Sweet Debbie’s Organic Treats: Allergy-Free and Vegan Recipes (Book Review)

Would you like to enjoy chocolate cupcakes without feeling guilty? Guess what … I’m going to share a recipe that will allow you to do just that!

Disclosure: I received a copy of Sweet Debbie’s Organic Treats: Allergy-Free Recipes from the Famous Los Angeles Bakery to facilitate my review. All opinions are honest and my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links at no cost to you.

Are you cutting sugar, dairy, or gluten out of your diet? If you’re removing one or more of these items, it can be difficult if you don’t have the right ingredients to satisfy your taste buds. I’ve been avoiding gluten, dairy, and sugar, which can make it tricky to satisfy my sweet tooth.

My absolute favorite dessert is chocolate cake (typically with vanilla buttercream frosting, but chocolate frosting is awesome, too). So, I jumped at the opportunity when I was asked to review Sweet Debbie’s Organic Treats: Allergy-Free and Vegan Recipes from the Famous Los Angeles Bakery. The cookbook primarily has desserts, and all recipes have no gluten, eggs, dairy, soy, sugar, or nuts.

Guess what recipe I chose to review for you? Chocoholic Cupcakes! Following is an excerpt from the cookbook containing that recipe!

CHOCOHOLIC CUPCAKES

Makes 12 standard-size cupcakes
No need for a twelve-step program here, because being addicted to chocolate, or these cupcakes, for that matter, is a good thing. Not only do you get the good stuff that chocolate brings, but I’ve also added a potassium boost thanks to the avocado in the frosting. The avocado adds not only health benefits but also a smooth creaminess, and no one but you will know it’s in there.

MUST HAVE

Cupcakes
12 standard-size paper baking cups
1 cup unsweetened plain rice milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1¾ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour (see page 13)
1/3 cup cacao powder
1¼ teaspoons sodium-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon guar gum
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup coconut nectar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/8 teaspoon stevia powder
1/3 cup vegan, soy-free plain yogurt
(I use So Delicious coconut milk yogurt.
See resources for more information.)

Chocolate Frosting
1 cup coconut nectar
¼ cup coconut oil
¼ cup mashed avocado
2 cups powdered erythritol
1 cup cacao powder
2 tablespoons warm water
¼ teaspoon stevia powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

MUST DO

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a standard 12-cup cupcake tin with paper baking cups.

To make the cupcakes, mix together the rice milk and apple cider vinegar in a 2-cup measuring cup.

Whisk together the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, guar gum and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle.

Add the grapeseed oil, coconut nectar, vanilla and stevia to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Next add the rice milk mixture and stir until the liquid is absorbed and the batter is smooth. Stir in the yogurt until well combined.

Pour the batter into the measuring cup, as the spout will make it easier to pour the batter into the cupcake tin without spillage.

Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake tin, dividing it evenly. Each cup should be about two-thirds full. Bake the cupcakes for 16 to 17 minutes, or until they bounce back slightly to the touch. Rotate the cupcake tin from front to back after 10 minutes of baking.

Transfer the cupcake tin from the oven to a wire rack and let sit for 10 minutes before removing the cupcakes to cool completely.

To make the chocolate frosting, mix together the coconut nectar, coconut oil and mashed avocado in a large bowl. Add the powdered erythritol, cacao powder, warm water, stevia and salt and stir until smooth and well combined.

Frost the completely cooled cupcakes.

Keep unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrap and freeze them for up to 3 months. Leftover frosting keeps in the fridge for about 4 weeks if stored in an airtight container.

Nutrition Information Per Serving (1 cupcake):
180 calories, 9 g total fat, 0.0 mg cholesterol,
22 g carbohydrates, 135 mg sodium, 2 g fiber,
2 g protein, 12 g sugars

Excerpt published courtesy of Harlequin.

The cake tastes awesome! It’s moist and fluffy and just rich enough. Once you’ve baked the the cupcakes and eaten what you want, they do need refrigeration because of non-dairy yogurt in the cupcakes. If you microwave the cupcake without the frosting for about 10 seconds, the cupcake returns to its lovely texture.

The frosting was a little sweet for me. You just need to experiment a bit to be sure the sweetness is right for your taste. Side note: make sure to buy the avocado a few days before making this recipe so it will be soft enough to put in the frosting right away. I made the error of buying my ingredients the same day I was making the recipe, so I made the frosting without the avocado at first and added it a few days later. The avocado adds a lovely creamy texture.

Number 1 tip: be sure to buy all the ingredients in advance for the recipe you plan to make. There are at least a few items you probably aren’t used to keeping in your pantry. The good thing is that once you get a lot of these items, they will last for a few recipes if not more.

Chocoholic cupcakes are delicious, and it’s wonderful to have chocolate cupcakes even when I’m being extra health-conscious! I look forward to trying more recipes in this exciting recipe book!

Enjoy some of your favorite treats without feeling guilty! I’d love to hear from you below about your favorite treat, if you enjoyed this recipe, or if you’ve tried one of the other recipes in Sweet Debbie’s Organic Treats.

Note: You can learn more about the book and Sweet Debbie on Amazon (Look inside the book here) and at Sweet Debbie’s Organic Cupcakes/Book.