Gluten/Dairy Free Cupcakes

Chocolate 

Left, Cappuccino - Right, Lemon 

 This recipe may already exist, but I certainly didn't find this in any book!

After trying hundreds of different recipes, I decided to just give up and experiment 

by making my own recipes.

This is the easiest, most versatile,
cupcake recipe I hope you will ever find.

It works for me, friends and family every time. You can change the flavour so easily without harming the texture or bake. 

Flavour variations are below the recipe.  

Sadly the gluten free flour I used at the time contains rice flour as like most ready made gluten free flours do, but fear not, I am on a mission to make delicious cupcakes without the need of rice flour when I have the energy - so watch this space :-)

This recipe can be made vegan.
Just swap the eggs for 1/4 cup of unsweetened apple sauce, or a tablespoon of ground chia seeds mixed with 2 tablespoons of vegan mylk and mix.
Watch this blog for specially made gluten free vegan recipes
in the future.

For best results weigh in ounces as that's what I use when I make these cakes. I have converted the measurements using an online converter from ounces into grams for those who do not have scales that measure ounces.

Tip - Mix well! Sounds simple, but it can so easily be missed. Traditional cakes don't always require lots of mixing, but for gluten free they require an extra bit of care. They take a little longer to make using a wooden spoon but it's worth it, don't be tempted to get the electric whisk out! If you really have to use an electric whisk or cake mixer, use it on the slow settings only.

ALWAYS add Vanilla extract no matter what flavour you're doing, otherwise it just won't taste right. (at least that's what I think, and I'm pretty fussy!) 

The fuss pays off, because this recipe has won me competitions!

Vanilla

You will need -
A muffin tin that holds 12 cakes, or 2 fairy cake tins
12 medium-large paper cases, or 24 fairy cake cases
a silicon cake spatula (so there's no batter wasted)
Medium mixing bowl
Ice cream scoop or 1/4 us cup and spoon
Makes - 12 large cupcakes or 24 fairy cakes 

Pre heat oven to 160oc Fan and line your muffin tin

Ingredients:

6oz / 171g gluten free self raising flour
6oz/ 171g golden caster sugar
6oz/ 171g dairy free margarine that's suitable for baking
2 medium/ large Eggs
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
1 vanilla pod or a tablespoon of vanilla extract

Combine the marge' and caster sugar
Fold in half the flour mixture then add the eggs/egg substitute, vanilla (other optional flavourings)
and xanthan gum.
Beat well!
Add the remaining flour and baking powder and mix until fully combined

Spoon out the mixture into the paper cases as evenly as possible, with the other end of a spoon, stir the batter in the cases to make the batter more even (this helps make a uniformed bake) Make sure the oven is pre heated to 160oc fan

Bake for 25 minutes, once out the oven  transfer the cakes to a wire wrack, leave to cool.

Decorate with your favourite butter cream and decorations and munch!

Flavour variations:
Chocolate chip - pinch of salt and 2oz/55g chocolate chips
cappuccino - use 3oz of soft dark brown sugar and 3oz of golden caster sugar instead of 6oz of caster' with half to 1 tablespoon of espresso coffee powder depending how strong you want to coffee to be (do not add water!)
Lemon - Grated lemon zest of a whole lemon with juice of half
Almond - add 2oz/55g of ground almonds and a cap full of almond extract (optional)
Chocolate - Add 2oz/55g cocoa powder, pinch of salt, and extra half a teaspoon of baking powder and half a tsp of espresso coffee powder (do not add water)

try these combinations:
Almond lemon,
chocolate chip coffee
Chocolate, coffee (and chocolate chip)