These Gluten Free Mini Hi-Hat Cupcakes, with their moist chocolate cupcake, soft whipped frosting, and coated in chocolate, are perfect for when you want something a little special.
I have had my eye on Hi-Hat Cupcakes for years already. What is a Hi-Hat cupcake, you ask? Well, in this cake, it is a chocolate cupcake, topped with a HIGH swirl of a marshmallow-y frosting, which is then dipped in chocolate. They are so cute – reminds me of chocolate dipped ice cream cones. The smooth chocolate shell on the frosting also makes them look rather fancy, showing you gave more effort than a quick swirl of frosting. I think they’re really cute though. My daughter & I had a baking day over the weekend, and we decided to finally give these a try. Since Valentine’s Day was right around the corner, we made the frosting pink and strawberry flavoured, but you can just leave it white with vanilla flavouring as well.
Instead of making full size cupcakes, we made 24 mini cupcakes. If you wanted to make 6 full size cupcakes, you will need to increase the baking time to 20-25 minutes, but the rest of the quantities should still work out perfectly.
Gluten Free Mini Hi-Hat Cupcakes
Gluten Free Mini Hi-Hat Cupcakes
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February 13, 2013 By Jeanine 18 Comments (Edit)
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These Gluten Free Mini Hi-Hat Cupcakes, with their moist chocolate cupcake, soft whipped frosting, and coated in chocolate, are perfect for when you want something a little special.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 2 Tablespoons PLUS 2 teaspoons brown rice flour
- 2 Tablespoons PLUS 2 teaspoons tapioca starch
- 2 Tablespoons PLUS 2 teaspoons sorghum flour
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 cup PLUS 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup PLUS 2 Tablespoons buttermilk
- 2 Tablespoons canola oil
- 1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Frosting
- 1 1/2 ounces egg white (about 2 medium eggs)
- 2 Tablespoon water
- 7/8 cup (1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon strawberry extract (if not doing strawberry, omit, and add an additional 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- dollop pink gel food colouring (optional)
Chocolate Dip
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the over to 325 degrees F. Grease or line your mini muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- Spoon about 2 teaspoons of batter into each lined muffin cup.
- Bake in preheated oven for 11-13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow to sit for 2 minutes before carefully removing the mini cupcakes to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- In a stainless steel mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites, water, sugar and cream of tartar. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and continue whisking until the egg whites are hot (about 160*F).
- Using a heavy duty hand mixer, or a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, and the frosting has cooled to room temperature. This takes about 12 minutes. Add the vanilla, strawberry extract and gel colouring at this time. Beat until the flavourings are evenly distributed. Use immediately.
- Using a piping or heavy duty resealable bag with the corner cut off, pipe the frosting in swirls onto the cupcakes, until they are tall & pointed on top. Place frosted cupcakes on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before dipping them in melted chocolate.
Chocolate Dip
- Place the chocolate chips and oil in a stainless steel bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted completely.
- Pour melted chocolate into a narrow, shallow container, one that still has enough room to dip the frosting in.
- Working quickly, hold onto the bottom of the cupcake while dipping the frosting into the melted chocolate. Allow excess to drip off before placing the cupcake back onto the baking sheet. Holding the cupcake sideways, spoon the melted chocolate over the frosting if your chocolate becomes too shallow to dip the frosting all the way in.
- Place dipped cupcakes back into the freezer for 10 minutes to help the chocolate set up. Store cupcakes in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
They’re so tiny!
Cindy @Hun... What's for Dinner? says
Oh goodness gracious I love these. Great job girls!!
Jeanine says
Thanks, Cindy! My ‘little’ girl is getting to be quite the helper! 🙂
Michelle says
these look great! so cute! I love that they look like chocolate dipped ice cream cones yummm. Pinned! 🙂
Jeanine says
Thanks, Michelle! Would be great to find some gluten-free mini ice cream cones, bake the cupcakes IN them, and top them with the frosting & dip. Hmm…
Paula says
Wow! How fun would these be to eat. Love them 🙂
Jeanine says
Thanks, Paula!
patricia says
They look so delicious that I will be making them for sure. Thank you very much for the recipe.
Jeanine says
My pleasure, Patricia!
Kate says
I have a question about the frosting. My frosting turned out grainy and I am not sure why. I was expecting it to be similar to a marshmallow creme. I have made butter cream before and haven’t had it ever become grainy. Did I let it get too hot, could I have smoothed it out somehow? Overall this is a good recipe and could see making a hoho (rolled chocolate cake from Hostess) type cake using the cream and dipping in chocolate. If you have insight I would be interested, if not, I will try again and see if this was just a fluke or what.
Thanks!
Jeanine says
It could be that you got the mixture too hot, or didn’t whisk it enough. You have to constantly whisk it so that your egg whites don’t cook, instead they just get hot. That’s the only thing I can think of off hand, at least. It should be like a marshmallow cream when it’s done though.
Kate says
Do the whites get hot enough to not be RAW for us to eat?
I plan on using my hand held electric mixer, as whisking constantly is not my deal 🙂
Kate L.
Jeanine says
Yes! by 160*, they are pasteurized and safe to eat (I never do anything with raw eggs, grosses me out lol)
claire says
Hi
Is it really 160°C = 320° F?
thank you
Jeanine Friesen says
Sorry, Claire, they are 160*F, not C. I’ve corrected the recipe. Thanks!
Jacqueline Brightman says
These are delicious! I have one question. I use dark chocolate morsels (they do not have soy) , but I cannot get them to melt into a smooth liquid chocolate I can dip. Do you have any suggestions?
Jeanine Friesen says
I’m not sure, Jacqueline – possibly adding a teaspoon or two of vegetable shortening would help smooth it out?
Laura Vittitow says
Well Jeanine… Another awesome recipe! I made them today and they were incredible. I loved the frosting so much that I had a hard time not eating it by the spoonful before frosting the cupcakes. I will be making these in the future for sure!