Go Back
Single vanilla cupcake with strawberry icing on a platter with fresh strawberries
Print

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

These dairy free cupcakes are fluffy, moist and topped with the most dreamy strawberry buttercream.
Course Dessert
Keyword buttercream, cupcakes, valentine's day
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 23 minutes
Cooling Time 15 minutes
Total Time 58 minutes
Servings 4 cupcakes

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup soy milk (room temperature)
  • 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 tsp coconut oil (melted and cooled)
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/4 cup ` +2 tbsp oat flour
  • 2 tbsp brown rice flour
  • 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt

Strawberry Buttercream

  • 1/4 cup vegan butter (room temperature)
  • 1-1 1/2 tbsp strawberry puree (roughly 2 small strawberries blended)
  • 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)

Instructions

Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 410ºF and line a muffin baking tin with 4 liners.
  • Add the milk and apple cider vinegar to a small bowl, let sit for 5 minutes.
  • Melt the coconut oil and set aside to cool.
  • Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. Set the bowl aside.
  • Add the coconut oil to the milk mixture after 5 minutes, along with the vanilla and the apple sauce. Whisk together.
  • Add the wet ingredients to the dry and thoroughly mix together.
  • Evenly divide the cupcake batter among the 4 liners. The batter should fill the liners almost to the top.
  • Bake in the oven at 410ºF for 5 minutes. WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN, after 5 minutes lower the temperature to 350ªF and bake for another 18 minutes. The cupcakes will be golden and puffy on top. Take out of the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, take them out and place them on a cooling rack to finish completely cooling.

Strawberry Buttercream

  • Make sure the butter is at room temperature. Soft, but not liquid.
  • Make the strawberry puree. Add 2 small strawberries (leaves removed) and a splash of water (less than 1 tbsp) to a blender. I found a cup-size blender (like a magic bullet) works best here. Blend until smooth. If the blender process isn't going well, add another splash of water. The puree should be smooth.
  • Add the butter to a large bowl and use hand beaters to beat until fluffy. I highly suggest using hand beaters over a stand mixer for this process because it is a small batch recipe. I found my Kitchen Aid stand mixer didn't produce the same fluffy results as the hand beaters.
  • Add 1 tbsp of the strawberry puree to the butter mixture. If you find you want a deeper colour, add 1/2 tbsp more. Beat until fluffy and incorporated into the butter.
  • Add the sifted powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Beat until thick.
  • If you are piping the buttercream, place it in the freezer for 10 minutes to stiffen up before piping. If you are icing the cupcakes with a knife, the icing is ready as soon as it has been mixed with the hand beaters.
  • Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled before icing them. Once cooled, either use a piping bag to frost the cupcakes or use a knife and spread evenly on.
  • Cupcakes are best fresh. Store in a sealed container on the counter.