lemon cupcakes with raspberry meringue frosting (grain free, scd diet)

these grain free cupcakes are filled with a sweet lemon flavour, and topped with a marshmallow melt-in-your-mouth raspberry frosting.

These are probably the first cupcakes-proper I’ve made during my grain free, SCD diet journey! And they are freaking delicious! I’ve often relegated my baking to muffins and cookies, but a cupcake is necessary every now and then. I’m referring to these as cupcakes because of their sweet flavour and moist cake-like texture, also, the fact that they’re topped with a raspberry marshmallow meringue frosting essentially tips them over the edge, into cupcake territory. BUT. That’s not to say you can’t eat one of these bad boys for breakfast, with your morning coffee — you certainly can, I mean after all, it is grain free, gluten free, refined sugar free– made with coconut flour, honey, and freshly-squeezed lemon juice and zest. I’m going to assume these are still healthier for your breakfast item of choice than your average McDonald’s muffin.

While I opted to present these in cupcake form, as that was the most requested format when I asked my Instagram followers, it can also be made into a cake– I’ve used the same recipe below to create a lemon cake, with the results equally delicious. Depending on the occasion, consider using a bundt pan or else using two small cake tins to make two thin lemon cakes, which you can then stack on top of each other, with a layer of the raspberry meringue frosting sandwiched in between.  

You really can’t go wrong with cupcakes– who doesn’t love a cupcake with frosting piled as high as possible? That’s exactly my method here. You’ll have more than enough meringue to pile the frosting as high as you physically can atop each cupcake, and I finished them off with a few extra shreds of lemon zest for decorative effects, since you know, we don’t use (sugar-filled) sprinkles here.

For the raspberry meringue, the recipe is adapted from Danielle Walker, who had shared a similar sort of recipe for a strawberry frosting. The measurements for this recipe are a bit different though, and of course, we’re looking for raspberry jam here instead of strawberry– that being said, you could totally use whatever fruit jam you have on hand, you just need a tablespoon and a half to fold into your meringue. I can imagine that the frosting would be equally delicious if it were strawberry, blackberry, perhaps even apricot. 

If you need a quick and easy homemade, SCD legal/refined-sugar-free jam raspberry to whip up, check the one on my website here.

Once you have your jam prepared, you’re ready to go with the recipe below. I hope you love these as much as we did, I’ve basically tested them on every single friend and family member available to me, and everyone gave it rave reviews. Let me know how you feel, tag me on IG if you make them! @grainfreee.

lemon cupcakes with raspberry meringue frosting: ingredients

cupcakes

• 1 cup of coconut flour
• 1 cup of coconut oil (sub extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 cup of honey
• 1 tbsp of lemon zest
• 1 lemon, juiced 
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp of apple cider vinegar
• 6 eggs

frosting

• 1/2 cup of honey
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp of lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp of raspberry jam (sub frozen or fresh raspberries – up to 6 tbsp)

lemon cupcakes with raspberry meringue frosting: how to

cupcakes

1. in a food processor or a bowl, mix your dry ingredients, including the lemon zest together. add in your wet ingredients, ending with the eggs, and combine well. 
2. allow the coconut flour to absorb the ingredients, letting it sit for five minutes or so. then pour the batter into parchment paper-cups in a muffin tray. 
3. bake the cupcakes at 350 for 25 minutes. makes approx 12-13 cupcakes.

frosting

1. heat the honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, for 10 – 12 mins or so until it begins to simmer. allow to simmer for five minutes or so. as the honey simmers, using a stand mixer, start whipping your egg whites with the lemon juice and vanilla extract.
2. once honey is done simmering, slowly pour the hot honey into the stand mixer bowl, continuing to whisk with the egg whites. you’ll want to mix for 4-5 minutes or so depending on your mixer, until the egg whites become fluffy and form stiff peaks. be careful not to over mix!
3. once you’ve whipped the meringue frosting into stiff peaks, remove the bowl from the stand and fold in carefully the raspberry jam, ensuring the meringue is evenly covered with jam.
4. allow your cupcakes to cool, either on the counter or in the fridge/freezer before you attempt to frost them. once they’re completely cooled, using a knife or a piping bag if you prefer, to frost the cupcakes, piling the meringue on top of each one generously.
5. to finish it off (optional), zest an extra lemon and sprinkle the zest in the middle of each cupcake, or top with a raspberry. best served fresh/immediately. because of the nature of the meringue frosting, these do not keep very well for more than a day or two.