These never-fail gluten free cupcakes are incredibly moist and tender and rich with vanilla flavor. They can even easily be made dairy free, too!
Let's give cupcakes the respect that they deserve, as they're more than just mini cakes. This recipe is perfectly designed to make a rich cupcake with a perfect crumb that you'd find in your favorite bakery.
My take
Nicole's Recipe Notes
I like a cupcake with a flat top, so it’s easy to pile on a nice, fluffy frosting. My recipe for the very best gluten free vanilla cake is truly perfect in every possible way—and it does happen to make very nice cupcakes. But it requires some sifting and other fussiness in the method, and the cupcakes don’t bake up as flat.
These easy gluten free vanilla cupcakes effortlessly rise into a flat top, and they don’t require any sifting of the dry ingredients. And they're so light, fluffy, and moist, they really do taste like something you'd pick up at a fancy bakery.
They're also perfect for nearly any occasion. Birthday party? Game night? Wednesday night? Celebrate events big and small with cupcakes. You can even freeze them to enjoy later—and to stock your freezer for when your gluten free child finds out there's a last minute birthday party in school.
Cupcake ingredients
- Baking powder and baking soda – these ingredients help your cupcakes rise and give them that light, airy texture
- Salt – the ultimate flavor enhancer, salt really brings out the taste of the sugar and vanilla
- Butter – also helps with the texture and aroma of the cupcakes, but also adds richness and serves as a flavor delivery system
- Granulated sugar – these cupcakes are sweet thanks to the sugar, but this ingredient also works as a tenderizer
- Eggs – we use 1 egg and 1 egg white to give the cupcakes structure and contribute to the rise
- Vanilla extract – this is what gives the cupcakes that awesome flavor that reminds you of birthday cake
- Buttermilk – use regular milk or buttermilk, though I find that buttermilk results in the most tender cupcakes with the crumb you want to press into the tines of a fork
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
These cupcakes and buttercream can easily be made dairy free by using vegan butter (my favorite brands are Melt and Miyoko's Kitchen), or butter-flavored nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening in place of butter.
Any unsweetened nondairy milk works well in place of cow's milk. I like unsweetened almond milk because it has some fat and is less watery than some nondairy milks.
These cupcakes are more tender with buttermilk. If you're dairy free or don't have buttermilk, you can make a buttermilk replacement with half milk (dairy or nondairy) and half plain yogurt (dairy or nondairy) by volume.
Egg-free
It's a little tricky to replace the egg and egg white here than it would be if the recipe called only for whole eggs. I haven't tried it, but you can try replacing the egg and egg white with 1 1/2 chia eggs.
Be sure to use ground chia seeds, not whole seeds, though. And avoid flax eggs, particularly in a recipe as simple as this, as flax has a strong flavor.
Vegan
While it may be tricky to substitute the eggs in this simple gluten free cupcakes recipe, dairy is easy. And as the dairy and eggs are the only non-vegan ingredients, you can follow my substitution advice for each above to make vegan-friendly cupcakes. Just be sure your sugar isn't made with bone char, if you're a strict vegan.
How to make gluten free vanilla cupcakes
Combine dry ingredients; then wet ingredients
- Whisk together the dry ingredients (gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt), and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, an egg, egg white, and sugar until well-combined and fluffy
Finish the batter by combining
- Beat in half the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, then the remaining dry ingredients.
- After each addition, beat until just combined.
- After adding the last of the dry ingredients, mix by hand into a smooth, soft but thick cupcake batter.
Transfer to the muffin tin & bake
- Line the wells of a standard muffin tin with greaseproof liners.
- Fill the wells 2/3 of the way full with batter. You'll have enough batter left over to make about another 3 to 4 cupcakes after.
- Bake at 325°F for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
- Let cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, and then fully on a wire rack.
Expert tips
Use room-temperature ingredients
Room-temperature ingredients just mix better, so pull out the cold ingredients about an hour before you're ready to bake. If you haven't planned ahead, try immersing your eggs in warm water for 10 minutes to increase their temperature gently, and chop up your butter so it warms faster at room temp.
Don't over-beat the batter
Mixing introduces air into your batter. This is fine because the air helps these cupcakes come out light and fluffy. But when you over-mix your batter or mix it using a high setting, you're going to introduce a lot of air — and during the baking process, it's going to develop big air pockets that form holes in your cupcakes.
Don't over-fill the wells of your muffin tin
Just be sure not to overfill the wells of the cupcake tin (2/3 of the way full is absolutely perfect). This prevents the dreaded cupcake explosion, where your cupcakes spill over the edges of the wells of the muffin tin.
An easy way to get uniformly sized cupcakes is to use a greased ice cream or muffin scoop. It ensure a perfect portion every time.
Don't over bake
Bake your cupcakes at no more than 325°F, and only until the tops spring back when pressed very lightly in the center. The toothpick test is not the best test for doneness here, and can easily lead to overbaking.
Cool before frosting
If you're going to frost yours, you really do have to let them cool completely first. If you don't, your frosting will melt and make a sticky mess.
Properly measure your gluten free flour
For perfect results the first time and every time, measure dry ingredients by weight, using a simple digital kitchen scale. Measuring by volume, using a cup, usually means overmeasuring flour. Plus dry measuring cups aren't standardized in size, so your “cup” might be different from mine.
Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer or handheld mixer
Ingredients
For the vanilla cupcakes.
- 1 ½ cups all purpose gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes) (Click thru for full info)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1 egg white at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup milk or buttermilk at room temperature
For vanilla buttercream frosting.
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar plus more as necessary
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Milk by the teaspoon as necessary
Instructions
For the cupcakes.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line 16 wells of standard muffin tins with cupcake liners or grease the wells, and set the tins aside.
- In a small bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk to combine well. Set the bowl of dry ingredients aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, place the butter, sugar, egg, egg white and vanilla, and beat at medium-low speed to combine. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until it appears whipped (about 2 minutes).
- To the large bowl with the butter mixture, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with the milk or buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat lightly after each addition until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter should be light and fluffy.
- Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tin about 2/3 of the way full of the batter. Shake the tin back and forth to evenly distribute the batter in each of the wells.
- Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cupcakes are very lightly golden brown and spring back when pressed lightly in the center (about 20 minutes). Don’t over bake.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool for at least 5 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cupcake batter. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting and/or decorating.
For the frosting.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the butter. Beat on medium speed until creamy (about 30 seconds).
- Add the 1 cup (115 g) of confectioners’ sugar, the salt, vanilla, and 1 teaspoonful of milk, and beat on medium speed until well-combined (about 1 minute).
- Beat in more confectioners’ sugar until the consistency is thick but not stiff. Turn up the mixer speed to high and beat for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your favorite piping tip. Pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes, or use two spoons to scoop a dollop onto each cupcake.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The best gluten free frosting
I've included a recipe for traditional vanilla buttercream frosting, and it's always a favorite. If you'd like something a little lighter, and a bit less expected, try our “Best” Vanilla Frosting. It's a cooked flour frosting that can be made in stages.
Instead of relying upon confectioners' sugar for the proper consistency, a cooked flour frosting has significantly less sugar than buttercream. And it's soft and velvety, but still stable at room temperature.
I haven't ever tried making it with dairy-free butter, I'm afraid. I bet it would work with butter-flavored Spectrum nonhydrogenated shortening, though.
Key frosting ingredients
- Butter: Butter at room temperature adds flavor and forms the base of your buttercream frosting
- Confectioners' sugar: Adds sweetness and thickens the whipped butter so you can pipe in onto your cupcakes. It's powdered sugar plus some cornstarch to keep it from caking.
- Vanilla: Adds depth of flavor so the frosting doesn't taste greasy or flat
How to make the frosting
- Beat the butter just until smooth and creamy.
- Add the confectioners' sugar, salt, vanilla, and some milk to make it easier to beat together.
- Beat until creamy, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for about 5 minutes.
- The frosting should be light and fluffy, and should hold its shape when you scoop it. Add more confectioners' sugar if needed to thicken it.
- Place it in a piping bag with a metal tip, or a zip-top bag with the corner cut off, and pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Storage instructions
Cover any unfrosted cupcakes tightly with plastic wrap, or cover any that have been frosted, and they should stay fresh for about 2 days at room temperature. Don't refrigerate them, though, as that dries them out.
Freezing
Once they're cool, unfrosted cupcakes freeze very well. Just wrap each of them individually in freezer-safe wrap and store them in a sealed container or zip top freezer bag. They'll stay fresh as frozen for up to 3 months.
Defrost at room temperature or speed them up by microwaving them for 20 seconds at low power. You can freeze frosted cupcakes, too, but you'll need to defrost them at room temperature because the frosting will melt in the microwave.
FAQs
Yes, you can use vanilla bean paste instead, just note that it's going to have a stronger flavor than the vanilla extract. When substituting, include the same amount of paste as you would vanilla extract.
Yes — just adjust your baking time as mini cupcakes don't need as much. And testing for doneness is the same: Press lightly on the top of a cupcake. If it springs back up, the cupcakes are ready.
No, this recipe isn't quite right for making a cake. Instead, try my Classic Gluten Free Vanilla Cake recipe. The ingredient ratios are much better for baking in a larger pan.
The most common reason that gluten free cupcakes sink is that your oven ran too hot, so the outside cooked before the center developed the proper structure to support it. So when the cupcakes cool, they cave in.
If your oven temperature is too low, your cupcakes will probably rise reliably, but won't rise very high. The only really reliable way to gauge oven temperature is with a standalone oven thermometer that you replace often. That's what I do!