Gluten Free Vegan Vanilla Cupcake (xanthan free, refined sugar free, soy free)
Ok first, this cupcake also has lemon and raspberry fillings, BUT, for SEO purposes, I’m keeping it shorter. Now, on to cupcakery!
This past weekend I took on the challenge of a cupcake competition at the Ottawa VegFest. Now, the thing with me competing in cupcake competitions is that…. um. I kinda don’t fit in any of the categories. GF, Xanthan free, Vegan, Soy free, and Sugar free don’t exactly exist (yet ;) ). Personally, I figure if you are going to bake, go all the way and do it right. Stick to real food only. Cut the allergens. Cut the sugar. Avoid xanthan gum. Forget the soy. What does that mean for most competitions? um, it means I get a little bit of a head scratching response. How can you cut all that stuff and make it good??
Its good. Trust me. :)
If you’ve tried any of these GF, Vegan, xanthan free, Refined sugar free, soy free treats:
Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Cupcakes, Icing, Strawberry icing, or Red Velvet Cupcakes you’ll totally know. :D
(if not, get on it! they’re awesome!)
The thing with these competitions is that they really inspire me to invent recipes under short time constraints. Whether or not I win is irrelevant. The creations that come of it are fabulous and totally worth it.
Now, I will say, though, this past Saturday was brutal. I baked and experimented from 3 pm till 1 in the morning, straight. Spent over 100$ in ingredients. Made 2 kinds of cupcakes, 6 kinds of fillers and icings (recipes for those coming soon, you get 2 below :)) , brought them to the competition the next morning, and was told they wouldn’t sample them both because I had too many entries (although there was no mention on entry limits in the rules). I was a bit deflated. My fabulous, beautiful lemon raspberry cupcakes sat untouched.
*sigh* What can i say, prepping for these is intense :)
Anyways, at least I can give you guys some recipes! That was totally worth it. :)
When I get a recipe right, I feel like the sky opens and angels sing. This new one I have been trying to make for YEARS. And every time, I failed. Miserably. Gluten free, xanthan free, vegan, soy free and refined sugar free vanilla cupcakes are like the sacred prize. They just don’t exist. They’re either hard as rocks, gummy sludge, or gritty. Or horrendously awful tasting (I once tasted one that had unroasted quinoa, chickpea, and corn grits all in at the same time. um. not so much. :S ).
These cupcakes have a super, super light crumb. They’re moist. No gritty texture AT ALL. They’re like clouds of loveliness and they’re even good the next day! No, seriously. Amazing.
If you are nut free, I do provide some suggestions for substitutions, but I’ve never tried them, so I don’t know how they will work. In theory they should be totally fine, but the cupcake will turn out differently. If you do it, please let me know how they turn out. :)
Here we go, enough chitchatting. You get 3 recipes here- the cupcake, lemon icing, and raspberry topping. :D
I find the key to this recipe is the potato starch- it makes a fluffier end product (if you are nightshade free, try subbing with arrowroot starch, may be less fluffy end result). Also, the palm sugar- I bought it in solid lumps at a local asian grocer (Ottawa- Kowloon Market)- it let the recipe stay light coloured and didn’t overdo the wetness.
NOTE: This recipe is featured on the Simply Sugar and Gluten Free blog link up. Submit your recipes too and view other great creations!
MyRealFoodLife.com
Vanilla Lemon Cupcake (GF, Vegan, Gum Free, Sugar Free)
NOTES: Omit the lemon for a vanilla cupcake. I used solid palm sugar I found at Kowloon Market, a local asian grocer, and shaved it against a grater. It looks like small very light golden hockey pucks. Also- mix the wet ingredients first so the agar powder has time to gel, before mixing the dry ingredients.
Wet Ingredients
- 1/3 cup frozen banana, thawed
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tbsp agar agar powder
- 1/3 cup olive oil (or light oil of your choice)
- 1/3 cup coconut milk (nut free: try 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup dairy free milk of your choice)
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water (nut free baker– omit)
- 2 tsp home made lemon extract (directions below- you’ll need 1 cup fresh lemon juice to make) (or else omit)
- zest of 1 lemon
- seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean (or 2-3 tsp vanilla)
Dry Ingredients
- 2/3 cup white rice flour
- 2/3 cup (don’t pack the cup) shaved palm sugar
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup potato starch (nightshade free: try arrowroot, will give different results)
- 1/3 cup almond flour (nut free: try 1/3 cup quinoa flakes, roasted at 150 for 30 min to remove saponin)
- 1/4 cup coconut flour (nut free: try 1/4 cup chickpea flour)
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Directions
- To make the lemon extract: get 1 cup fresh lemon juice, and simmer on medium heat until it reduces to 2 tbsp. It will be a dark thick syrup, and super lemony. It will take 30 min to an hour. Use 2 tsp of this for your cupcake, and the rest will be for your icing.
- Mix all the wet ingredients except the lemon zest, and blend with a hand blender or food pocessor. then fold in the lemon zest.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and sift to remove lumps. The palm sugar may be lumpy- press through as much as you can and the rest, fold into the mix.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Scoop into muffin tins and bake at 350 for 20 min or until the tops are firm.
- Wait about 2-3 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the tins- they are very fragile when hot. Let cool on racks for an hour or two before icing.
MyRealFoodLife.com
Zesty Lemon Icing and Raspberry Reduction Filling
Ingredients
- 2 tsp home made lemon extract or to taste (see directions above for how to make it)
- 1/4 cup grated palm sugar
- 1 tbsp cashew nut butter (optional)
- 3/4 cup unhydrogenated palm oil shortening (or you could try coconut oil)
- colouring: a pinch of crushed saffron and a tiny pinch of tumeric (optional)
Directions
- This icing is a ‘to taste’ kind of thing- add the ingredients, give it a blend in your blender, add more or less to see if you like it. Its pretty simple, and all about the consistency and flavour you prefer. Try blending it first without the nut butter, and then add it afterwards to see if you like it.
- done! :)
Raspberry Reduction Filling
NOTE: This filling takes ages of work. *aaages* If you simply want to use strawberries, I won’t hold it against you :)
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen raspberries
- 3 cups frozen strawberries
- 3/4 cup unhydrogenated organic aplm oil shortening
- grated palm sugar or agave nectar to taste
- nut butter of your choice- optional, to taste
- vanilla extract, optional, to taste
Directions
- Put the raspberies in a deep skillet or sauce pan, and bring the heat up to medium-high. Stire afew times to make sure they aren’t sticking to the pan.
- After about 20 min, the berries should be loose and mushy and very liquidy. Press them through a strainer to remove as much of the seed as possible- this took me about 15 min, and it was a bit laborious.
- Put the raspberry puree back in your pan and add the strawberries. Boil on medium heat (if its splattering then lower the heat) for about 1.5 hours until the strawberries have totally dissolved and it is a very thick jam-like consistency with little water. Stir to make sure the mix doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the berry paste to a food processor. Soften the palm oil and add a little bit at a time until you like the consistency of the raspberry filling- more means its stiffer, less means its more liquid. Add also the flavourings to taste. Done. :)
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Comments are closed.
Hi Jessica- all you have to do is add it to the wet ingredients, and it will do its trick :D happy baking! let me know if you need any help at all! :D
alea
Hi, I was wondering what I had to do to the agar powder in order to use it. Do I have to do anything to it, or do I just mix it with the rest? I’ve never used it before so I’m clueless. Thanks!
hi there Cee- you should check out dietdessertndogs – she has a chocolate icing that is made with yams, of all things! nokidding, its beautiful… otherwise, check out thespunkycoconut- she has a bunch of great icing recipes too- between the two of them i think you might find what you’re looking for :D happy baking!
alea
My friend just posted a picture of her nutella/strawberry muffins & got me looking for ones I could actually eat. These look amazing AND — I need to avoid saturated fats like palm and coconut oil (besides palm oil harvesting is destroying S.A. animal habitats).
What’s a gf/vegan to do? I’m not soy-free but vegan margarines all have salt anyway.
Can frosting be achieved without sat-fat?
Hi Bronte!
You can use regular icing sugar or maple sugar – and if you want to take out the lemon reduction that works no problem :)
Hi, is there anything I could use instead of the palm sugar for the icing? also without the lemon reduction? thanks :)
Hi Jennie- its worth a shot- i don’t know what blend your mix is made up of, but it couldn’t hurt to experiment :) let me know how it goes. :)
alea
Thanks for the recipe! Can I sub out the flours for a gf all purpose mix? Just curious….thanks!
hi there ahsley- so sorry i’ve taken so long to reply! I was away from the blgo for a while and came back to 700 spam messages in my comments- i only now got to your comment, my appologies!! For future reference, if you don’t mind the darker colour, you can always use coconut sugar (looks like brown sugar). using a liquid like agave nectar will make the cake runny/gummy. I hope everything turned out ok for your mom’s cake..! alea
Hi! So I need to make a 50th bay cake for my mom. She’s soy, corn, yeast, sugar, dairy free and I think this Recipie (along with your dairy free soy free corn free frosting ) is just the thing, my question is, can I sub agave for the palm sugar? Im on a time crunch and I don’t know of any Asian markets around me. Please help!
Thanks, I love your blog and after her surprise party I will be give her your URL. She’ll love it!!!
yay! thanks so much!! let me know how they workout when you try them :D
I am super impressed with these cupcakes! I have definitely bookmarked it for next time I want to make cupcakes! :)
hi there Junia!
you have SUCH a beautiful blog- your images are gorgeous!! well done- I can see you being very successful an a realyl short time- just avisual feast for the eyes :D and really neat recipes! I’m looking forward to following you on FB. :)
love your blog!!! delicious healthy vegan baking…! my kind of food :). come check out my blog too when u get a chance!!! http://juniakk.blogspot.com :)
i hope you let me know how they turn out! :D
Thanks so much. I am on it this afternoon. Perfect activity for a rainy day.
Hey there Vonda!
I’m so glad you’re excited to try these- I am soooooo proud of them :)
If you are subbing out the brown rice, try 1/3 cup millet flour and 1/3 cup white rice flour. Millet is one of the mildest tasting GF flours, and is very light in colour- it has some natural binding capacity and is a bit heavier than brown rice flour. Mixing it with the extra white rice should work well.
Wow. I can’t wait to try these. I been on the lookout for vanilla cupcakes for a long time now. Is there anything I can sub the brown rice flour for? My daughter is allergic to brown rice. Thanks for all the hard work. Vonda
Why thank you Ricki!!
These were such a long time in coming- vanilla GF cake stuff is so ridiculously hard to figure out the chemistry! If you give the recipe a shot let me know how it goes- I’ve tucked mine in the freezer to prevent compulsive noshing ;) alea
Wow, that is an amazing piece of work! They also happen to look deeeelish. Love the contrast of the filling against the frosting! I’ve never tried baking cake-like things with agar. . .now you’ve got me curious!