These tender and moist banana cupcakes are topped with the perfect cashew cream cheese frosting that you won’t believe is dairy-free! These crowd pleasing cupcakes are perfect for kids, paleo, gluten free and dairy free.
I’m always looking for new ways to bake with bananas. no matter what, there are always a few that get way overripe, which is the perfect excuse to bake something delicious.
Instead of yet another bread or muffin, I decided to get a little fancy here and go with cupcakes. Complete with a creamy cashew maple “cream cheese” frosting.
The cashews blend up with the other frosting ingredients perfectly in a high speed blender to give you a dreamy topping for these tasty cupcakes!
The combination of the moist banana cupcake with the vanilla frosting is reminiscent of banana cream pie – everyone in the family loved them!
What You Need to Make Paleo Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
I’ll break up the ingredients into 2 parts: the cupcakes batter and frosting.
The ingredients are simple, real-food ingredients that you might already have in your pantry if you bake a lot. Here’s what you’ll need to prepare the cupcakes:
Cupcake Batter:
- blanched almond flour
- tapioca flour
- baking soda
- ground cinnamon
- fine sea salt
- overripe bananas
- Eggs
- almond milk or coconut milk
- fresh lemon juice
- maple sugar or coconut sugar
- refined coconut oil
- pure vanilla extract
Frosting:
- raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours in warm water
- coconut cream, chilled
- coconut oil, solid
- raw honey
- lemon juice
- pure vanilla extract
- fine sea salt
How to Make Paleo Banana Cupcakes
Prepare the frosting first and chill it for at least 2 hours before frosting the cupcakes. You can also make the frosting a day in advance and chill overnight.
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender (I used a Vitamix) and blend until smooth. This will take anywhere from 1-5 minutes depending on your blender. Be patient and scrape down the sides as needed, and continue to blend until creamy. Once done, chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
For the cupcakes batter, line a muffin/cupcake pan with parchment liners and preheat your oven to 350° F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate large bowl stir together the mashed bananas, eggs, milk, sugar, coconut oil and vanilla until well combined. Stir the dry mixture into the wet until no flour spots show.
Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way up to make between 12-14 cupcakes. Bake in the preheated oven for 22-24 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to wire racks to cool completely (keeping the liners on).
Once cooled to room temperature, frost the cupcakes. You can use a piping bag, plastic bag, or simply a spoon or small spatula. Store leftover cupcakes covered in the refrigerator for up to one week. They can also be frozen to keep longer and thawed in the fridge.
Tips for Smooth and Creamy Cashew Cream Cheese Frosting
For a larger batch of frosting like this one, I like to use my Vitamix blender. It creates the creamiest cashew frostings with very minimal effort! I always begin blending at a lower speed and increase the speed as the mixture purees.
Make sure to stop blending to scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. Depending on your blender, the process can take anywhere from 1-5 minutes.
Since the process of blending up the frosting leaves the mixture warm, you’ll need to chill the frosting in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours before using it.
As it chills, it will thicken up a lot and feel creamier. You can also simply make the frosting the day before serving your cupcakes and chill it in the refrigerator, covered, overnight.
I hope you’re ready for seriously delicious crowd pleasing banana cupcakes!
Feel free to garnish with thinly sliced bananas and some chopped walnuts like I did in the photos.
It added the perfect touch to these silky smooth frosting and moist cupcakes.
Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting {Paleo}
Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting {Paleo}
Ingredients
Cupcake Batter:
- 2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 small-medium overripe bananas mashed (1 cup plus 2 tbsp)
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/4 cup almond milk or coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 6 Tbsp maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp refined coconut oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Frosting:
- 2 cups raw cashews soaked for at least 2 hours in warm water
- 1/2 cup coconut cream chilled
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil solid
- 6 Tbsp raw honey
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Prepare the frosting first and chill for at least 2 hours before frosting the cupcakes. You can also make the frosting a day in advance and chill overnight.
- Place all ingredients in a high speed blender (I used a Vitamix) and blend until smooth. This will take anywhere from 1-5 minutes depending on your blender. Be patient and scrape down the sides as needed, and continue to blend until creamy. Once done, chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Cupcake Batter:
- Line a muffin/cupcake pan with parchment liners and preheat your oven to 350° F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate large bowl stir together the mashed bananas, eggs, milk, sugar, coconut oil, lemon juice and vanilla until well combined. Stir the dry mixture into the wet until no flour spots show.
- Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way up to make between 12-14 cupcakes. Bake in the preheated oven for 22-24 minutes. Remove from oven and allow the cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to wire racks to cool completely (keeping the liners on).
- Once cooled to room temperature, frost the cupcakes. You can use a piping bag, plastic bag, or simply a spoon or small spatula. Store leftover cupcakes covered in the refrigerator for up to one week. They can also be frozen to keep longer and thawed in the fridge. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Nutrition includes the entire cupcake recipe with frosting divided by 14 servings. Adjusting the amount of frosting on your cupcakes will alter the nutrition.
Nutrition
Shop Products and Ingredients:
Want More Paleo Cupcakes and Cakes? Try One of These!
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cinnamon Frosting
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Do you think palm shortening would work instead of coconut cream??
Super easy and delicious! I used arrowroot flour instead of tapioca and they came out perfectly.
Thanks! Has anyone tried cassava?
Where in the cupcake batter do you add the lemon juice? Am I missing something? I see it in the frosting but not cupcake
Apologies! It’s with the wet ingredients 🙂
I am making these now and am wondering the same thing about the lemon juice! Plus I cant find the oven temp ):
it’s with the wet ingredients, and the oven temp is 350 (under “cupcake batter”)
I like this recipe because IO am hearing first time about banana cupcakes that are very tasty and now I have decided to get making information from you so that I may prepare it at my home easily.
Your recipes never disappoint! Made these without the frosting and subbed vanilla bean ghee for the coconut oil. My toddler loved them. I had leftover batter so I greased my donut pan and baked for a little less than 20 min. Delish!!
Would it work to substitute the coconut cream for full fat canned coconut milk? Or is it essential to use coconut cream? I am going to go ahead and make the cupcakes until I hear back. Thanks!