In addition to a layer cake for my friend Charlotte party, I made some little cupcakes we could have throughout the evening. As Charlotte is gluten intolerant, I wanted to make her a surprise by preparing some gluten free cupcakes, so that she could still have a taste of the dessert. The first challenge is to find a gluten free recipe that did not involve a bunch of unknown additives. Second challenge: make something that was good and wasn’t like a brick texture-wise (I find that gluten-free pastries’ texture is usually a little to stiff for me…).
Obviously the easiest way to make gluten-free cupcakes is to find ready-make gluten-free flour for cake, but I had rice flour in my cupboard and no desire to buy a big packet of gluten free flour which I wouldn’t have used afterwards. After reading more than 50 recipes, I finally found a gluten free cupcake recipe using only rice flour and gluten free baking powder (most baking powders are gluten free but always check in the ingredients to make sure). The only thing that bothered me was that in this recipe was using margarine. Gluten, dairy, it was too much for me, I had to use butter … Coming out of the oven they were beautiful and golden, great! I baked another batch, of classic cupcakes this time. I added the same delicious rhubarb buttercream that I used for the big layer and…
I tried them. Then I tried a classic one to compare. And here is the verdict: I found the gluten free version almost better than my favorite cupcake recipe. I was almost upset by such a result! So bake with confidence, this recipe should satisfy all of your guests and family, intolerant or not!
- 110g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 100g rice flour
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free baking powder
- 120g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- icing of your choice (here my delicious buttercream rhubarb )
- Preheat oven to 170°C and drop muffin paper cups in your mini-cupcake tin.
- Place the butter into in the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use an electric hand mixer), and beat until creamy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Pour in the mini-cupcake tin. Bake at 170°C for 15 minutes for mini cupcakes, count 25-30mn for normal cupcakes. Stick a toothpick in the center of a cupcake should come out dry.
- Allow to cool before decorating with the icing of your choice.
Hala says
Is it possible to replace the butter with coconut oil ? If yes how much would be the equivalent ?
Thanks !!