Here is a sneak preview of my cookbook (Apple iBooks version) The Art of Eating Healthy: SWEETS. This Boston Cream Cupcake recipe can be found in this cookbook too. Thank you all for your support!
I received a comment on my Facebook timeline yesterday that totally made my day. She gave me permission to post here so everyone could be inspired by her amazing success. Way to go Gretta! Stories like this motivate me to help as many people as I can! :)
"Maria, I have been following you on FB and your blog since I started my weight loss/get healthy journey in Nov. of 2010. With your help, guidance, ti...ps, and phenomenal recipes, I can proudly say, I am down 112 pounds and not only do *I* eat healthier, but so does my family (husband and 2 daughters - ages 3 and 6). We've enjoyed so many of your recipes and I am constantly putting your books on my... "wish lists." Well, Monday, I decided I was going to fill my own wish list, just dove right in and ordered ALL of your books at once through your link.. they came in today and I spent the entire evening reading Secrets to Controlling Your Weight, Cravings, and Mood! So much insight in that little book! You touched on many of the problems I still struggle with and have given me even MORE insight to fight my "issues." I just want to say THANK YOU for all you do.. all you've shared for FREE.. and helping me AND my family find a healthier way and STILL be able to enjoy what we eat without feeling deprived! Love to you!!"
The most common complaint I hear about this diet is that "it costs too much to eat healthy"...well, I have an argument to that!

Parents take the time to research the safest cars, spend tons of money on the best toys, $50 on video games, the best colleges, and vacations, drop $20/ticket to see a sporting event that lasts 2 hours, BUT when it comes to the health of thier children, they don't realize the connection between food and our emotional, physical and spiritual health. I volunteered at a nursing home and I asked a man what the "secret of a happy life" was, he responded "Take care of your health." That was when I was a teenager and I didn't really think much of his answer, but now I understand that when we don't feel good, the whole day suffers and so do the people around us. Healthy food = healthy moods.
Also, this dessert costs a lot less to make even with the "healthified" ingredients that it does to purchase an unhealthy version at a bakery!
CAKE:
6 TBS coconut oil or butter, softened
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
3/4 cups SWERVE (or erythritol)
1 tsp stevia glycerite
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
FILLING:
2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened (or coconut cream if dairy allergy)
1/4 cup SWERVE (or erythritol)
1 tsp stevia glycerite
2 tsp vanilla, divided
CHOCOLATE ICING:
2 TBS butter or coconut oil
1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
10 TBS heavy cream (or coconut milk if diary allergy)
1/4 cup confectioner SWERVE (or erythritol)
1 tsp stevia glycerite
Make cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a cupcake pan (coconut oil spray) OR use cupcake liners. Sift together almond flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. In another bowl, beat together butter and sweetener with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in 1 tsp of vanilla. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture to blend until batter is just smooth. Spoon batter into muffin pan.
Cream Filling: Beat cream cheese, sweetener and 1 tsp of the vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Place 2 TBS of cream filling into the almond flour batter of each cupcake.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 18 to 24 minutes or until center is almost set. Let cool before frosting.
Chocolate Icing: Place the butter and chopped chocolate in a double boiler (or in a heat safe dish over a pot of boiling water...see photo). Stir well until just melted (don't burn the chocolate!), add in the cream, and sweetener. Stir until smooth and thick. Use to drizzle over cooled cupcakes. YUM! Makes 18 cupcakes.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per cupcake)
Traditional Cupcake = 240 calories, 15g fat, 2 g protein, 32.2g carbs, trace fiber
"Healthified" Cupcake = 240 calories, 23g fat, 5.5g protein, 3.6g carbs, 1.3g fiber
Dang Maria! Those look awesome!!! Hope y'all had a great 4th of July!
ReplyDeleteWe are! Hope you are too! :)
DeleteYou are such an inspiration Gretta! <3
ReplyDeleteYou are so sweet! Thank you!
DeleteI am originally from New England where Boston Cream Pie is a staple of life. However when I moved to North Dakota I found that Boston Cream Pie just does not exist! So your cupcakes are like a life preserver - now I CAN HAVE Boston Cream Pie and actually eat it without any guilt - thanks ever so much this recipe and for all of the content of your wonderful website.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words! :)
DeleteI want to thank you for all your recipes. And teaching us to eat healthy.I just tried your Boston Cream Cupcakes above. They are so good.
ReplyDeleteI must of done something wrong with the Icing, I knew it would thin because you said drizzel, but it very thin almost like water. the 10 TLB of cream turned it white and would not mix with the Cho. I have heated it in the Micro. so it would mix a little better. I am waiting for it to cool and see if it will thicken some. (I used the Coconut oil and erythritol). Would you know what I could have done wrong? There wasn't anything to thicken it.
I couldn't wait to taste the cupcake, so I ate the one that mashed when I was taking them out of the pan. Also do you let them cool before taking out of the pan?
It was so good even without icing. So I really don't mind if I can't use it.
Connie N
Thanks for the kind words! You may have melted the oil too much. I just soften mine a little and blend it in. I would spray the pan a little more to help with sticking. :)
DeleteOh, I just love the chart with the cost comparisons! It's so very true.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say it doesn't cost much to live healthy, you use very biased examples. I can get a Sausage McMuffin, which is $1.06, and that will be 370 calories. Much cheaper than any other alternatives.
ReplyDeleteYou can eat the cheap food now.... but pay for it later when you body is sick!
DeleteMaria,
ReplyDeleteWhat is your opinion on using stevia glycerite in recipes and adding bulk in other ways such as canned pumpkin, applesauce, yogurt, etc.? and if it is ok to do this, which ingredient would be best for adding bulk?... I cannot take the cooling effect and aftertastes of all the other sweeteners. I made amazing brownies the other day but they were only amazing for the first 2 chews, after that it just tasted like cool sweetener :-(
Hmm, have you tried Swerve? I find it to have the best balance of flavor of all the sweeteners out there. If that doesn't work for you, you could try pumpkin. There is typically too much sugar in applesauce and yogurt. Happy Baking! :)
DeleteI actually made the brownies with swerve :-( I have also tried zsweet before and I get the same cooling effect. This is why I am so discouraged with these sweeteners and I keep throwing away desserts that would otherwise be delicious. This is why I am going to try experimenting with stevia+fruit/yogurt/any other kind of bulk. I just ordered a products from NuNaturals called presweet, which is tagatose. I will try that as well and pray that I don't have to throw anything away again.
DeleteSounds so good!
ReplyDeleteDelicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI am making these this weekend and can't wait for the new cookbook! Do you think these will freeze?
ReplyDeleteMichelle
Yes, I freeze mine for portion control! :)
DeleteWhat are some healthy snack idea? My kidos like to eat way too much fruit. Also some packed lunch ideas? We're brand new to this way of eating.
ReplyDeleteMy Kids book listed above has tons of great ideas for kids. :) http://astore.amazon.com/marisnutran05-20/detail/147758935X
DeleteHI Maria,
ReplyDeleteCould you please clarify the amount of cream cheese? Is it 24 ounces total? Wouldn't that yield more than the 18 T needed to have 1 T of filling per cupcake?
Thanks!
Hi! Thanks for pointing that out. I redid the recipe and it is more like 2 tablespoons in each cupcake and I adjusted it to 2 packages of cream cheese. Thanks! :)
DeleteHi Maria,
ReplyDeleteI have just finished reading your book and have now been reading your blog for some recipe inspiration.
Alot of your recipes call for erythritol and stevia glycerite. I live in South Africa and cannot seem to find these. I tried doing research online about erythritol and it says its closest substitute is xylitol which i can find in abundance here, but i have dogs and have read it is toxic for them, so its a no go on the xylitol. Are there any other substitutes for erythritol and stevia glycerite (i have stevia powder?)
All your recipes look great and I cannot wait to try them
Thanks
I list all the alternative sweeteners and their conversions in this book (The Art of Eating Healthy - Sweets). If the stevia powder measures cup for cup with sugar, then you could sub erythritol and stevia for it in a recipe. It may have a little bitter aftertaste though (which is why I use erythritol and stevia). Can you get Swerve?
DeleteHi Maria - I'm all set to make this and I'm looking at the ingredients and instructions for the filling. It says 2 tsp of vanilla, divided. I see where the 1 tsp goes, but can't find a reference to where you are putting the other tsp of vanilla. I read it a few times, and still don't see it. Am I missing something?
ReplyDelete☺ Sandi
It is in the cake batter. I updated the recipe to clarify it 1 tsp added. :)
DeleteThanks Maria! I have another question about the oven temp. It says to preheat oven to 350 degrees, but after you put the cream filling in them, it then says to bake at 300 degrees. I never noticed that and baked them at the 350, does it matter? ☺
DeleteOops. I updated it above. It should be 325. :)
DeleteThanks again Maria!
Delete☺
It's me again! I made these tonight and only yielded 12 cupcakes. Are you using a mini-muffin tin to get the 18? Plus the filling I halved everything and it was the perfect amount for the 12 regular size cupcakes/muffin tin. The chocolate icing did not thicken up enough for me, so I added 1/4 tsp tapioca starch to 1 tsp of hot water (mixed that first) then slowly added to the icing stirring until it started to thicken. It's perfect, and I am refrigerating these (am I supposed to?). I adjusted my carb count based on the 12 yield, and if I did my math right it should be around 3.5g carbs.
ReplyDelete☺ Sandi
Hi, Yes, I store in the fridge. I have even froze them. Not sure what happened to the icing. I make this all the time and haven't had that problem. Good job adjusting to make it work! The quantity depends on a lot of factors. I put a lot of filling in each one so that might have affected it. :)
DeleteYou reign supreme, Maria! Made just a quarter batch of these last night to see if we'd like them...and was left bemoaning the fact that I didn't make a full recipe's worth. Absolutely phenomenal success. Thank you so much for sharing your talents!
ReplyDeleteAwe, thank you! :)
Delete