These vanilla cupcakes are moist, light, gluten-free AND dairy-free. The recipe is super simple and can be mixed up in one bowl for easy clean up!
These cupcakes would be perfect with my vegan chocolate frosting, strawberry buttercream frosting, vanilla buttercream frosting or my fav, easy chocolate buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
I prefer to mix up my own gluten-free flour blend. I find that most store-bought blends are quite starchy and I don’t like the texture they create in cakes and cupcakes as much. My blend also has much better flavor than your average rice flour blend. The best part is that DIY flour blends are a HUGE cost saver. Here is the mix that I prefer:
- 1 cup sweet white sorghum flour
- 1/2 c brown rice flour
- 1/2 c millet flour
- 2/3 c potato starch
- 1/3 c tapioca starch
For more info on mixing up your own flour blend, check out my post Gluten-Free Flour Blends.
If you prefer a store bought blend, I like King Arthur Flour’s All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour. This is their blend without binders (xanthan gum, guar gum). Omit the xanthan gum in the recipe if your flour blend already contains it or other binders like inulin and guar gum.
Vanilla – Seems so simple but there are options. I prefer to get vanilla flavor into my cupcakes without the alcohol in extracts. Cook’s Vanilla Powder is the perfect way to do this. It’s slightly sweetened, pale and bursting with vanilla flavor. Vanilla bean pastes still have some alcohol in them, but I do like the flavor.
Milk – I am mostly dairy-free (other than butter) so I use a dairy-free milk substitute. Any unsweetened one will work in the recipe. Dairy is very helpful in getting gluten-free cakes to brown, so expect yours to be more pale if you you use a sub.
Xanthan gum is a binder used in most gluten-free baked goods. If your flour blend has it, just leave out the 1/2 tsp called for in the recipe.
Tools
My absolute favorite tool for cupcake and muffin making is this Wilton Perfect Fill Batter Tip. It’s a tip that fits into a piping bag and allows you to fill paper liners with out the messy drips and glops of batter all over the pan. It has a silicone tip that opens and closes with pressure on the piping bag. I NEVER make cupcakes or muffins without it. Unless of course there are blueberries or something else that would clog it up – it must be a smooth batter like this cupcake batter.
Cupcake liners are a pretty basic item but I love a natural cupcake liner without chemicals.
Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
These gluten-free vanilla cupcakes are moist, light and is sublime. My FAVORITE cake gluten-free or not.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 c gluten-free flour blend*
- 3/4 c + 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 c oil (neutral oil like sunflower or canola)
- 1/2 c milk or non-dairy substitute
- 1 tsp vanilla powder or extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt and vanilla, if in powder form, into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Beat the eggs, milk, oil and (liquid) vanilla. This can be done in a 2 cup measuring cup (or larger) to save using another bowl.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and stir until the batter is smooth. An electric mixer is not necessary.
- Divide the batter evenly between the liners (about 2/3-3/4 full)
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the top is set and bounces back from a gentle tap.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
*If you use a flour blend that contains xanthan gum, guar gum or inulin, omit the xanthan gum called for in the recipe.
A simple DIY gluten-free flour blend
- 2 c brown rice flour
- 2/3 c potato starch
- 1/3 cup tapioca starch
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Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 500Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 20gCholesterol 78mgSodium 387mgCarbohydrates 61gFiber 1gSugar 34gProtein 10g
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated using information from the Nutritionix database. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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