FUNFETTI PROTEIN CUPCAKES
These Funfetti Protein Cupcakes taste just like cake batter! They’re ridiculously moist, smothered in creamy frosting, and topped with sweet sprinkles. It’s hard to believe there’s only 4g sugar and 13g protein in each 160-calorie cupcake! These cupcakes are also gluten-free (yay).
Protein recommendations
For this recipe, I recommend a whey blend protein combining whey isolate, casein, and milk protein isolate or whey concentrate. I used Quest Protein in Vanilla Milkshake here, but any whey blend should work just fine! You should also be able to use whey concentrate like Garden of Life Organic Whey. I do not recommend whey isolate as it tends to dry out baked goods. Other proteins like plant-based blends and collagen will not work here as they behave much differently than whey.
Flour recommendations
To keep the carbs low without losing that fluffy texture, I combined gluten-free baking flour and coconut flour together. You can swap the gluten-free baking flour for all-purpose flour, brown rice flour, cake flour, cassava flour (Paleo), fine oat flour, sweet white sorghum flour, or whole wheat pastry flour.
The coconut flour can also be swapped out for twice as much of any of the previously mentioned flours (half a cup or 60 grams to be exact).
Sweetener recommendations
I used my favorite organic stevia-erythritol blend to sweeten these cupcakes. It’s calorie-free and twice as sweet as sugar with no bitter aftertaste. If using baking stevia, granulated erythritol or regular sugar, you will need to use twice as much to get the same amount of sweetness.
For the frosting, I used powdered monk fruit sweetener. Confectioner’s erythritol or powdered sugar will also work).
Other ingredients
To keep these cupcakes moist without a ton of fat, I used a combo of nonfat plain Greek yogurt, unsweetened applesauce, and avocado oil (you can also use melted coconut oil!). You can use all yogurt, all applesauce, or more oil in place of either one, but doing so will change the end product’s texture and flavor as well as the macros.
This recipe only calls for one egg white – I’ve found many protein recipes call for a lot of egg to increase the protein content, but unfortunately, that can make for some pretty dense cupcakes! If you can’t have eggs, you can substitute vegan egg replacer or two tablespoons of aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas).
Frosting ingredients
The frosting is just a blend of fat free cream cheese and nonfat plain Greek yogurt with powdered sweetener, more vanilla whey protein, and pure vanilla extract. For the powdered sweetener, you could use powdered erythritol like Swerve, powdered monk fruit, or powdered sugar if you don’t care about the added sugar. If you’d rather not use fat free cream cheese, you can use reduced fat cream cheese, Neufchatel cheese, or even dairy-free cream cheese. Add a little vanilla extract and it’s simply dreamy!
So dang good! Here’s the recipe for these Funfetti Protein Cupcakes… I’d love your comment below if you try it 🙂
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Funfetti Protein Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (60g) vanilla protein whey blend powder* I used Quest brand in Vanilla Milkshake
- 6 tbsp. gluten-free baking flour*
- 1/4 cup coconut flour* or half a cup additional gluten-free baking flour
- 1/3 cup calorie-free sweetener* I used one that's twice as sweet as sugar
- 3/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. (1 large) egg white*
- 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt* or dairy-free yogurt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce*
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk* or milk of choice
- 2 tbsp. avocado oil or melted coconut oil
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. sprinkles optional
Frosting
- 4 oz. fat free cream cheese or reduced fat or Neufchatel cheese
- 2 oz. nonfat plain Greek yogurt or dairy-free yogurt
- 1/2 cup calorie-free powdered sweetener* like Swerve
- 1/3 cup (40g) vanilla protein whey blend powder I used Quest brand in Vanilla Milkshake
- 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Toppings (optional)
- More sprinkles
*See blog post above for substitutions.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk together dry ingredients (through salt) in a mixing bowl.
- In a separate mixing bowl, beat together wet ingredients (through extract).
- Mix dry and wet until smooth, then gently stir in sprinkles.
- Line cups of a muffin pan with cupcake liners and lightly spray insides with cooking spray. OR, use silicone cupcake liners.
- Divide batter between six cups, filling about 2/3 of the way to the top.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted at center comes out clean.
- While cupcakes cool, combine frosting ingredients until smooth. Place frosting in fridge while cupcakes continue cooling.
- Frost cupcakes using a piping bag or a sealable baggie (like a Ziploc) with one corner cut off. Decorate with more sprinkles!
- Enjoy immediately or freeze (no preservatives).
Notes
Also in Blog
CHOCOLATE PEANUT PROTEIN CANDY BARS (VEGAN)
PUMPKIN CHIP PROTEIN BREAD (GLUTEN FREE, DAIRY FREE)
This Pumpkin Chip Protein Bread has a rich, tender texture full of pumpkin spice and chocolate chips (no dry protein bread here). The kids and I can't get enough! Best of all, it's gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and easily made egg-free and vegan.
