A few times during our childhood, Mom created an elaborate semi-homemade birthday cake for my brother, along with our help. We picked out a magazine with the cake layout my brother wanted at the grocery store, usually something like Women’s Day, and we purchased the rest of the necessary ingredients during that same trip.
The recipes usually started with a boxed mix (Mom practically refused to bake anything from scratch except cookies!), split into three round pans to create a taller cake. While those cooled, we dyed some of the canned vanilla frosting blue with food coloring and prepared the fun embellishments.
Once Mom assembled the three layers, we spread plain vanilla frosting across half of the top of the cake, followed by the freshly dyed blue frosting on the remaining half and around the sides. We pressed small Goldfish crackers into the sides to make it appear like they were swimming in circles around the cake, and then we started decorating the top.
After crushing graham crackers into itty bitty crumbs, we sprinkled that on the plain white frosting as “sand.” We set a few gummy Lifesavers into the blue “ocean” patch on the top and gently pressed a Teddy Graham into the center each. We also cut small pieces of Fruit Stripe zebra gum as the Teddy Grahams’ “beach towels,” which rested on the plain frosting for when they finished splashing around in the water. Finally, we piped a little frosting onto the Teddy Grahams as “swim suits.”
Those cakes were so cute and fun to make! (I’m really sorry about that year Skipper got your cake though, bud!)
Although everyone would love making another one of those cakes for old time’s sake, my brother probably couldn’t enjoy it because of the many food allergies he has developed over the years… So I made these Healthy Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting for him instead! Lemon is his all-time favorite cake flavor, and he said these were absolutely full of that bright sunshiny flavor.
Even better? They contain no refined flour or sugar and only 128 calories! I don’t need a birthday as an excuse to celebrate that! ??
This healthy lemon cake base starts with white whole wheat flour (like this). White whole wheat flour is made exactly the same way as regular whole wheat flour! It just comes from a special type of soft white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour is made from heartier red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour the same health benefits as regular whole wheat flour, but with its lighter taste and texture, it’s perfect for these cupcakes!
With just 1 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil, you’ll mix Greek yogurt into the batter for the rest of that classic tender cupcake texture. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you know how much I love Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture as butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked treats a protein boost, too!
Of course, we can’t forget the true star of these cupcakes… The lemons! You’ll use both lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice in the cupcake batter. The former actually provides the majority of the citrus flavor, so don’t skimp on it! If you can find Meyer lemons, I highly recommend them. They’re brighter and sweeter than traditional lemons!
Now this frosting has a secret… It’s actually made from more Greek yogurt! And because of that, you’ll use lemon extract (like this) to flavor the frosting. No lemon juice here—that would just make the yogurt curdle! To make the frosting stiff enough to pipe into those elegant swirls, you’ll beat the Greek yogurt with instant vanilla pudding mix (like this). Such a fun and nifty trick!
To sweeten both the cupcakes and the frosting, you’ll use one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean-eating friendly!). A little goes a long way! This is the kind I use because I love its warm vanilla flavor. Although you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, I always buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Happy birthday, bud! ??? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your cupcakes and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Healthy Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting | | Print |
- for the cupcakes
- 2 ½ cups (300g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp (15g) lemon zest*
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla crème stevia
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp (150mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup (120mL) nonfat milk
- for the frosting
- 2 cups (480g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 servings (16g) sugar-free, fat-free instant vanilla pudding mix (see Notes)
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- ⅞ tsp vanilla crème stevia, or more/adjusted to taste
- To prepare the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, and coat the liners with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg whites, vanilla, and vanilla crème stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt. Stir in the lemon juice. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.)
- Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners. Bake at 350°F for 19-22 minutes or until the centers feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes bake, prepare the frosting. Add the Greek yogurt, instant pudding, lemon extract, and vanilla crème stevia to a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Cover the top of the bowl with foil, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, pipe the cream cheese frosting on top just before serving.
For the gluten-free flour, use the following blend: 1 ¼ cups (150g) millet flour, ¾ cup (90g) tapioca flour, ½ cup (60g) brown rice flour, and 1 ¾ teaspoons xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends should work as well, if measured like this.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
I highly recommend using Meyer lemons, if you can find them! They’re brighter and sweeter in flavor compared to traditional lemons.
I highly recommend using the vanilla crème stevia! It’s one of my favorite ingredients (you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine!), and I buy it online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. If you prefer not to use stevia in the cupcakes, substitute ¾ cup (180mL) of agave, honey, or pure maple syrup for the vanilla crème stevia. Omit the milk and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. (The batter should be fairly thick, similar to muffin batter.) If you prefer not to use the vanilla crème stevia in the frosting, then substitute 1 ¾ teaspoons of this powdered stevia OR 6-8 tablespoons of Truvia or granulated sugar.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
You just need the dry instant pudding mix—don’t prepare it according to the package directions! For a spreadable (not pipe-able) frosting, you may omit the instant pudding mix.
You’re using lemon extract in the frosting because lemon juice or lemon zest would cause the Greek yogurt to curdle. (Not good!) For a mellower frosting flavor, decrease the lemon extract to 1 ¾ teaspoons.
{gluten-free, clean eating option, low fat, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Greek Yogurt Lemon Pound Cake
♡ Greek Yogurt Blueberry Lemon Pound Cake
♡ Greek Yogurt Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake
♡ Simple Strawberry Lemon Cake
♡ Simple Raspberry Lemon Cake
♡ Healthy Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
♡ Healthy Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
I am trying to bake healthier goodies for a friend with an autoimmune disorder. We live at an altitude of 5200 ft and I am blaming that for my inferior results. Do you have any suggestions for your Healthy Lemon Cupcakes?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Sandy! Just to make sure I fully understand (and give you the best possible advice!), have you already tried baking these lemon cupcakes exactly as directed? If so, what happened?
Yes, I did try the recipe as is. The cupcakes came out very heavy.
Thanks for sharing this information Sandy! How did you measure the ingredients, especially the flour? Also, did you happen to use Meyer lemons, by any chance?
I spooned the flour into a measuring cup and then leveled it with a knife. I did not use Meyer lemons. Most commercial cake mixes have high altitude directions but they vary so much I didn’t kmow how to use that info.
Thanks for sharing Sandy! Other readers have reported that my recipes work fine at higher altitudes, so my hunch is that it’s actually the type of lemons that were used. Certain varieties of lemons can make these cupcakes turn out incredibly dense, almost as if they look gummy, raw on the inside, or never actually rose. I think it has something to do with the reaction between those varieties of lemons and the stevia (I’m not 100% sure, but my inner chemist really wants to solve that mystery!). However, I’ve never had those issues with Meyer lemons in this recipe, which is why I recommended them in the Notes section! Does that make sense?
Hello there!
So I stumbled upon this recipe while looking for recipes that were refined sugar-free and I just had a [potentially silly] question. I see that you substitute sugar for stevia in most of your recipes, but have you ever used fruit, specifically mashed [very ripe] ripe bananas? If you have, how would you do the conversion? I ask because I’ve read some conflicting information about the conversion – such as one source saying it’s 1:1 conversion with sugar, but add a little water to the bananas; however, another source that half the amount of bananas (if I read it correctly). Since the conversion from stevia to mashed bananas may be difficult, I’m personally fine with doing the conversion from sugar.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Cathy! I actually don’t recommend substituting fruit for stevia or sugar in my recipes. Fruit, even exceptionally overripe bananas, still isn’t nearly as sweet as sugar, and it definitely isn’t nearly as sweet as stevia (seeing as stevia is so concentrated!). It would also negatively impact the texture of these cupcakes. So if you tried doing that, your cupcakes would taste more like banana-flavored bread, rather than sweet lemon (dessert) cupcakes. Does that make sense? If you’re not a fan of stevia, then I recommend using one of the alternatives that I’ve provided in the Notes section for the best results! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making these!
PS If your main goal is to use your really ripe bananas in a recipe, then I have plenty of fun recipes they’d be great for over here! 🙂