These gluten free Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes are lighter-than-air but they are heavy on the chocolate flavour with a hint of raspberry as well. The frosting is made pink with raspberry purée, but also gets a great raspberry flavour from some raspberry extract. Topped with a juicy, plump raspberry, these cute cupcakes are sure to make your Valentine feel loved.
Believe it or not, next week is already the middle of February. Not only does that mean we are half way to March, but it also means that it is Valentine’s Day. We don’t do much here to celebrate Valentine’s, whatever we do, is to create memories for the kids. We have the red and pink heart shaped vinyl window stickers, a few shiny hearts hanging around, and we usually try for some sort of “Valentines-y” supper on the 14th, complete with a decorated table. Sometimes it’s a fancy supper with a “fancy-to us” meal, which my husband enjoys, or sometimes it’s just a fun red and white theme dinner, which my kids enjoy.
Whatever the dinner or decorations for the day are, we do usually try to have a dessert or snack that scream “Valentine’s” just by it’s appearance. Sometimes it’s chocolate, other times strawberries, but today, it’s chocolate and raspberries. These gluten free Chocolate Raspberry cupcakes can either be baked in standard cupcake size, yielding 27 or so, or you can get over 60 cupcakes by baking them into cute mini cupcakes.
Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes
These gluten free Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes are lighter-than-air but they are heavy on the chocolate flavour with a hint of raspberry as well.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk (of choice)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil
- 2 teaspoons raspberry extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Fluffy Raspberry Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons mashed raspberries, pushed through a mesh strainer with the back of a spoon to remove seeds
- 2 teaspoons raspberry extract
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk (of choice)
- 30 fresh, plump raspberries (optional)
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your muffin tins with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, sorghum flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder and salt until evenly blended.
- In another small bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, oil and raspberry extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir together for 1 minute (I used my stand mixer with the whisk attachment for this).
- Pour in the boiling water, and using a wooden spoon, stir until it is completely mixed into the batter. The batter will be thin.
- Fill the muffin tins with the batter until 2/3 full. Bake on the center rack of your preheated oven. The standard muffins take 20-22 minutes, while the mini muffins are done in 13-15 minutes. Be sure to test if the cupcakes are completely baked by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the cupcake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cupcakes are done. If there is still batter on the toothpick, bake for another 2 minutes and test again.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before removing cupcakes to wire rack to cool completely. Do not frost cupcakes until they have cooled completely.
Fluffy Raspberry Frosting:
- In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light coloured.
- Add the salt, raspberry purée and raspberry extract. Beat until it is completely mixed.
- Add the confectioners' sugar and run the mixer until it all comes together. Scrape down the sides and mix again. Add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you get the frosting the consistency that you want.
- You can either spread the frosting on with a knife, or pipe it on with a piping bag with a large tip. Top each cupcake with a fresh raspberry (optional).
- Store cupcakes in an airtight container. They are best if they are eaten in the first two days.
gluten free gift says
YOWZA! It’s been awhile since I visited your great site… and cupcakes are within my culinary capabilities. Thanks so much for your inspirational site!
Jeanine says
Thank you! 🙂
Angie Halten says
Looks delicious! Although I will have to triple the amount of icing on each one to satisfy my sweet tooth!
Jeanine says
Haha, yeah, you can up the frosting if you’d like. 🙂
Lisa @ GF Canteen says
Those are just beautiful, Jeanine! I love raspberry with chocolate and adding rasp. puree to it is a great idea. Can you send me one?!
Jeanine says
I’ll trade you for some of those brownie cake pops. 😉
Betty Reimer says
Looks fantastic Jeanine! These cupcakes say “Happy Valentine’s Day” in a beautiful way!!
Jeanine says
Thanks, Betty. 🙂
Melissa says
Hi there, Melissa here from Food Bloggers of Canada. Just popping by to check out your blog and let you know we’ve added you to our Membership Directory. Welcome aboard!
Jeanine says
Thank you very much, Melissa! 🙂
Cook It Allergy Free says
Oh my goodness. These are absolutely adorable. Seriously! These definitely scream Valentine’s Day! And your photos are totally gorgeous. 🙂
Jeanine says
Thanks, Kim! 🙂
Terris @ Free Eats says
Beautiful cupcakes and lovely photos Jeanine! These would definitely make someone feel special. 🙂
Jeanine says
Thank you, Terris. 🙂
Karri says
Hi Jeanine,
These look great! I was wondering……do you think instead of using the different flours I could just substitute for 1 1/2 cups of GF all purpose flour? I don’t have any sorghum flour but I’d really like to make some yummy cupcakes 🙂
Jeanine says
You could try it, but since I haven’t tried it, I can’t say if it will work or not. Let me know how the results were if you tried it! 🙂
Joyce Bryant says
I’ve been following your site, but haven’t actually baked anything until these.
My daughter was so happy that these cupcakes actually tasted like cupcakes! Thank you so much! I will definitely be using your recipes. Thanks for making my daughter smile 🙂
April @ The 21st Century Housewife says
These are such beautiful cupcakes. I love chocolate and raspberry together. Thank you for sharing them 🙂
Jeanine says
My pleasure, April! Fruit & chocolate can be such a great combination. 🙂
Tiffany says
These cupcakes turned out great! I chose this recipe over others I looked up because it was similar to the (regular gluteny) moist chocolate cake recipe I use at the bakery I work at. I didn’t have sorghum or brown rice flour, so I used 1 1/4 cup of gf flour blend (white rice, tapioca, potato starch) and 1/4 of millet flour. I also used hot coffee instead of water, and almond milk so it would be dairy free. I have a hard time deciding on one flavour so I just used vanilla instead of raspberry extract, and topped it with a variety of frostings…buttercream with sprinkles, buttercream rolled in toasted coconut, chocolate caramel frosting, and dipped in pomegranate ganache. It’s gonna be hard to wait until the dinner party I’m taking them to tonight!
Thanks for all of your recipies!
Jeanine says
Oh wow – Tiffany! Fabulous job – you made them into little gourmet cupcakes! Fabulous!
Wendy says
I am new to the gf. I want to make chocolate cupcakes for valentines day for my grandkids, and of course me, 🙂 I was wondering what I can substitute the sorghum with. I only have the basics. I love your website and have used it a lot already in just 2 weeks. Thank you so much!
Jeanine says
Wendy, what do you have on hand? (your basics & my basics are probably different) 😉
Wendy says
I have brown rice flour, white rice flour, almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca, xanthan gum, Potato flour. That about does it besides baking powder, baking soda etc.
thank you soooooo much for the response. I love your recipes and the fact they are free for us all is so nice of you. Everyone I have tried is delicious.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Wendy
Wendy says
what can I use for a substitute for the subghum flour. I only have the basics on had so far.
Thank you.
Jeanine says
You could try more rice flour, or even white rice and brown rice. I like to have sorghum, millet or gluten-free oat on hand – they add good things to baking that rice flour doesn’t. 😉
Wendy says
Thank you so much. I’ll add those to my collection. 🙂