Cupcake Questions

A co-worker asked me about cupcakes and this is my answer (I like when people ask me for cupcake advice)!

Hi Sara,

Since you are the cupcake aficionado, I thought I would pick your brain for a minute. My son’s first birthday is coming up and I would like to send cupcakes to daycare with him. Most of the other kids are 2 and younger so I would like to find a recipe that won’t get the kids too hyped up on sugar- I don’t think the daycare provider would like me very much if I did that to her! Do you know of any good recipes that use applesauce or a sugar alternative? I’m not having much luck with online searches.

Thanks Darcie, 

HELLO!

Great question!  I’m not sure about the actual cake part, how you could make that lower sugar, I would need to try a few recipes before I suggested something.  I would think that the frosting might be a bigger problem than the cake as far as sugar goes.  I think that whip cream would be a good alternative to frosting, you could still add food coloring and pipe it on to the cupcakes; unless you are frosting the cupcakes right before you give them to the kids, I would say that Cool Whip would be your best bet (because it holds up better).  I have heard some things about sugar substitutes (splenda, agave nectar), some people say that the reaction is similar to sugar, some say that it is not.  Other alternatives could be carrot cake or angel food cake.  Something that I’ve always wanted to try is making cupcakes out of frozen yogurt, kind of like an ice cream cake but with frozen yogurt and in cupcake form. 

Hope that helps! Happy Birthday to your little guy!

So there it is!  My first piece of cupcake advice!