Okaeri~

Since it’s Father’s Day, I made up these cupcakes for my dad. He was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2010 and since then we’ve done a lot of gluten free baking. It hasn’t always turned out the best but some recipes have ended up being really tasty! Personally, I’m not big on “gluten free” recipes that call for mixing tons of random flours and still come out dry anyway. So, instead of that, I like to adapt standard non-gf recipes using a premade flour mix. My absolute favorite one is Pamela’s Artisan Flour Blend which is a relatively new product but has tested true. You can use it cup for cup with standard recipes but I still end up adding extra liquid ingredients because dry cake or cookies are the worst. I’ve also used Pamela’s Baking and Pancake mix which is fine for denser and less refined products like coffee cake but wouldn’t be the best choice for a standard cake like this.

(not pictured: 4 oz cream cheese)

Gluten Free Caffe Mocha Cupcakes (adapted from the “Anniversary Cupcake Dessert: Chocolate Espresso Layered Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream” recipe from Sweet Celebrations by Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne)

Makes 18-20 cupcakes

Cake:

1 1/3 cups Pamela’s Artisan Flour Blend

1/4 TSP Salt

1/2 TSP Baking soda

1 Stick (8 TBSP) Butter

1 1/3 cups Granulated white sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 cup Brewed and cooled coffee (any kind)

2/3 cup Evaporated milk

2 TSP Vanilla extract

1/2 cup Cocoa powder

Frosting:

2 sticks (16 TBSP) Butter

4 oz Cream cheese (Full fat or 1/3 less fat)

4-5 cups Powdered sugar (to taste)

1 TSP Evaporated milk

1/2 TSP Salt

1/4-1/3 cup Brewed and cooled coffee (to taste)

1-3 TSP Vanilla extract (to taste)

2 TBSP Cocoa Powder

Although I say “adapated” from the DC Cupcakes recipe, I actually changed quite a bit of it. I just didn’t feel that the batter with the original recipe had enough oomph coffee flavor so I added much more coffee and that also served to offset the dryness that accompanies gluten free flour mixes. If you don’t want that much coffee flavor, be sure to balance out the recipe by adding water. I also used evaporated milk instead of the whole milk that the original recipe called for. You could probably use any milk though, even almond or soy, but you’ll have to test that out for yourself. The original frosting was much too buttery for my taste so I added in the cream cheese and I wanted it to be chocolatey as well so I added in the cocoa powder. Again, I also amped up the amount of coffee in the recipe. I’m not sure the milk in the frosting did anything at all since it was such a small amount so you could leave that out or add extra if you don’t want to add as much coffee. Do not add water to your frosting.

Directions:

Do not preheat your oven just yet. It’s summer, it’s hot, and you’ll have time for that later. You don’t need to leave your oven on for the entire prep time. Instead, just gather all your ingredients and get started.

Step one: Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Whisk or sift together and set aside.

Step 2: Blend up your butter, sugar, and eggs one at a time until they are all smooth together. Your butter should be soft and your eggs room temperature at the time of blending.

Step 3: Combine your milk, vanilla, and coffee in a measuring cup/other easy to pour cup.

Step 4: Alternate blending your flour mix from step 1 and your milk mix from step 3 into the batter.

Step 5: Add your cocoa powder and blend it up. Don’t blend it to death but it’s okay to make sure everything is fully combined at this point.

Step 6: Preheat your oven to 350 F now. Line your muffin pans with cupcake liners. Spoon/ladle the batter into the cups. Depending on how full you fill your cups, you’ll get about 18-20 cakes. Bake for 15-20 mins, checking at 15. Allow to fully cool.

Step 7: Combine all ingredients of frosting together in a stand mixer/by hand mixer. The frosting is largely to taste. You can play with it a lot in terms of sweetness and flavor. My butter was salted so if yours is not, feel free to add an extra pinch of salt but that may be unnecessary. It’s up to you!

Step 8: Frost your cupcakes. I like to use my Wilton Dessert Decorator Pro with a #1M tip. Feel free to use a bag, another tip, or just frost with a knife. It’s gonna be good no matter what you do. You may need to refrigerate the frosting before using because mixing it up will make it quite warm (especially in the summer). I refrigerated overnight and set it out for an hour before using.

Thoughts: The cakes turned out really nice, strong flavor with a rich quality somewhere between light and dense. They were the slightest bit grainy because of the gluten free flour but it didn’t detract from the cupcakes. If it would really bother you, try sifting your flour beforehand. I did end up with quite a bit of extra frosting (about a 1/4 of it was not used) but I’m not going to adjust the recipe because I left some of mine unfrosted and you can see that I do not have a heavy hand with frosting. I think the ratio of cake to frosting pictured was perfect but you may like more or less. If you like less frosting and especially if you are frosting with a knife, make half a batch of frosting. If you like tons of frosting, you may use the whole batch.

That’s it! Hope you enjoy~