Not So Marble – Marble Cupcakes

Meet the newest member of the family! My not so marble, marble cupcakes! They are adorable, delicious, gluten-free, dairy-free, guilt-free, and they fit right in! You may be wondering why I am calling these cupcakes “NOT so marble – marble cupcakes.” Well in order to explain the name of these sweet treats, I need to give you a little background about my family first.

Marble Cake is a national treasure in my house. Seriously – that’s what my Dad calls it. When I told him I made marble cupcakes his response was “Why would you try and ruin a national treasure?!” Now, I don’t want you to think my Dad is mean, or unsupportive, he’s quite literally the opposite, but he is NOT a fan of my treats and I’ll tell you why…because he refuses to try them! I can’t understand for the life of me why, so I stopped trying haha, although he is coming around a bit! To try to explain a little better, he is a creature of habit. He likes what he knows and has a hard time swaying away from what he likes. (To be honest, I have these same characteristics, just not when it comes to food!) So needless to say, if the marble cake is not coming out of a Dunken Hines box, he’s not eating it!

**My version on top, Dad’s version on the bottom!

I think his obsession stemmed from when he was little. Him and all his siblings always like to tell us how my Grandma made a marble cake for all of their birthdays. Since my Dad is a creature of habit, he obviously had to pass that tradition onto my Mom and our family and it is definitely one that has stuck. Growing up, on every single birthday my Mom always made a marble cake. No questions asked. I’m the odd one out in the family and always have an ice-cream cake, but I kid you not, even on my birthday my mom makes a marble cake specifically for my Dad – jeez, woman is a saint and clearly an amazing wife!

Marble Cake clearly has a special place in all of hearts and it is a recipe that I hold near and dear, but it is also one I have been trying to recreate for my blog because it’s extra special to me! It truly marks a birthday in our family, so I felt there was no better time to try to recreate a “Taylorfied” version for than for my Grampy’s 91st Birthday this week! Let’s take a quick moment to celebrate him before we celebrate these cupcakes any further. HE IS 91! 91! I can hardly believe it. He is the cutest, most caring, lovable, martini loving, hot sauce obsessed, golf watching, war veteran that I have ever seen! I asked him on his birthday to tell me what one of his favorite memories is and he said, “marrying your grandma.” I MEAN. If that doesn’t tell you how adorable and sweet he is than I’m not sure what will! Although there is no treat I could make that will ever be as sweet as him, he did loooove these cupcakes so I’ll consider them a win!

One more other BIG win with these – my Dad actually ate one and more importantly LIKED IT! He literally said they were good! Shocking, I know! This is HUGE for him, as I’m sure you understand more now from reading above. I think we were all giving him so much crap about not trying one that he finally gave in and was pleasantly surprised! See the video down below! Even though his first words were that it tasted like carrot cake….not sure how or where that one came from all I’m allowing myself to remember is him saying they were good and then finishing the entire thing! He’s difficult to please people! LOL.

I’ve tried to make marble cake and marble cupcakes on a few different occasions now, but patience served me well this time. These cupcakes have very similar ingredients to my Almond Cupcakes (which are also to die for and up on my blog as well!) but with a few different twists to have a more traditional flavor. The base to these cupcakes are a traditional vanilla cake with a chocolate swirl in the middle, topped with Simple Mills vanilla frosting and Hu Kitchen dark chocolate chunks on top. Normally a traditional marble cake has both vanilla and chocolate frosting, but I wanted to give these their own vibe! They may not be the traditional Dunken Hines box cupcakes and cake that my Dad knows and loves but change is good and if my Dad has taught me anything, it’s that change doesn’t happen in your comfort zone! (Maybe he should take some of his own advice LOL). This recipe only makes about 10-12 cupcakes, so I recommend doubling it if you need more than that! I hope you are pleasantly surprised by these cupcakes just like my Dad! ENJOY!

What You’ll Need:

(makes about 11 cupcakes)

• 1 ¾ cup almond flour

• ¼ cup tapioca flour

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• dash Himalayan pink salt

• 2 eggs

• ½ cup coconut sugar

• ¼ cup unsweetened plain dairy free Greek yogurt (I use Kite Hill)

• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk

• ¼ cup coconut oil, melted

• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder

What You’ll Need for Toppings:

• 1 container of Simple Mills Vanilla Frosting

• 1 tbsp. unsweetened almond milk

• 2 tbsp. Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Chunks, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake tray. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut sugar, eggs, Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, almond milk, and coconut oil, until fully combined.

3. Next, pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir well until a batter forms. Take ½ cup of your batter and put it into a small bowl. Add your cocoa powder and stir until combined. Fill each cupcake liner about ¾ of the way full using the vanilla batter. Using a measuring teaspoon, place about 1 tsp. of chocolate in the center of each cupcake. Using a knife, gently swirl the chocolate batter into the vanilla batter in each cupcake. Bake for 18 minutes. Make sure to let the cupcakes cool for at least 30 minutes before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium-large bowl, combine Simple Mills frosting and 1 tbsp. of almond milk. Using a handheld mixer, mix the ingredients together until creamy and smooth. Frost your cupcakes and ENJOY! NOTE: If you want to get the same thick frosting look that I have on these cupcakes it is SUPER simple! All you do is take a plastic sandwich bag and cut a small hole into one of the corners. Fill the bag with your frosting and frost the cupcakes in a circular motion. BOOM! Lastly, sprinkle the top of each cupcake with your chopped dark chocolate chunks and ENJOY!