Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing

Gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.

Gluten-free cupcakes are hot. Or should I say, HAWT. Tack on vegan status, too, and you've got a trend worthy of the most BoHo WeHo GoGo. So I'm reprising this chocolate cupcake recipe to tempt you into baking this weekend. These little beauties remind me of Devil's Food Cake. Dark, moist and chocolatey. So go grab your inner Domestic Goddess by the hand and stir up some trouble.

But before we get to (what happens to be my favorite) chocolate cupcake recipe from the archives, I want to share something. Maybe it's the waxing moon, that cyclic siren pulling us toward wholeness, to embracing our shadow, urging us to let go, shed the outworn for the sake of authenticity. Or maybe it's the fresh start of a new school year, possessing me with cravings for newly sharpened pencils and thick stacks of paper, clean as a cloud. Fall always wakes me up. It conjures images of new beginnings.

And yes, there will be baby pictures.

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Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe with Mocha Icing

Gluten-free vanilla cupcakes. And dairy-free to boot.

Gluten-free cupcakes is one of the top searched recipes on my blog this week, so I'm reprising this vanilla cupcake recipe from the Gluten-Free Goddess archives- just in case you may have missed it. xox Karina

The world is my oyster. No, wait. I'm allergic to oysters. And even if my body did not rebel in rather alarming ways upon the ingestion of those slimy little devils, truth is, I would much prefer a cupcake. Tender, soft sweetness in exactly the right portion. Not too big. Not too aggressive. Not too much.

Just right.

Texture, in all honesty, is a big issue for me. Size is an issue. And taste, well, that goes without saying [keep those tinny bean flours to yourself, please].

If I was a storybook character I would inhabit The Princess and the Pea.

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Make Gluten-Free Brownie Cupcakes with Namaste Baking Mix

Brownies baked as cupcakes- from Namaste baking mix.

Check out these fudgy little gems. Chocolate chip brownies dressed up like cupcakes. These are Steve's creation. He's been making gluten-free brownies for- let me think a minute- almost nine years. (How, I ask you, is that possible? Nine years gluten-free? Yep. We'll be celebrating nine years of gluten-free living this December. Perilously close to a decade.) So he's the resident brownie expert. I bow to his expertise.

He's baked brownies from scratch. He's tried all the gluten-free mixes. He's added flavors. Coffee. Peppermint. Vanilla. He's added extra chocolate chips. Chopped walnuts. Pecans. Even raisins. He bakes brownies weekly. But lately he's got a new twist to this favorite classic treat. He plops the batter into a cupcake liner clad muffin tin. 

Steve swears this creates a better, moister brownie.

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Gluten-Free Cake + Cupcake Recipes

Gluten-free cupcakes anyone?

 Karina's Gluten-Free Cake + Cupcake Recipes

Here are my favorite gluten-free cake recipes on Gluten-Free Goddess- from decadent, dessert worthy cake to simple coffee cake, from rich and fudgy flourless chocolate elegance to vegan and egg-free cupcakes.

Apple Cake with Cranberries

Baked Donuts
Banana Bundt Cake
Banana-Blueberry Muffin Cake
Banana Snacking Cake with Almond Flour

Blueberry Babycakes
Blueberry Cobbler
Blueberry Crumb Cake
 
Cherry Clafoutis
Chocolate Banana Cake (scroll down the page)
Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing
Chocolate Truffle Cake

Coconut Apple Cake
Coconut Carrot Cake
Coconut Chocolate Chip Cake
Coconut Frosted Banana Cupcakes
Coconut Layer Cake

Dark Goddess Cake

Flourless Banana Snacking Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Frosted Banana Spice Cake

Lemon Almond Yogurt Cake
Mexican Chocolate Cake
Maple Frosted Pumpkin Cake
Orange Creme Cupcakes

Peach Cake
Peanut Butter Banana Cake

Pumpkin Chai Bread
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin Raisin Cake

Quinoa Breakfast Cake

Rustic Strawberry Cobbler Cake

Sour Cream Apple Cake
Sweet Banana Polenta Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes with Mocha Icing
Vegan Flourless Chocolate Cake

Karina's Tips:

New to baking gluten-free cakes? See my post Gluten-Free Cooking + Baking Tips for what to expect and how to problem solve.

Gluten-free vegan batters (without dairy and eggs) behave differently. For essential tips on baking gluten-free and dairy-free without eggs see my Vegan Baking Cheat Sheet, with trouble shooting strategies for baking success.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Brownie Bites

Tasty little vegan chocolate brownie bites.

The idea for blueberry brownies came to me in the middle of shampooing my hair. I was thinking about a chocolate bar I'd seen the day before (what, you don't think about chocolate in the shower?). It was a slim dark chocolate confection with dried blueberries. I'm a fruit and chocolate combo fan, you see. I love berries and chocolate. Orange and chocolate. Pineapple and chocolate. Actually, is there anything that doesn't taste better with some chocolate on it?

Such are my ponderous meanderings.

I'm still waiting for my Babycakes cookbook to arrive (I pre-ordered it from Amazon) along with pastry bags and icing tips. Ever since my unexpected success developing my first gluten-free and vegan Orange Creme Cupcakes I've been dreaming up cupcake flavors and imagining sweet little gems galore. Although I was less than thrilled to learn that Babycakes bakery uses bean flours (yuck), soy milk powder (um, why?) and spelt (spelt is not gluten-free) in their recipes, I'm still stoked to get the book, hoping it will at least inspire my own gluten-free vegan beauties.

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Frosted Orange Creme Cupcakes - Vegan and Gluten-Free

Gluten-free vegan orange cupcakes- egg-free and dairy-free, too.

On my To-Do List for nearly forever has been creating a gluten-free vegan recipe for my favorite birthday treat- a fresh and fragrant orange cake with orange creme frosting. Since it isn't my birthday until June (and it's just the two of us living out here in our little casita in the coyote run hills) I decided to experiment with making cupcakes instead of a layer cake. Orange cupcakes just sounded fun for spring. Sunny and sweet. And I needed cheering up. I've been a bit blue since the house sale fell through.

The craving for cupcakes started with my Twitter pal Caroline aka @ChefCaroline (she's started a fun new blog The Wright Recipes this spring). I'll give her the credit. She mentioned she was baking vegan cupcakes this week- Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes, to be exact- and invited me to join her. And who am I to say no to an offer involving cupcakes? So stop by Caroline's and say, Hola.

I had such a good time in the kitchen this week making these sweet little gems. In fact, I'll be working on more recipes for vegan cupcakes in the near future, including basic vanilla cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, carrot, perhaps, and a few other tasty flavor combos.

Now that I know how easy it is to bake delicious gluten-free vegan cupcakes, the sky's the limit.

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Gluten-Free Blueberry Cake Cupcakes

Love blueberry cake? Here's my cupcake version.

Just in time for July Fourth, here's a sweet little recipe for blueberry cake cupcakes. I know that's redundant- calling it a blueberry cake cupcake. I mean, how can a blueberry cake be a cupcake too? It's either cake or cupcake. It can't be both.

Or can it?

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