Not Just Gluten-Free Cupcakes

Health

by Kirsten McGuire | on July 6th, 2011 | 0 comments

If you are like my daughter its not easy finding a good recipe for a sweet treat. Gluten Free just doesn’t cut it – It must be Corn-Free, Egg-Free, Casein/Milk- Free, Citrus Free and the list goes on.

When I have found recipes – there is always a hitch, finding a corn-free baking powder or a corn free food coloring…who wants plain white cupcakes – not my 3 1/2 year old – she wants pink!!

I have complied here our solution to her dietary needs and then end result? Success!

Cupcake (or Cake) Recipe

I started out with a Gluten Free Cake Mix then I made these substitutions:

For 1 stick of butter = Earth Balance (next time I am going to try Ghee – I hear it is fabulous but I have not tested it with my daughter yet to see if she has any reaction but I am excited to try).
Used Gluten Free Vanilla
Recipe from the mix called for 3 eggs (when I read this I cringe because that is a lot of eggs to substitute). I used 1 banana to equal 1 egg and I used 2/3 cup of applesauce for the other 2 eggs (1/3 cup for each egg).

This is the fun part. I got all the ingredients all ready and laid out – had my daughter put on her apron (and princess crown with her face painted like a clown) and she mixed all the ingredients together after putting them in the bowl. Since there are no eggs she can eat the batter too – BONUS!

I decided to use the Mini-Cupcake pan. This way we have lots of cupcakes that I can freeze so when we are invited somewhere that is going to have desserts I can simply whip out the cupcake from the freezer and VOILA! Homemade Cupcake!

After filling all the cupcakes with batter we sprinkled some EnjoyLife Chocolate Chips on top – why not right?? Here is the Allergen Information NO TRANS FAT, NO ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS, VEGAN, KOSHER PAREVE, GLUTEN-FREE, CASEIN-FREE!

We popped the cupcakes in the oven and moved onto the Icing!

Icing

In a Mixer add the following:

1/4 Cup Almond Milk, I used vanilla version but you can use any milk substitution you like (or real milk if you do not have an allergy)
1 tbs Gluten Free Vanilla
Whole Bag of Whole Foods 365 Brand of Confectioners Sugar (it is made with Tapioca Starch instead of CornStarch – Thank you Whole Foods!)
1 stick of Butter = I used Earth Balance
Red Food Coloring for Pink Icing (I found some that does not have corn in it, or you can use coloring from a food source – see list below)

Mix together until the confectioner sugar blends in, I would mix for at least 5 minutes if you are using something like the Kitchen Aid mixer. You will notice that the icing will start to become a nice stiff consistency – you will know it is done. This yields a TON of icing, again I plan on freezing it so I can use if for my frozen cupcakes!

Enjoy!!! Hopefully this article can make it easier for other Moms and people who deal with Food Allergies!

Fruits n Veggies n Spices to Use for Natural Food Colorings:

Green:
Juiced: kale, parsley, spinach, romaine, cucumber, bell pepper, watercress….
Boiled green veggies, using the water/juice will give you a much lighter green color

Pink/Red/Magenta:
Juiced berries
Juiced cranberries
Juiced beets
Juiced red pepper
Juiced tomato, choose dark red tomatoes
rhubarb juiced or boiled
pomegranate juice
chile powder or paprika powder

Purple/Blue:
juiced blueberries
juiced or boiled red cabbage
juiced radicchio
juiced eggplant skin
frozen, fresh or juiced blackberries
acai juice
juiced(or smashed and strained) black/purple grapes

Yellow/Orange:
Juiced yellow beets
juiced yellow bell pepper
boiled yellow beets (lighter color)
juiced pineapple
juiced carrots
tumeric powder
warm-water soaked/bloomed saffron