Another sugar free cupcake experiment

Another recipe from The Healthy Chef - this time for Lemon Yoghurt Cupcakes. This one looked yummy and I really wanted to try it, but again, since it called for so much almond meal I was wondering how I could substitute it. This recipe called for 3 cups which would have cost me $25 for almond meal alone!!

This is the picture from the Healthy Chef website,  not my cupcakes.
As you will see below, mine didn't turn out quite so pretty or tasty looking...

Since my last experiment - the chocolate cupcakes - worked with LSA instead of almond meal I thought I'd try that again. But as soon as I started, I realised this was going to be different - maybe you've already worked out how.

Because of the linseed/flaxseed, the result is obviously going to be funny brown colour, not the lightness of pure almond meal.

My substitutions:

- LSA instead of almond meal

- apple puree instead of oil

Cue the yucky look mixture... and when I tasted the batter I realised despite the sweetness of the honey and the tang of the lemon and yoghurt in this, it wasn't going to be enough to mask the stronger flavour and slight bitterness of the LSA.

The downsides?

Made with LSA these cupcakes taste a little bitter and strange. Edible thanks to the large quantity of honey and the lemony flavour, but not like I was hoping them to be.

Quite a bit of honey - if you're going sugar free, honey is an acceptable occasional food, but it's still sugar when you have large quantities.

The upsides?

If there are any, it's that they are nutritious.

However, if made with almond meal, I think these would be amazing!

The Bottom Line?
Made with LSA? Fail.

Made with almond meal - I think they'd be a winner. Soft, moist and sweet.

I think I need to try and source some cheap almonds and grind them myself to try this recipe again.


Serving Suggestion: LSA version - keep them to yourself. Probably no-one else will want to eat them.

Almond version - I imagine these would be great cold with a dollop of yoghurt. Yum.



Happy baking and here's hoping your experiments are more successful than this one!