Keto Halloween Brownie Cupcakes [+VIDEO]

Be festive this Halloween while sticking to a no sugar-added, low-carb, gluten-free or keto lifestyle with these ghost-themed Keto Halloween Brownie Cupcakes. They include the batter from my almond flour brownies, my keto cream cheese frosting and sugar-free chocolate chips. I love them because besides being super cute and easy, they are a kid-friendly keto Halloween treat.

This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill, an employee-owned company that provides high-quality, minimally-processed products to satisfy vegan, paleo, keto, and gluten-free friendly cooking and baking needs. Thanks in advance for supporting the brands that help keep content on Dr. Davinah’s Eats free to you. All opinions are my own.

Why Make Brownie Cupcakes

• Fun and festive for Halloween while keeping carbs down: this recipe uses almond flour as well as an all-natural sugar substitute so you get the flavor and taste of brownies without the carbs from traditional flour and sugar.
• Family-friendly: it never hurts to cut back on sugar so use these as a fun alternative to chocolate cupcakes or brownie bites.

Ingredients Needed

Dry Ingredients

• Super Fine Almond Flour: this flour is made from almonds that have been blanched with the skins removed. I prefer this type of almond flour since it’s ground into a really fine meal, something that helps it give keto-friendly and gluten-free baked goods a closer taste and texture to their flour-based counter-parts.
• Xanthan Gum: this has so many uses like thickening my sugar-free strawberry sauce and adding volume to the cupcakes in this recipe.
• Baking Powder: this helps the cupcakes to rise. I personally love Bob’s because of the packaging. It has a velcro-like closure which helps keep the bag closed and the product fresh.
• Cocoa Powder: be sure to get the unsweetened variety
• Keto Sweetener: for the brownies, I used a powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol sweetener, but you could also use granular if you have it on hand.
• Walnuts: I included chopped walnuts as an optional mix-in, but you could omit them and/or use some of the sugar-free chocolate chips in the batter.

Wet Ingredients

• Butter: I used salted butter. You can add the butter softened or cooled after being melted (you don’t want to mix hot butter with the eggs so if you’re using melted butter just be sure to let it cool a bit on the counter).
• Eggs: I used large eggs that I allowed to sit on the counter to reach room temperature
• Vanilla Extract

How to Make Keto Halloween Cupcakes

The best way to learn how to make this dessert is to watch the post video. But, here are the key steps:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or stand-mixer
2. Mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl (enough to fit the entire batter)
3. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients
4. Add the almond flour brownie batter to a lined cupcake tray and bake until the center of the brownie cupcakes come out clean with a toothpick.

How to Create the Halloween Ghosts Decoration

To make the Keto Halloween Cupcakes’ ghost decoration, I needed:

• Sugar-free Cream Cheese Frosting: I used this frosting to make the ghosts. I doubled the recipe so as to have enough frosting to make the ghosts as big as I wanted.
• Sugar-free Chocolate Chips: I used three of these per cupcake to create the ghost eyes and nose.
• Large Frosting Piping Bag and Tip: I followed a tutorial for how to frost cupcakes to create the ghost from the icing.

Some photos for how to pipe the icing are below, but you can watch the post video to see it in full detail.

Top Cooking Tips & FAQs

• Best served at room temperature: keto-friendly baked goods can harden when placed in the refrigerator. So, if you are making the cupcakes ahead, I recommend that you allow them to come to room temperature before serving.
• You can chill your frosting to firm it up: the frosting should be ready to pipe once it’s mixed. But, if it is too loose and not sitting on your cupcakes simply place the frosting in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes. 

Substituting Coconut Flour

This recipe was specifically tested with blanched, super fine almond flour. You cannot substitute coconut flour.

Coconut flour soaks up moisture so my recipe for coconut flour brownies has more liquid and uses less flour. Please see that post if you need to make the brownies with coconut flour.

Storage & Make Ahead Tips

I prefer making and serving these the same day. But, I understand that this isn’t always ideal, especially if you have kiddos or a tight schedule. Here are some time-saving tips to help you are make these ahead:

• Make the icing 20-30 minutes before serving & top to finish: if you need to make the cupcakes ahead, I recommend making the frosting close to serving. This way, you can top the cupcakes with fresh frosting on the day you plan to enjoy them.
• Mix the dry ingredients ahead of time and store them in an airtight container: another time-saving strategy is to pre-mix the dry ingredients and store them in a glass jar. This way, you can simply mix and add the wet ingredients before baking

More Keto Halloween Recipes

• Keto Candy Recipes: 24 recipes for keto candy that you can make at home.
• Spider Web Eggs: this is such a cute play on deviled eggs
• Keto Cauldron Cupcakes: a fun recipe inspired by Harry Potter

If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!