These Keto Vanilla Cupcakes are moist, fluffy almond flour cupcakes with light cream cheese frosting. With only 3 grams of net carbs each, these are diabetic-friendly cupcakes for sure, quick and easy to whip in less than 30 minutes.
I bake my own keto birthday treats every year and when I don’t bake a keto vanilla cake, I like this light, moist, vanilla keto cupcakes with almond flour. The recipe is very similar to my keto lemon cupcakes, but easier since you don’t need coconut flour for this recipe.
The recipe is closer to my famous almond flour cupcakes, but these keto cupcakes are even fluffier, lighter with a crispy top that holds the cream cheese frosting perfectly. The sugar-free frosting is made of cream cheese, which marries very well with almond flour and a nice swap to keto buttercream frosting that I always use to frost my keto cake.
Why You Will Love Them
- Quick and easy keto dessert
- Light and moist like regular cupcakes
- Just one low-carb flour, no complicated mix
- Dairy-free options
- Gluten-free
- Less sugar-free crystal sweetener than regular keto cupcakes
- Kids approved
Ingredients and Substitutions
There are many ways to make low-carb cupcakes, some recipes use a combination of almond flour and coconut flour, and others use sour cream but here’s how to make quick and easy low-carb cupcakes.
- Almond Flour – I recommend ultra-fine almond flour with a golden white color instead of almond meal. This prevents the cupcakes from becoming gritty, dark, and dry.
- Eggs – They add a moist texture to low-carb cupcakes and a lovely yellow color to the crumb while binding the low-carb flour.
- Egg-Whites – The addition of egg whites turns the cupcakes lighter and makes the top crispier to avoid the keto frosting sinking the top of the cupcakes.
- Melted Butter – Let it cool a bit before adding to the eggs. You can use dairy-free options like melted coconut oil or light avocado oil.
- Sugar-Free Crystal Sweeteners like erythritol or allulose.
- Baking Powder to rise the cupcakes and make airy, light cupcakes with almond flour.
- Vanilla Extract for flavor
- Unsweetened Almond Milk or cashew milk
- Salt to enhance the flavors of the cupcakes.
How to Make Keto Vanilla Cupcakes
- Add eggs, egg whites, melted, cooled butter, sweetener, almond milk, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer (photo 1).
- Beat with a hand beater or beater attachment of your stand mixer for about 1 minute on medium-high speed. Beat until lighter in color and fluffy (photo 2).
- Add the dry ingredients, almond flour, baking powder, and salt (photo 3).
- Beat again until just incorporated and the batter is light and evenly combined (photo 4).
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin tray with cupcake liners and lightly oil with cooking spray. Use an ice cream scoop to grab some keto cupcake batter and fill each cup up to 3/4 of their level (photo 5).
- Repeat until all the muffin paper liners are filled evenly (photo 6). Bake the keto cupcakes on the center rack of the oven at 350°F (180°C) for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the vanilla cupcakes comes out clean and dry.
Decorating
Let the the cupcakes cool down on a cooling rack, at room temperature for at least an hour until they reach room temperature. Frost the cupcakes with any keto frosting you love like:
Feel free to add sugar-free sprinkles, a pinch of unsweetened shredded coconut, or shaved sugar-free dark chocolate.
Expert Baking Tips
- Don’t swap almond flour for something else – This is the key ingredient to making moist low-carb cupcakes. Never swap almond flour for coconut flour, the cupcakes would end up very dry and crumbly.
- Use almond flour not an almond meal – An almond meal is made with almonds and their skin. It results in a gritty, dark color meal that turns cupcakes brown, dry, and gritty.
- Foil the pan if the cupcakes brown too fast – Almond flour tends to bake faster and burn quickly on top of these cupcakes. Tent the muffin tin with foil if the color changes too fast and the center of the cupcakes is still watery or unbaked.
- Use ingredients at the same temperature – Don’t use too cold eggs with warm melted butter. Bring all ingredients to room temperature by removing eggs from the fridge 15 minutes before asking, and cool down the melted butter.
More Keto Cake & Cupcakes
If you like cakes and cupcakes, try these other recipes:
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Prevent your screen from going dark
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with cupcake paper liners. Grease with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, use the hand beater or whisk attachment to beat on high speed: eggs, egg whites, sugar-free sweetener of your choice, unsweetened almond milk, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla extract. Whisk for about 2 minutes until airy.
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Switch to the paddle attachment or gently stir in almond flour, salt, and baking powder using a silicone spatula.
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Fill each cupcake paper liner with the keto cupcake batter to up to 3/4 their level.
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Bake for 22–25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the keto cupcakes comes out clean.
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Cool onto a cooling rack at room temperature before frosting for 60 minutes to overnight.
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Frost with keto cream cheese frosting or keto buttercream frosting.
Note 2: Melted butter, melted ghee, or melted coconut oil works as well.
Storage: Store the cupcakes in an airtight box for up to 4 days at room temperature. Freeze the keto cupcakes in airtight zip-lock bags for up to 1 month. Defrost the day before in the refrigerator.
Serving: 1 cupcakeCalories: 312.6 kcal (16%)Carbohydrates: 5.5 g (2%)Fiber: 2.5 g (10%)Net Carbs: 3 gProtein: 6.7 g (13%)Fat: 30.8 g (47%)Saturated Fat: 9.1 g (57%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.4 gMonounsaturated Fat: 6.6 gTrans Fat: 0.1 gCholesterol: 48.2 mg (16%)Sodium: 231.7 mg (10%)Potassium: 25.9 mg (1%)Sugar: 1 g (1%)Vitamin A: 592.9 IU (12%)Vitamin B12: 0.1 µg (2%)Vitamin C: 0.1 mgVitamin D: 0.3 µg (2%)Calcium: 108.7 mg (11%)Iron: 1.2 mg (7%)Magnesium: 2.3 mg (1%)Zinc: 0.2 mg (1%)
About The Author
Carine Claudepierre
Hi, I’m Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook and many ebooks, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I’m passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I’m also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
