Gluten-free

I'm revisiting the gluten free coffee cake cupcakes I did for a wedding shower a month or so ago. The groom requested the recipe, so here it goes. (Wish I had a picture)

I adapted my recipe from Better Home and Garden's Cinnamon Roll Cupcake with the help of my friend, Cara of Fork and Beans. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster. I only substituted gluten-free all-purpose baking mix for the flour. The cakes were not the right consistency and sunk as soon as I took them out of the oven. The following principles brought me success the second time around.

1. Subtract 2 to 4 tablespoons of the liquid called for in the recipe.
2. Add 25% more baking powder than called for.
3. Bake cupcakes longer - somewhere between 22 and 28 minutes.

Without further ado, here's the recipe that worked for me (the modifications I talked about above have already been accounted for.

For the cake:

2/3 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose baking mix (Must include a starch and a gum. See Cara's website for more info. on mixes. I used Arrowhead Mills.) 
3 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup milk

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line twenty-six 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with paper baking cups. In a medium bowl stir together baking mix, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl stir together brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add granulated sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes more or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined (batter may look curdled).

3. Spoon about 1 tablespoon batter into each prepared muffin cup. Sprinkle about 1 scant teaspoon of the brown sugar mixture over batter in cups. Spoon remaining batter evenly over brown sugar mixture in cups. Sprinkle another scant teaspoon of brown sugar mixture over batter in cups. (You will have left over brown sugar mixture)

4. Bake for 22 to 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Check cupcakes after 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin tins on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from muffin tins. Cool completely on wire racks.

5. Spread or pipe Creamy Butter Frosting onto cupcakes. Makes about 26 (2-1/2 inch) cupcakes.

A quick tip from my cupcake diva neighbor: You can store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the freezer. Pull out cakes about an hour before you want to eat them to defrost at room temperature. This is especially nice for gluten-free baked goods as they tend to go stale even faster than regular ones.

For the Creamy Butter Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
Dash of salt
8 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 to 3 tbsp additional whipping cream

Allow butter to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in vanilla and salt. Gradually add 4 cups of the powdered sugar, beating until combined. Beat in the 1/4 cup whipping cream. Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar. Beat in additional whipping cream until frosting is light and fluffy and reaches a spreading (or piping) consistency. Makes 4 cups.

The groom also wanted a cake version:
Grease a 9 x 13in. cake pan or baking dish. Prepare batter as above. You can either pour half of the batter and top with half of the brown sugar mixture and then repeat, or pour in all of the batter at once and then top with all of the brown sugar mixture. The cake will need to bake longer - I'm guessing 35 to 45 minutes, maybe even longer. Check cake after 30 minutes. I also suggest making a thinner version of the frosting by adding less powdered sugar so that you can drizzle it over the top of the cake instead of piping it.