The mother of all cupcake companies started making the gluten-free wonders because of customer demand, according to Nicole Schwartz, Sprinkles vice president of marketing and social media. “So many people would come into a store and say, we’re here to celebrate a birthday but our one daughter can’t get a cupcake [because she’s gluten-free],” Schwartz says. “How heartbreaking is that?”
The recipe below is pretty straightforward. Two tips – make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature when you start to make the cupcakes and don’t over-mix your ingredients. These tips are courtesy of Sprinkles Cupcakes founder Candace Nelson.
Sprinkles Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 ½ cups gluten-free flour blend (Bob’s Red Mill brand, available at Sprouts, makes a good GF flour blend; you can also make your own – just Google, you’ll find plenty!)
4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ¼ cups milk
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
2 tbsp. red food coloring
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Cream cheese frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. (1 stick) of butter, softened
3 ¾ cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preparation
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt). Mix together wet ingredients (milk, vinegar, food coloring, vanilla). Add creamed butter and sugar, and then mix in eggs. Alternately mix in dry, wet, then dry ingredients. Fill 1 dozen cupcake cups and bake for 18-22 minutes or until tops are just dry on top.
For the frosting:
Mix cream cheese and butter. Add salt and vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar. Frost away!
