Vegan Gluten Free Cupcakes Recipes

VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE VANILLA CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180'C / Fan 160'C / Gas Mark 4 and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with cake cases.
• Pour the almond milk into a jug and add the white wine vinegar. Stir well and set to one side for 2-3 minutes. It should start thicken slightly and may appear like it's curdling - this is fine, you've made vegan buttermilk!
• Add the caster sugar, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk briefly. Pour in the buttermilk and then briefly mix again until combined.
• In a separate bowl, mix the gluten free flour, baking powder and xanthan gum. Pour into the cake mixture and then beat to combine. You don't want to over-mix it, just enough so that there are no lumps of flour.
• Evenly pour the mixture between the cupcake cases. The batter will be quite runny - don't worry, it should be like that!
• Place the cupcakes in the oven and bake for 25-27 minutes. They should rise nicely and be springy to the touch - they will stay quite pale but don't worry, this is just due to the lack of egg in the recipe! Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, add the vegan butter and margarine to a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and beat again until fully combined.
• Add the frosting to a piping bag (if it's a particularly warm day and the icing is too soft, place the piping bag in the fridge to cool for half an hour).
• Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes as desired (I used a 2D piping nozzle) and decorate with gluten free and vegan sprinkles.

EASY VEGAN VANILLA CUPCAKES (GLUTEN-FREE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a standard-size muffin tin with cupcake liners (we prefer these ones). Cupcake liners are preferable over greasing the pan because they prevent the sides from browning too much and yield a prettier result. But in a pinch, lightly grease instead.
• To a large mixing bowl, add dairy-free milk, applesauce, avocado oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
• Add almond flour, potato starch, cornstarch, baking powder, and sea salt and whisk again until well incorporated and no lumps remain. The texture should be thick and look similar to cornbread batter (see photo). If too thick, thin with a little more dairy-free milk. If too thin, add a little more almond flour.
• Divide batter evenly among cupcake liners filling a generous 3/4 of the way full. Recipe as written makes 12 cupcakes.
• Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, they are golden brown on the very edges, the tops appear dry, and they spring back a bit when touched or pressed (rather than deflating). It's better to slightly over-bake than under-bake these cupcakes to avoid gumminess.
• Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to let cool completely.
• Once cooled, option to top with frosting of choice. These subtly sweet cupcakes pair nicely with a sweeter frosting such as our classic buttercream frosting, vegan chocolate ganache frosting, date-sweetened chocolate frosting or vegan strawberry frosting. For a lighter option, try lightly-sweetened coconut whipped cream and fresh berries.
• Best when enjoyed within the first 24-48 hours after baking. Store leftovers covered at room temperature for 1-2 days or in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Freeze unfrosted cupcakes for up to 1 month.

VEGAN GLUTEN FREE VANILLA CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.
• Add gluten free all purpose flour, white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
• Add soy milk, canola oil, vanilla extract and distilled white vinegar. Mix into a batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
• Bake for 25 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if they're done: insert the toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes, it should come out clean.
• Let the cupcakes cool in the tray for a few minutes before transferring the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• Add vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons soy milk to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon of soy milk.
• When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and add sprinkles to the top.

VEGAN VANILLA CUPCAKES (GLUTEN-FREE)

Steps:

• These cupcakes are the BEST made the day of, as they are the most moist and buttery. Due to the high starch amount they will start to dry out by the 2nd day and so on.
• For the frosting, set out your vegan butter sticks early in the day or several hours before you want to make the frosting (or the night before), so that they can be totally soft and at room temperature, otherwise it will be impossible to beat the frosting.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a muffin pan with 12 liners.
• Make sure your coconut milk is at room temperature and you've shaken the cans well and that the milk is creamy and smooth, not chunky, before measuring/weighing. If it's chunky, whisk or blend it separately until totally smooth before measuring and adding to the other liquids. Important: follow the same steps above in the post regarding preparing the coconut butter correctly. The coconut butter must be a smooth runny consistency like oil almost, not thick!
• PLEASE SEE NOTES AT THE BOTTOM if making the cake flour version before this next step. To a large bowl, add the white rice flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Use a large whisk very well until mixed. To another large bowl, add the coconut milk, liquid coconut butter (see above post) and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid. Whisk until completely smooth, making sure to get the bottom. Make sure it's all completely mixed.
• Divide the batter evenly among the 12 liners. Use an ice cream scoop or a 1/3 cup measuring cup for ease. They will be filled a bit more than half full.
• Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Mine were perfectly done at 21 minutes each time, but ovens vary. The cake flour version was done exactly at 20 minutes each time. They should have risen beautifully with a nice dome top.
• They will settle down a bit as they cool, this is normal. Leave them to cool 45 minutes exactly in the pan, very important for their structure. Then transfer them to the fridge for JUST 15 minutes to further set them. I put the whole pan in. This step is important, so don't skip. The chilling is not required for the cake flour version. Remove from the fridge and frost them. Leave covered at room temperature to keep them moist. Don't store them in the fridge at this point or they will dry out much faster.
• To make the buttercream, add the room temperature softened vegan butter and shortening to a huge bowl and beat on low until just blended. Add the sugar about a cup at a time blending on low until all is incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla and beat just until light and fluffy. Cover with plastic wrap to keep it moist until ready to frost. For the frosting, I used Wilton Flour tip #2D.

GLUTEN-FREE, SUGAR-FREE VEGAN VANILLA CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE

Steps:

• Cupcakes.
• Preheat oven to 325°F; line muffin pan with 9 Liners and fill 3 remaining muffin cups with a little bit of water.
• Mix together soy milk, canola oil, vanilla and almond extract and agave nectar.
• Add flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt one by one and mix for 1-2 minutes. Mixture will be thin.
• Fill 9 muffin cups approximately 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean.
• Let cool in pan for 1 hour to allow agave to set.
• Frosting.
• Mix together margarine, agave, and vanilla until smooth.
• Add cocoa powder (sift if necessary).
• Add powdered soy milk.
• If mixture is too watery, add more powdered soy milk. If too thick, add more agave until desired consistency is reached.
• Frost cupcakes and enjoy!