Gluten-Free Ginger Cupcakes

These gluten-free ginger cupcakes start with a simple base of a vanilla cake recipe and then add plenty of fresh ginger. In developing this recipe, I found that the flavor of the ginger would disappear. So with 1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, the flavor finally came through. I know a lot of bakers use powdered ginger in their recipes but I prefer to use fresh. If you haven’t worked with fresh ginger before, here is my blog post that will show you a really easy way to peel and grate it. How to use Fresh Ginger All you need is a spoon and a microplane to make quick work of it.

I have provided my favorite vanilla cake recipe. It is super simple and one of my favorite cakes of all time. But if you are in a rush or don’t want to bake from scratch, feel free to use your favorite gluten-free vanilla cake box mix. This recipe makes about 1 dozen so if your box mix makes 2 dozen, be sure to double the amount of fresh ginger.

Gluten-Free Flour Blends

I have used several different gluten-free flour blends with this recipe and they all worked well. My custom blend of sorghum, millet and brown rice flours with some starches is my favorite. If you prefer a store bought blend, I like King Arthur Flour All Purpose Gluten-Free flour the best. See the notes in the recipe for a super simple DIY gluten-free flour blend or my blog post on gluten-free flours.

Frosting Options

Ginger goes great with lemon so, top these gluten-free ginger cupcakes with a lemony buttercream frosting. This is my idea of a perfect, sophisticated sweet treat. Use lemon zest and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice instead of milk in your favorite buttercream frosting. Here’s my recipe for vanilla buttercream frosting.

If you want to double up on the ginger flavor, top the cupcakes with ginger frosting. Use the same buttercream frosting as the base and add 1/2 tsp ground ginger.

If you prefer a cake, this recipe will make an 8″ or 9″ round, single layer. The recipe doubles very well to make a 2 layer cake.

Gluten-Free Ginger Cupcakes

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Total Time: 28 minutes

With the addition of plenty of fresh grated ginger, these gluten-free cupcakes have a wonderfully gentle kick.

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Ingredients

• 1¼ cups gluten-free flour blend*
• 1½ tsps baking powder
• ½ tsp xanthan gum
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ oil (sunflower, canola, vegetable)
• ½ c milk or milk substitute
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Place the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Place the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, vanilla and ginger into a mixing bowl. Beat until foamy. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
4. Fill the liners about 3/4 full
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Notes

*Be sure to use a gluten-free flour blend not a "baking blend." My preference for a store-bought blend is King Arthur Flour's Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour.

If using a gluten-free flour blend that contains xanthan gum, omit it from the recipe.

To mix up your own gluten-free flour blend, combine:
2 cups brown rice flour,
2/3 c potato starch
1/3 c tapioca starch.

Recommended Products

• 
  Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

Nutrition Information

Yield 12 Serving Size 1 cupcake (unfrosted)
Amount Per Serving Calories 224Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 33mgSodium 138mgCarbohydrates 29gFiber 0gSugar 17gProtein 3g

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.