My First Post!

Hi guys,
For those of my Facebook friends who told me I should do this - this is for you! :)

After getting the test results last week and going cold turkey off of all of the sweets (aka chocolate) I love, I was kinda dying without anything for *gasp* 5 days... LOL I'm so lame. Anyway, I took a look through one of the allergy-free books that I had for Boy2 and found a recipe for chocolate cupcakes sans wheat, dairy, eggs or cane sugar! SCORE! I was a little skeptical because the last muffin recipe I tried turned out horribly and I ended up throwing them in the garbage after Boy2 tried to mutilate one with not much success. But these! These are lovely and totally surpassed my expectations!!! I even did a little happy dance after my first bite! One key thing is the quality of the cocoa powder you use. I have some fancy schmancy Cacao Berry Extra Brute cocoa powder that is perfect. I got it at Golda's Kitchen.
The recipe in the book calls for a rice milk chocolate ganache for top the cupcakes, but they were wonderful plain and we ate them that way.
I would assume you can make this same recipe with regular flour and have good results.
Anyway, here is the recipe!

Chocolate Maple Cupcakes
Adapted from The Allergy-Free Baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal

2/3 c rice milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 c basic gluten-free flour mix (recipe follows) I used Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend
1/2 c Cacao Berry Extra Brute cocoa powder
1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp xanthan gum (omit if using Namaste flour blend)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 c dairy-free, soy-free vegetable shortening
2/3 maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F and spray muffin tin (I used a super cute flower tin) with olive oil spray.
Combine rice milk and vinegar. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle (or scraper paddle) attachment, cream the shortening on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat for another 3 minutes or until combined.
Sift in the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the rice milk mixture and beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping the sides as needed.
Divide among muffin cups.
Bake in the center of the over for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool 5 minutes before turning the cakes out to cool completely.


Perfect Flour Blend

4 c superfine brown rice flour (Authentic Foods, Ener-G or Bob's Red Mill are the best, smoothest brands)
1 1/3 c potato starch (not potato flour)
2/3 c tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)

Combine all ingredients in a large Ziplock bag. Shake to combine. Store in the fridge.