Sugar-free gluten-free orange cupcakes are easy to make a tasty treat that will satisfy any low-carb sweet tooth.
Keep reading to see our secret trick to make these sugar-free and gluten-free cupcakes taste like orange marmalade!
Only 2g net carbs per mini-cupcake!
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Blender cupcakes
These healthy whole orange cupcakes can be ready to eat in under 30 minutes. There are only a few steps to follow and with the help of a food processor, cupcake prep is quick and easy to clean up.
There is also a whole orange flourless cake recipe if you want to bake a beautiful healthy dessert for guests.
Blender cupcake batter
So what is my magic formula to make these healthy orange cupcakes low-carb and lower in fruit sugars? By keeping the peel on the orange.
Yes, you read that right, you add the orange peel'n'all.
The incredibly strong orange flavours and orange essential oils in the skin are what give these amazing healthy sugar-free orange cupcakes their incredible punch of flavour and so, therefore, requires only 1 orange!
GENIUS!
Making the cupcake batter is incredibly simple with the help of a food processor. Cut an orange into quarters and remove the seeds, then toss it in your food processor. Blitz the food processor until the orange is almost pureed but still some pieces of orange peel.
Next, add the remaining ingredients to your food processor and pulse the batter until it is smooth. You will still be able to see little pieces of orange, but there shouldn't be large pieces.
Sweetener
TOP TIP: As with ALL recipes here, ALWAYS taste your batter BEFORE cooking to ensure you have added enough sweetener to suit YOUR tastebuds. Read the Ultimate Guide To Low-Carb Sweeteners.
If this is day 1 of sugar-free living for you, you may require twice the amount of sweetener as someone who has been living sugar-free for years. So don't be afraid to add more sweeteners. The longer you live sugar-free, the less sweetener in time you will require.
More Low-Carb Dessert Recipes & Low-Carb Cake Recipes ...
Baking
Now that your cupcake batter is done it is time to separate your cupcakes and bake.
Scoop the batter into your mini-cupcake pans. You can add mini-cupcake liners to your pan or grease the mini-cupcake tin. Either way will work.
You should be able to get 24 mini-cupcakes from this recipe. If you run out of batter, use a spoon to transfer some of the batter from your fullest cupcakes to the empty cups.
To bake your cupcakes preheat your oven to 180C/350F. Once the oven is hot place the cupcakes in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. You'll know your cupcakes are done when a skewer or fork can be removed cleanly from the centre of a cupcake.
Serving
These cupcakes are delicious served warm with a dollop of whipped cream or sprinkled with sugar-free confectioners sugar.
If you are not dairy-free and really want to impress your guests or serve these sugar-free gluten-free cupcakes for a birthday party, then why not add creamy sugar-free frosting on top? You can even pipe some frosting or whipped cream into the center.
Your whole family will love these healthy mini-cupcakes. They are perfect eaten as is or dress your cupcakes up by sprinkling your favourite powdered sweetener over the top. Enjoy!
Storage
The cupcakes will need to cool completely on a wire rack before you are able to store any leftover cupcakes.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
To defrost cupcakes, leave one or two on the kitchen bench at room temperature for 20 minutes. Or you can use the defrost setting on your microwave.
Cupcakes can also be reheated in the microwave if desired for 10-15 seconds.
More sugar-free baking recipes
It's easy to find delicious and healthy sugar-free and gluten-free baking recipes.
📖 Recipe
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Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Orange Cupcakes (minis)
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Ingredients
Almond and Orange Flourless Cake
- 1 orange quartered
- 6 eggs - medium
- 250 g (2 ½ cups) almond meal/flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to your taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place the orange quarters (make sure to remove and seeds) in the food processor and using the blade attachment, blitz until almost pureed. It is nice to see small pieces of orange peel in the final baking mix.
- Add all the other ingredients. Pulse until smooth.
- Divide into 24 cupcakes.
- Bake at 180C/350F for 15-20 minutes. Test the centre with a clean fork or skewer to ensure they are cooked thoroughly.
LOW-CARB STARTER PACK
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COOKBOOKS - MEAL PLANS - PANTRY
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Approximate nutrition information is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. For the most accurate nutritional data, use the actual ingredients and brands you used in your preferred nutrition calculator.
P
Hi could I try this with coconut flour (halved amount of the almond) due to new development of allergy? Thanks as these look beautiful 😍
Sandra
Would this work with a lemon (peel and all) instead of the orange, or would the flavor be too strong/bitter? Would it call for more sweetening? Thanks.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, in fact, I have a low-carb lemon cupcake recipe here you can try. It is exactly how you describe. Enjoy ?
Janine Phillpot
made these this am and they are seriously fantastic! I did a bit of an oops though, and thought i'd post about it in case anyone else doesn't pay attention to the MEDIUM eggs, clearly listed in the ingredients list (we buy XL from a farm) INSERT FACE PALM HERE!!! This made my batter WAY too wet, so when i realized what i had done I added 1/4 cup psyllium husk powder, pulsed a few times to incorporate and carried on. I made 12 regular size muffins with it and baked for about 18 minutes total. They were REALLY REALLY good!!!
Sylvana
I made these exactly as the recipe said, but I cooked in muffin pans as I didn’t have anything smaller. I got 18 out of the batch and they were perfect! Moist with a great kick of orange flavor (great idea to leave the peel). Hubby loved them and told me to make sure I remember how to make them! 🙂 Will definitely be making again! Oh and so easy using the food processor!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yay, I'm thrilled you love these and you love the idea to leave the orange peel. It's such an easy way to amp up the flavour and at the same time dial down the carbs and fruit sugars.
Trish
Did not have a mini cupcake pan so I made mini loads. They tasted fantastic and the recipe was so easy to make. Highly recommend it!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Ooooh, mini-loaves, what a wonderful idea. Thanks Trish 🙂
L. Marshall
You don't say to use the peel but you say there is peel in the batter so I guess you use the peel? Since most recipes would not call for it, you might want to modify this one to tell the baker to do so. It would be helpful.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, you read that right, you add the orange peel'n'all.
Janice
Can we use mandarin oranges instead of regular oranges?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Sure thing, just be aware you may have a more delicate/mild flavoured orange cupcakes, but that might be nice. Let me know how they tasted.
Olivia
Could you make them without the orange in them so there like normal cupcakes?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
You could, but you would have to replace the juice and other aspects that the orange adds to the recipe. If you want a simpler cupcake, why not try my Lemon & Blueberry Cupcakes - nom nom.
Rosa Morabito
Also made more than 24. I checked the size of the mini cup cake tins which are the ones I have. But i'm ok with that!! Waiting for them to come out of the oven. they look so lovely when i saw this email this morning... I just had to make them!!! I need to go back to work. All this making!!!!
Prue
Hi Libby, I have just cooked these cupcakes and found them to be very dry, I cooked some in the small patty tins and some in the larger tins for the recommended time. Flavour is nice. Prue
Susan
I had a lot more than 25 mini cups with this recipe. I followed recipe exactly. Please advise.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Your mini cupcake tin must be smaller than mine, yay, you made more with even fewer carbs!
Angie
Is there any other flour I can use besides almond. I’m allergic. And what kind of sweater do you suggest
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Hi Angie, you can't easily swap out almond flour for other low-carb flours because they behave in different ways and require remarkably different volumes plus a differing number of eggs, so always try to use a recipe that was developed using that particular flour. As you are allergic to almonds, you could try my coconut flour cupcakes instead, if you can tolerate coconut flour. As for which sweetener I use, you may wish to read my Ultimate Guide To Sweeteners.