We did a lot of baking yesterday at La Casa de Condes. My kids and I wanted to make a nice Valentine’s Day treat for their teachers, and we also needed to make something with a chocolate theme for our Friday get-together with friends.
A nice chocolate-based mole sounded delightful to me, but the kids thought cupcakes were the better choice. I remembered that I had small ceramic heart-shaped baking dishes left over from last Valentine’s Day so we settled on Mini Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes Frosted with Melted Chocolate. We bake everything gluten-free here because my husband has Celiac Disease and I had a gluten-free baking business. Unfortunately, I shut the business down shortly after my last large order of gluten-free flours came in, therefore, every Friday I’m featuring a different gluten-free recipe until I’ve gone through my stash. So far I’ve made Gluten-Free Blueberry Cake, Vegan Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake, Gluten-Free Lemon Pound Cake, and Decadent Gluten-Free Brownies.
I made this week’s recipe with butter and milk, but you can easily substitute the milk for soy milk and the butter for Earth Balance Vegan Butter Sticks. The recipe makes about 48 mini cupcakes or 24 regular cupcakes.
Mini Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
2 cups gf flour mix*
½ cup garbanzo bean flour
2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons xantham gum
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 ¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 ¼ cup milk
Preheat oven to 350°. Line mini-muffin pan with mini cupcake liners. In medium bowl, combine flours, baking soda, xantham gum, and salt.
In large bowl, using either an electric mixer or a hand mixer, beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat for 1 minute per egg. Turn mixer to low and add 1/3 of the flour mixture
alternating with 1/3 of the milk until the flour and milk are just combined.
Scoop cake mixture into a large Ziploc Bag and cut off 1/8 of an inch off the tip, or use a pastry bag. Squeeze cake into the cupcake liners filling ¾ full. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the tops are browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack. When they are completely cool frost with the melted chocolate.
Melted Chocolate Frosting
1 cup good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter
Melt chocolate chips and butter in a small saucepan on low heat until the mixture is smooth. Be careful not to burn. Let cool for 10 minutes. Stir chocolate a few times. Dip the tops of the mini cupcakes into the chocolate and place back on the cooling rack. Serve or store in an airtight container.
