sugar substitute and water, mix the egg whites in a large mixing bowl.  Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  With the mixer running, pour the hot Xylitol mixture down the side of the bowl in a thin stream, mixing into the egg whites.  Beat approximately 7-10 minutes on high until the egg whites resemble a thick and glossy meringue.

Start to add the butter in chunks, about a tablespoon at a time.  Keep the mixer running and whip the mixture about 7- 10 minutes more.  If the mixture breaks up when you first add the butter and it looks like cottage cheese, no worries.  Just keep whipping until it's smooth again.  Once the frosting is smooth, add your vanilla and whip again for a few minutes.  If it's a really warm or humid day it might get too warm to work with.  Just refrigerate it for about 7 minutes, whip again.  The cooler temperatures will cause it to harden up again.



 7 Minute Frosting

2 egg whites
1 1/2 c sugar substitute (like Ideal)
1/4 t cream of tartar
1/3 c cold water
1 1/2 t vanilla (clear if you have it otherwise, regular is fine)

Put everything in a glass or metal bowl that just fits inside a saucepan but is wider on top so the bowl hovers and doesn't sit on the bottom of the pan. Bring a saucepan of water to a slow boil, place the bowl into the saucepan and let the water simmer under the bowl as you mix with an electric hand mixer. As the egg cooks it will thicken. It will take about 7 minutes of mixing. Sometimes as the mixture gets hot and starts to thicken I remove the bowl from the saucepan and finish mixing it on the counter which seems to work fine too. It's ready when the mixture forms stiff peaks when you lift the beaters. Use immediately as it will form a very light crust as it air dries.



Some products I used in the above recipes;



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