First off, Happy Valentine’s Day!  Per the request of my wonderful valentine I made strawberry cupcakes.  Because I love to give myself a good baking challenge I spent over a week searching for and compiling the perfect gluten-free recipe.  Okay, honestly, most of it was spent browsing on Pinterest.  Man, that site is a time sucker.  I finally settled on a recipe from Elisabeth Hasselbaek’s book, Deliciously G-Free that was for orange cream cupcakes and subbed the orange zest, extract, and juice for strawberry puree and extra vanilla extract.  My result was quite tasty without being overly sweet.  I frosted them with a standard buttercream frosting.  I’ve made strawberry buttercream before, but the result ended up being a little runny when left out at room temperature.  I supposed that could easily be remedied, but I was a little under the weather and took the easy plain buttercream route.  None of my Valentine’s (Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law, and nephews) complained, so it must be a winner!

For my fellow cupcake makers out there, I’m sure these would taste delicious with cream cheese frosting, or strawberry cream cheese, or strawberry buttercream, or almond buttercream, or really ANY frosting.  Also, feel free to sub regular milk for the almond milk.  I hope you have a wonderfully sweet day filled with love and cupcakes!

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Gluten Free Strawberry Cupcakes
adapted from: Elisabeth Hasselbeck
  • 2 cups brown rice flour
  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 2/3 cup tapioca starch
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 1 cup strawberry puree (1# whole strawberries)
Cooking Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line one cupcake tin (or two if you plan to cook both at the same time -- please note I do not know the cooking time adjustment). Remove the stems from your strawberries and wash thoroughly. Puree your strawberries in a blender until smooth. If desired to remove seeds (I left mine), pour mixture through fine mesh sieve 2-3 times. Whisk strawberry puree with almond milk and set aside.

In a large bowl combine all three flours, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Whisk well to combine and set aside. In a large bowl (or the bowl of your mixer) mix your oil, vanilla, and sugar until combined. Continue mixing and add eggs one at a time. Once eggs are just combined, add 1/2 of dry ingredients and mix until combined. Then add 1/3 of your strawberry mixture until combined. Continue until all ingredients are combined, be careful not to overmix.

Pour batter evenly into cupcake tin and bake for about 20 minutes. Cupcakes will just start to brown on the top and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing placing cupcakes on a wire rack to finish cooling. Once cooled, frost with desired frosting. Store cupcakes in an airtight container and refrigerate until eaten. Enjoy!