Easy to make gluten free chocolate cupcake recipe with delicious chocolate buttercream frosting. This cupcake recipe is a real crowd pleaser, it’s quick to make and perfect for anyone with a gluten intolerance.

Why make gluten free chocolate cupcakes recipe?

It’s gluten-free
Very easy to make – All in one mix recipe (no need for extra bowls)

Any specialist equipment needed?

It’s best to have a 12 hole large muffin tin (or cupcake tin), but you can easily use 2 smaller tins for mini cupcakes. I’ve also baked this mix as a cake and brownie size tin or large 2 pound cake tin (or two 1 pound tins) are fine too.

My top tips on making this recipe successfully the first time round

Use pre-mixed gluten-free flour blend
Don’t forget the salt in both batter and icing
Use instant coffee to bring out the chocolate flavour more

Ingredients & Possible Substitutions

Butter

Unsalted butter is best, but salted butter can be also used. You can also use plant based margarines, some people even prefer it as they are much cheaper than butter. If you are after rich buttery flavour, it’s difficult to replace the butter with anything else, that has the same taste.

Sugar

Caster sugar is cheap to use, but you can also use mix it with light brown sugar or dark brown sugar. The darker and richer the flavour of the sugar, the darker and richer flavour of your cupcakes.

Flour

I’ve used sef-raising gluten free flour blend, which already contains the raising agent and xanthan gum, which replaces the gluten in the flour. If you are making your own gluten free flour mix, then I would suggest to use a mix of rice, tapioca, coconut, maze or potato flour.

If you don’t have self-raising flour, add 1/2 teaspoon of each baking soda and baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum to replace the gluten.

If you want to make these cupcakes with regular flour, just replace the flour with normal self-raising flour.

Cocoa powder

We are using some cocoa powder inside the cupcake mixture as well as chocolate chips. If you want to you can choose to use just one of these. Instead of chocolate chips you could use another 50 grams of cocoa powder.

Equally if you don’t have cocoa powder you could use chopped up chocolate bar, that melts in the cupcake mix.

Coffee granules

Instant coffee granules are great for adding extra chocolate flavour and making lower quality cocoa powder a little bit stronger in flavour.

Chocolate chips

To make sure that your cupcakes are truly gluten free, please check that the chocolate chips you are using are actually gluten free. If you can’t find gluten free chocolate chips, use gluten free chocolate bar and chop the chocolate into smaller chunks. The chocolate bar (unlike chocolate chips) will melt into the cupcake batter as it bakes, but it will still give you amazing chocolate flavour.

Sunflower oil

Gluten free cakes could sometimes be a little bit dry and the oil helps to keep the dough texture nice and moist.

Milk or water

You can see I’ve used milk and water in both batter and the icing. It’s only a tiny bit and either water or milk can be used.

In the icing the water makes the flavour lighter and it does make a difference if you don’t use it.

Salt

The perfect secret ingredient in all my chocolate baking. A tiny pinch of salt goes a long way as it brings all the flavours together and it makes the chocolate to pop out. I use fine cooking salt and usually dissolve it in a bit of water before I ad it in.

Icing sugar

I’ve used icing sugar in the chocolate icing. It’s difficult to replace it with anything else. Fondant icing can be also used, but it’s more expensive.

MORE CHOCOLATE CAKES

The method – Instructions

Preheat your oven to 325° F / 160° C (normal oven) / 140° Fan / Gas 3.
Line a muffin tin with 12 large muffin sized cupcake cases or use two small muffin sized tins.
Using a handheld whisk, whisk together the unsalted butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Carry on whisking and add eggs, pinch of salt and the coffee granules dissolved in small amount of hot water.
Add the gluten free flour and the cocoa powder and carry on whisking on a slow speed until all combined.
The mixture might seem a little dry at this point, so add the sunflower oil and the milk. Mix on a slow speed until the mixture is combined.
Using a spatula gently fold the chocolate chips in and mix.
Divide the cupcakes mixture into the cupcake cases (they should be about 2/3 full)
Bake for 25-30 minutes and check with a wooden skewer when done.
Leave in the tin until the cupcakes have cooled down a bit and then remove them from the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.
To make the buttercream, whisk together the butter, icing sugar and the cocoa powder. Add a pinch of salt and water. Carry on whipping for at least 4 minutes or until the icing is light and fluffy (and goes slightly lighter in colour).
Using a knife spread the buttercream on to the cupcakes (or you can pipe the buttercream if you like.

Variations on this recipe & dietary requirements

This recipe is already gluten free.

If you want to make this recipe dairy free, that’s not a problem as you can easily swap the milk for water (or plant based milk) and swap the butter for coconut oil or plant based margarine (this is for the cupcake batter).

I have a simple recipe for vegan chocolate icing, which would go well with this recipe.

Can I scale up or down this recipe?

This recipe gives you 12 cupcakes (large size), but if you want to you can make 24 smaller (mini) cupcakes.

You can easily double or triple this recipe. The baking time will be the same as you’ll need more cupcake tins or stand alone cupcake moulds/cases.

Can I make this recipe in advance?

Your cupcakes should be fine for 1-2 days, but if you want to make them well in advance, you might like to bake the cupcakes and freeze them. Then when you need them, defrost them, make the frosting and ice them on the day you need them – like if you are making them for a birthday party or a wedding.

How to store cupcakes

Iced cupcakes are best stored in air tight container and eaten within 2-3 days. Unless it’s very hot, they don’t need to be stored in a fridge, but in hot summer, you might want to keep them somewhere cold.

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Why not stay in touch…

I hope you enjoy making this recipe and if you do, I’d love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or find me on Instagram or Facebook and add the hashtag #cocoaandheart so that I can see your post.

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Magdalena