This strawberry cream cheese frosting is a delicious sugar free icing for low carb cupcakes. And, it adds a natural pink color and a fruity taste.
After a reader posted a batch of cupcakes she made using my yellow low carb cake recipe on Instagram, I had to give it a try. They looked so good and she mentioned how moist the cake was.
It had been a long time since I made that simple snack cake recipe. And, I didn’t completely remember the texture. So, I whipped up a batch of the cupcakes last week.
Rather than use one of my existing frosting recipes, I decided to try something new. The photo of the cupcakes on Instagram were topped with strawberries so it gave me the idea to use a low carb strawberry cream cheese frosting.
I wasn’t sure how long the cupcakes needed to bake. Since I used a stoneware pan, it took just as long as the cake did. I ended up baking for 25 minutes, but the tops sank in so it was slightly under-baked.
The cake turned out super moist, though. And, the sunken tops allowed me to fill in that area with some extra low carb frosting.
I was tempted to use all liquid sweetener in this strawberry cream cheese frosting. But, I ended up using a half cup of Swerve Confectioners and added in vanilla stevia drops until the sweetness was good for me.
Some may prefer a sweeter frosting, but I like to minimize the use of low carb sweeteners. My youngest daughter liked the frosting so I figured it must have been sweet enough.
The other thing is that you don’t want to add too much granular sweetener. Most of the bulk sweeteners contain erythritol which can crystallize if too much is used.
If I were to sweeten up this low carb strawberry cream cheese frosting more, I would have added in a small amount of monk fruit drops. I find that using a blend of different sweeteners provides the best taste.
However, Swerve is a combination of erythritol and oligosaccharides. If I eat too much oligosaccharides, I get bloating and gas since they typically act like a soluble fiber after ingestion.
I seem to be sensitive to erythritol as well. That’s why I try not to go overboard with the bulk sweeteners. Concentrated sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit are what I prefer to use.
I also find that erythritol can have the same cooling effect you get in the mouth when it passes through your urine. It’s because the erythritol passes through the urine unchanged.
Feel free to adjust the sweetener in this strawberry cream cheese frosting recipe to suit your own tastes. I thought the frosting was the perfect addition to the yellow low carb cupcakes.
This cake recipe is moister than the other low carb yellow cake I’ve made. Next time I make cupcakes, I may try the other recipe and see if I can improve the texture.
I may also see how this strawberry frosting tastes on top of my coconut flour cupcakes. That recipe has always been my favorite with or without the added coconut. What’s your favorite way to top a cupcake?
Low Carb Cupcakes with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting on Low Carb Cupcakes
Ingredients
CAKE:
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup low carb sweetener or sweetener of choice
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup strawberries
- 1/2 cup powdered monk fruit sweetener
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin molds with cupcake liners.
- In large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, sweetener, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
- Beat in almond milk, coconut oil, butter, and vanilla to the dry mix with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, scraping bowl as needed. Add the eggs and continue to beat an additional 2 minutes.
- Divide batter between cupcake liners.
- Bake in 350 °F oven for about 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake springs back when lightly touched.
- Cool cupcakes for 10 minute then remove from molds and allow to cool completely on to wire rack.
Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream together the butter and cream cheese.
- Puree the strawberries in a small blender or food processor.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the strawberry liquid and the vanilla stevia into the cream cheese mix. Beat until mixed in.
- Slowly beat in the powdered sweetener. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.
Nutrition
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Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Aileen says
Do I use sweetened or unsweetened almond milk?
Lisa MarcAurele says
For low carb, it’s ALWAYS UNSWEETENED!
Jasmin says
Can the almond milk be replaced with either coconut milk or hwc?
Lisa says
It can. I’d likely dilute the HWC, though.
Wendy says
Lisa
I am looking for a frosting that i can use to pipe a message on your zucchini chocolate cake. Would this frosting be the right texture for this.
Lisa says
Either this or a regular buttercream.
Michelle says
I don’t have any xanthum gum. Will they turn out ok if I make them without it?
Lisa says
Yes. Xanthan gum isn’t essential.
Susan says
I loved this strawberry cream cheese cupcake and we also loved the coconut cake. Thanks so much Lisa.
Lisa says
My pleasure Susan!
Sally says
I’ve not found a cupcake that tastes authentic so far so I tried this expecting it to taste of just coconut flour.
I should not have doubted you Lisa since every recipe of yours has turned out well. This one did not disappoint . So much so that my non-diabetic other half helped himself to another one I mistakenly left on view!
Thanks for another winner
Lisa says
You’re welcome Sally! So glad you enjoyed them. 🙂