With a classic cupcake texture and delicious vanilla flavor, these tender gluten free vegan vanilla cupcakes make a perfect birthday treat. Made without dairy and eggs should you choose, these are safe for people with many allergies too!
When I have desperate families ask me for help…most often, especially in the very beginning of food elimination….they are looking for some very basic recipes to replace their kid’s favorites. Chicken nuggets, bread, pancakes, and birthday cupcakes and cakes!!
I have more cookies and pancakes than I can shake a stick at already on here…but I shockingly have very few options in the cupcake/cake department. So I was overdue with this recipe!
I have another vanilla cake recipe that I love, but it has eggs, and I knew I wanted one free of the most common allergens I could muster, and eggs are a common one.
Besides…my son still can’t have eggs either!!
Here is a basic vanilla cupcake with a wonderful moist crumb. No real fancy ingredients, and worthy of any allergen-full cake out there.
Gluten free cupcake ingredient options
You have a couple of options with ingredients here.
- Flours: You can easily sub one of the flours if you don’t have one of them on hand. You will need to keep a starch for best texture, and every flour you change will effect the end flavor and texture a bit. So if you want to ask about a particular flour, please leave a comment or refer to my gluten free flours tips page.
- Fat: My three favorites besides avocado oil are melted coconut oil, ghee, or light olive oil. They each have their own flavor, but all work well!
- Sweeteners: Since we don’ use refined sugars much anymore, we have adapted our taste-buds to using less. These were plenty sweet for us, especially with the frosting, but you could add up and additional 1/4 cup if you like. You can use all cane sugar, or all coconut sugar, or part erythritol or stevia. It is really up to you, let me know if you need help tweaking!
So make your little sweeties happy with a delicious vanilla birthday treat!
Additional gluten free vegan treats:
- My black bean brownies are super moist and delicious…no one EVER guesses there is a whole can beans in there!
- These lemon cookies look like a delectable treat. Paleo too!
- These intense chocolate AVOCADO cookies use avocado for the fat! Free of all grains, eggs, and nuts…these are a treat for pretty much EVERYONE!
Additionally, these keto chocolate cupcakes look worthy of some noshing!
Gluten Free Vegan Cupcakes Recipe:
If you make these, I want to hear about it! Please come back and leave a comment below!
Moist Gluten Free & Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 1/3 cup sorghum flour
- 1/3 cup rice flour
- 1/3 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 teaspoon guar gum
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Wet:
- 2/3 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk I use So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut
- 1/2 cup applesauce OR 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup avocado oil or light olive oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare 10-12 muffin tins (liners or grease, up to you!)
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In a mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (the first 8).
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In a liquid measuring cup, measure out the remaining ingredients and whisk together.
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Mix the dry and wet ingredients together to fully incorporate.
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Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins, about 2/3 fulls.
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Bake for about 18-22 minutes, until the tops are just set.
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Remove from the oven, cool completely and frost!
Vegan Buttercream Frosting Recipe:
Vegan frostings are very easy. This one is a very traditional frosting..I am not going for a health food here! Just fluffy, allergen free goodness!
Moist Gluten Free & Vegan Vanilla Birthday Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegan butter or replace up to half with palm shortening
- 4 cups powdered sugar most powdered sugar contains cornstarch, check labels
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean scraped (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1-2 tablespoons non dairy milk
Instructions
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In a mixer, beat the butter for a minute or two at high speed to start some fluffiness.
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Beat in the vanillas and powdered sugar.
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Add in some non-dairy milk a teaspoon at a time to achieve your desired frosting texture. I usually add about a tablespoon, sometimes a touch more.
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Beat for a minute or two at high speed, or up to 10 minutes to get lots of extra fluff!
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I made theese, so good! I made them for my friend for her birthday, she lived them to! When ever I want to make cupcakes this is the recipe I go to!
My son can’t have rice, so do you think teff would work in place of brown rice flour? Or would it be better to add 3 even parts more of the sorghum, millet and tapioca flours?
I should also note he can’t have oats either. Thanks!
Hi Crystal! I adore teff, but it’s flavor might overwhelm the vanilla….but with a chocolate version, yes! I would do additional sorghum and tapioca to replace to rice!
I was just wondering if the already mixed all purpose gluten free flours would work as well instead of the several different types of flours. I have been looking for a cake recipe that is gluten free and egg free. Very hard to find. Thanks so much for your site it is wonderful.
Hi Pattie! Every single gf flour has it’s own flavor and lends its own texture to baked goods. There are so many all purpose mixes with so many different types of flours mixed in. While some all-purpose mixes should *work*, the flavor and texture may not be what is intended. And I know for a fact, some all purpose mixes do NOT work well without eggs, while others lend super dense texture or beany flavor.
Sometimes other flour certainly work both in function and preference…but in my experience (I have tried more all-purpose mixes than I can shake a stick at over the last 4 years!)…no one mix will work with every recipe. Hope that helps!
I made it into a cake and 30 minutes was just right. It was very moist inside. A little too sweet for my taste so I will try less sugar next time. I used coconut sugar so the cake was darker in color than vanilla cake. The taste was excellent!
Great Nilla, so glad it worked! It is so great to get feedback..sometimes we bloggers wonder if anyone is using our recipes, feedback keeps us going, so I appreciate it!
I have been trying a lot of cupcakes and cake recipes in the past week. I am looking for a vanilla cake to use as a birthday cake, and thought I would give yours a try. If I want to make this into a cake instead, how long should I leave it in the oven? 30-40 minutes?
yes Nilla, I would bet about 30 minutes for a 9″ cake pan, just until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean or has a few moist crumbs left on it! Good luck, look forward to hearing back from you!
Hello,
I was wondering what you’d recommend substituting if I was not wanting to use brown rice flour. I would greatly appreciate any help you could provide : )
Thank you!!
You did an excellent job with these cupcakes! Even my husband liked them and he doesn’t like Vegan things. Definitely will be keeping this to make when my daughter has a birthday celebration at school. We found out that she is allergic to eggs, cow’s milk, and gluten. So it has been quite a challenge for me to cook for her. Thanks for your hard work in developing these recipes.
Thanks Ceci, I love getting feedback, it is so appreciated and keeps me going and motivated to do more!
Thanks Tessa!!! This is SUCH a great resource! Truly appreciated!
Hi Tessa, this looks wonderful and I’m planning to serve them for my sons’s birthday. Do you have any recipes for gluten,corn, nut, and egg free chocolate cake (or cupcakes)? My daughter’s birthday is coming up and she has requested chocolate. 🙂 or recommendations? I could always get a GF store-bought mix but the egg thing gets tricky at times and your recipes are SO much healthier. 🙂 thanks!!
I publishing one today Rebekah, and I have linked to a couple of other options too! You can also make this one chocolate by subbing one of the flours with some cocoa powder. Start w/ 1/3 cup to see if it is chocolatey enough for you and sweet enough, add more palm sugar if you need!
oh wow how beautiful! i want to eat one right now! haha
I’m still loving for a vanilla cake recipe. Will have to give this a try.