bakingglutenfreememories Who doesn’t enjoy a good cupcake every now and then? About a year ago, I shared my Joyful Chocolate Cupcakes recipe and so now it is time to share my vanilla cupcakes, which is another classic flavor.
These gluten-free vanilla cupcakes are light, soft, and moist. They are so tasty, they practically melt in your mouth. The cake itself is sweetened with cane sugar, but the amount is still less than most cupcakes contain so that they are not too sweet.
The buttercream has a lovely rich, vanilla flavor that when combined with the cake, makes an irresistible dessert! The cupcake and buttercream recipes are both rather simple to mix together, making about 15 frosted cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves are also dairy free, just not the buttercream. However, the buttercream can be substituted with a vegan butter like Miyoko’s European Style Vegan Butter.
Ingredients You Will Need:
-Eggs
-Oil
-Cold water
-Vanilla extract
-Lemon juice
-Cane sugar
-Gluten-free all-purpose flour
-Almond flour
-Salt
-Baking powder
-Baking soda
-Butter
-Powdered sugar
Mix and Match
These cupcakes can also be paired with my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting or the vanilla buttercream in this recipe can be used with my Joyful Chocolate Cupcakes recipe for additional options.
How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tin with paper cups, or lightly oil the tin.
In a medium size bowl, add the gluten-free flour, almond flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Almond flour can sometimes be clumpy so mixing with a wire whisk will help to break up the clumps. This helps keep the batter smooth once it is combined with the wet ingredients. Set the bowl aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, cane sugar, and vanilla extract and use a handheld mixer to cream the ingredients together. A stand mixer will also work! Then add in the lemon juice, oil, and cold water.
Next, pour the bowl of dry ingredients into the wet and use the mixer on low speed until the batter becomes nice and smooth. You may need to pause in between and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that no flour is stuck on the sides of the bowl.
Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 the way with batter and bake in the oven on the middle oven rack for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting them.
How to Make Vanilla Buttercream
Allow the butter to become soft before using. The buttercream will otherwise not turn out with cold and firm butter. I prefer setting my butter out in advance on the counter until it is nice and soft.
Using the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, cream the butter a little on low speed. Then pour in the vanilla extract, water, and the powdered sugar. Use the mixer again and gradually increase the speed to medium to medium-high in order to fully cream the ingredients together. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed before continuing to mix. The buttercream should look creamy as pictured below.
This buttercream can be spread on cupcakes with a knife or can be piped on. However, using a bag to pipe on the frosting, does tend to use up more frosting then just spreading it on does. It really just depends on how much buttercream frosting you like on your cupcakes!
Storage Tips and Notes
– Keep any leftover buttercream refrigerated, including any frosted cupcakes left out for long duration
– Allow chilled buttercream to thaw before spreading on cupcakes. You may need to use a mixer to cream it again before spreading it on.
– Store any cupcakes without frosting in a sealed container for 2 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 4 days. They can also be stored in the freezer.
– To get the soft pink buttercream as pictured, I mixed a small amount of beet powder into a portion of the buttercream
Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1¾ cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I like to use King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour) (261g)
- ⅓ cup almond flour (38g)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup cane sugar (224g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅓ cup canola oil (74ml)
- 1 cup cold water (237ml)
Vanilla Buttercream
- ½ cup butter, softened (8T)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 3 cups powdered sugar (366g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with paper cups or lightly oil the tin.
- In a medium size bowl, add the gluten-free flour, almond flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Use a whisk to stir the ingredients together, breaking up any clumps. Set the bowl aside.
- Take a large mixing bowl or use the bowl of a stand mixer and add the eggs, cane sugar, and vanilla extract. Use a mixer to cream the ingredients together. Then add in the lemon juice, oil, and cold water.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and use the mixer on low speed to combine the batter until it is nice and smooth. Pause as needed to scrape down the sides of the bowl, ensuring that no flour is stuck and continue mixing.
- Then fill each muffin cup about ⅔ the way with batter and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting them.
Vanilla Buttercream Instructions
- Place the softened butter into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a handheld mixer and slightly cream the butter on low speed.
- Then pour in the vanilla extract, water, and powdered sugar. Beat well with the mixer, gradually increasing the speed from low to medium / medium-high. Stop the mixer as needed to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat until the buttercream is smooth and creamy.
- Spread or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes.
