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Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes with Swirl Frosting (Keto, Paleo)

Updated · 40 Comments

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Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes are utterly delicious and festive! Super fun for the winter months, but great year round, too. Swirled Chocolate Peppermint Frosting is so appealing. You’ll love piping it on and eating it off!

This dessert is Keto, Paleo, GAPS and Low Carb, with just slight variations for each diet.

The chocolate cupcakes are moist and so good!

The frosting is two flavors: Both are minty, fun and chocolatey-good, to create a swirl that’s so pretty!

one keto paleo chocolate cupcake with swirl peppermint frosting on top

Jump to Recipe

Swirl frosting on Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Regarding the two swirl frostings, one is Peppermint and one is Chocolate-Peppermint.

COLOR OPTIONS

I like to color my peppermint swirl either three chocolate mint cupcakes on a white platterpink, for which I use this super-food beet powder, or you can use this pink natural food coloring. Or I use this spirulina for the green color. Obviously peppermint grows green, but I like both options.

Both are pretty, both are fun, and cupcakes should be both; so choose whichever or no color based on you and your occasion.

Uncolored peppermint buttercream is also so pretty swirled with chocolate. And, if you wish, you can sprinkle crushed red and white peppermint candies over the top (sugar-free for Keto) or garnish in some other pretty way, like with shaved chocolate, chocolate chips or with honey patties etc.

HOW TO CREATE THE SWIRLED FROSTING

To create a swirled frosting there are two options:

  • You can either “paint” two sides of a pastry bag, meaning fill each side with a different flavor, which is a little messy but works well. (See a video how-to on this method here.)
  • Or you can fill two pastry bags, each with a different flavor and fit both bags inside a third empty bag. If you don’t mind using three bags, this technique works well and is less messy.

Both methods produce such a pretty piped swirl that you’ll have fun creating! I recommend using the 1M pastry tip by Wilton for the ideal cupcake swirl look on your cupcake. (Find the 1M tip HERE. Or find a small set of decorating pastry tips HERE that includes the 1M.)

one keto paleo chocolate cupcake with swirl peppermint frosting on top and sprinkles of crushed peppermint candy falling down on the frosting

Ingredients in Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Regarding Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes’ ingredients, you’ll love the healthy fats and that they’re easy to digest.

Simply choose the listed sweetener in the recipe that works for your diet. I give sweetener options for all diets listed: Keto/low-carb, Paleo and GAPS. The other ingredients stay the same.

The cupcakes themselves are dairy-free, but there are a couple options: If you prefer to use butter or ghee instead of coconut oil, that works great.

The frosting contains dairy, so it’s Primal, Keto and GAPS. (If you need a dairy-free alternative, try using palm shortening.)

Tip for how to make Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

As you’ll see below in the recipe, it’s indicated to have all of your wet ingredients warm. Make sure to do this, as coconut butter will not mix in well to the dry ingredients if it hits cold ingredients.

one keto paleo chocolate cupcake with swirl peppermint frosting on top

one cupcake
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5 from 11 votes

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes (Keto, Paleo)

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes are Keto, Paleo, GAPS and Low Carb, with just slight variations for each diet. The chocolate cupcakes are SUPER moist! and good!, and you'll LOVE the swirl frosting!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate, cupcakes, keto, peppermint
Servings: 8 cupcakes
Calories: 501kcal
Author: Megan
Cost: $6

Equipment

  • muffin tin
  • oven

Ingredients

Chocolate Cupcakes (dairy-free)

  • ¾ cup coconut butter warm (Find store bought coconut butter here.)
  • ⅔ cup sweetener of choice Monkfruit Sweetener (see link below in Recipe Notes or preferred low-carb sweetener) works for Keto, honey for GAPS/Paleo, coconut sugar/maple syrup also work for Paleo
  • ½ cup coconut oil melted and warm, or other liquid fat: melted warm butter/ghee, melted warm lard, avocado oil
  • ½ cup cocoa powder fair trade, see Recipe Notes for link to good cocoa
  • 2 eggs room temperature (not cold); you can do this by placing cold eggs in a glass with hot tap water for 30 minutes
  • ¼ cup coconut flour
  • ¼ cup coconut milk full fat, warm (not cold), or full fat dairy raw milk, if tolerated
  • 1 teaspoon gelatin see link in Recipe Notes
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint oil optional (You can make the cupcakes plain chocolate if you wish.)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda , sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt

Chocolate Mint Swirl Frosting (contains dairy)

  • 1 cup butter room temperature (2 sticks)
  • 4 ounces cream cheese or chevre (pour off any liquid), room temperature; okay to replace with butter for GAPS
  • ⅓ cup sweetener of choice: confectioners Swerve for Keto (or stevia, to taste), honey for GAPS, honey or maple syrup for Primal
  • 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder fair trade, see Recipe Notes
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint oil see Recipe Notes; brands vary in intensity, so see Recipe Notes for brand or taste for quantity if using a different brand
  • ½ teaspoon spirulina (optional) see Recipe Notes OR use beet powder or natural coloring for pink frosting

Instructions

Cupcakes

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Place liners in muffin pans. Set aside.
  • Place warm and room temperature (no cold) liquid ingredients in large bowl and mix: coconut butter, (sweetener if doing GAPS or maple syrup variation), melted coconut oil, eggs, full fat milk and optional peppermint oil.
  • In medium size bowl, stir together dry ingredients: sweetener (if doing Keto or coconut sugar version), cocoa powder, coconut flour, gelatin, baking soda and sea salt.
  • Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir to combine; do not over-mix. Scoop about 2 ounces batter into each muffin slot.
  • Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes. Test for doneness with toothpick; look for moist crumbs adhering. Remove from oven. Cool.

Chocolate Mint Swirl Frosting

  • Place in large mixing bowl: room temperature butter and room temperature cream cheese. Use mixer on high speed to beat together well, until texture is lightened, about 30 seconds.
  • Add sweetener of choice and continue to beat until well incorporated.
  • Add peppermint oil and optioanl spirulina. Mix again until fully incorporated. Scoop half or slightly less than half the frosting into half (taking care to keep it to one side) of a pastry bag (or fully into one pastry bag if you wish to nest 2 full pastry bags inside a third pastry bag to create the swirl).
  • Add cocoa to frosting bowl. Beat to mix, until fully incorporated. Fill second half side of pastry bag with chocolate frosting; (or fill second pastry bag with chocolate frosting).
  • Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. Serve!

Notes

Find Monkfruit Sweetener HERE.

Find fair trade cocoa powder HERE.

Find organic peppermint oil HERE.

Find sustainable gelatin HERE. Enter code BEAUTIFUL10 at checkout for 10% off your entire order.

Find sustainable spirulina HERE.

Nutrition

Calories: 501kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 33g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 116mg | Sodium: 327mg | Potassium: 59mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 960IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 1mg

keto paleo gaps diet chocolate mint cupcakes are topped with crushed peppermint candies

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Lindsey Dietz says

    5 stars
    These are so fun and beautiful! I love chocolate and mint anything, so I could gobble these up in a minute! Love all that healthy fat from the coconut butter, cream cheese, and butter, too!

    Reply

  8. Karen Kelly says

    5 stars
    I love using natural dyes like this bc I hate that icky stuff from the store. Love the way you made them two tone!

    Reply

  9. Raia Torn says

    These are so gorgeous, Megan! I can’t wait to try them. 🙂 If I use honey as my sweetener, would you suggest leaving out a little of the oil or coconut milk?

    Reply

  10. Tessa@ Tessa the Domestic Diva says

    LOVE!!! I am so excited I now have spirulina to make green things too, a great natural dye! Super curious about the coconut butter base in these, double YUM!

    Reply

    • Megan Stevens says

      Thanks, Tessa. Yay for spirulina! Yes, the coconut butter makes a great texture. We really love this cake. 🙂

      Reply

  11. Meredith says

    How fun are these cupcakes! I love all the different variations you offer to make the recipes compatible with different diets. And great tips for creating the swirls… I would have never though of that!!!

    Reply

  12. Katie Walsh says

    These look great! And I am a huge fan of using honey to sweeten baked goods, I love doing that with the frosting, my kids find it so fancy 🙂

    Reply

    • Megan Stevens says

      Thanks, Katie! I love honey, too; and yes, I personally find it fancy, the kid in me, I guess. 🙂

      Reply

  22. Mimi says

    These cupcakes look so delicious. How many of them do you need to make to have at least some cupcakes last until the next day? I am sure they are gone in seconds! And it is incredible how healthy they are, too – the perfect cupcake recipe!

    Reply

    • Megan says

      Hi Sarah, yes, basically. I just re-checked manually, and it came out to 51 grams. Lots of butter and other sources of fat in these! 😉 ?

      Reply
5 from 11 votes (1 rating without comment)

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