Last Updated on July 14, 2025 by Deliciously Organic
Whether it’s a spoonful of peanut butter with a few chocolate chips or chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting – chocolate and peanut butter always combine wonderfully.
If you have a peanut allergy, you can substitute with almond butter or sunflower butter. If you prefer to avoid dairy, I have an adaptation for you too (see recipe header below)!
Most frosting recipes call for powdered sugar, but powdered sugar is highly processed and usually contains cornstarch (not a good thing if you’re trying to avoid grains). It’s easy to make your own at home by combining maple sugar, coconut sugar or another sugar of your choice with arrowroot powder in a coffee grinder or spice mill. You simply pulse the sugar-arrowroot mixture until it’s a fine powder and then the result just as you would conventional powdered sugar.Â
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting (Grain-Free)
For a Paleo or Dairy-free adaptation, use almond butter in place of peanut butter, 4 tablespoons room temperature palm shortening for the butter and canned coconut milk in place of the heavy cream. Frosting adapted from Barefoot Contessa.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Makes 24 cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- Use this recipe and bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes
Peanut Butter Frosting:
- 2/3 cup maple sugar(or coconut sugar)
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Place the maple sugar and arrowroot in a coffee grinder or spice mill. Grind until the sugar is a fine powder. Pour the sugar mixture into a mixing bowl. Add peanut butter, butter, vanilla and sea salt to the sugar mixture. Beat on medium-high until smooth. Pour in cream and beat until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Frost each cupcake with about 1 1/2 tablespoons frosting. Serve.
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