Cupcakes
With William's 5th birthday approaching, I became obsessed with the idea of making him cupcakes. And not just any cupcakes - cupcakes that actually looked and tasted like traditional cupcakes (and by special request, Paw Patrol themed). With medical Keto it can be challenging to create meals that have the same taste, texture and especially portion size as traditional recipes. The final result? I was extremely excited with how they turned out - a dense chocolate cake with a slightly sweet buttercream frosting topped with colorful sprinkles! Not only did I meet my goals for taste, texture and portion size but it also received rave reviews from the birthday boy!
Equipment:
Food Scale
Stand Mixer or Electric Hand Mixer
Cupcake Liners or Muffin Tray (silicone preferred)
Large and Small Mixing Bowls
Small Pot or Double Boiler
Off Set Spatula or Piping Bags
Ingredients for a Complete Meal:
Dixie Carb Counters Devil's Food Cake*
Buttercream Frosting 4:1* (KDC Standard Snacks Recipe)
Wilton Rainbow Sprinkles
Coconut Oil
*Additional ingredients and instructions listed below.
Using the ingredients for a complete meal listed above, calculate out your recipe in the KetoDietCalculator. I have listed William's recipe at the bottom of this post for reference.
Ingredients for Cupcakes:
1 Package Dixie Carb Counters Devil's Food Cake Mix
3 oz Unsweetened Baker's Chocolate
2 Sticks of Butter
4 Eggs
2/3 Cup Water
Set your oven to 350F, then in a small pot or double boiler melt the chocolate and butter on low heat. Combine all the ingredients in a medium size bowl and use a whisk to mix well. Pour batter into paper, silicone or well-greased metal muffin tins/cups.
Pro Tip: I recommend weighing your batter to achieve the desired amount needed for the baked cupcake. Baking decreases the overall weight due to some evaporation of water and moisture from the batter. Weighing out slightly more batter will help ensure your cupcake is close in weight to what is needed for your complete meal. For example, William's meal calls for 40 grams of baked cupcake, so I poured about 42 grams of batter into each muffin cup. Once bake, most of my cupcakes weighed between 38 and 41 grams. This allowed me to either cut off or add a small piece without losing the traditional cupcake shape or size.
Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. This batter will overcook and become dry very quickly so be sure to keep a close eye on it.
Notes:
As the cake cools it will deflate slightly. Leftovers can be refrigerated for 6 days or frozen for up to 6 weeks.
Based on William's calculations listed below, this recipe made roughly 18 cupcakes.
Ingredients for Buttercream Frosting (4:1 Ratio):
Recipe provided by the Keto Diet Calculator (standard snacks)
113 gm Butter, Room Temperature
23 gm NOW Foods Whey Protein Isolate Powder
50 gm Water, Room Temperature
4 gm Vanilla Extract
Tiny Pinch of Salt
Optional: Non-Nutritive Sweetener
Weigh and mix the protein powder, water, extract, sweetener and salt together very well. Stir until all the lumps are dissolved and set aside.
Weigh the room temperature butter. Use a stand mixer or electric hand mixer to "cream" the butter, scraping the sides of the bowl once. Continue to cream the butter until it has lightened in color and is light and fluffy.
With your mixer at low speed, slowly begin to pour the protein powder mixture into the creamed butter. Continue beating the mixture at a low speed until all
the protein powder mixture is incorporated, making sure you scrape the bowl! This step can take a few minutes. My ingredients didn't come together at first and I almost gave up on it, so trust the process!
Now you are ready to decorate! Weigh the needed amount of icing and use exactly as regular frosting. You can use an off set spatula or a pastry bag to decorate. Natural food coloring can be used as well.
Weigh out your sprinkles, add them to the top of your cupcake and enjoy!
Notes:
Since this recipe contains butter, it must be refrigerated for storage. It will melt in high temperature or if left sitting in direct sunlight due to the butter.
You can calculate the frosting in different ratios when developing your complete meal. Here are two other variations:
To make this recipe 3:1 use 31gm Whey Protein.
To make this recipe 2:1 use 47gm Whey Protein.
Based on William's calculations listed below, this recipe made enough frosting for roughly 6 cupcakes.
William's Meal Calculations:
Cupcakes
Ratio 3:1
40 g Dixie Carb Counters Devils Food Cake
19 g Buttercream Frosting 4:1
2.1 g Wilton Rainbow Sprinkles
5.8 g Coconut Oil (frozen and served on the side)