Happy Birthday Cupcakes and a Camera!

Yes, please.

It was my birthday last Friday.  I've always loved my birthday and I usually go all-out with a party or dinner out.  This year is no exception, and by pure chance, my birthday lasted for a week--on the Sunday before, Ben surprised me with a trip to Glazer's for a new camera!  Can you believe it?  Unbeknownst to me, he'd been saving since my little Pentax broke and I could get the exact camera I wanted with an extra lens and all the accoutrements.  As you can imagine, I spent the week cooking up lovely, photogenic recipes to share with you all, and I started with cupcakes!

Foreground: Coconut sugar out of the package.       Background: Coconut sugar put through the food processor.

I've been experimenting with coconut sugar, and this is the first baked good I've made with it. Coconut sugar is considered a low-gylcemic food and can be used in a 1:1 substitution with white or brown sugar. Nutritionally, coconut sugar is high in several vitamins and minerals.

Per Wikipedia:
"Coconut sugar has a high mineral content, being a rich source of potassium, magnesium, zinc, and iron.  In addition, it contains vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6. When compared to brown sugar, coconut sugar has 36 times the iron, four times the magnesium and 10 times the amount of zinc."

I purchased mine in the bulk section of the grocery store for around $5.50/lb.  It's not cheap, but it has a wonderful dark and nutty flavor similar to brown sugar.  Right out of the package the coconut sugar was very coarse, and I had to put it through the food processor to make it fine enough to bake with.  I never got it powdery enough to use in the frosting.

Celebrate with me.   Have a cupcake!

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes with Rich Chocolate Frosting (Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free!)

Cake:
62 g sorghum flour
62 g brown rice flour
25 g potato starch
25 g tapioca flour
1/2 c + 1 T neutral-flavored oil
7 oz sugar (I used coconut sugar)
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 oz unsweetened cocoa powder (I used raw cacao)
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
1/4 c coconut oil
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch-processed cocoa)
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
~2 T almond milk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Oil and flour the muffin tins, or fill tins with muffin cups.
2. Weigh out flours and combine with baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and instant coffee.
3. Place oil and sugar into mixing bowl and beat until combined and slightly whipped.
   Add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.
4. Slowly beat in dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time and mix until just combined.
5. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for ~25 minutes or until cooked through.
6. Allow to cool before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. Beat together coconut oil and cocoa powder.  Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with almond milk and vanilla.  The frosting should be stiff and not too moist.  Refrigerate if planning to pipe through a pastry bag.

Sources:
Cake adapted from The New Best Recipe Cookbook
Frosting adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World


Enjoy!