Saturday, December 01, 2007

Practicing making cupcakes for Andy's birthday

Andy's birthday party is two weeks from tomorrow. I would just as soon not have the expense and buy cupcakes - so I am practicing now. I made these today. They look great, but they just taste okay. We will eat them so they won't go to waste, but they just don't have the Wow factor that I want for his birthday party. I'm afraid they won't taste that good to the kids at the party who are not GFCF. So I will make another batch next weekend and try again.


Here they are coming out of the oven.


And here they are with icing.

GFCF Yellow Cupcakes
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk substitute, at room temperature (I used Silk Soy Milk, Vanilla flavor)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sifted GF flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Mix)
1 1/2 cups sugar (I used sugar in the raw)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup gfcf margarine, softened, each stick cut into 8 pieces (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans (24 cupcakes total) with paper liners.

2. Beat eggs, milk substitute, and vanilla with fork in small bowl. Measure out 1 cup of this mixture and set aside. Combine dry ingredients in bowl of mixer. Mix on lowest speed to blend, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running, add margarine one piece at a time; mix until margarine and flour begin to clump together and look sandy and pebbly, with pieces about the size of peas. This takes about 30 or 40 seconds after all the margarine is added. Add reserved 1 cup of egg mixture and mix at lowest speed, until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase speed to medium-high (setting 6 on Kitchen Aid) and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add remaining egg mixture in slow steady stream. Stop mixer and thoroughly scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat on medium- high until thoroughly combined and batter looks slightly curdled - about 15 seconds longer.

3. Spoon batter into prepared pans and bake 20 to 25 minutes, cupcakes should be golden. Allow to cool completely before icing.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you're trying to avoid using a mix altogether, but I got the chocolate gluten-free cake mix from this company for my b-day in July, and it was unbelievably good. I used ghee (no casein) in lieu of shortening in the recipe for cake and icing: http://www.sweetiecakesshop.com/category.sc?categoryId=10

You know it's a good gluten-free cake when people who can eat gluten go back for seconds! :)

Sheltie Girl said...

If you want to stay with your GF mix, you could try substituting the type of non-dairy milk. You could try almond milk. I make a homemade gf oat milk that I think bakes up very nicely with a slightly sweet after taste. That might help boost the flavor of your cupcakes. You could even try boosting your vanilla extract to 1 Tb.

Sheltie Girl @ Gluten A Go Go