Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes

We had Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes along with Laura’s gorgeous Carrot Cake Cupcakes for dessert on Easter Sunday. Cupcakes proved to be just the right-sized treat following the big ham dinner.

I adapted the Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes from a recipe in Elana Amsterdam’s Gluten-Free Cupcakes. I have to admit that I was very skeptical about how they would turn out, but they were actually excellent.

Elana writes that cupcakes made with coconut flour cannot be stored at room temperature for more than 10 – 14 hours or they will turn “hard as rocks”. She suggests putting them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I just kept the leftover cupcakes in my cake keeper on the table. Bob ate the last one 3 days later and said it was fine. I think the airtight container is the key.

This is the first time I have ever used coconut flour. It apparently soaks up all the liquids in a recipe, so her coconut flour recipes are developed using more liquids. For this reason, I would not recommend substituting all-purpose flour for the coconut flour unless you want to experiment with it.

Elana uses agave syrup to sweeten the cupcakes. I’m not a big fan of agave, so I substituted honey and it worked perfectly. Again, I don’t know if sugar would be a good substitute. I suspect that a liquid sweetener is necessary with the coconut flour.

I was so impressed with Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes! They really had a great cakey texture; I expected them to be a little weird. I liked them so much that I bought Elana’s book. If you need gluten-free recipes, I think you’ll be very please with these cupcakes and Elana’s book.

(You may want to visit Elana’s blog (Elana’s Pantry) for more great-looking gluten-free recipes!)

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Laura’s gorgeous Carrot Cake Cupcakes and the Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes (with Asparagus and Mustard Sauce below)

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(Adapted from Elana Amsterdam’s recipe in Gluten-Free Cupcakes)

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(print the recipe)

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Makes 9 cupcakes

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½ cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

4 large eggs

1/3 cup light olive oil

½ cup honey

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

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1. Preheat the oven to 350˚. Put 9 cupcake papers in a muffin tin.

2. Stir the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda together in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl.

3. Whip the eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla extract together in another bowl until well blended.

4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix in the stand mixer, or with a handheld mixer, until thoroughly combined.

5. Put ¼ cup batter into each of the 9 prepared muffin cups.

6. Bake for 18 – 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with just a few crumbs on it. (Mine took about 21 minutes.)

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7. Let them cool in the pan for 1 hour, and then frost with your favorite frosting.  (I used a Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting. See below.)

8. If storing them for any length of time, put them in an airtight container.

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Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

(Adapted from Elana’s Orange Cream Cheese Frosting in Gluten-Free Cupcakes)

Elana has recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting, but I chose to use base my frosting on her Orange Cream Cheese Frosting because it had butter in it as well as cream cheese. I thought it might be more like a traditional buttercream frosting. Everyone seemed to like how it turned out.

 

This makes a lot of frosting. You’ll probably have more than you need.

 

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 ounces butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature

2 tablespoons honey

½ teaspoon vanilla

Dash of salt

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Cream all of the ingredients together. Taste, and add more honey, if you would like it a bit sweeter.