I’ve just created the most dreamy Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with a vegan buttercream frosting. These dairy free cupcakes are simple to make and are the perfect way to celebrate birthdays, Valentine’s Day or just an average day with! They are super moist, fluffy and balanced out with a smooth, silky vegan buttercream. You can’t go wrong making these.
Why You’ll Love These Gluten Free Cupcakes
- These gluten free cupcakes are MOIST and don’t crumble! No one will know these babies are gluten free!
- The vegan buttercream is NEXT LEVEL. It’s smooth, sweet and so fun to pipe with!
- There are no funky ingredients if you are used to vegan and gluten free baking. But if you are new the ingredients for these dairy free cupcakes are super easy to find at your grocery store.
- You need an epic recipe for vegan gluten free cupcakes in your back pocket and this recipe is just that!
HOW TO MAKE GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Here is the dealio on how to make these dreamy gluten free chocolate cupcakes:
- Prepare the flax eggs. These act as the binding agent for these vegan gluten free cupcakes. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I LOVE flax eggs for baking.
- Combine the milk and the apple cider vinegar together. Let sit for a few minutes.
- Melt the coconut oil and then let it cool.
- Combine all the dry ingredients together.
- Combine all the wet ingredients together.
- You guessed it! Next, Combine the wet into the dry.
- BOOM. Mix that goodness up so there are no clumps and the batter for these gluten free cupcakes is smooth.
- Divide the cupcake batter among 8 muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Next, you need to let them cool completely. And then prepare that vegan buttercream frosting!!
Ok so as you can see these gluten free cupcakes are actually quite simple to make. As long as you have all the right ingredients you are golden! You will be rewarded with 8 uber fluffy and decadent dairy free cupcakes.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
Ok so we tackled how to make these vegan gluten free cupcakes but what about the vegan buttercream?! It’s almost the most important part! Well, the vegan buttercream uses fewer ingredients than the gluten free chocolate cupcakes but don’t take any shortcuts with this buttercream, we want it to be spot on.
I suggest using the vegan becel butter or Miyoko’s vegan butter for the icing as this is what I’ve tested it with.
- Use either a Kitchen Aid mixer or hand beaters to make the vegan buttercream. Combine the butter and 1 cup of the powdered sugar together in a bowl (if using hand beaters) or a kitchen aid mixer bowl. If you are using the kitchen aid mixer, I suggest using the whisk attachment.
- Once the butter and sugar are starting to mix nicely, add in the next cup of sugar and the vanilla. The buttercream should be thick and form peaks. You want it to hold its shape so it doesn’t run off the gluten free cupcakes!
- READ BELOW to find out how to pipe this icing onto the dairy free cupcakes.
HOW TO PIPE WITH VEGAN BUTTERCREAM
Now, this is the tricky part and is not my specialty, but I’ll tell you what I know. Piping. Mad respect for professional cake decorations because it is HARD to make them look nice. But here is what I learned:
- I used a 2D Wilton tip for these gluten free cupcakes and it turned out nicely. I don’t really suggest just cutting the tip of a Ziploc bag off but if you don’t really care how it looks then go for it!
- Use a spatula to scoop the thick vegan buttercream into a piping bag. Push all the icing toward the piping tip and even let a little squeeze out to get the buttercream nice, tight and compact in the bag. The goal is to get rid of any air so that your icing comes out smooth. Use a clip of some sort right where the icing fills the piping bag up to. No one wants icing coming out of both ends…
- Before I started icing the gluten free chocolate cupcakes, I practiced on a piece of parchment paper first. But when you are ready for the real thing, start in the middle of the cupcake, a small distance above the top of the cupcake. Apply light pressure and then in all one motion begin to swirl the icing towards the outside of the cupcake and then back in. You should end back in the middle, and when you do, stop applying pressure and release. Does it look pretty?! I hope so. And if it was a disaster maybe just watch this tutorial!
Looking for more gluten free desserts? Try these!
These gluten free chocolate cupcakes are so simple to make, I’m kicking myself for not testing a recipe before now! The texture is so good, just like a regular cupcake. It’s so soft and fluffy and the vegan buttercream on top just takes these dairy free cupcakes to the NEXT LEVEL. They are absolutely epic and the perfect vegan dessert for Valentine’s Day, or birthday parties! Treat yourself with these heavenly gluten free chocolate cupcakes.
Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Equipment
- muffin pan
- hand beaters/ kitchen aid whisk attachment
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flaxseed meal mixed with 6 tbsp water)
- 1/3 cup plant-based milk (I used oat milk)
- 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 1 cup apple sauce
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar/ brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Vegan Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup vegan butter (Miyokos/vegan Becel)
- 2 cups vegan powdered sugar (I used the Wholesome brand)
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
Cupcake Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF and line a muffin tin with 8 muffin liners.
- Prepare the flax eggs by adding 2 tbsp of flaxseed meal to a bowl with 6 tbsp of water. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes a yolky consistency.
- Mix together the oat milk and the apple cider vinegar. Let sit for 8 minutes.
- Melt the coconut oil and then set aside to cool.
- Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- After ten minutes, add the flax egg, coconut oil and the apple sauce to the milk/apple cider vinegar mixture. Mix together.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Thoroughly mix together. The batter should be wet, but not overly runny. Thinner than a cookie batter consistency.
- Evenly distribute the batter among the 8 muffin liners, filling the cups up 3/4 of the way. Before placing in the oven, tap the muffin pan on the counter so that the batter is evenly spread out in each cup. Place in the oven for 28-30 minutes.
- Let the cupcakes cool for 15 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack and let them cook completely before icing them.
Vegan Buttercream
- Add the butter to a bowl if you are using hand beaters or to a kitchen aid mixer bowl if using a kitchen aid (with the whisk attachment).
- Slowly add the powdered sugar to the butter mixture and whisk until it is thick and stiff.
- To ice the cupcakes, (and I am no piping expert!) I used a Wilton 2D piping tip. Important to use a clip of some sort on your piping bag right where the icing is filled to in order to get rid of any air so that the icing comes out smooth. Start in the middle of the cupcake, and swirled to the outside and back in and slowly release. This is done all in one go. You should have enough icing for all 8 cupcakes.
- Store the cupcakes in an air-tight container for 5 days.
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