Gluten free cupcake recipe and activity

My husband just had his birthday between two trips out of town so I had to improvise. I had the twins decorate a little snow scene on cupcakes made from this amazing spongecake recipe. Our favorite gluten free items included: Glutino pretzels sticks, M and Ms, skittles, chocolate chips, coconut on pillsbury frosting ( I love the new Pillsbury Easy Frost that I can take to birthday parties the kids attend), Mike and Ikes for the carrot nose, and a ghirardelli square for the hat, and Kraft marshmellos for his body.  One of my friends placed these cute little treats on a bag and gave them to her child's teacher, which was so sweet.

 The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook

Basic Gluten Free Flour Mix
4 cups super fine brown rice flour (Authentic Foods superfine brown rice flour)
1 1/3 cups potato starch (not potato flour)
2/3 c tapioca flour (same as tapioca starch)

Spongecake
1 T of Ener-G replacer with 1/4 c rice milk or (1-2 eggs)
           1 1/2 tsp of Ener-G replacer with 2 Tablespoon of rice milk = 1 egg
1 1/2 c sugar
1 T pure vanilla extract
3 T canola oil
3 cups of Basic GF flour Mix
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c warm rice milk

preheat oven to 350
1-wisk egg or egg replacer until foamy about 1 minute
2- Add sugar, vanilla, oil
3-mix flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt
4-Add dry ingredients to the wet, alternating with rice milk
5-Bake 40 minutes
1/2 tsp salt

FYI (If you purchase any products from Amazon through my site this does not increase your purchase price, however, I do receive credit for my referrals)

GF cupcakes for breakfast

The kids woke up confused by my extra enthusiasm so early in the morning. Then the excitement grew when they learned I had decided to serve them some GF cupcakes in tea cups.  My other motivation was to explore some candid options for the site logo.  My camera is sub par, however, I thought I would explore some yummy photography. 


I used a GF yellow cake mix from Betty Crocker, and surprisingly, I was quite pleased  since I didn't have time to make them from scratch.  However, I did make the frosting from scratch and my favorite recipe is from the joy of baking website. 

Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk or light cream

Assorted food colors (if desired)

With the photos complete, I asked Audrey her thoughts. My four year-old said, "The chocolate pink kinda tastes weird. I don't like the pink color as much".  I realized the Wilton brand food coloring has a funny taste so I won't be using that again. Sam told me, "I like the lellow, I like it because it has different dots. I like it because it has the taste I really like". The dye in food coloring can change the taste of any baked good dramatically for a young person. Note to self.

The dots I purchased at whole foods and I love this brand, "Let's Do, Sprinkelz",  a product of Germany. The food coloring I use is, Americolor from Ateco Gel Colors. According to http://www.celiac.com website site, the baking supplies list Americolor as safe since June 2006.  Although,  I had some reservations since it lists modified corn starch; so I decided to call them to make sure the manufacturing practices were still keeping this product gluten free in 2010. To contact them, I called  1-800-556-0233 to confirm their GF claim.

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