Flourless Chocolate Quinoa Cupcakes
Here is a gorgeous recipe to make for the one(s) you love this Valentines Day…
Inspired by my recent Chocolate Cake post, a client (who not long ago was diagnosed with Coeliac – so can’t eat gluten) shared an interesting sounding recipe with me.
It was a gluten free chocolate cake using cooked quinoa (huh?)
Since it contained butter and a lot of sugar, she asked if I could make it healthier.
Well I have to say I’m always up for a challenge, so here’s what I did…
I replaced some of the butter with pear puree (or you can use apple)
And used macadamia oil (an omega 9, healthy monounsaturated fat) in place of the rest.
I also reduced the sugar by about 1/3rd*
The result is a lovely light, moist little cake
Just delicious on its own
But made even more delicious when served with my raspberry chia jam…
Or how about this delicious and most decadent Walnut, Date and Coconut Icing
Lucky for you I’ve included the recipe below….
Isn’t Valentines Day just a divine excuse to eat piles and piles of chocolate?
Well it is a natural aphrodisiac!
A healthier alternative however would be to pile up these cute little cupcakes
And offer them to those you love
They’re sure to win you plenty of admirers this Valentines Day 🙂
- 1 cup (130g) cooked red or white quinoa (see notes below on how to cook quinoa)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons your choice of milk
- 2 tablespoons apple or pear puree
- ¼ cup (50g) macadamia oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup (75g) rapadura or brown sugar
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (45 g) raw cacao powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon bicarb soda
- Heat oven to 170 degrees and place paper liners into 8 out of a 12 hole muffin pan or 14 mini muffins
- Place cooked quinoa, eggs, milk, fruit puree, oil, vanilla and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth (Thermomix speed 5 for 1 minute, stop wipe sides down then speed 8 for 30 seconds )
- Add cacao powder, baking powder and bicarb soda and process until combined (Thermomix speed 4 for 10 seconds, stop, wipe sides down, then speed 4 for 2 seconds)
- Scoop mixture into prepared cupcake pans
- Bake for 18-20 minutes for larger muffins or 10-12 minutes for mini muffins, or until when a skewer is inserted it comes out clean
- Serve with raspberry chia jam (see link above) or my special walnut, date and coconut icing (below)
- Store in fridge after 2 days
For a low FODMAP version – replace apple or pear puree with mashed bananaanananananana!
To cook quinoa: Use 2/3 cup quinoa + 1 1/3 cups water (makes 2 cups, freeze the extra cup or use it to make one of my lovely quinoa salads!) Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool before using in the recipe above…
OR just cook in plenty of boiling water for 15 minutes, drain and allow to cool before using!
Raw Cacao Powder – is a less refined, unheated cocoa powder – replace with regular cocoa powder
Recipe adapted from here
*I forgot to mention above that I also halved the original recipe, as the more I bake, the more I eat – so that helps to slow me down. Also I made individual cupcakes rather than a whole cake so they are portion controlled (which only really works as long as I’m controlled too!!)
Per Serve (regular size): 670 kJ or 160 calories; P 4g Fat 10g SFat 2g CHO 15g Fibre 1g
Walnut, Date and Coconut Icing
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 4 Medjool dates (72g) pitted
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
Place everything in the bowl of the food processor and process until smooth. Makes enough to top 8 regular cakes, plus a little extra.
