Frosted Orange Creme Cupcakes - Vegan and Gluten-Free

Frosted Orange Creme Cupcakes - Vegan and Gluten-Free

On my To-Do List for nearly forever has been creating a gluten-free vegan recipe for my favorite birthday treat- a fresh and fragrant orange cake with orange creme frosting. Since it isn't my birthday until June (and it's just the two of us living out here in our little casita in the coyote run hills) I decided to experiment with making cupcakes instead of a layer cake. Orange cupcakes just sounded fun for spring. Sunny and sweet. And I needed cheering up. I've been a bit blue since the house sale fell through.



The craving for cupcakes started with my Twitter pal Caroline aka @ChefCaroline (she's started a fun new blog The Wright Recipes this spring). I'll give her the credit. She mentioned she was baking vegan cupcakes this week- Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes, to be exact- and invited me to join her. And who am I to say no to an offer involving cupcakes? So stop by Caroline's and say, Hola.

I had such a good time in the kitchen this week making these sweet little gems. In fact, I'll be working on more recipes for vegan cupcakes in the near future, including basic vanilla cupcakes, chocolate, carrot, maybe mint or mocha, and a few other tasty flavor combos. Now that I know how easy it is to bake delicious gluten-free vegan cupcakes, the sky's the limit.

Orange Creme Cupcake Recipe - Vegan and Gluten-Free

These light, refreshing little bundles of orange creme goodness remind us of angel food cake (most likely because of the lift potato starch imparts). They make a perfect tea cake or party cupcake. And the best thing is, not only do they taste like a certain retro frozen confection (you know the one- that orange Popsicle with a vanilla ice cream center), these beauties are gluten, dairy, soy, egg and rice free. An allergen-free indulgence.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a twelve cupcake/muffin pan with paper liners.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:

3/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup potato starch
3/4 cup organic cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons fresh orange zest

Add in:

2 tablespoons light olive oil or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon agave or honey
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice at room temperature (fresh juice gives the batter a fresh, bright taste)
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer whisked with 1/4 cup warm water
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla

Beat on medium speed for several minutes until the batter is smooth and fluffy.

Spoon the batter evenly into twelve lined cupcake cups. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and firm (they should be slightly tender but too soft). Try not to open the door to peek until the very end of baking time- you don't want to jar the cupcakes and make them deflate. These cupcakes rose quite high, then slowly settled down to a slightly rounded shape at about 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove and cool on a wire rack.

When the cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with my vegan Orange Creme Frosting (recipe follows).

Karina's Notes on gluten-free vegan batter:

Gluten-free vegan batters are a tad different than wheat and white flour batters. They are stiffer at first, then stretch and get sticky as the xanthan gum and egg replacer do their thing.

If the batter "climbs" the beaters, slow down the speed and slightly lift the beaters to encourage the batter to move back down into the bowl. Move your beater around the bowl in figure eights, at a slight angle. Practice your technique- soon you'll be winging around gluten-free vegan baking like a pro.