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.

Vegan Orange Creme Frosting Recipe

Use your favorite vegan buttery spread instead of the soy-free Spectrum Organic Shortening, if you prefer.

In a mixing bowl beat:

1/4 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla
2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice- more as needed
2 cups organic powdered sugar

Start with 2 tablespoons juice. Don't add too much juice too soon. Go slowly. Beat on medium high until the frosting is smooth and creamy. If it is too thin, add more sugar; too stiff, add a spoonful of orange juice. You want a medium bodied icing.

Spoon the frosting into a zip-closing plastic sandwich baggie, press out the air and seal tight. Cut a very small hole in one of the bottom corners-- not too big. To frost, place the cut tip over the cupcake, near an outer edge, and squeeze the bag of frosting, gripping it tightly and moving in a circular motion, spiraling in toward the center, until the swirl of icing covers the cupcake.

Top with a few pieces of orange zest. Or try a sprinkle of flaked coconut, finely chopped pecans or walnuts.

Place in a freezable container to chill or freeze. Once frozen, you can wrap each cupcake individually for single treats, if you like. Remove wrapping before thawing. To keep the icing intact.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Karina's Notes:

This cake batter would make a luscious orange birthday cake. The amount of batter in this recipe should make one 8 or 9-inch round layer. Double it for a two-pan layer cake; and double the frosting.

If you can use eggs, use 2 large happy eggs, beaten.

Orange juice should be fresh squeezed at room temperature. I use California navel oranges. Using an ice cold commercial orange juice with added vitamin C, or citric acid, may affect the batter's consistency and rise (too much acid).

Before you grate the zest, wash the orange. And don't include the bitter white layer.

For those of you needing a citrus-free birthday cake, try my Banana Spice Cake and Cupcakes recipe.

For those of you unable to find sorghum flour, I imagine you can substitute rice flour. I'm not a big rice flour fan, but if it's the one gluten-free flour you can use, try it and let me know how it works. I might let the batter sit for a few minutes, too, if using rice flour. This helps soften the gritty texture of it.

Sugar provides some of the structure of this cake. If you shun cane sugar and use a liquid sweetener instead, you may have to add more structure. Those of you more adept at baking with agave, please leave a comment if you have some insight for our sugar-free readers.

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