These are wonderfully light, soft, souffle-like cupcakes that can be frosted or filled. This recipe tickles my inner science nerd because there is a step where you see the chemical reaction of the lemon juice and baking soda working together to lighten the batter, almost magically. So, suffice to say, this recipe is fun for the kid in everyone!
How did this recipe become a science experiment? When you add the lemon juice (which contains citric acid) to the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), gas bubbles form (the gas is carbon dioxide). I’ll refrain from including the chemical formula in this post (can you tell I majored in chemistry?)
To fill the cupcake, take a small paring knife, and gently cut a hole in the center of the cupcake about midway through the cupcake so you can pull the cut hole or plug out of the cupcake, temporarily. Then take a tablespoon or so of your favorite filling (such as lemon curd or strawberry jam) and place it in the hole. Finally, take the plug of cupcake you cut out of the center and place it back in place, pressing gently to force the filling to spread into the cupcake. Voila! It fits well and it’s hard to notice you’ve tampered with the cupcake because the top is uneven anyway.
Fluffy Cupcakes (makes about 8 cupcakes)
Updated on 11/1/12: Added 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons of honey (changed from 3 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1/4 cup of cooking oil (or melted butter)
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of almond flour (finely ground, blanched almonds)
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Separate the egg yolks and whites. Place the yolks in a separate mixing bowl, and then beat the egg whites with the vinegar until stiff peaks form.
- To the yolks add the honey, baking soda, oil, and vanilla and then blend well with a whisk. Next, get ready as you witness the rise of your batter by adding the lemon juice and beating the mixture until well blended. Finally, add the almond flour to the mixture and blend until well combined.
- Now fold the whipped egg whites into the yolk mixture until well blended.
- Prepare a cupcake pan with baking cups and fill each cup to the top.
- Bake for about 17 minutes, or until the cupcakes have risen, and are golden brown on top and springy to the touch.
- Cool the cupcakes. As they cool, the top will deflate a bit, but they will maintain their springy, light texture.
- Frost or fill, and enjoy!
These look fantastic! I’m amazed by the gluten-free recipes that use only almond flour. Amazing.
Thanks Jeanine!
Yes, if you are ok eating nuts, they are a great alternative to the other gluten-free flours.
I wonder if you could substitute agave for the honey? Anyone know?
These cupcakes look so light and wonderful! I linked to ’em from my cupcake post. Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful nourishing recipes!
Bobbie – I’ve read that you can use equal amounts of honey and agave, but I haven’t tried agave with this recipe. Let me know how it goes if you do try it.
Thanks for the link, Lauren!
these look lovely! i’m dying to try making them, i’ve had them bookmarked for half a year now. it’s just that i’m always a little intimidated by the egg whites…
Hey Liz, go for it. You’ll love the lightness that the egg whites provide.
I tried this last nite but i did not achieve the lightness somehow despite folding in the egg whites….and the taste was way over to lemon-ney.a disappointment for me 🙁 Wondering where i got it wrong.
Cyn, so sorry this didn’t work for you. I always feel so bad when the recipes don’t work for others. I know how expensive mistakes with almond flour can be. I wonder if you didn’t need as much lemon juice as I call for. I have small lemons. I’m going to edit the lemon juice amount – although I haven’t made this in a while, so I’m estimating how much juice I add, but too little is probably better than too much. One other thing: when I use egg whites I try to remember to keep the peaks stiff while combining them so the batter stays light.
These are delicious! I was searching for an almond flour cupcake recipe for my kids. They will ice them when they get home from school today. 🙂 We live in Germany and I use almond flour almost exclusively. I think I will love your blog! Thank you! Megan
PS These tastes a lot like the almond torte everyone makes around here (which is also made with almond flour)
Hi Megan! Thanks for stopping by. Love the idea of almond torte!
These are awesome! My husband said that they were just as good or better than any cupcake he’s had made with flour! Everyone wanted seconds! Thanks!
Great to hear – thanks!
How can I make my own Almond Flour? It costs $17 at the store, and theres only approx. 3 cups of it.
See this post: comfybelly.com/2009/01/the-scoop-on-almond-flour-2/
I am diabetic and have started using almond flour. Have you tried splenda instead of honey in any of your recipes?
I haven’t. I know some folks use glycerin with stevia to sub honey.
Can I use sweet leaf Stevia as my sweetener and if so how much would I use.
I am very impressed with this recipe and so glad I found it! I’ve only been experimenting w/ almond flour for about a month, but am excited, as a former chemical engineer and baker gone gluten-free, with how you created bubbles in the batter! Worth the effort!
Making these with pumpkin added, they smell awesome!
I followed your recipe and they came out great and was very useful when I began experimenting myself with pistachio
Hi: I came from you webpage about Sunflower Seed Flour in place of Almond Flour. I too have problems with most Nuts, and was interested to see what happened with you experiment with Sunflower Seed Flour. It must not have worked, because the recipe calls for Almond Flour instead of Sun-Flour which is made from soaked, dehydrated and ground sunflower seeds. It makes a great substitute for almond flour. Find a step-by-step picture tutorial for Sun-Flour here. So, I am confused, to what really happened. Maybe the website is not working or taking to the correct webpage for Sun-Flour Muffin experiment. Anyway, would be interested in knowing what happened. I have been using Coconut Flour and Coconut Butter for baking, but it’s always nice to find another possibility. You are very creative and your ideas seem to be on the same length as mine in baking. It’s funny I am on the SCD Diet, but I really hardly using anything that’s allowed. Of Course no grains, but no dairy (but I do use Ghee), no nuts (except Coconut, but some do not believe Coconut is even related to the nut family), no nightshades, no beans or legumes. Mainly just Meats & non-starchy vegetables. So, that’s about it. Thank you again for your creativeness with sunflower seeds. I hope you find some more success with it. Sincerely, Cathi Gross, Ventura, CA
I’m new at GF baking. Please confirm the type of oil you used. I’m anxious to try these. I’m loving your other baked goods.
Shirley
I haven’t made these in quite a while, but I used whatever cooking oil I had around (sunflower usually) or melted butter.
These sound so yummy. I bet they would be amazing filled with creamy lemon curd!
Okay, they’re in the oven. The batter tastes great! I used half honey and half maple syrup to sweeten, and doubled the recipe and filled 12 muffin cups to the top. Can’t wait to eat these!
yes!
I made these with unsalted butter and they are pretty tasty! But they’re kind of heavy and greasy. Would oil yield a slightly lighter consistency and less greasy cupcake? If so, is extra light olive oil okay or would you recommend something else (we don’t do canola or corn oil). I’m also wondering, when folding in the egg whites, do all of the lumps need to be eradicated or is it okay if there are little lumps of egg white in the batter? Thank you!
sorry, I haven’t made these in quite a while. I don’t remember them being greasy. Try my very vanilla cupcakes if you are ok with coconut flour.
I have a feeling that the heavy/soggy resulted from some kind of issue with the whipped egg whites. In the photos your cake looks much more dry than my cupcakes do. The flavor is delish, though, despite the sogginess. I’m going to try the other almond flour cake recipe and see if that gives a better result for me!
Will these cupcakes hold up well for frosting or so they crumble apart easily?
I would suggest the very vanilla cupcakes.
Just made these due to a frosting craving, cannot wait to try them! This recipe was super easy! I doubled the recipe and filled 12 cupcake cups to the top. I’ll be making a chocolate buttercream frosting to fill and frost these.
Cool! thanks.
These baked up nicely! I substituted the Honey with an artificial sweetener (3 tablespoons since it’s often TOO sweet). I liked the science aspect of the recipe, reminded me of something Alton Brown would do. While they cooked up beautifully, mine had a bit of an acidic taste that turned me off. However, i’ve had the same problem every time I added some sort of vinegar to the recipe. I made a frosting and that helped a bit with the taste. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
I’m wondering if you can sub flax eggs to go dairy free as well?
I haven’t tried it with this recipe and I wouldn’t go beyond 2 flax eggs. This is one of my early recipes.
These turned out so good! So delicious and much lighter than I had expected. I doubled the recipe and made some regular and some mini cupcakes. I think the mini ones turned out better, they hardly fell at all. Arranged into flowers with a sugar free frosting, they were perfect for little ones first birthday.
Great to hear! Sounds beautiful. Happy first birthday 🙂