As a dedicated gluten-free cottage baker, I bake, decorate and sell A LOT of vanilla cupcakes every month! Along with my gluten-free chocolate cupcakes, it's my most requested flavor, and over the years of owning my bakery, I can say I have perfected the vanilla flavor! It has been a lot of trial and error, but I'm super happy with my recipe now. These gluten-free vanilla cupcakes are awesome because:
- They make a nice flat top cupcake which is perfect for elaborate piping
- It's easy to make the recipe dairy-free to accommodate even more dietary requirements
- You can use the recipe as a "base" to add other flavors like fruits
- Using vanilla bean paste (optional, but SO recommended) elevates flavors for the best vanilla cupcake experience EVER
- They're moist and fluffy with an airy crumb (see for yourself!)
Jump to:
Ingredients
Gluten-free cupcakes can be dry, brittle, dense and gritty. All the ingredients I've chosen are there to fight those attributes! I'll talk about a few important choices:
- Gluten-free flour: This is the most important ingredient, please click through for the DIY mix I use for my bakery. It's made to absorb moisture and fight grittiness.
- Sour cream and canola oil: While the recipe uses a traditional mixture of creamed butter and sugar, the ratio of butter has been reduced and replaced with sour cream and oil, which bring more moisture to the final baked product.
- Buttermilk powder: It's a personal preference for me to use this product in powdered form, since it lasts longer and does not require refrigeration. You can certainly omit, and replace water with buttermilk.
- Vanilla bean paste: SO delicious, and much better than vanilla extract. You can use vanilla extract too though.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's walk through a visual step-by-step to make these delicious flat-top gluten-free vanilla cupcakes!
- Sift the dry ingredients, set aside
- In a large bowl, cream butter, oil and sugar until light and fluffy; you can use an electric mixer or stand mixer
- Add eggs and sour cream, continue creaming until you get a light, homogeneous mixture
- Add vanilla bean paste (or extract) and fold in with a spatula
- Add a third of the dry ingredients, and mix together by hand using the whisk attachment from an elenctic mixer; this ensures the batter does not get overmixed, which makes the xanthan gum too gummy and sticky
- Add half the liquid ingredients and continue mixing by hand
- Repeat steps 5-6 until all the dry and liquid ingredients have been incorporated
- Split the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tray, about ¾ full
- Bake ~14 minutes at 325 F and fully cool before frosting; the lower temperature is how you get perfect flat top cupcakes
You can frost the cupcakes with your frosting of choice! Here's my buttercream recipe, which with vanilla bean, makes a deliciously sweet and aromatic finish to the gluten-free vanilla cupcakes!
Hint: use an oven thermometer to make sure the oven is set to 325 F; a lower baking temperature is essential for a slow even rise that will give you a nice flat top cupcake. If you're wondering why bakers love flat top cupcakes, it's because they give a nice even surface for piping beautiful decorations, see my floral cupcakes below!
Substitutions
The allergens for this recipe are: milk, eggs. Dairy-free is easy, keep reading! However, I have not tried replacing the eggs yet (in development). If you're looking for an egg-free recipe, please check out my gluten-free vegan lemon cake, gluten-free vegan strawberry cupcakes, or my completely allergy-free birthday cake!
- Dairy-free - use vegan butter sticks (make sure they're sticks and not a spread). I've had success both with a coconut-based butter like Miyoko's and a soy-based butter like Country Crock; in addition, omit the buttermilk powder and replace the water with a vegan buttermilk (ie: almond milk curdled with a teaspoon of lemon juice). Finally, replace the sour cream with a vegan yogurt.
- Corn-free - you'll need a corn-free baking powder (non-affiliate) and replace the corn starch in the recipe with tapioca, potato, or arrowroot starch.
Variations
One of the reasons I LOVE using buttermilk powder, is because it frees the liquid in the recipe to be something other than milk... like:
- Strawberry reduction
- Mango reduction
- Coffee
- Lemonade
- Horchata
Use your imagination! I've also worked out the proportions on these cupcakes to make a gluten-free funfetti cake with the batter instead!
Equipment
You'll need:
- A muffin tray
- Two large bowls
- A sifter
- An electric mixer or stand mixer
- A piping bag and your piping tips of choice; I used a 1G to pipe a large amount of frosting, and a 1M for the smaller rosettes
Storage
The recipe written as is, is shelf-stable. You can store frosted cupcakes at room temperature (preferably less than 80F) and they'll stay nice and moist for three days. Refrigerating will dry them out. Just keep them out of the sun since buttercream melts!
You can freeze unfrosted cupcakes by wrapping them in plastic and storing in an airtight container, for up to a month. You can also freeze frosted cupcakes; start by flash freezing the cupcakes 10 minutes to harden the frosting, then wrap in plastic and store as described above. Thaw to room temperature when ready to eat/frost!
Top tip
When I bake for guests, I like frosting my cupcakes with varying amounts of frosting, because I find some people like very little frosting, while others prefer more.
FAQ
With a good recipe, you shouldn't be able to tell you're eating gluten-free cupcakes! One of the common problems with gluten-free cupcakes is that they can be gritty, dense, and dry. It's important to use ingredients that will fight those attributes, some examples being superfine gluten-free flours, sour cream and oil.
First, it's important to use a gluten-free flour blend that will absorb a lot of moisture, otherwise the cupcake batter will be soupy. The best moisture adding ingredients for gluten-free cupcakes are sour cream, buttermilk, and oil, as they add fats that tenderize and moisturize the crumb.
Related
Looking for other cupcake recipes?
Gluten-Free Vanilla Cupcakes
Equipment
- 1 muffin tray
- 1 Stand Mixer or electric mixer
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 170 grams gluten-free flour
- 15 grams corn starch
- 16 grams buttermilk powder you can omit, and replace the water with buttermilk
- 5 grams baking powder 1 teaspoon
- 3 grams baking soda ½ teaspoon
- 3 grams salt ½ teaspoon
Creamed Ingredients
- 60 grams butter soft, room temperature
- 28 grams canola oil or other neutral tasting oil like safflower
- 175 grams sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white
- 30 grams sour cream
- 8 grams vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon
Liquid Ingredients
- 120 grams water or buttermilk if omitting the buttermilk powder
Frosting Ingredients
- 174 grams butter salted, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon hot water as needed
- 349 grams powdered sugar
- 8 grams vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, 2 teaspoon
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Sift all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside. Note: salt is often too large to be sifted, and I add it to the dry ingredients afterwards.
- In a separate large bowl, measure the butter, oil and sugar.
- With the electric or stand mixer, cream the butter, oil and sugar until the mixture is light, white and fluffy (~2 minutes).
- Add the eggs, and sour cream, and continue using the mixer on medium speed until the mixture is light and homogeneous.
- Add the vanilla bean paste (or extract) and use a spatula to fold in.
- Using a hand mixer (I usually just remove the whisk from the electric mixer), mix ⅓ of the dry ingredients into the creamed ingredients. Note: a hand mixer is best here as to not overmix, which causes the gums in the gluten-free flour to thicken into a goop.
- Add ½ of the liquid ingredients and continue mixing by hand.
- Alternate between adding dry ingredients, and liquid ingredients, mixing well between each addition, until the batter is complete.
- Let the batter rest for 10 minutes (moisture absorption phase) while waiting for the oven to preheat to 325 °F (163 °C)
- Split the batter evenly into a prepared muffin tray, about ¾ full.
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 14 minutes. The cupcakes are ready when a pressed finger leaves an indentation that bounces back immediately.
- Cool fully before frosting.
For the Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the room temperature butter. If it is cold, you may need to add hot water as needed, to soften the butter. Please take a look at my buttercream post for a video showing the correct texture.
- Cream the butter for 5 minutes, until it is white, light and fluffy.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla bean paste (or extract).
- Continue mixing for 5 minutes. It will take some time for the sugar and butter to combine, and will be very thick at first.
- Increase the speed on the stand mixer, and if the consistency is still too thick, you may add hot water, one teaspoon at a time.
- Mix on low for 2 minutes to get air bubbles out.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your choice of nozzle (I used a 1M and 1G) and decorate your cupcakes.
- Enjoy!
Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers
Super easy to customize, this is the base for all my bakery's cupcakes!