Chocolate Gluten Free Cupcakes - No Fail Recipe

Have you tried to bake gluten free cake mixes? I find they tend to be dry and dense, so we usually make cupcakes instead. Cupcakes seem to rise better and stay moist longer, plus they are so fun to decorate. Because we love chocolate in our house, we tend to make chocolate gluten free cupcakes.

Cupcake Mix In a Box

If an event sneaks up at the last minute, I tend to reach for a boxed mix. I find that Lydia often has to bring a gluten free treat herself when attending friends or other kids birthday parties. In these cases we roll up our sleeves, get the oven started and mix up some cupcakes. Our favorite box mix is from Betty Crocker because we always get consistent results and it is easy to make. Now, these mixes come as a cake mix, but we prefer to make it into chocolate gluten free cupcakes as they stay moist longer and seem to just taste so much better.

If you want to try this tired and true cake mix from Betty Crocker, you can get it here:

They also have white cake mix that can be made into delicious cupcakes as well. We haven’t made these ones yet because chocolate gluten free cupcakes are the preference in our household.

After we have made these quick and easy chocolate gluten free cupcakes, we will need to get them iced quickly, in this case, we also use the Betty Crocker premade icing as it is Gluten Free and so fast. We often pick the rainbow chip icing as it has little bits of sprinkle right inside (aka, don’t need to decorate further because we are already rushed, LOL!) This icing is yummy and super affordable. You can try it here.

No Fail Gluten Free Cupcakes Recipe

When I’m planning ahead and not rushed, I tend to make chocolate gluten free cupcakes from scratch. Lydia loves these moist cupcakes for special occasions like her birthday or when visitors come out. These cupcakes include a can of black beans so they sneak some veggie content into a treat that would normally be just sugar. Yes, I’m aware there is still sugar in the recipe, but somehow the beans make me feel better about this dessert. Haha!

Here’s how to make these delicious cupcakes:

CUPCAKE RECIPE:

1 (15.5 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, or coconut oil
3/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Line a 12 cup muffin pan and spray with cooking spray.
Blend the beans, eggs, vanilla, butter/coconut oil and sugar in the food processor (or blender) on high until completely blended.
Add in the cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and beat until blended.
Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins
Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the cupcakes are cooked completely.
Allow them to cool completely before icing.

ICING:

1 cup butter (at room temperature)
4 cups of icing sugar (note you may add more later if you need a stiffer consistency)
¼ cup heavy cream 18% or half and half 10%
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

With a mixer, beat the butter until creamy – approximately 2 minutes
Add the icing sugar, cream, and vanilla extract
Mix on low for about 30 seconds, then increase the speed to high for about 2 minutes
If you need to adjust the consistency, add 1 tablespoon of icing sugar at a time until you reach the desired stiffness
Decorate and enjoy!

Because we don’t make these cupcakes very often, we tend to double the recipe for both the chocolate gluten free cupcakes and the vanilla buttercream icing. We always use our KitchenAid stand mixer for icing and haven’t tried this recipe with a hand mixer. This is the stand mixer we’ve had for 12 years and it hasn’t given us an ounce of grief (knock on wood!) It is definitely a worthwhile kitchen investment.

We have also found that gluten free cupcakes and gluten free muffins tend to stick to traditional muffin liners. We either use a silicone reusable set or use the parchment ones. You can grab the parchment cupcake liners here.

After we have made and iced the cupcakes, Lydia often goes to town putting all sorts of sprinkles or decorations on top depending on the occasion. The themes vary greatly, but the gluten free chocolate cupcakes always taste delicious!

What are you go to solutions and recipes for chocolate gluten free cupcakes? Share with us in the comments below.