There's nothing better than a healthy, Paleo friendly cupcake to celebrate. Or, just get you through the week! These Tigernut Flour Cupcakes are the perfect dessert for a healthy treat. They are moist, lightly sweetened, nut free, dairy free and grain free.

A cupcake or a muffin? Some will argue that these Tigernut Flour Cupcakes are more like a muffin. But I decided to call them cupcakes.

Cupcakes or Muffins?

So, what's the difference anyway?

I did a bit of research on "what's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin" and the general consensus tends to be that cupcakes are:

higher in sugar than muffins
always sweet, never savory
more moist than a muffin (I disagree on this one - depends on the muffin/cupcake)
the batter is smoother and fluffier and creates a more airy dessert
they are topped with frosting

I have to say, based off these characteristics, whether you call something a cupcake or a muffin seems up to you. There doesn't appear to be a fine line between the two. Although, some passionate, skilled bakers would most likely disagree with me.

Furthermore, when you start talking about Paleo and Vegan desserts it gets even more confusing. You know, since they don't often follow baking "rules" and use traditional baking techniques. What are your thoughts?

I'm pretty sure the experts would disagree with me, but I decided that these Tigernut Flour Cupcakes were cupcakes, not muffins.

These cupcakes are:

airy, but moist
sweet, but not overly so
topped with frosting (optional)
Paleo
nut free
grain free
dairy free

Whatever you choose to call these Paleo baked goods they are tasty, flavorful and a great healthy dessert option!

Ingredients in Tigernut Flour Cupcakes

These Tigernut Flour Cupcakes are Paleo friendly and nut free, only require 8 ingredients (and that's including simple things like baking powder, salt and water) and are incredibly easy to make. Oh, and did I mention they are healthy for a cupcake? Yah, I'm pretty sure they are the healthiest cupcake recipe you've ever seen 😉

The ingredients include:

Ingredient Substitutions

Because of the simplicity of this recipe, there aren't many ingredient substitutions.

This recipe calls for maple syrup and honey. Yes, two natural sweeteners. However, just maple syrup or just honey may be used instead of a combination of the two.

The baking oil in this recipe is avocado oil. Perfect for adding moisture, but not affecting the flavor. I also like avocado oil because of it's high smoke point and nutritional profile. That being said, any liquid oil will work in it's place. Preferably olive oil or melted coconut oil.

How to Make Tigernut Flour Cupcakes

These tigernut cupcakes are super easy to make and quick to bake. Here are the step by step instructions:

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine tigernut flour, baking powder and salt. Then, mix in the remaining ingredients: eggs, honey, maple syrup, avocado oil and water.

Line a muffin pan with 8 paper cupcake liners (silicone muffin liners work as well). Spoon the batter into the liners. (Each cupcake is about two tablespoons of batter.)

Next, place the cupcakes in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until the cupcakes are just barely firm on top.

Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool on a wire cooling rack.

Lastly, once the cupcakes are completely cooled to room temperature, frost the cupcakes.

Best Paleo Frosting Options

I topped these cupcakes with Simple Mills Vanilla Frosting. Which, isn't 100% Paleo (I know, I know) because it contains organic powdered sugar instead of an unrefined sugar (like maple sugar or coconut sugar). However, this is the best quality frosting I have seen available for purchase... and sometimes you just don't want to make your own frosting from scratch.

If you want a completely Paleo frosting, then you can make your own. One of my favorite recipes uses coconut cream, maple syrup and vanilla extract. (Check out my Baby Smash Cake recipe for exact quantities.)

Another option is to use my Almond Flour Vanilla Cupcake frosting recipe.

More Paleo Recipes Using Tigernut Flour

For more tigernut flour recipes, check these out:

Enjoy!