I realised yesterday that I have posted very few of my cupcake recipes and I have also failed to tell you the secret to great gluten-free cakes! For a while I pretended that one day you might pay for a book and that I would reveal the secret in there. But I am no longer delusional so I thought I would share it with you now!
No messing around. This cake mix can be flavoured in any way you like and can be baked in a large tin, doubled to make a huge cake, used to make sandwich cakes…you get the idea! It is a great staple cake mix that can be made into whatever you like! This is the mix that I always use for the kids birthday creations. At the bottom I will tell you different cooking times for different sized cakes.
I measure this in oz because it is so simple to remember!
A Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- Ingredients - cake
- 5 oz dairy-free spread or butter if you are not dairy free
- 5 oz white sugar
- 5 oz Free From Fairy self raising gluten-free flour blend or plain flour plus 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 oz cocoa - sifted
- 1 tsp ground flax seeds
- 1/4 tsp baking powder - check ingredients and make sure it is gluten-free
- 3 medium eggs
- Ingredients - icing - enough for 2 batches of cupcakes so freeze some for an emergency!
- 40 g Trex or other 'hard' dairy-free margarine eg. solid Stork
- 70 g dairy-free margarine - you could just use 110g butter!
- 170 g icing sugar
- 55 g cocoa powder
- 1-2 tbsp water
- Ingredients - syrup - the secret to great gluten-free cake! Enough for 2 batches - keep it in the fridge
- 100 g white sugar
- 75 ml water
- 1 tsp flavour of choice eg. vanilla extract or other flavour extract - almond is particularly nice with chocolate if you can eat nuts!
Instructions
- Method - cake
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (160 degree fan)
- Place the spread or butter in a large bowl with the sugar and beat with an electric mixer for a minute or so
- Add all the remaining ingredients and carefully combine with a spoon until the risk of flying flour has passed. At this point mix with the electric mixer for a further minute
- Place the mixture into cupcake cases in a muffin tray and cook in the pre-heated oven for approx. 20 minutes until springy to the touch
- Prick the cakes with a skewer or fork then add a tsp of syrup to the top of each cake while still hot (carefully and slowly or it will all fall off!)
- Leave to cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile make the icing and syrup...(below)
- Once completely cool, ice with the fantastic icing below!
- Method - icing
- Place the margarine's or butter in a bowl and whisk for a minute or so until soft and fluffy
- Carefully add the remaining ingredients and slowly combine with a knife until the dry ingredients have started to be combined
- Using the electric whisk combine the ingredients fully until fluffy and ready to use. The amount of liquid you need to add depends on whether you plan to spread or pipe the icing. It will need to be slightly softer for piping in my experience
- Put to once side and wait for the cakes to fully cool
- Method - syrup
- Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over a low heat
- Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved, then leave to simmer for 2 minutes
- Take off the heat and add your flavour if you want one
Variations
For a vanilla cake, remove the cocoa and baking powder and replace with 1oz flour and a tsp of vanilla extract.
For a sandwich cake, divide the mixture into two greased 6inch round cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes until springy to the touch.
For one large cake place the mixture in a greased 20cm or 8inch cake tin and bake for approx. 50 minutes
For a tray bake place double the mixture in a greased 23cm x 30cm rectangular tin and bake for 35 – 45 minutes. If you want a slightly shallower bake then use one and a half times the mixture and bake for approx. 25 – 30 minutes. This is the one I use to make cakes such as the Peppa Pig one, Hello Kitty and others you can see here
For a loaf cake place the mixture into a small greased loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes. This is what I did to make this train cake.
So there you have it…the secret to amazing gluten-free cakes (sugar syrup) AND a huge number of variations to make any size and shape cake you could wish for! Have fun and let me know how you get on. Some photos would be good!!
This is what one of my readers said about this recipe:
@freefromfairy I made this for my 3yr old’s party using your amazing recipe! Thank you!! https://t.co/Jr6JsHuT4j pic.twitter.com/7wlxVj0lcY
— Abi Maclannan (@_abimac) October 8, 2014
And a photo from Carly who made a lemon version…
Mel says
I will try that for the next batch! I saw your tip on the post after pressing ‘post comment’ last time, doh! Do you think I can freeze them once they are cooked?
The Free From Fairy says
I reckon they would freeze fine. I freeze my banana muffins/bread and they are perfect reheated in the microwave!
Mel says
Oups, forgot to subscribe to ‘follow-up comments’ (baby brain!). Done now!
Mel says
I have a little question for you. I managed to make chocolate cupcakes for Jumpy yesterday (not this recipe but looking at it, some ingredients in common – remove the eggs add bananas) but they tasted ‘funny’. I used Doves’ self raising blend & 1 tsp baking soda (didn’t have wheat free baking powder). How do you get rid of that weird taste from the flour? I might try adding vanilla extract in my mix (and lots more chocolate chips than I did).
The Free From Fairy says
My guess would be that you could taste the baking soda. Did it make your teeth go a bit fuzzy? If you are using the Doves self raising I wouldn’t add any more baking soda. Or next time, try using a different egg substitute in case it was the banana…I used to use Orgran no egg in cakes which was fine. This might help too…https://allergyadventures.com/media/43915/Allergy_Substitutions.pdf
Mel says
Thanks for the advice, and great list of substitutes. All saved! I will make another attempt tomorrow. x
The Free From Fairy says
Hey Mel! How did you get on??
Mel says
Made a couple more batches and the one I made today turned out the best. I swapped the self-raising GF flour for plain GF, and the bicarb soda for GF baking powder, and added more chocolate chips. No more ‘odd’ aftertaste, but a bit dry. Hubby suggested putting in more bananas but I already have three in there. Any suggestions? x
The Free From Fairy says
Hi Mel. I would suggest a sugar syrup…100g sugar dissolved in 75ml water and boiled for about a minute. Spear the tops and drizzle over the cakes when warm. Also, adding finely ground flax seed helps to retain the moisture in gluten free cakes. I love your persistance! Shame for everyone to have to keep trying cakes eh?!?
The Free From Fairy says
Hi Lisa and Stella, thanks for your comment. I am glad you found it useful! This is a brilliant tried and tested recipe…a great one to start with if you are not too confident! Use it for a victoria sponge to start, then experiment when confident! Nobody will know it is gluten and dairy free! Let me know how you get on!!
Lisa and Stella says
what a brilliantly useful post, I’m dairy free, avoid gluten and am still trying to find cake recipes that work, thank you! 🙂
freefromfairy says
Oh wow! That looks fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing your success with me!! Cor, I could just do with a slice of that! Say happy Birthday to the lucky man!
Carole Seddon says
Just thought I’d let you know me and Lils made Daddy’s birthday cake cake today using your recipe…thank you!