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This zucchini spice cupcakes recipe is sugar free, low carb, and gluten free. The spice cake is topped with a stevia sweetened cream cheese frosting.
I was at a small grocery store in the next town over buying a birthday cake for my husband. The bakery in that store is directly across from the produce. As I was waiting for the lady to customize the cake, I turned and got a glance of some lovely zucchini and the idea hit me to make myself a low carb cake out of zucchini.
Carrot cake is a favorite of mine and I have not yet attempted a sugar free one, but I knew I could achieve a similar taste using zucchini. All of the baked goods I’ve made in the past with zucchini have come out moist so I was eager to try a gluten free zucchini spice cake.
I looked at several recipes for zucchini spice cake to come up with a recipe for these low carb zucchini spice cupcakes. To make the cake gluten free, I used a mix of almond flour and coconut flour.
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It’s best to sift the almond and coconut flour before using in baked goods to get out any lumps. Above is a picture of the flour and spice mixture. The texture isn’t far off from what a regular flour mix would look like since the low carb flours were sifted first.
The grated zucchini is mixed in with the liquids just before adding the flour mixture. I used one small zucchini which yielded one and a half cups of packed grated zucchini.
This recipe gave me an opportunity to use my new favorite kitchen gadget, a nut chopper. I’m not sure how I got by all these years without having this nifty tool. It’s so much better than the Pampered Chef manual food chopper that I used to use which was way more expensive.
The cupcake batter gets really thick after adding the flour mixture. This is because the coconut flour absorbs so much liquid. I debated whether or should add more liquid at this point, but decided to keep it as is. The reason was that my garlic coconut flour bagel batter was similar and those came out just fine after baking.
Because the batter was so thick, I needed to press it into each cupcake liner. I used chopped walnuts so if you choose to leave the nuts out, the batter may not fill up each liner quite as much. Although you don’t have to, I find smoothing out the tops with your finger or the back of a spoon will give a nicer looking top after baked.
When the cupcakes begin to brown and firm up is when you want to take them out of the oven. For me, this was about 25-30 minutes of baking. The cupcakes are pretty delicious as-is without the frosting, so go ahead and leave them unfrosted if you’d like to cut back on calories. Adding the frosting adds no additional net carbs because you can subtract the sugar alcohol erythritol which isn’t digestible.
Although zucchini spice cupcakes are something I’d typically make in the summer while we are getting zucchini fresh out of the garden, there is no reason not to make these delicious mini cakes in the middle of winter.
These cupcakes are absolutely delicious! The Natvia sweetener has only a very slight coolness from the erythritol and no bitter aftertaste when the right amount is used. I found that if you accidentally add too much of any stevia sweetener, you will get a nasty aftertaste so it’s best to be light on the sweetener and add a little at a time until you get the right amount. Otherwise, you’ll have to dilute the sweetness by adding more of the other ingredients. Enjoy!
Zucchini Spice Cupcakes – Gluten Free
These spice cupcakes are sugar free, low carb, and gluten free. The moist zucchini cake is topped with a stevia sweetened cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 cup almond flour sifted
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup coconut flour sifted (I used 1/2, may want to use less)
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup coconut oil liquified
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar free vanilla extract
- 1 cup Natvia
- 1 1/2 cups packed grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup walnuts coarsely chopped (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1/2 cup Natvia powdered
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cupcakes:
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Line muffin tins with 12 paper or foil liners.
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Stir together almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in medium bowl. Set aside.
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In large mixing bowl, whisk together coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Stir in zucchini and Natvia sweetenr, then add flour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in walnuts if using.
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Press batter evenly among cupcake liners. Smooth tops if necessary.
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Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes until browned on top and cake is firm to touch.
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Remove from oven and allow to cool on cooling rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting if desired.
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Store cupcakes in refrigerator or freezer. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Frosting:
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Powder the Natvia sweetener in NutriBullet type blender or a food processor.
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With electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until well combined.
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Add powdered Natvia and whip into cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy.
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Beat in vanilla extract.
Recipe Notes
Makes 12 cupcakes
Nutrition per cupcake: 244 calories, 23.1g fat, 217mg sodium, 8.8g carbs, 3.7g fiber, 13.8g erythritol, 3.5g net carbs, 4.9g protein
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Hi! I'm Lisa, a part-time blogger, full-time engineer, and mother of three. I've been low carbing since 2001 and love to try new recipes. This blog started in 2010 as a way to save and share my recipes with others. 
Sam says
I’ve made these twice now and they are incredibly delicious! I would like to try adding pumpkin puree to these but am not sure how to do it without destroying the texture. Do you have any suggestions for how to do this?
Lisa says
You could like add pumpkin in place of some or all of the zucchini. You’d have to experiment a little.
Inez says
Made these tonight. I threw in some hemp seeds, oat fiber and ground flax and added a little baking soda and yogurt to counter the extra dry ingredients. I reduced the sweetener some, as we’ll be using these for breakfasts.
Please don’t be offended that I altered the recipe, as you gave me a great jumping off point! I will make these as cupcakes with frosting another day.
Love your recipes, most of which I don’t go so far off the reservation to make.
Thanks!
alison pyle says
I had my doubts with this recipe when the batter was so thick but these are incredibly moist and delicious .
Lisa says
The moisture comes from the zucchini!
Katie says
Absolutely fantastic! Bring on the zucchinis! Now I know I will be using them up all summer! Thank you for the response, I used 1/2cup Swerve and just a dab of stevia glycerite and these turned out perfectly😃
Mari says
I made these last night and cannot thank you enough for a wonderful recipe! So moist, so tasty, so yum! I substituted the sweetener for 1/4 cup plus 1/8th cup erythritol, and 1/4 cup splenda. I love working with erythritol, and adding some splenda in my recipes takes away that ‘cool’ taste that everyone talks about. I did not frost them, they were delicious warm with butter on the top! Thanks again!
Lisa says
My pleasure! Great tip on the sweetener! I like to blend sweeteners as well.
Megan says
“Nutrition per cupcake: 244 calories, 23.1g fat, 217mg sodium, 21g carbs, 3.7g fiber, 13.8g erythritol, 3.5g net carbs, 4.9g protein”
I don’t understand how there can only be 3.5 net carbs? 21 carbs minus 3.7 fiber would still equal quite a few net carbs, right? Am I missing something? If so, please educate me because I am seriously craving zucchini bread and would love to make these.
Thanks, Megan
Lisa says
It’s because erythritol is included in the total count. You need to subtract that too as it has barely any impact.
Ros says
Wow. All I can say is this is the best recipe out there for zucchini muffins that I’ve tried to date. After three years of counting carbs and a newly converted gluten-free fanatic I am so grateful for all these dedicated bakers helping me get back to my old favs. I substituted olive oil for coconut oil only to see if I could get even closer to the old oil recipes, doubled the cinnamon and used xylitol only because it is my sweetener of choice. Oh my goodness. Lisa I knew just from the picture they would be great, but it is beyond heaven. I use http://www.caloriecounter.com and it is still spot on for carbs. I’m pinning, yumming and mass emailing this to everyone I know. Thanks
Lisa says
I am thrilled that you enjoyed it so much! Thanks for sharing the recipe! 🙂
Ros says
Correction: I use http://www.caloriecount.com (not caloriecounter.com as stated above) for nutritional information on everything I make.
Jenifer says
It was late by the time I was finished making these, but I couldn’t resist scarfing one down since they smelled so good! They taste just as good as they smell! I loved them. Thanks for the recipe.
Lisa says
They are pretty hard to resist. Glad you liked them!
Jenifer says
Ahh, add the sweetener in the instructions. I’m making these right now and almost forgot because it isn’t there. Good thing I tasted the batter.
Lisa says
Wow! Can’t believe I forgot to put the sweetener in the instructions. Thanks!
debbi says
I don’t have natvia do you have the portions of stevia and eur ?
Lisa says
For the cupcakes, you’ll need 1 cup sugar equivalent. The frosting requires about 1 cup of a powdered sweetener so if you powder a granular use only 1/2 cup before grinding to a powder. I’d say try 1/2 cup erythritol with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of stevia extract for the cupcake batter. May need to taste test to get the right sweetness. No need to frost because the plain cupcakes are fantastic.
Katie says
If using Swerve in the cupcake batter, would you recommend the full 1 cup?
Lisa says
If your taste for sweet has diminished, I’d recommend reducing the sweetener to anywhere from 3/4 to 1/2 cup.