A few people have been asking about my cupcakes lately, so I thought I would post my basic cake recipe. I prefer to bake gluten free and as many people know gluten free cookies and cakes often don’t measure up to their gluten-full counterparts. No worries here. My gluten free baked goods have been surprising skeptical gluten eaters for years!
This cake is heavier than a traditional vanilla cake. Gluten free cakes don’t rise very much, so for cupcakes I’m able to fill them a little more than 3/4 high.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups white rice flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch flour (potato flour can also be used, but cake will be heavier)
- 1/4 tapioca flour
- 1/4 cup buttermilk powder (optional – but oh so good!)
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. xanthan gum
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 4 egg whites
1. In a large bowl mix evenly together all dry ingredients.
2. Add water, butter, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until smooth.
3. Add egg whites and beat on high for 2-3 minutes. Until blended through and smooth.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (Ovens vary – cupcakes are done when you can poke it with your finger and have it bounce back)
Milo loves baking and decorating. This has been great fun for us for a few years now. Just because we eat gluten free doens’t mean we can’t have cool cakes and cupcakes! Here’s some fun variations that begin with the basic cupcake recipe:
Frogs!
Each cupcake will need green frosting, red frosting, 2 chocolate chips and 1 marshmallow- Cut the marshmallow in half and using some green frosting stick each half to one side of the cupcake.
- Frost the whole cupcake green leaving the whites of the eyes.
- Pipe on the red mouth. (I use ziploc bags)
- Stick 1 chocolate chip to each marshmallow.
Monsters!
- You will need green apple jelly rings, peach jelly rings, mini-M&M’s, and Dum Dum lollipops. a recipe of blue frosting and green frosting.
- You will also need mini-cupcakes in the same # as cupcakes.
- “glue” the mini cupcakes on the top of the regular cupcakes using some frosting.
- Using a ziploc bag I piped on the stringy frosting with no rhyme or reason.
- The Dum Dum pops are inserted into the jelly rings to make eyes and stuck inside the cupcake and the M&M’s are the noses.
- We also came up with our own variations. This particular idea came from the book we picked up at Costco, “What’s New, Cupcake?”
Great! I’m going to try it! Thanks, Heather!
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You are so creative! Thanks for sharing. I love the monsters. I may have to do this for an upcoming b-day! IF I do, I will share pictures, which will not measure up to these beauties!
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Great timing Heather – Monday was my first gluten-free day and I have been positively fiending some baked goodies (and beer!!!) – now to source all the ingredients and get cracking!
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Heather Reply:
June 9th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Thanks everybody! The monsters were way easier than I thought they’d be once I got the frosting the right consistency.
@Deb – There is lots of recipes on my blog. Click the tag under the title.
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Just so you know…I don’t even like cake but I LOVE your gluten-free cakes! YUM!!
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I need another Seattle fix already!
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I’m a total junkie for baked goods, so naturally eating gluten free can be tough. Heathers gluten free recipes (particularly her cake and chocolate chip cookies) more than measure up to their gluten-full counterparts. This is the best cake. Ever. Put all the gluten you want in it, it still doesn’t touch this cake. Now if I can just find the right tart pan for gluten free pasticciottis…
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That is a beautiful boy and those cupcakes look pretty good too!
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I love those!
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Heather Reply:
June 16th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Thanks guys! I’ll have new cupcakes up tomorrow.
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just baked these! they turned out great! instead of water i used 2% milk because i didn’t have any dried buttermilk. i also put in two of the egg yolks because i thought it would help with the cake staying moist. they are really delicious! it is my first attempt at gluten free, and i will be trying more! i also adapted your frosting recipe and added fresh strawberries to make the frosting pink! delish!
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Heather Reply:
August 14th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Wonderful! For future reference, you can make buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of white vinegar to a 1 cup of milk and letting it sit for 5 minutes. I’ve also recently found that substituting 1 cup of the rice flour for 1 cup of sweet sorghum flour makes an even better consistency! Love fresh strawberries! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out!
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