Gluten-free Sugar-free Red Velvet Cupcakes

This recipe is to make guilt-free gluten-free red velvet cupcakes, which taste as good as the real thing! Red velvet cupcakes have become super popular in the last few years, with their rich red cake and cream cheese icing, these cakes are making appearances at girl's birthday parties everywhere. 

• Cupcakes:
• 
  
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 2 tablespoons natural, unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons Melt® Organic Buttery Spread, melted over low heat
• 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk*
• 1/2 cup erythritol, such as NOW Foods
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla stevia extract
• 7 drops red gel food coloring
•  
• Frosting:
• 
  
• 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 ounces Melt® Organic Buttery Spread
• 1 cup erythritol, powdered**
• 15 drops vanilla stevia, or to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place cupcake liners in 8 wells of a muffin tin.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and powdered buttermilk, if using. Set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, combine the eggs, egg whites, Melt, buttermilk or water, erythritol, and stevia. Mix on low speed with a hand blender until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix well, beginning on low speed and increasing to high, for about 2 minutes, until well-blended and no lumps remain. Blend in food coloring until desired color is achieved.
4. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
5. To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and Melt until fluffy (the Melt does not need to be warmed to room temperature; it will be soft enough straight from the refrigerator.) Add the powdered erythritol in several additions, beating well, until fluffy. Beat in liquid vanilla stevia drops to taste.
6. Decorate as you please, I added sugar flowers :)

Footnotes

• *You can substitute 1/2 cup water mixed with 2 tablespoons powdered buttermilk for 1/2 cup buttermilk.
• *Powdered buttermilk can be found in the baking section of your grocery store. If you only use buttermilk once in a while, this is a great staple to have in order to avoid the inevitable "What do I do with the rest of this quart of buttermilk I bought when I only needed a 1/2 cup?" Powdered buttermilk lasts in the refrigerator for a long time, and can be used in any recipe that calls for buttermilk. For every cup of buttermilk needed, add 4 tablespoons of powdered buttermilk with the dry ingredients, and 1 cup of water with the wet ingredients.
• **Use a coffee or spice grinder to crush the erythritol granules to a fine powder.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 185 | Total Fat: 12.4g | Cholesterol: 61mg