I LOVE Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have little mice, spiders galore, a life-size mummy, a green flying witch, flying bats, crying cats and spooky eyes glowing from my front door that make you think twice if we are nice.  Ghosts greet you in my yard, furry monsters, a graveyard at first sight, and a huge python ready to strike, but I promise we don’t bite!

I can tell you this, you will want another bite of these naughty cupcakes!!  Yes, they might just be the naughtiest thing I have posted.  This recipe is so moist and actually healthy for you, it’s kind of hard to call it a cupcake and not a muffin.  What makes it a cupcake is the velvety vanilla buttercream frosting!!!

I found “real” frosting already made in the health food store by The Frosting Queens! By “real”, I mean they use butter and sugar -not some artificial flavors and synthetic ingredients you can’t pronounce.  Their names serve them right.  I would bow to them and kiss their hand (especially if it was covered in frosting)!  What is it with me and wearing my food lately?  The last post I mentioned licking pumpkin off my face.

This gluten-free  cupcake recipe has been healthified and changed from a bread to cupcakes.  The chef who shared it with me might not recognize this recipe with the changes and certainly not the frosting!  It was intriguing to me that the base of the recipe was black beans.  I have heard of those bean brownies but never actually made them.

Tom and I celebrated our 17th year wedding anniversary in April and I found this amazing deal on Living Social for an off the grid, eating organic from the land, retreat in the Jamaica mountains. It was at Zimbali Retreat that I had the original Chocolate Black Bean bread.  A true hidden haven that allowed us to live simply, but beautifully with comfort and good food.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chocolaty Clean Cupcakes (paleo, gluten free, nut free)

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Author: Dawn Rofrano

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans
• 2 eggs
• *(egg free use 3 tbsp. chia seeds with ¼ water)
• ½ cup water
• 6 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• ½ cup ground flax
• 5 tablespoons unsweetened cacao
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 package of Frosting Queens Vanilla (or a dairy-free choice)
• 1 tablespoon of melted chocolate chips
• small paint brush

Instructions

1. Using a blender or Vitamix or strong blender, add beans, eggs, oil. water, and vanilla.
2. Blend until creamy.
3. Add sugar, flax, cacao, baking soda and powder until blended.
4. Pour ¾ high into unbleached liners in a muffin tin.
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let cool 30 min before frosting.

Notes

Cacao is raw chocolate powder and is different than cocoa butter or coco powder. Cacao is powder is made from the bean of the cacao plant and is the nutritional and flavorful source. Cacao has nutrients like iron, magnesium and dietary fiber. I like to use Lily's chocolate chips that are sweetened with stevia. After cupcakes cool, frost and paint fun faces with the melted chocolate. To set chocolate, put in the refrigerator for 10 min. You can store cupcakes in a container in the fridge for a few days; so they stay moist and yummy. I have shared these with my daughters 2nd grade class last year for the Green Day event. I explained that using coconut sugar is an unrefined alternative to processed sugar and artificial sweeteners. The coconut palm tree produces 50% more sugar per acre than cane sugar and it uses 20% less resources making it a sustainable choice. The kids were excited to tell their parents to choose coconut sugar and could not believe there were black beans in the cupcakes and no flour!

3.2.2802

Turn the chip upside down so point goes into cupcake for eyes. Also I used small and regular unbleached liners. When painting faces on cupcake dabbing the chocolate on rather than painting works best.

Licking all the frosting off the spoon,

Dawn

P.S.  I should mention that I spoke to the Frosting Queen (one of the sisters) and she was a delight to talk to and spunky like I imagined.  Anyway, I had some questions about the ingredients and wanted clarification on the type of butter, gluten free facility they use, and very importantly if the frosting was GMO free.  I was told the product is 99% GMO free due to the cornstarch in the powdered sugar and that this is something they deem very important and are working on making it 100%.  I am happy to report they are open and aware of the importance of this issue.

Also, I inquired about an organic frosting and that was a consideration they are looking at.  I think these two sisters are a force to reckon with and have an amazing product that is real in comparison to the “far from frosting goop” on the grocery shelves.  Check out their story and other flavors.    www.TheFrostingQueens.com

Thank you Frosting Queens for making an easy pouch to squeeze out the frosting. Happy to eat my cupcake that much faster!

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