Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

These gluten-free cupcakes are fluffy, moist and packed with fresh strawberries. Top with my pink strawberry buttercream for extra strawberry flavor. Ready in just 35 minutes! The ingredients are simple and, you should already have everything you need.

Don’t miss out on my full list of gluten-free cupcakes. There are enough to please everyone, including my gluten-free apple pie cupcakes, gluten-free funfetti cupcakes, and gluten-free dairy-free vanilla cupcakes.

Gluten-Free Cupcakes – Ingredients

Gluten-Free Flour

I have used several different gluten-free flour blends for this recipe and they all worked well.

If you prefer a store bought blend, I recommend King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour. It is widely available and works well in so many of my recipes. Be sure to check out my collection of King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour recipes.

Cup4Cup and Pamela’s All Purpose Artisan Blend will work well too. All three of these gluten-free flours are certified gluten-free and contain binders. If you use any gluten-free flour blend that includes xanthan gum, guar gum or inulin (binders), omit the xanthan gum called for in the recipe.

See the notes in the recipe for a super simple DIY gluten-free flour blend or my blog post on the best gluten-free flours for baking. My custom DIY flour blend of sorghum, millet and brown rice is my favorite gluten-free flour for cakes, muffins and cupcakes. It has more flavor than your average rice flour blend.

Here is my special flour blend that I love for this recipe and many more of my gluten-free recipes:

• 1 c sweet white sorghum flour
• 3/4 c millet flour
• ¼ c brown rice flour
• 2/3 c potato starch
• 1/3 c tapioca starch

Fresh Strawberries

Fresh, sweet strawberries are the best option for this gluten-free cupcake recipe. I have adjusted the liquid amount to compensate for the moisture that will come from adding strawberries to the batter. Frozen strawberries don’t work as well because they will break down more and make the cake mushy.

I make it an option to mix powdered sugar in with the chopped strawberries. Taste one of your strawberries before mixing them in. If they are not flavorful and sweet, the powdered sugar will help bring out the flavor.

You’ll see some recipes that recommend cooking the strawberries to reduce the liquid and almost turn them into a puree. This turns the cake pink and makes it so there are no chunks of strawberry. Personally I prefer biting into the cupcake to find moist pockets of strawberry chunks. I also find that the strawberry flavor disappears a little so I stir in the chopped fresh strawberries into the completed batter.

Gluten-Free Cupcake Toppings

These cupcakes are awesome on their own, but of course cupcakes are supposed to have frosting, so here are some options:

• For a double dose of strawberry, try my pink strawberry buttercream frosting. It’s uses just freeze-dried strawberries to flavor and color the frosting. No extracts or food dyes needed!
• Chocolate and strawberries are a perfect combination, so this vegan chocolate frosting, vegan chocolate cream cheese frosting, chocolate buttercream frosting for cupcakes is wonderful on these cupcakes.
• If you are a vanilla fan, this vanilla buttercream frosting works great too.
• If you want a lighter topping, use a simple white icing (photo above) by mixing 1/2 c powdered sugar with 1 tbsp water or orange juice. Orange and strawberry are a great combo!
• Or for a low sugar icing, try my Icing without Powdered Sugar which uses coconut cream as the base.

Gluten-Free Strawberry Cupcakes

Author: Janet Harlow

Course: Baked Goods

Cuisine: American

Servings: 15 cupcakes

These gluten-free cupcakes are fluffy, moist and packed with fresh strawberries. Top with my pink strawberry buttercream for extra strawberry flavor. Ready in just 35 minutes!

5 from 5 reviews

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Recommended Products

• Vanilla Powder
• King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour

Ingredients

  

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• ⅔ c finely chopped strawberries
• 2 tsp powdered sugar optional
• 1¼ c gluten-free flour blend* gluten-free, rice-free flour option
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp xanthan gum (omit if your blend contains guar gum, xanthan gum or inulin)
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ c sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ c oil sunflower oil, avocado oil, canola oil
• 6 Tbsp milk or milk substitute
• 2 tsp vanilla extract, powder or bean paste homemade gluten-free vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
• This recipe can easily be prepared without an electric mixer.
• Finely chop the strawberries. If the strawberries are not sweet and flavorful, add 2 tsp of powdered sugar and stir. If your strawberries are sweet and flavorful, leave out the powdered sugar.
• Combine the gluten-free flour, baking powder, xanthan gum (if using) and salt in a large mixing bowl and whisk.
• In a small bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla thoroughly.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until smooth. If using an electric mixer, mix no more than 1 minute.
• Using a wood spoon or rubber spatula, stir in the chopped strawberries.
• Fill the liners about 2/3 full and bake 18-20 minutes or until the tops are set and bounce back from a gentle tap.
• Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• Top with my vanilla buttercream frosting, chocolate buttercream frosting or pink strawberry frosting.

Notes

*This recipe was tested with King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour. Pamela’s All Purpose Artisan Blend and Cup4Cup are similar will work well too. All of these are certified gluten-free.

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

For an easy DIY gluten-free flour blend, combine:
2 c brown rice flour
2/3 c potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch

Or see my post on how to make your own gluten-free flour blend.

Did you make this recipe?Let me know how it was! Tag @chefjanetk on Instagram.