Chocolate Cupcakes with Purple Sweet Potato Icing

Would you like to completely dazzle your Valentine with a sweet, healthy treat? I’m quite sure these will do the trick!!

These chocolate cupcakes are fluffy, tender, and delicious, and the icing is an absolute showstopper – developed by my friend, Tiffany Wilkerson, the articulate, gracious culinary expert behind Invite Plants to Every Meal. Her guilt-free frosting is creamy, mildly sweet, and makes everything it graces amazing. And the color is other worldly!

You’ll want to check out more of Tiffany’s recipes on Facebook and Instagram, if you haven’t already (and thank you, Tiffany, for allowing me to share).

The cupcakes and the frosting can each made a day ahead. (Just refrigerate the frosting until you’re ready for it.)

Just for fun, I tossed Penzey’s “Potato of Love” over the top of my cupcakes – adorable little sprinkles (available online) of freeze-dried purple sweet potatoes.

We love these dairy-free, sugar free, gluten-free, oil-free cupcakes – and hope you do too! : )

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH PURPLE SWEET POTATO ICING

Servings: makes 9 cupcakes
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Icing

1 very large (or 2 medium) purple sweet potato(es) – enough to yield 2 cups, cooked
3/4 cup (packed) pitted Deglet Noor dates
1 tablespoon nondairy milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
dash of salt

Cupcakes

1 cup (packed) pitted Deglet Noor dates
1 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso (I use decaffeinated)
1 cup raw cashews
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
1/4 cup cacao (or cocoa) powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Garnish

Penzey’s Potato of Love * (optional)

Instructions

Roast purple sweet potato(es).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Scrub sweet potato(es) and pierce on both sides several times with a sharp knife (to allow steam to escape while baking). Place on a shallow baking pan and roast until soft (around one hour or so). Remove sweet potato(es) from the oven and allow to rest. When cool enough to touch, remove and discard the sweet potato skins.

Make icing:

In a high-speed blender (like a Vitamix), add measured sweet potato, dates, milk, vanilla, and salt. Blend together until super creamy.

Refrigerate icing until ready to use.

Make cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have handy a silicone cupcake pan (or a metal cupcake pan with parchment paper liners).

Add dates and brewed coffee to a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix) and process for a couple of minutes, until mixture is smooth. Add cashews, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract and blend again, until mixture is very smooth. Transfer to a large bowl. (Note: if your coffee was hot, allow this mixture to cool before proceeding, to avoid creating any lumps in the batter.)

Mix in oat flour, tapioca flour, cacao powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine well. Scoop batter evenly into cupcake pan, filling 9 standard size wells.

Bake for 21-24 minutes, or until the tops bounce back when pressed lightly in the center. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Once cupcakes are cool, carefully remove them from the pan, and place on a serving platter. Frost with refrigerated icing. Garnish if desired, and serve. (You can refrigerate any remaining icing for another use.)

* Penzey’s Potato of Love sprinkles are confetti bits of freeze-dried purple sweet potatoes (single ingredient).