This delightfully light treat is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth!

Cupcakes are all the rage these days, not just for kids, but for us grown-ups too (who isn’t still a kid at heart, right?) For many of us, cupcakes bring up an image of a sub-par cake base with a gooey, sugary topping. Not quite healthy and only marginally tasty. What if we could improve on that run-of-the-mill cupcake and make it not only better for you, but actually taste great? Are you skeptical? Well, our easy raspberry cupcakes will prove it!

What Makes a Better Cupcake?

First of all, we level up the very first ingredient– flour. Instead of using the traditional bleached white all-purpose flour, we are going to use white whole wheat flour. Yes, that’s a thing. It’s a subtle difference, but whole wheat flour does contain more nutrients and fiber than regular all-purpose flour. From there, we’ll add some salt to it (important for leavening) — use fine sea salt if you have it for more wholesome goodness. We also will use baking powder. So far, nothing revolutionary, but it all adds up, you’ll see.

At this point, you may be noticing the lack of processed SUGAR! Nope, sorry. None of that here. But we aren’t going to skimp on the sweet factor, I promise you.

Now, we’ll move on to our wet ingredients. Eggs, of course, some milk, and healthy coconut oil for our fat. Now, about that sweet factor: you’ll get plenty of that from the maple syrup we are going to use in our wet mix along with natural sugar from applesauce. Now, add a splash of vanilla extract (and don’t go cheap on vanilla. Use the real thing — it really DOES make a difference!)

Our final step will be to add some fresh raspberries to our cupcake mix. Those berries also will add a freshness and that floral, berry-ness we love so much! Now, get ready to fill your paper cupcake cups and bake these little friends! While our “cake” portion of our cupcake is baking, let’s move on to that frosting we all love so much.

Really, a Frosting that is GOOD for You?

I think this is where our cupcake really shines. Instead of a typical “fat and powdered sugar” concoction, we are going to make our own. Trust me…it’s easy. And worth it!

We are going to amp-up the berry flavor by starting with some pureed raspberries. Once you have those processed, set them aside and start on the butter. Butter should be room temperature in order to get soft and whipped properly. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. When it’s nice and light, add the powdered sugar to the bowl, along with your strained raspberry mixture. Beat until combined. If it seems a little thick, you can thin it with a little milk. It’s best to just add your milk a half-tablespoon at a time so that you don’t end up with it too runny.

Now, the FUN Part!

Ok, admit it….this IS the best part of making cupcakes. Frosting them! You have options here. You can either dip and swirl the frosting onto the cooled cupcake bases or pipe the frosting onto them using a pastry bag with a star tip (or use your favorite!). Either way, they will be tasty, fresh and wonderful. If you really want to go an extra mile, pop a fresh raspberry on the top of each cupcake. However you serve them, I would be ready to bet that you’ll never buy those grocery-store versions again!

What do you think? Did we inspire you to give this a try? If you have, let us know how they turned out for you in the comments section. We always LOVE feedback!

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