Gluten Free Rainbow Cupcakes Recipe

This past weekend, we attended a picnic to celebrate the end of the Religious School year.  The Parents' Club supplied the usual picnic supplies of hot dogs, veggie burgers, rolls, and condiments.  Everyone else brought side dishes to share.  We made a cabbage slaw with apples and walnuts recipe from Whole Foods that was so simple and refreshing.  I will share my version of this recipe in another post.

I also wanted to make sure that there was a dessert for the people who were gluten free.   So, I decided to make some gluten free cupcakes.  I asked my children if they would prefer rainbow cupcakes or confetti cupcakes.  The children chose rainbow cupcakes.  I had seen a lot of rainbow cake recipes on Pinterest, but I had never tried it before.  I made rainbow cupcakes based on a vanilla cupcake recipe from Elana's Pantry book, "The Gluten Free Almond Cookbook."  Here is my recipe.

Gluten Free Rainbow Cupcakes

Cupcake:
4 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Food coloring

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they are pale yellow.  Then whisk in the grapeseed oil, honey, vanilla extract, and lemon juice.  Set aside.

In a cold medium bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are in stiff peaks.  Gently fold the eggs whites into the egg yolk mixture.  Set aside.

In an another medium bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, and baking soda.  Then gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture.

Divide the batter into 6 different small bowls.  In the first bowl, add 18 drops of red food coloring and mix together.  In the second bowl, add 15 drops of yellow food coloring and mix together.  In the third bowl, add 15 drops of blue food coloring and mix together.  In the fourth bowl, add 15 drops of green food coloring and mix together.  In the fifth bowl, add 10 red and 6 blue drops of food coloring to make purple and mix together.  In the sixth bowl, add 12 drops of yellow and 5 drops of red to make orange and mix together.

The next step is to evenly distribute each color into all of the muffin cups.  I started with the red colored batter.  Using a regular sized spoon, I scooped a spoonful of the batter into as many muffin cups as I could.*  When I finished the red bowl, I moved onto the yellow bowl and did the same thing.  I repeated this until all of the batter had been added to the muffin cups.

Then I baked the cupcakes for about 20 minutes, until the tops were lightly browned or a metal knitting needle inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Let the cupcakes cool in the muffin pan for 30 minutes.

Frosting:
2 oz softened butter
3 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Using a stand mixer, whisk the softened butter until it is creamy.  Add in the rest of the ingredients, and mix them together at a low speed for 1 minute.  Then increase the speed to medium for about 6 minutes or until it is light and fluffy.

Once the cupcakes are cool, spread the vanilla frosting over each cupcake.  Then dip the tops of the cupcake into a tub of rainbow sprinkles.  The cupcakes are then ready to serve.  Enjoy!


*Cooks notes:  I tried to divide the batter evenly before adding the food coloring, but I was not perfect.  Some colors seemed to fill more cups than others.  I did not care if all of the cupcakes were identical, but you can choose to be more meticulous with dividing the batter and spreading out each color.  

I am really happy about how these cupcakes turned out.  Many people were surprised to know that they were gluten free.  Even though the frosting was really sweet, the cupcake was not overly sweet.  It balanced out the sweetness factor nicely.  Adults and children both really liked them.  Next time you need something to brighten up the festivities, these cupcakes will hit the spot.  Enjoy!

~Cassidy