Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla/Yellow Cake Recipe & Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cupcakes Recipe

Podcast Note: I find it ironic that I said the date in the podcast was "Saturday April 4" lolol... so I obviously subconsciously knew that this would not go live until Monday April 4th! lolol Happy Monday y'all!!

Printable version of today's recipe.

Today’s recipe came from a failed experiment. A few of my colleagues and I are celebrating a friend’s birthday tomorrow and they have auto-immune health issues and eat a low inflammatory diet. What this means for baking is that they avoid gluten, eggs, coconut, and bananas. 

I asked our birthday colleague what kind of cupcakes they liked, and out of all the choices I offered, they said chocolate cake with chocolate icing -OR- chocolate chip cookie cupcakes. Personally, I think anyone who really enjoys baking, also wants to show off their baking… so I opted to make the more complicated “chocolate chip cookie cupcakes.” 

Silly, silly me. 

I’ve made chocolate chip cookie cupcakes in the past, but never as a vegan recipe without eggs. So I attempted to try a shortcut and made a gluten-free box cake mix recipe with an egg substitute (a mix of water, baking powder, and oil), but I knew trying to replace 4 eggs would be tricky. And anytime you use a LOT of baking powder, you generally taste it in the final product. Surprisingly to me, the batter tasted great… but the finished product? A total flop. They tasted terrible and I wasted a perfectly good gluten-free cake mix. Oh well. 

Then I spent about an hour looking at gluten-free vegan yellow cake recipes online. There are plenty to choose from, but I was hesitant to try any recipe with a lot of additional baking powder or baking soda. I finally decided to start with a recipe from Allergylicious. Many of the vegan cake recipes I saw were based on wartime “crazy cakes” or “wacky cakes”, or cakes that were made when things like milk and eggs were rationed during war times. Those cakes tended to have more oil than a traditional cake and increased leavening powder. If baking soda was used, an acid like white vinegar or apple cider vinegar was added to activate the soda to rise. Baking powder already has an acid added (cream of tartar) so it doesn’t need an additional acid. Some recipes even called for using both, which also helped with creating a better rise on the final product. 

From the comments I read on the Allergylicious post, I decided to cut back slightly on the gluten-free flour and add a tablespoon of ground psyllium husks, which helps to hold the shape of risen baked goods, along with adding texture that is similar to wheat. I also added a little bit of turmeric to add yellow color, which would normally come from egg yolks, and I added butter extract (in addition to vanilla extract) to better replicate the flavor of a yellow cake. Finally, I added ½ cup of Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips. The mini chocolate chips are key, because they aren’t heavy enough to weigh down the batter and sink to the bottom while baking. 

The cupcakes rose beautifully and I went with store bought shortcuts to finish them. I frosted with store-bought vanilla icing and decorated them each with a half of a Cybel’s ‘Free to Eat” allergen free chocolate chip cookie. They are my favorite store bought gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and they just happen to be vegan as well.  If you DO want to make your own homemade gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, I highly suggest my award-winning recipe, but I might be biased!

Gluten-Free Vegan Yellow Cake Recipe &

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

The recipe is adapted from: Allergylicious.com 

It’s also Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Vegan, and Soy-Free

Makes 2 - 8” cake rounds, 18 cupcakes, or 1 - 9 x 13 baking dish

Printable version of this recipe

Dry Ingredients

2 ¾ cups all-purpose gluten-free flour for baking (I used King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure flour)

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon turmeric (for yellow color - OPTIONAL)

1 tablespoon psyllium powder (for helping hold the texture of the cupcakes when they rise, fiber is a bonus)

Wet Ingredients

2 cups non-dairy milk (I used oat milk, but only because my store was out of my normal almond milk)

2 tablespoons white vinegar

⅔ cups extra virgin olive oil (or any oil that doesn’t have a lot of flavor)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon butter extract or flavoring

Add-In’s: 

½ cup mini chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Allergen-Free Mini-Chocolate Chips)

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

• If making cake in round cake pans, line pans with parchment paper rounds and/or non-stick cooking spray, or line cupcake pans with paper liners, if using a 9x13 pan, spritz with non-stick cooking spray. 

• In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. 

• In another bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. 

• Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk together until ingredients are well incorporated and smooth, there should be no lumps. 

• Allow batter to rest for 10 minutes to allow the psyllium to thicken the batter. 

• After resting the batter, whisk the batter again, it should be thickened,  IF you are making the chocolate chip cupcakes, then gently stir in the mini chocolate chips, if you just want a yellow cake, leave out the chocolate chips.

• Add batter evenly to round cake pans, a 9x13 greased baking dish, or evenly into individual cupcake liners. If making cupcakes, fill nearly to the top. 

• Baking times: for cupcakes = 18-20 minutes, for 8” round cake pans = 30-35 minutes, for a 9x13” baking dish = 30-35 minutes. 

• Test the cake for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the cake or cupcake. It should come out mostly clean, with a crumb or two, you don’t want to see wet batter coating the toothpick. 

• When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from pans, and then frosting & decorating. 

Kitchen Notes: 

• Turmeric. The turmeric for color is completely optional, leave it out or don’t use it if you don’t have it. 

• Sugar. You can probably use other types of sugar in this recipe if you don’t want to use white sugar. But I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know how it would turn out. If you use a liquid sugar like honey or maple syrup, you may want to decrease the other liquids by ⅓ of  a cup. 

• Psyllium husk powder. This is relatively easy to find on Amazon or in your local health food store. If you don’t want to use this, then increase the all purpose flour to 3 cups instead of 2 ¾ cups and just leave it out altogether. However, I have not made it without the psyllium, so I can’t guarantee the cake will come out as well. 

• Non-dairy milk. Honestly, I think you can use whatever milk you prefer. Coconut milk, almond milk, even dairy milk will work fine in this recipe if that is what you would prefer to use. 

• Olive oil. If you do not have or do not like to use extra virgin olive oil, I would recommend using a light tasting vegetable or coconut oil. If you can use butter all the better. If you do use butter, you can leave out the butter flavoring. 

Kitchen wisdom for today's recipe:

photo from wikipedia.com

• 
  

• “I want people to fall in love with themselves and to be really proud and full of joy for the space they take up. If someone else appreciates the space you take up, then that’s icing on the cake.” — Jonathan Van Ness

Need another serving? 

Please join me on facebook.com/Gingerlemongirlblog to share any comments and/or questions that you may have about today’s recipe. Happy gluten-free baking! 

Grain-Free, Gluten-Free Yellow Cupcakes Recipe

My friend Pamela posted a message on facebook the other day asking for basic grain-free, gluten-free cupcakes. Eggs were fine, sugar was fine...she just wanted a grain-free cupcake that she could serve to friends and family.

When she asked I was intrigued. I knew Pamela was also intolerant to coconut (as I am) and many grain-free cupcake recipes call for coconut flour. I knew that was out for Pamela and I wondered how we could come up with a fluffy, delicious cupcake that her gluten-eating guests would enjoy.

I decided to play around with my almond flour scones recipe to see what I could come up with. I always liked the texture of that recipe and how easy it worked. I like the combination of almond flour with arrowroot starch. It gives a good crumb to baked goods and it just "feels" like you're eating a wheat-based dessert. I loved that with that recipe in particular it looked like a regular scone, was not only gluten-free but lower in carbs than your average gluten-free baked good.

So here's what I came up with! Please note the intial recipe does have a bit of an "eggy" flavor, almost like a rich pound cake (thanks for reminding me of that Dad!)... While I like the flavor, I was concerned that it might be off-putting to other cupcake lovers... so I've included notes at the bottom of the recipe on how to only use 2 eggs, so the cupcakes won't have as strong of an egg taste. If you try the "less eggs" version, I'd love to know how it turned out for you and what substitute you used! Despite the "pound-cake" type flavor, the cupcakes themselves are quite light & fluffy, which is a feat with almond flour baked goods!

Also... use whatever frosting you prefer! If you need grain-free, lower sugar frostings, check out the frostings from Elana's pantry... honestly, I was a fan of these lovely cupcakes just the way they were without a fancy frosting!

Fluffy Gluten-Free, Grain-Free Yellow Cupcakes
Free of gluten, dairy, grains, soy
Created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
Printer-friendly recipe

Yields: 12 Cupcakes or 1 - 9” layer cake

Dry Ingredients:
223 grams/ 2 (packed) cups, blanched almond flour
94 grams/ ¾ cup arrowroot starch
150 grams/ ¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:
154 grams/ 3 large eggs (see option for 2 eggs in notes below)
121 grams/ ½ cup + 1 tablespoon almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
61 grams/ ⅓ cup light-tasting olive oil (or other mild tasting oil)
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and spritz liners with non-stick cooking spray or brush with olive oil or coconut oil.
2. In a large bowl whisk together all dry ingredients.
3. In a small bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until you have a wet batter.
4. Spoon batter into greased cupcake liners until ¾ full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
5. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before decorating with your favorite frosting.

Notes:

• To have a less “eggy” flavor, use 2 eggs and add an additional ¼ cup of any of the following: applesauce, pumpkin puree, mashed bananas, pureed sweet potatoes or butternut squash. To keep the cupcake tasting very vanilla-y, use applesauce instead of the other options. 
• Milk: Use whatever milk substitute you would like. If you can use dairy milk, feel free to use that as well. 
• Sugar: Feel free to use coconut palm sugar or unrefined cane sugar in the same amount as the sugar. I'm not exactly sure how to use honey or maple syrup, as you would need to adjust the liquids in this recipe as well. 
• Egg-Free? NO idea... I haven't tried it completely egg-free, and I'm not sure how well it would work... however, if you try it and it works out well for you, please let me know how you did it!

Pumpkin Chai Latte Cupcakes with Nutmeg Cardamom Icing (Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Vegan)

No, I didn't throw paleo out the window! This is one of the recipes in my baking cookbook and I've been meaning to share it with you here on the blog because there's actually a typo in the cookbook. And it's my fault! I looked over that recipe 500,037 times and still somehow didn't catch that typo!! Fingers crossed that's the only typo in the book!

But I really want you to have this recipe. It's probably one of my very favorites in the entire book not only because it's gluten-free, but because it contains pumpkin and chai spices, it's soy-free AND it's also vegan. Yep. No eggs or dairy in that lovely cake.

This is the recipe I keep turning too when people ask me to make them cupcakes for a friend or a neighbor, for a birthday or just because. They are spicy and sweet and they make nearly all tummies happy! They are moist and decadent and have a really lovely crumb. And that homemade icing, it's TO DIE FOR.

I actually made the cake this week for a fundraiser for a family in our community. They are going through some really tough times with medical issues and when a neighbor asked if I could donate a cake, I gladly jumped at the chance. Even if it's a treat that I really shouldn't be eating due to sugar or grains, it's still a joy to make them for other people.

So here's the deal with the recipe in cookbook, this recipe is listed on page: 187 in the cakes and cupcakes chapter as Chai Latte Cupcakes with Nutmeg Cardamom Icing. What needs to be corrected is that the original recipe in the book ONLY makes about 9-10 cupcakes and NOT 24. It's a small batch recipe. It can EASILY be doubled, tripled, even quadrupled! For the cake above I actually tripled the recipe and ended up with a 2 layer cake and about 8 cupcakes. How I managed to look at that recipe hundreds of times and miss that mistake, I will never know... but trust me, it won't make 24 cupcakes! (Unless maybe they are minis! lol)

Either way, it's a really delicious cake or cupcake. I'd love to come up with a grain-free version of this recipe without eggs (since there are SO many folks who follow paleo, but who also need to follow an autoimmune protocol or have egg sensitivities), but until then I hope you can enjoy this version! And while you're at it, double the recipe and share them with a friend!

Pumpkin Chai Latte Cupcakes with Nutmeg Cardamom Icing
Created by Carrie Forbes
Reprinted with permission from "The Everything Gluten-Free Baking Cookbook" 
Free of gluten, dairy, soy, eggs
Printer-friendly Recipe

Ingredients | Serves 9

Cupcakes
1 cup brown rice flour or sorghum flour
¹⁄³ cup arrowroot starch or tapioca starch
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¹⁄8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 cup almond milk, warmed to 110°F
4 black tea bags
¼ cup light-tasting olive oil or canola oil
½ cup unsweetened applesauce or plain pumpkin purée (I highly recommend the pumpkin) 
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting
1 cup Spectrum Palm Shortening (Or Crisco™ if you're cool with that or butter if you can tolerate dairy!)
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3–5 tablespoons ice water

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with 9-10 paper liners and spritz with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the brown rice flour or sorghum flour, arrowroot starch or tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, and pepper. Set dry ingredients aside.
3. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, heat almond milk in the microwave to 110°F. Add the tea bags and allow to steep for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags.
4. In a medium bowl mix together the tea-steeped milk, oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until you have a thick cake batter.
5. Fill the lined muffin tins 3/4 full of batter.
6. Bake for 25–30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean and the tops are golden-brown. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then turn out cupcakes onto wire racks to cool completely.
7. Make the frosting: In a medium bowl, cut shortening into confectioners’ sugar with a pastry blender. Stir in spices. (If you prefer a less-spicy frosting, use only ½ teaspoon of each.) Mixture will be crumbly. Thin the frosting with ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you get the consistency you desire to frost the cupcakes.
8. Store any remaining cupcakes in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Carrie's Notes:

• To increase the pumpkin flavor in the cake even more, you can easily replace up to 1/3 cup of the almond milk with additional pumpkin puree. 
• Any type of non-dairy milk OR regular milk will work.
• Coconut palm sugar will work perfectly in place of the sugar, you can also decrease the sugar to 1/2 cup without compromising the texture of the cake. 
• For chai tea, simply whisk together the spics called for in this cake and add 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture to your regular hot tea with a splash of almond milk or regular milk. Coconut milk would also be lovely. 

Gluten-Free Strawberry Cake Recipe

Summer screams strawberries to me! The early summer strawberries are now available in eastern nc... and normally I have to make a pie. My great-grandma P's best strawberry pie, as a matter of fact. And really, you should make that too.

But if you're not up to making a pie, you can make this cake. This soft, light, white cake filled with fresh strawberries!

We served this cake on Sunday for my awesome mom-in-law Carol. To make things easy, and to have a less-heavy dessert after a cookout, I simply frosted the cake with Cool Whip. But I know many MANY of you are not "fake" whipped topping fans, and that's A-Ok, because you can have your frosting too! For the "real food" folks, you could easily make a light, dairy-free coconut milk frosting, like this one: Elana's Vegan Coconut Cream Frosting. Or you could simply use real whipped cream with a little sugar added. So pick your favorite way to frost it.

However, no matter what type of whipped topping you decide to use, make SURE not to frost the cake until it's completely cool, otherwise, it will melt and be a soggy mess! Then store the cake in the refrigerator for a few hours (or overnight) before serving. This is definitely a cake that improves with a little time, so feel free to make it a day ahead of time for the yummiest results!

Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberry Cake
free of gluten and soy (and easily dairy-free)
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1 cup + 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or tapioca starch/flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 tablespoons TEASPOONS baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Wet Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup - 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 cup almond milk, or other non-dairy milk
1/2 cup light-tasting olive oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of each pan. Spritz each pan with non-stick cooking spray or brush with light-tasting olive oil and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a large bowl mix together sugar and fresh strawberries until they are fully coated in the sugar (this will help keep the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the cake). Add the egg whites, almond milk, olive oil, and almond extract. Whisk wet ingredients together thoroughly. Slowly stir in dry mixture a little at a time, until it's thoroughly mixed into the wet ingredients. Pour cake batter evenly between the two greased cake pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes until the cake is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. Frost with cool whip, coconut cream frosting (see recipe suggestions in above text), or your favorite vanilla or cream cheese frosting. (Pillsbury vanilla frosting and cream cheese frosting are both gluten-free and dairy-free). Top cake with additional fresh strawberries if desired.

**Cake is best when refrigerated for several hours before serving. Store cake in the refrigerator as it is quite moist and will not keep well on the counter. 

Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes (A Master Baking Mix Recipe)

One of the best recipes that I've shared over the years is my Gluten-Free Master Baking Mix. I created it in 2008 before Gluten-Free Bisquick was available. It's the same concept, but my homemade version is a bit more versatile than the store-bought brand. The homemade Master Baking Mix works really well in a huge variety of recipes because it already has shortening in the mix, along with protein from blanched almond meal. The mix also has ground flax seeds in it for additional fiber and omega 3 fatty acids.

Along with biscuits, pancakes, cookies, and muffins... it also turns out you can make a really good cupcake! These cupcakes are SO easy to whip up with the master baking mix. It literally takes less than five minutes to mix them together and pour them into cupcake liners!

Have a last minute school birthday party? Need a quick dessert? These cupcakes are the perfect solution. They are a basic yellow cupcake which means you can really personalize them by adding your favorite flavorings or spices. Feel free to frost these cupcakes with your favorite kind of homemade or store-bought gluten-free frosting. (Pillsbury brand frostings are gluten-free and are great to have on hand for dessert emergencies!) You can also just leave these little cakes plain jane and eat them as is! That's actually how we enjoyed them.

This recipe is a sneak preview for my NEW cookbook coming out in October 2013, "The Everything Gluten-Free Baking Cookbook." There will be an ENTIRE chapter devoted to recipes using my popular Master Baking Mix! 

Gluten-Free Master Baking Mix Vanilla Cupcakes
free of gluten/dairy/casein/soy
created by Carrie of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Yields: 12 cupcakes or 1 (8-inch) single layer cake

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups Carrie's Gluten-Free Master Baking Mix
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup  1/4 cup light-tasting olive oil or canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Gluten-free frosting, if desired (store-bought or homemade --> use almond milk and spectrum palm shortening for a super easy version)

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Lightly spritz non-stick cooking spray into each liner and set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together baking mix and white sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add milk, olive oil, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until you have a lump-free cake batter. Fill each paper liner ¾ full with cake batter. Bake cupcakes for 12-15 minutes until light, golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Happy Election Day! Get out there and VOTE!

Have you voted? I have! Now get out there and VOTE today folks! Your voice truly counts! 

These cupcakes are simply made from my gluten-free homemade yellow cake mix. I added red & blue sprinkles in the batter and on top of the frosting for color. 

The frosting is basically a recipe like this: http://sometimesiveg.com/2012/02/the-secret-of-vegan-buttercream-icing/, except I thin out the icing with water instead of milk. 

I used a large round 2A icing tip for the round swirls. 

That's it! Happy Election Day!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Michael and I are enjoying the first real vacation we've had in several years. We're spending time with Michael's sister Lisa and her family in beautiful Fleming Island, Florida. 

It's gorgeous here. Comfortably warm, breezy days, and cool, crisp evenings have just been one of the wonderful things about this trip. Lisa's husband Todd has spent his entire career working in the grocery business and helps stores know the best foods to buy, the best organic items available, the best produce... and BONUS: he loves to cook. Todd gets gluten-free. The first morning we were here Todd decided to make pancakes and from the kitchen I heard, "Carrie, would you like some gluten-free pancakes?" 

Do you know you how rare it is to hear something like that when you're visiting friends or family? Even awesome friends & family? 

And not only did Todd have a gluten-free mix... Todd used a clean mixing bowl and utensils. Todd cleaned and scrubbed the griddle and spatula before he made my pancakes. I think I was seriously speechless for the first time in a LONG time. 

Then that evening Todd made a naturally gluten-free dinner of barbecued ribs (making sure the sauce was gluten-free), twice baked potatoes, coleslaw, and black-eyed peas. Talk about thinking things through and making sure your guests could eat well. I don't know if he and his wife will ever really understand what that means to me. 

So today I decided to make cupcakes. I needed to make dinner and cupcakes for my family. We may be world's apart in our politics, but when people care enough to feed you well, that's truly something special. 

Please keep in mind these delicious little cupcakes are still kind of a work in progress. I made them with the only gluten-free ingredients I had on hand, a boxed mix of Sof'ella Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Mix that I brought on vacation. This mix contains: white rice flour, navy bean flour (and amazingly has nearly NO beany aftertaste!), cornstarch, tapioca starch, natural flavor (no idea), baking powder, sea salt, baking soda. and xanthan gum. I think because the spices in the cupcake are so strong it masked any aftertaste from the bean flour in the mix. 

Because this mix is primarily for pancakes and waffles I decided to add a tiny bit more baking powder and baking soda to make sure the cupcakes rose as much as they should. 

If you try them with your own gluten-free flour mix, or your favorite gluten-free flours, please let me know what you think! 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

free of gluten, casein/dairy, and soy

created by Carrie of Gingerlemongirl.com

makes 18 cupcakes

printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups Sof'ella gluten-free all purpose baking mix 

1 cup sugar (actually used 3/4 cup splenda sugar blend for baking -- due to BIL Todd's dietary restrictions)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I LOVE pumpkin pie spice, cut back if you'd like!)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 (15 oz.) can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

3 eggs

3/4 cup extra-light olive oil (best kind for baking)

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake papers. Spritz cupcake papers with nonstick cooking spray to prevent cupcakes from sticking
• In a large bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. 
• In a smaller bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. 
• Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients thoroughly until you have a thick batter. 
• Scoop about 1/4 cup of thick batter into each cupcake paper. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. 
• Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting. 

Directions for Homemade Spiced Frosting: 

• Add 1 cup coconut oil or spectrum palm shortening to a bowl and slowly mix in 1 pound of powdered sugar. Mixture will be very crumbly. Add 1-2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice + 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg to the powdered sugar mixture and stir together well. 
• Slowly add water or milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting is the consistency you desire. 
• Frost cupcakes and serve. 

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes Recipe

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary!! It's hard to believe that 8 years ago we were walking out on a sandy beach with about 10 of our closest family members and getting married on a beautiful October day. Every year we do something special for our anniversary. Some years it will be a little vacation or an overnight trip to the beach... but other years (especially if we're into super budgeting mode) we just spend the day together. No major plans. Nothing set in stone... just a day together...

This year we took the day off of work. Went out for a leisurely breakfast. (My favorite meal out is breakfast!) And I spend the afternoon cooking and baking. We had homemade beef tacos for dinner but I wanted something super special for dessert.

Michael's favorite dessert is chocolate chip cookies. (This recipe in particular!) My favorite dessert is cupcakes. I wondered if I could merge the two into one diabetic-coma-inducing sugary treat. (Okay, not really... lol) I read lots of different recipes on the interwebs and finally went with an idea from Kevin & Amanda  that seemed much less complicated than other recipes: basically just plopping good 'ol chocolate chip cookie dough right into the cake batter.

And it worked. It worked really well. The cake rose up beautifully, even with the cookie dough being in the middle. In Amanda's cookies, the cookie dough sank to the bottom of the cupcakes and she topped them with a homemade cookie-dough flavored frosting. In my cupcakes, the cookie dough just sat on top and baked sort of in the middle, so you get a surprise bite of cookie inside the cupcake!

Want to make these cupcakes? 
Follow Amanda's directions for making and assembling the cupcakes. 

• For the cupcakes I used my basic homemade yellow gluten-free cake mix recipe. 
• For the chocolate chip cookie dough: Michael's favorite chocolate chip cookies -- chilled for about 30 minutes, I plopped about a tablespoon of dough into each cupcake. 
• For the frosting, I followed Amanda's recipe (scroll to the bottom of the recipe ingredients!)
• For the cookie toppers: using the remaining cookie dough, make a batch of really small (using about a teaspoon of dough or less per cookie) cookies. Once they are baked and cooled, cut them in half and stick a half cookie in each cupcake!

Gluten-Free, No-Sugar-Added, Chocolate Fudge Cake

really horrid phone camera pic of some seriously awesome cake.
please don't judge the book by it's cover on this one...
trust me... you want to make this cake!

Wow... it's been a while... it feels rather like when you spend a prolonged period at home or on vacation and you're not the one driving... then when you get back in the car on Monday morning to head to work it feels strange... 

I've missed you. I've missed blogging... but I'm ready to come back! 

My Dad is very, very, very slowly on the mend. We are still traveling every other weekend to see him in the hospital. And it's been a joy to see him slowly progress. Some days are better than others both physically & mentally for him. He has a very long road ahead with many, many steps of recovery along the way... and we pray the end result will eventually be a heart transplant. It will be quite a journey to that point.... but I believe in him. 

In lighter news... I'm also a fan of cake. Densely, richly chocolate cake. My friend Jaime W. makes this amazing gluten-free, flour-free chocolate cake. She brings it to local gluten free potlucks and I might as well forget about portion sizes, sugar intake, or my calorie content for the day. It's all out the window if she brings that marvelous cake. 

My friend Heather invited us over for dinner the other night and I instantly wanted to make cake... which is odd since I haven't felt like cooking or baking in months... but suddenly I wanted to make cake. And I wanted a low-sugar, but super chocolate-y cake. I remember seeing a version of Jaime's cake in Paleo Comfort Foods, but it didn't contain ANY added sugar and I thought surely that must taste horrible.

But I decided to give it a go. I didn't want to use as much butter or eggs as the recipe called for... so I played and came up with the following version. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we have... it's definitely better cold (it's AWESOME cold! Richly dense and super delicious!) but almost like a sponge cake when warm... so you can pick how to enjoy it...

(Additional Note: This cake is EXTREMELY rich, fudge-y, and not very sweet. It almost has a coffee overtone (which we loved!)... but I don't think it would appeal to children because of the lack of sweetness and due to the hint of bitterness from the intense dark chocolate.) 

and another really awful phone camera pic of this marvelous
cake... I probably need to apologize to the cake...
she's truly much more stunning in person...
and strangely enough I rather like the retro feel
of these sort of 70's orangish pictures...
moving on...  :-P

Gluten-Free, No-Sugar-Added, Chocolate Fudge Cake
Adapted from the version in Paleo Comfort Foods
Free of gluten, grains, soy, and added sugar
Printer-Friendly Recipe

The Good Stuff:
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
1 bag (11.5 oz.) 60-75% dark chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients: 
5 large eggs (preferably at room temperature)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut flour
* 1/4 teaspoon corn-free baking powder (optional)
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a double broiler on the stove or a glass bowl in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips and butter together. In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla. Very, very slowly & gently whisk in a small stream of the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. If you add the hot melted chocolate too quickly it will cook the eggs, so do it very slowly and gently. Mix the melted chocolate, butter, and egg mixture until it's thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Pour cake batter into a greased pie plate or cake pan. If you want to serve the cake on a platter make sure to line the cake pan with parchment paper so you can remove it easily. Place in 325 degree oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. The time can vary depending on the temperature of your oven and how wet the batter is. The cake will be completely done on the edges and a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out MOSTLY clean, there will be some crumbs. Allow cake to cool completely on the counter (the edges will pull away from the pie pan and look as if it's shrinking a bit -- that's okay!) before transferring to the fridge to chill overnight. Slice and serve!


Carrie's Notes: 

• I have no idea what you can use in place of coconut flour, sorry I can't offer a substitution! If you would like the full sugar version that doesn't use coconut flour, try this cake recipe. 
• I have no idea what you can use in place of the eggs in the cake... the eggs are very important here. For a dense egg-free gluten-free chocolate cake, try this one. 
• The baking powder will help the cake rise a little more, but it's not necessary if you choose to leave it out. For a homemade version of corn-free baking powder, check out this recipe. 
• Also the chili powder adds just a hint of kick to the cake, which is awesome... but if you're not into awesome, you can leave it out too! 
• I just baked the cake and served it out of a glass pie pan, which I think works well! And it's pretty!  
• I recommend refrigerating the cake overnight before serving. It will be a dense, rich, dark chocolate-y cake. 
• If you prefer it warm, it will have more of a sponge-cake type texture and is still quite good... but I personally prefer it cold!

Emergency Gluten Free Cupcakes for Celiac Awareness Month

I know cupcakes are supposed to be pretty. Even before you add the sugar-rush frosting, they are supposed to be elegant and have a pretty round top... well these don't. But they don't know that. So try not to hurt their little chocolate cupcake feelings.

These little cupcakes are special. They are EMERGENCY gluten free cupcakes. Gluten free chocolate cupcakes that you can make in less than 5 minutes from mixing to frosting. Nope, I'm not kidding. You know those days... when you find out right before school that's there's a birthday party in your child's class, or a lunch pot luck at work? Or when you realize you're the parent that's responsible for snacks at soccer practice today (and you happen to have a little gluten-free soccer player!)... You know... those moments?

Or the "It's 10 pm and I'm DYING for a chocolate cupcake" moment... that's totally acceptable as a chocolate gluten free cupcake emergency.

If you're a person who happens to have emergencies like that... then this recipe is for you. It's a small recipe for chocolate cake that would make about 6-8 small cupcakes using the microwaveable egg poacher tray below or you could divide the batter between two large ceramic coffee mugs and make two VERY large cupcakes, or cut the finished cupcakes in half and make 4 nicely-sized "normal" cupcakes.

Yep.... these are cupcakes you make in the microwave! That amazing machine from the 80's that I still love no matter what the anti-microwave purists say. (Did you know you could make a MEAN and SUPER-fast meatloaf in the 'wave machine? You sure can! Works great in the summer!) The small cupcakes take less than a minute to cook, while the larger cupcakes take about a minute and 20 seconds. That's it. It takes you longer to mix the batter than it does to bake the cupcakes.

Now remember, they aren't the cutest little cupcakes you'll ever make. Nope. But just because they aren't cute doesn't mean they won't taste amazing. If you want to use the plastic microwave-safe egg poacher in the photo below, I found that at the Dollar Store... yes... it was $1. (Michael's mom will ask.) But if you're not into the whole using-plastic-in-the-microwave thing, then you can simply use 2-3 ceramic coffee mugs! There are directions for both below!

I created these cupcakes not only for emergencies but for 5 years of being gluten free! At the very top of this post you'll see five little gluten free cupcakes (all of which were consumed immediately after being made by my hubs and inlaws!) -- they symbolize the past five years of gluten-free freedom!

Beth Hillson, who is the Food Editor of Living Without Magazine, the founder of the Gluten Free Pantry line of products, and a cookbook author challenged gluten free bloggers through the month of May to make 1 cupcake per year they had been gluten-free. So for me? This August is my fifth gluten-free birthday!! And for five years of living well with no gluten-induced migraines. Check out Beth's initial post on her blog sharing the 17 gluten-free cupcakes she made for herself!

Emergency Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
(made in the microwave)
free of gluten, dairy/casein, and soy
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly recipe

Dry Ingredients:
1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tsp. brown rice flour
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
3 tablespoons sugar
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional -- batter will be a little bit runny without it, but should still make fine cupcakes!)
1/8 tsp. salt (optional)

Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons almond milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: 

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. At this point, you could place dry ingredients in a glass jar or ziplock baggie and store for future emergency cupcakes! 
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add all wet ingredients. Whisk batter together thoroughly with a fork or whisk. 
3. To make the cupcakes with coffee mugs: Use 3 coffee mugs. Spritz each mug with non-stick cooking spray or a little bit of olive oil. Add 1/3 of batter to each mug. Place mugs in the microwave individually and cook on high for 40 seconds to 1 minute and 20 seconds until they are cooked thoroughly and "bounce back" when touched on the top. Allow the cake to cook for about 3 minutes, then pour out of mug onto a small plate. cut each cake in half horizontally to make 2 small cupcakes per mug. Place cupcakes in liners and frost when cool with your favorite gluten free frosting/icing. Makes 6 cupcakes.   
4. To make the cupcakes with plastic microwave-safe egg poacher pans: Using the egg poachers -- place about 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each egg poacher, until it's about half-full. Place the plastic pan in the microwave and cook on high for about 40 seconds to 1 minute depending on how hot your microwave cooks. The cupcakes will "bounce back" when touched on the top when they are done. Turn cupcakes out onto a plate to cool for several minutes. Then place cupcakes (They will be small! They won't get as tall as they would in the oven) into cupcake liners and frost as usual. Eat immediately, or store in fridge for later. You can also freeze these cupcakes for anytime cupcake emergencies! Makes 6-9 cupcakes depending on how much batter you use per cake. 

Gluten Free Almond Flour Lemon Muffin/Cake Recipe

Almond flour lemon muffins - this was my favorite flavor.

The past two weeks I've been slowly working towards making all of my meals and snacks paleo (basically no grains, sugar, legumes, or dairy).  I feel so much better when I eat less sugar, less grains, and less baked goods... however... I just can't help it. I love to bake. (Although admittedly, not really as much as I used too... I'm starting to think I like cooking more than baking now... what is happening to me? lol!)

So a few weeks ago I made an amazing lemon cake for a friend's birthday. It was SO good. Especially since I made it using Meyer lemons which are just wow. So I wanted "lemon" something else. I couldn't decide between cake or muffins and honestly, they aren't that different... so the recipe I'm sharing today could be used either as cake or a muffin. You pick. Don't you like it when you get to pick?

Just pretend you don't notice the stray cathair on the up front cupcake. No, you don't see it. And if you want to make that nut-butter frosting, here you go:  http://www.whole-body-detox-diet.com/sugar-free-carrot-cake.html

This cake is lower in sugar than most gluten free cakes. For the main sweetener I used coconut palm sugar. If you don't like coconut palm sugar or can't find it... just use plain ol' white sugar. It will work just as well. I also used lemon gelatin in this cake for flavor. I've tried in the past to use a lot of citrus and/or lemon juice in cakes and it never goes well. SO I'm sorry if you're opposed to lemon gelatin... if you come up with another alternative let me know! All I know, is I made a vanilla version of this cake minus the lemon gelatin and I didn't like it nearly as much... so apparently I like the lemon gelatin. I'll pretend it's paleo.

I also used liquid stevia in this recipe. I used the "NOW" brand, but there are many different brands available. The cake would probably taste fine without it and honestly I wasn't a fan of using the stevia in the plain vanilla version... so take it or leave it... again, you pick. See how easy this is?

I'm including the vanilla variation at the bottom of the recipe, but I will tell you, it wasn't my favorite. ALSO... the almond flour batter is heavy... therefore it rises better as muffins or cupcakes. They are taller, prettier, and much less dense as cupcakes than it is as a cake. SO... you pick. :-)

Gluten Free Almond Flour Lemon Muffins or Cake, with a Vanilla Variation
free of grains, soy, dairy/casein, and gluten (also low in processed sugar)
created by Carrie Forbes of Gingerlemongirl.com
printer-friendly version

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups blanched almond flour, gently packed in the cup
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 baking soda
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons lemon gelatin (about half of a 3 oz. package)

Wet Ingredients:
1 teaspoon lemon extract
10-12 drops liquid stevia
3 large eggs
1/2 cup almond milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12 cup muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners -or- an 8" cake pan with parchment paper on the bottom and grease pan with non-stick cooking spray or olive oil. In a large mixing bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl whisk together all wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients  and whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into lined muffin/cupcake pan or cake pan. For cupcakes/muffins bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean. For one-layer cake bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. For cupcakes frost with your favorite frosting or you can use a low sugar/low glycemic nut frosting such as this one.

Vanilla Variation -- If you want plain vanilla cake/muffins instead of lemon simply use 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract in place of the lemon extract and leave out the lemon jello. You may want to leave out the stevia in a vanilla version as I felt you could really taste the stevia since the cake was so plain. Using vanilla paste or the seeds from a vanilla bean might really improve the flavor of the plain cake. If you try it, please let me know what you think!