These indulgent chocolate cupcakes are sweetened with nature’s candy (fruit), moist, and topped with creamy cashew whipped cream with a hint of lemon! Now that’s a dessert worth living for! Perfect for any holiday, potluck, birthday, or to tame a sweet tooth!

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Fruit-Sweetened Chocolate Cupcakes (Vegan, Gluten and Oil Free)
These indulgent chocolate cupcakes are sweetened with nature's candy (fruit), moist, and topped with creamy cashew whipped cream with a hint of lemon! Now that's a dessert worth living for! Perfect for any holiday, potluck, birthday, or to tame a sweet tooth!
Equipment
- 12-ct Cupcake Pan
- Silicone Cupcake Liners (highly recommend)
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup Rolled Oats, uncooked
- ⅓ cup Millet, uncooked
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ cup Cacao Powder
- 1 large Orange (zest and 1/2 cup juice)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract (or 1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Powder)
- 2 large Very Ripe Bananas (2 cups loosely packed)
- ½ cup Date Lady Syrup
- 2/3 cup Applesauce, unsweetened
- 1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar (6%)
Instructions
- Note: I recommend making the Lemon Pear Whipped Cream prior to making the cupcakes so that the cream will have time to chill and thicken. The recipe is below.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F
- Millet is a very hard grain and requires a longer blending time than rolled oats. Add the uncooked Millet to a high-speed blender. Blend for 20 seconds. Add the uncooked Rolled Oats to the blender with millet flour and blend for an additional 20 seconds. Transfer the flour to a large mixing bowl.
- Add the baking powder, baking soda, and cacao to the bowl with the flour. Zest the orange and add the zest to the bowl with flour. Whisk together until all of the ingredients are mixed together well. Set aside.
- Juice the orange to yield 1/2 cup. Pour the juice into a blender.
- Add the extract, bananas, date syrup, applesauce, and balsamic vinegar to the blender. Blend until smooth.
- Transfer the liquid mixture to the bowl with the flour mixture. Whisk until well-comined. Do not over-mix. The mixture will be light and airy.
- Place the silicone cupcake liners into the cupcake pan. Fill with batter. Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes at 350F. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the liners from the pan and allow the muffins to continue to cool on a cooling rack while in the silicone cups for at least another 25 minutes before devouring! Enjoy!
Video
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Lemon Pear Whipped Cream
Creamy and Sweet with a touch of Lemon topping perfect for cupcakes, pancakes, or fruit.
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cup Raw Cashews
- 15 oz can Pears in Juice (only use pears)
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Lemon (zest and 2 Tbsp juice)
- ¼ cup Roasted White Sweet Potato (prefer Japanese Sweet Potato, but Hannah/Jersey will work)
- (Optional) Maple Syrup, to taste
Instructions
- Add all of the above ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth.As the whipped cream chills, the sweeter it gets. But if you prefer sweeter then add 1-3 tsp of Maple Syrup.
- Transfer to a tightly sealed glass container. Allow the cream to chill for at least 4-5 hours, preferably overnight. The longer the whipped cream chills the thicker it gets.
- Serve as desired!
- Note: The whipped cream will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Can you substitute for white beans
Hey Margie! I haven’t tried this dish with white beans as a nut-free option, but feel free to try it. 🙂
You don’t have to soak the cashews first?
Hello Rebecca! I do not opt to soak the cashews in this particular icing. Soaking the cashews would result in a runny cream, so I only use the juice from the pears and lemons as the liquid.