Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes

I'm always playing around with recipes.  Can I make something we love even better?  This is an update on the vanilla cupcake recipe I've been making for years.  This recipe does need to beat for a couple minutes in a mixer, so just use the older recipe if you're hoping for a quick whisk together in a bowl.  Both are delicious, but this one has become a new favorite!  Enjoy!

Decorated with chocolate marshmallow fluff frosting by my daughter. Yum!

There are options to make these a bit larger, which also works great!

Kristin's Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes 12-18 

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Mix together dry ingredients (this is important in gluten-free baking):
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch (or arrowroot starch)
2 Tbsp coconut flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt

Add and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed:
2/3 cup buttermilk (can be made by using 1 Tbsp lemon juice + milk)
1/4 cup oil 
1/2 cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional, but add if you like the flavor)
3 eggs

Pour into cupcake holders (you can make 12 large cupcakes, each filled almost to the top of the cupcake liners or 18 cupcakes, each filled ~2/3 full).

You can scoop them in with a spatula. 

Or, you can scoop them in with a larger cookie scoop, which works great!

Bake cupcakes at 350 F for 16-22 minutes, or until light golden brown (less time for smaller cupcakes, more for larger.   If you would like to make this as an 8x8 cake, line the pan with parchment paper and bake ~25-28 minutes.

Larger sized cupcakes (filled 7/8 full)

Scooped with a large cookie scoop to ~3/4 full.

Cool completely on a wire rack.  Frost with your favorite frosting.  Some of our favorites are:
Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
Vanilla Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
Strawberry Frosting

Cooling on a wire rack. They smell delicious!

We made these for Halloween and decorated them with googly eyes to make monsters.

No, these aren't poop emoji-topped cupcakes - just delicious chocolate marshmallow frosting on top of vanilla cupcakes.

Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

YUM!

 My husband is a huge fan of all things blueberry, so my girls and I wanted to come up with something fun for his birthday.  We decided to make little blueberry banana cakes that we topped with a dollop of cream cheese frosting and homemade blueberry jam sauce.  It was a hit!  You can, of course, make these in cupcake tins, but one of my favorite purchases has been a couple square shaped cupcake-style tins.  These are delicious! Enjoy!

Served up for a birthday treat!

Very happy eaters at this house.

Mini Blueberry Banana Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Blueberry Sauce

Makes 24 cupcake-size cakes

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Butter 24 muffin-sized square or round tins. 

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: 

1 1/2 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

In a mixer or bowl combine:

3 overripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

In a small bowl, toss together:  *(This helps the blueberries from sinking in the batter, keeping them nicely suspended)*

1 - 1 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries

2 Tbsp Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.   Carefully fold in the blueberries, just until evenly combined.  Divide the batter evenly between the 24 buttered tins.   

Ready to bake!

Bake at 350 F for 17-20 minutes, until nicely golden.  Remove from oven, let rest 2-3 minutes, then remove the cakes from the pan onto a cooling rack to fully cool.  

Fresh from the oven.  Resting 2-3 minutes before removing from pans.

We enjoyed these. Yum!

They were so pretty. 

Top each cooled cake with a small piping of cream cheese frosting and a generous spoonful of blueberry jam sauce. 

Blueberry Jam Sauce

In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil over medium heat, let simmer for 10-15 minutes: 

2 cups frozen wild blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

If you'd like it a little thicker (I do!), mix together in a small bowl: 

1/4 cup water

1 - 2 Tbsp cornstarch

Mix in just enough of the cornstarch to thicken the sauce to desired consistency.  Aim for a looser consistency, since it will thicken more as it cools.  Transfer to a glass dish and let cool at room temperature.  You can refrigerate any leftovers. 

Blueberry jam, just cooling before serving!

Cream Cheese Frosting

This makes a light amount of frosting.  If you'd like more, double the recipe here. 

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 - 2 Tbsp butter, softened

2 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat until nice and fluffy.  If you find you'd like it thinner, you can add a little milk to use it more as a drizzle than a frosting.   Transfer cream cheese frosting into a freezer ziploc bag, snip the end, and pipe over cooled cakes.  

Topped with cream cheese frosting!  So cute!

Mmm... 

Ready to serve! Yum!

Gluten Free Blueberry Banana Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Blueberry Jam Sauce by Successfully Gluten Free! 

 My youngest wanted to help me make carrot cake, so we decided to change it up a bit and make little individual carrot cakes.  This was so fun to do, in addition to helping our cake last a bit longer since serving sizes were smaller than slicing the regular carrot cake.  They were so moist and delicious!  A new favorite way to make and serve carrot cake.  Enjoy!  

Cooled and frosted mini carrot cakes - ready to eat! 

Individual-sized Carrot Cakes!

Makes 24 mini carrot cakes

Carrot Cake Batter:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter and flour (use GF flour mix OR brown or white rice flour) 24 muffin-sized square tins.  I have some square pans I found years ago that work perfectly for this recipe.  You can also make these in buttered and floured muffin tins for individual muffin-shaped cakes. 

The square tins we buttered and floured - you can easily make these in muffin tins.

In a food processor with a grater attachment, or with a grater, grate 4-5 washed, trimmed (and peeled, if desired) carrots so you have 3 cups grated carrot.  I like to pack down the cups of grated carrot to pack in a lot of carrot.

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 cups Kristin's Gluten-free Flour Mix

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Add and mix in until thoroughly combined: 

3 cups grated carrot

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil 

2 tsp vanilla extract

Divide batter into prepared pans.  They should fill each tin about halfway.   Bake at 350 F for about 15-18 minutes, until baked through, but not dried out.  These are a nice, moist cake but shouldn't be wet in the middle.  

Let rest 5 minutes in the pans, then remove to a cooling rack to fully cool. 

After resting and then removing onto cooling racks.  The buttering and GF flouring helped them pop right out of the pans.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large bowl or measuring cup, mix together the following until nice and smooth: 

2-3 Tbsp butter, melted

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Once the frosting is nice and smooth, transfer into a medium-sized freezer ziploc.  Snip the corner and use to pipe zig-zags of frosting on top of your cooled carrot cakes.  *Note: If you want fluffier frosting, don't melt the butter, just soften.  Beat all ingredients in a mixer until light and fluffy.  Spread on or pipe on cooled cakes, as desired.

Easy Glaze:

Need something dairy-free?  Just mix together a bit of powdered sugar and water to desired consistency (aim for a thin, running glaze).  Spread over top the cooled carrot cakes.  Voila! An easy dairy-free option! 

These store wonderfully in the refrigerator for a few days.  They've never lasted longer than that around here.  Enjoy! 

Ready to eat!  We had lots of grated carrot, so we made a batch of a more healthy carrot muffins, too. 

Mini Carrot Cakes Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

Hawaiian Themed Book Club Luncheon

I've enjoyed being part of a book-club that rotates houses, giving everyone a chance to cook.  We recently read a book based in Hawaii, and since it was my turn to host, I was able to make a Hawaiian-themed lunch.  The following dishes would be great for any event - family dinner, luncheon, birthday party, etc.  We enjoyed the following: fresh fruit kebabs, Hawaiian-slider sandwiches, pineapple fried rice, pineapple-coconut-banana smoothies, and hummingbird cupcakes with a toffee glaze.  All recipes provided below! Make some or all for a fun, themed meal! Enjoy! 

Fruit kebabs with toffee-glazed hummingbird cupcakes in the background

Hawaiian Themed Book Club Luncheon - Recipes and instructions below! 

Fruit kebabs - I prepared fruit skewers the evening before the luncheon, covered and refrigerated until serving.

On wooden skewers, arrange in a nice rainbow order:
purple grapes (2 or 3)
blueberries (2 or 3)
honeydew melon (1 or 2 pieces)
pineapple chunk (1 or 2 pieces)
canteloupe melon (1 or 2 pieces)
watermelon chunks (1 or 2 pieces)
strawberry (1 for the end) (optional, since you already have the watermelon)

Delicious fruit kebabs with hummingbird cupcakes in the background.

Easy-cheesy Hawaiian sliders - place on a foil-lined pan:
Bottoms of rolls (Hawaiian rolls - for those not needing gluten-free and homemade gluten-free rolls for those with allergies)
Top with:
1 slice of sharp cheddar cheese
slice or two of honey ham
1 pineapple ring

Heat in the oven at 350 F for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and put the on the tops of the rolls.
Brush each roll with melted butter (make sure to start with the gluten-free rolls to avoid contamination. ***Make GF and non-GF completely separately (or just make all GF) when cooking for those with severe allergies.

Heat sandwiches at 350 F for an additional 5-10 minutes. Then serve!

Hawaiian sliders, prepped and ready for the first round of baking.  

Pineapple Fried Rice
This is one part of the meal you'll want to make last minute, so it's fresh and delicious. Luckily, provided you've prepped all the ingredients in advance, it cooks up quickly!

Cook your plain rice a day in advance so it's ready. You can also have the vegetables and pineapple prepped the night before. Combined with the Hawaiian sliders, I don't add in chicken, only the eggs. When serving on it's own, you can add ham or chicken or shrimp to the pineapple fried rice for a full meal! The fresh pineapple diced and tossed in after cooking adds a taste of sweetness.

Pineapple Fried Rice, ready for eating! 

Toffee-glazed Pineapple Cupcakes (hummingbird cake cupcakes)

Make a 1/2 batch of hummingbird cake batter. Fill cupcake liners ~1/2 - 2/3 full and baked 15-20 minutes. (Makes ~2 dozen, I believe, but it really depends how full you make them).
Glaze cupcakes while still warm with toffee glaze from toffee donuts recipe. (Or, just make donuts - everyone will be happy!)

This makes a lovely, light dessert accompaniment to this luncheon.

Pineapple-coconut-banana smoothies

In a blender, combine:
1 cup unsweetened vanilla coconut yogurt
pineapple juice left in can from using pineapple rings + a couple extra pineapple rings
1-3 cups orange-pineapple juice (this tends to vary depending how thick/thin you want your smoothie, and how much pineapple juice/pineapple rings you had left from the sandwiches)
1 cup ice (or more, to taste)
1 frozen banana (not overripe, for smoothies, I freeze them when they are nice and yellow - just peel and freeze)
3-4 frozen strawberries
5-10 frozen blueberries

I made one full blender of smoothie, which I served 10 in smaller cups.

Enjoy! 

Delicious GF Cream-filled Cupcakes w/ Ganache topping

These gluten-free cream-filled cupcakes are delicious.  You can make your own homemade cupcakes or use any recipe or GF box mix you enjoy and make them your own with the easy filling and chocolate glaze topping.  They are reminiscent of the little Hostess cupcakes with a cream filling and chocolate topping. These yummy cupcakes are ready for some St. Patrick's Day fun! Enjoy!

Festive green cupcakes made St. Patrick's Day! 

Delicious Cream-filled, Ganache-topped cupcakes!
The following will fill and top ~15-18 cupcakes

You can use the filling and topping on either GF vanilla cupcakes or GF chocolate cupcakes, or use the cupcake recipe/mix of your choice.  Make cupcakes and allow to cool completely.  The following amounts will fill and top about 15- 18 cupcakes.  You can easily double the recipe to make more!

Beat together the following to use as cream filling.  Refrigerate until ready to use:
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup marshmallow creme

Make cupcakes ready for cream filling by doing the following: cut small cones out of the tops of each cupcake.  Slice off the extra cake so you just have the top of the cupcake left.  Fill the cupcake with cream filling and replace the top slice.  Repeat with all cupcakes.

Green cupcakes for St. Patrick's day - with insides cut out and filled with the cream filling.

So delicious in chocolate cupcakes - reminiscent of the Hostess cupcake filling.

After filling cupcakes with cream filling, the tops can be placed back on top, making them ready for the chocolate glaze frosting to be added. 

Prepare the ganache topping as follows:
Bring to a boil in a small frying pan:
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Remove from heat.  Then add and mix until smooth:
5 oz high quality semi-sweet chocolate

While ganache is still warm, spoon and spread on top of each cupcake.  Sprinkle tops of cupcakes with decorations, if desired.  They will harden into the ganache as it cools.

Cupcakes ready to eat! 

Best served at room temperature, but store in refrigerator until ready to serve.  Enjoy!!! 

Fabulous Caramel-filled Brownie Petit Fours

In my opinion, a 'petit fours' should be small, beautiful and delicious - and typically look like a mini cake.  Often petit fours are coated in a glaze or frosting on the outside, but they don't need to be.  I created this recipe for my son's 10th birthday.  He took some to school and we had some (many) for home celebrations, too!  They were a great success!  They're wonderful at room temperature, but we soon found out that if you warm them up just enough that the frosting starts to melt, they turn themselves into a delicious version of a molten chocolate cake.  Such fun!  Enjoy!

Caramel-Filled Brownie Petit Fours that my son took to school to share on his birthday.  

Fabulous Caramel-filled Brownie Petit Fours
Makes ~24 two-layered petit fours

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together in a large bowl until smooth (a spoon or whisk will work fine):
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Add and mix in until smooth:
4 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar

Mix in gently, just until combined:
1 cup Kristin's Gluten-Free Flour Mix
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Pour batter onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

Don't worry about pushing the batter all the way to the edges.  It will spread naturally during baking and fill the pan.

Bake at 350 F for ~18-20 minutes.  Place pan on a wire rack.  You can either slice immediately into small squares (2" - 3" depending on the size you'd like) or cool completely and then slice into squares.  I have found waiting until the brownies are cool gives a sharper edge to the squares.

I cut 6 x 8 squares, with little edges left over for snacking.

Allow brownies to cool completely.  While brownies are cooking, make a small batch of caramels, as follows:

Homemade Caramels: 

Butter one 8"x8" pan.

In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, combine:
2 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup whipping/heavy cream
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
pinch salt

Cook until caramel reaches 234-235 F on a candy thermometer.  Immediately remove from heat and mix in:
3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste OR vanilla extract

Pour caramels into buttered 8 x 8 pan and set on wire rack to cool.

Once brownies are completely cool and caramels are mostly cool (they can be a little warm to assemble and it's fine), prepare one batch of my Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff Frosting.

To assemble, place a brownie on a new piece of parchment paper.  Pipe chocolate frosting around the edges of the top of the brownie square.  Cut and place a square of homemade caramel in the center of the brownie, inside the frosting (this keeps the caramel in nicely).  Top with a 2nd brownie square.  Pipe a little swirl of frosting on top.  (I had a little extra white marshmallow fluff frosting, so I did swirls on the tops of a few of them).

Brownie squares with a piping of frosting and square of homemade caramel between.  

Chocolate two-layered petit fours are the in the back of this photo.  They were so pretty and delicious, too!

You can serve immediately or store in a closed container.  These can be stored several days in the refrigerator.  Allow them to come to room temperature before serving, or heat them up a little, just until the frosting is melting, for more of a molten-chocolate cake type dessert.   Enjoy!!!!

Chocolate & Vanilla/raspberry (recipe to come) petit fours served with extra caramel warmed up and drizzled overtop! 

One happy birthday boy (and his equally happy sister)! 

Delicious Vanilla Cupcakes (colorful or plain)

Wintertime means birthdays galore around here.  These are some of our favorite vanilla cupcakes to whip together for celebrations (unless someone wants chocolate, lemon, pumpkin spice, caramel-filled, etc.).   These have been a hit whenever and wherever I've taken them.  They also made an appearance at my brother's gluten-free wedding reception, where they served as the backdrop for all the leftover frosting flavors we had after finishing other cupcakes.  Theses particular cupcakes are moist and rich, thanks to the coconut flour.  I love them best paired with my marshmallow frosting.  Enjoy!

White & pink swirled marshmallow fluff frosting, with tops dipped in pink sugar.  A little girl's 5th birthday only happens once! 

What to do with a little extra chocolate marshmallow fluff frosting?! Top delicious vanilla cupcakes, of course! 

Delicious Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 18

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line 18 cupcake cups with paper liners.

Mix together in a bowl:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix in until smooth:
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil 
2 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)

Add and mix in until smooth:
6 eggs

The batter will be runny. This is okay because coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid while cooking.
Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Let cool on a wire rack.  Then top with my favorite marshmallow fluff frosting OR my favorite chocolate marshmallow frosting. 

Filled them halfway with plain batter, then dropped spoonfuls of purple in the center.

Purple was followed by pink, for a crazy cupcake surprise inside for the kids! 

They looked a little odd without frosting, but the kids absolutely loved the colorful insides.  I think I'll swirl them a bit next time.

Not as exciting, plain vanilla cupcakes - ready for frosting!

The almost 2 year old - tempting herself by trying to grab the cupcake on the end despite mom repeatedly telling her not to touch it.

The birthday girl herself!  Winter hats and curly hair = wintry chaos.  These colorful cupcakes were a huge hit at school! 

Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

As it's almost Valentine's Day, it seems imperative to post this delicious recipe!   It's really just a compilation of some of my favorite recipes, but put together it creates the most wonderfully decadent cupcake, perfect for a special occasion - like a wedding or Valentine's Day. Enjoy!!!

Cupcakes being pieced together - first filled with a large piece of fresh homemade caramel, then topped with big swirls of chocolate marshmallow fluff frosting, and finished with a drizzle of chocolate ganache and a few sugar pearls. Yum!

Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 36

Make a half batch of Homemade Caramels - aim for 235F to get a nice soft, but not liquidy caramel.  Put in a buttered 8" x 8" pan to cool on a cooling rack.

Make one batch of Julie's Top-Secret Amazing Chocolate Cupcake Recipe.  Cook just a few minutes less than normal so the middles of the cupcakes sink just a bit (I know, I know...  this is one of those rare times you want the middles to sink).  If the middles don't really sink, no big deal! Just cut out a tiny bit of the middle from each cupcake so you have a place to put the caramel.

Once both caramels and cupcakes are cooled, prepare the toppings:

Make up a single batch of Chocolate Ganache (for top drizzle - I used semi-sweet chips here).  Set this in a bowl to cool a bit while you mix together the frosting.

Whip together a double (or triple if you want to be really generous with your frosting - you do have 36 cupcakes) batch of Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff Frosting.  Place your frosting in a piping bag with a large round tip.

To assemble cupcakes:
1. Cut a generous size caramel and place in the center of each cupcake (you may need to cut a little cake out of the middle of each cupcakes if they're not concave in the center enough).
2. Pipe a generous swirl of chocolate frosting on top each cupcake.  Start at the outside edge and swirl inwards - this way you cover all evidence of the delicious caramel hidden inside!   If desired, sprinkle a few sugar pearls on top of each cupcake (do this shortly after you pipe so the frosting is still sticky).
3. Place the ganache in a bag and snip the corner OR place in a piping bag with a small circular tip and drizzle the tops of the cupcakes.

ENJOY!!!

Mmmm.... Delicious!  These were one of the most raved about desserts at my brother's wedding.