Gluten Free, Paleo Friendly, Delicious, Vanilla Cupcakes

I love to eat.  I really, really love to eat.  But sometimes, stuffing my face 15 hours out of the day with foods I shouldn't be eating comes with a price.  And that price is measured in inches.  Inches around my waist.  And sometimes in chins.  So to remedy this, I "get right" and switch to a gluten free or paleo diet.  It goes great with my CrossFit routine, but I have to say, sometimes, homegirl just wants to eat 1, 2, 13 cupcakes. 

So I dug around and found a few great recipes on gluten free, paleo friendly vanilla cupcakes. This here is my ultimate favorite and can be made with one of two frostings; a fruit preserve or a decadent chocolate frosting!

Cupcake:
1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 eggs
1/2 cup of grapeseed oil  (you can also use coconut oil if its virgin)
1/2 cup of agave nectar (you can also substitute with honey)
1tbs vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting:
1 cup of dark chocolate.  I tried to use 75% cacao or higher, but only had this 60% one laying around, so I used that
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
2 tbs agave nectar
1 tbs vanilla extract
pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F

In a medium bowl, combine coconut flour, salt and baking soda

In a small bowl, blend together eggs, grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry and blend with a mixer or hand blender until smooth

*The cupcakes don't rise a whole bunch, so you wan to fill them a little more than 2/3 of the way when using muffin tins or liners.

Bake cupcakes for 20 min.

I used a mini muffin tin so I set the timer for 15 min and just kept a close eye on them.

Chop dark chocolate up and place into a small saucepan

Pour out half cup of grapeseed oil and mix with chocolate in saucepan

Heat over low heat until melted and blended

Stir in agave, vanilla and salt

Once the chocolate is melted, place in mixing bowl to cool.  I personally found that it was not cooling fast enough, and with the grapeseed oil, I was not really sure if the oil would separate.  So when it was warm to the touch, but not quite room temperature (about 10 min off the stove) I put it in the fridge to chill.  I figured it would help the mixing process. 

I have read other recipes where they mention to chill the chocolate in the freezer right off the stove.  That doesn't sound right to me. I was concerned that the shock would alter the chocolate negatively. 

If you have suggestions or explanations for which is best, please leave a comment!

Once chilled, place in mixer and mix on a high speed until its rich, fluffy, and creamy.  It will lighten up in color quite a bit and almost have a light buttercream consistency

Once cupcakes are cooled, spread on the frosting! 

For the chocolate cupcakes, I stored them in the fridge.  I made this batch on a particularly warm day so when I left the cupcakes out, the frosting started to melt a bit. 

Having these with a no sugar added preserve is delicious as well!  So get creative, be healthy, and enjoy!