Healthy Ube Coconut Cupcakes

These Ube cupcakes topped with coconut whipped cream are so fluffy, moist and delicious! With light hints of Ube and fluffy, creamy coconut whipped cream, this is the dessert to try if you want to explore new flavors! These cupcakes are also vegan, gluten free, and healthy!

What is Ube?

Ube is a purple root vegetable that has a taste similar to sweet potato. It has a really distinct floral, earthy taste and a light sweetness. It also has a natural, beautiful rich purple color! It can be found at most Asian grocery stores, where it might be called purple yam. Since Ube can be hard to find, you could also order it online. Or, you can substitute it with purple sweet potato, it will taste/look almost the same.

Before using it in this recipe, roast the ube in the oven at 400° F (205° C) for around 45 minutes, until if becomes soft. You can test this by poking it with a fork, just like how you would a sweet potato. Baking the ube converts all its starches to sugars and brings out all those nice caramelized flavors! It is honestly so good you could just eat this ube on its own!

Coconut Whipped Cream

We will top these ube cupcakes with coconut whipped cream! Coconut and ube go so well together, just like peanut butter and jelly! For the coconut whipped cream you'll need coconut cream. You can get this by placing a can of FULL FAT coconut milk in the fridge overnight, and scooping out the thick cream part. Reduced fat coconut milk will not work for this recipe since it does not have a high enough fat content, therefore it will not whip up. You could also use pure coconut cream, that way you won't have to separate it.

When whipping your cream, make sure your bowls, mixer, etc. are all cold! It makes whipping up the coconut cream so much easier! If it is too warm and the coconut cream starts to "deflate", just place it in the fridge for 30 minutes and continue whipping. Also, you can add any sweetener of choice to the coconut whipped cream. I am using stevia, but be careful when using stevia because it may leave a strong aftertaste if you add too much.

Storage

You can store these cupcakes in the fridge for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. After freezing thaw in the refrigerator overnight before consuming. I suggest storing these cupcakes without the coconut whipped cream and frosting the cupcakes right before eating.

Watch this video on how to make Healthy Coconut Ube Cupcakes!

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Healthy Ube Coconut Cupcakes

Prep Time: 1 Hour Cook Time: 25 Min

Total: 1 Hour 25 Min

Serves: 6

These Ube cupcakes topped with coconut whipped cream are so fluffy, moist and delicious! With light hints of Ube and fluffy, creamy coconut whipped cream, this is the dessert to try if you want to explore new flavors! These cupcakes are also vegan, gluten free, and healthy!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• ½ tbsp flaxmeal (or ground chia)*

• 1 ½ tbsp water*

• 90 grams (1 cup) oat flour

• ⅔ tsp stevia**

• 1/2 tbsp baking powder

• 1 pinch salt

• 128 grams (½ cup mashed) baked ube

• 20 grams (2 tbsp) sugar**

• 120 grams (½ cup) milk of choice

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 45 grams (3 tbsp) nut butter***

• ½ flax egg (or 25 grams/ 2 tbsp/ ½ egg)

Coconut Whipped Cream

• 5 oz (142 grams/ ½ cup) coconut cream

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• ⅓ tsp stevia** (or 1 tbsp sugar)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C). Line your cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Make a flax egg by combining ground flax/chia seeds with water, and set that aside for 10 minutes to gel.

2. In a large bowl, add oat flour, stevia, baking powder, and salt. Mix until combined. In a blender/food processor, add ube, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, nut butter, and your flax egg. Blend until completely smooth. Add purple food coloring if desired. Pour into your dry ingredients and mix until a batter forms.

3. Divide between 6 cupcake tins. Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely while you make the coconut whipped cream.

4. For the coconut whipped cream, whip the coconut cream, vanilla extract, and stevia until fluffy. Pipe the cream onto the cupcakes, and enjoy!

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Notes

* If you are not vegan, you can skip this and just add 25 grams/ 2 tbsp / 1/2 egg to the wet ingredients.

** The stevia I use is 8x sweeter than sugar. You can use all sugar instead, just add a total of 40 grams of sugar/granulated sweetener to the wet ingredients. You could also use all stevia, just add a total of 1 1/3 tsp stevia to the dry ingredients.

*** Make sure to use a nut butter with lighter flavor such as cashew or almond butter so it doesn't overpower the light ube flavor. Peanut butter or tahini would be too strong.

Nutrition Info

Serving Size: 1 Cupcake

Calories: 233 kcal

Fat: 13.9 g

Carbohydrates: 24.9 g

Sugars: 6.4 g

Protein: 5 g

Sodium: 174 mg

Fiber: 3.6 g