Let's Celebrate! Chocolate Cupcakes

My favorite Julia Child quote is, “A party without cake is just a meeting.” Whether you’re celebrating Gluten Free & More’s 20th anniversary (as we are) or your own special event, how better than with cupcakes? After all, a cupcake is simply a mini cake in a convenient, self-serve package.

By Diane Kittle

The number one seller at my bakery is and always has been a chocolate cupcake. Here’s the winning recipe, along with ways to dress it up and make cupcakes the hit of your next celebration.

Chocolate Cupcakes

MAKES 24 TO 25 CUPCAKES

This recipe is the little black dress of cupcakes. You can dress it up with a variety of fillings, frostings and decorative toppings or keep it basic with a simple vanilla or chocolate frosting. For a deeper chocolate flavor, increase the cocoa powder in this recipe by ¼ cup (to 1 cup total) and increase the milk by ¼ cup (to 2¼ cups total). This recipe can be made egg-free; see instructions.

3 cups Dee’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend or all-purpose flour blend of choice

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if already in your flour blend)

2½ cups sugar

1 cup canola oil or vegetable oil of choice

5 large eggs, room temperature*

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups rice milk or milk of choice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners in 24 to 25 cupcake tins.

2. Sift together flour blend, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum (if using). Set aside.

3. Place sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer. At low speed, slowly add oil and mix until combined. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. At medium-low speed, add eggs, one at a time, incorporating each egg into mixture before adding the next. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add vanilla. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and mix well 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

4. Add half the sifted dry ingredients to the batter and mix on low speed to just combine. Slowly pour half the milk into the batter, mixing the batter gently to absorb the milk. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add remaining dry ingredients to the batter and repeat the process, slowly adding remaining milk. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

5. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and mix 2 minutes until batter is smooth. Scrape down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

6. Transfer batter to lined cupcake tins with an ice cream scoop. Batter should come to within an 1/8 of an inch of the top of each cupcake liner for a nicely rounded baked cupcake.

7. Place cupcake tins in preheated oven, preferably on the middle rack, and bake about 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

8. When done, take cupcakes out of oven and let cool on a wire rack. Remove cupcakes from cupcake tins and proceed with filling, frosting and decorating, as desired.

Each cupcake (without frosting and filling) contains 254 calories, 10g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 42mg cholesterol, 225mg sodium, 39g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 22g sugars, 3g protein, 25Est GL.

Dee’s Gluten-Free Flour Blend

MAKES 3 CUPS

2 cups brown rice flour, white rice flour or combination

¾ cup potato starch (not potato flour)

¼ cup tapioca starch/flour

1. Mix ingredients together until well combined.

2. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container until used. Bring to room temperature before using.

Each cup contains 576 calories, 3g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 0mg cholesterol, 8mg sodium, 129g carbohydrate, 5g fiber, 1g sugars, 8g protein, 87Est GL.

*Egg-Free Solution

For Egg-Free Chocolate Cupcakes, omit 5 eggs. Combine 5 tablespoons flax meal with ¾ cup hot water; let sit to thicken at least 15 minutes. With a wire whisk, briskly whisk flax meal mixture by hand up to 1 minute. (This adds air to the mixture and significantly increases the volume.) Add this mixture all at once to sugar/oil combination in step 3 to replace 5 eggs. Proceed with recipe as instructed.

Dee's Egg-Free Tips

Allergic to Flax? If you’re allergic to flax, use your favorite egg replacement instead of flax meal.

Good to Know I don’t recommend replacing more than 5 eggs in a recipe. It affects the structure of the batter. So if you want additional egg-free cupcakes, don’t double the recipe. Simply make it a second time.

Make Ahead At my bakery, we prepare several small containers of “flax meal eggs” each night to use the next day. Here’s the recipe to replace 1 egg: Mix 1 tablespoon flax meal with 3 tablespoons hot water in a small container and let sit a few minutes to thicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator as you prepare to bake. Place mixture in a small metal or glass bowl and whisk vigorously to increase its volume. Use this to replace 1 egg in your recipe. Increase recipe as necessary to replace up to 5 eggs.