Two Kinds of Gluten Free Cupcakes

Here's two gluten-free cupcake recipes I made for my daughter's birthday yesterday.  

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes and
Mandarin and Macadamia Cupcakes.

One is based on the Chocolate on Chocolate Cake recipe I shared earlier in the year.

The other is a variation on the orange and almond flourless cakes which are so often the gluten-free cake option at coffee shops.

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes

For cake:
125g dairy-free margarine
90g caster sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
1/2 cup gluten-free self-raising flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
100g dark cooking chocolate (check it is dairy-free)

For icing

1 cup gluten free icing mix

2 tablespoons pure cocoa

1 tablespoon dairy free margarine

1 to 2 tablespoons lactose-free milk

For decoration

25g dark chocolate (dairy-free)

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C. 
2. Cream margarine and sugar together and add eggs, one at a time, beating in between.
3. Fold in almond meal, baking powder, sifted flour and cocoa.
4. Melt 100g dark cooking chocolate, and mix into the cake batter. (To melt chocolate, place in a bowl, sit bowl in a larger bowl of hot water and allow chocolate to melt - do not allow any water to get into the chocolate.)
5. Place spoonfuls of mix in paper patty cases. (Makes 24 patty cake size cakes or 18 muffin size cakes.)
6. Bake for 20 minutes
7. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool.
8. Beat together icing ingredients, until light and fluffy.
9. Pipe or spread icing over cakes.
10. Decorate by grating chocolate over top of cakes.

Mandarin and Macadamia Cupcakes

For cakes

4 mandarins

250g raw macadamias

250g dairy-free margarine

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1 cup polenta

1 teaspoon baking powder

For icing

1 cup gluten free icing mixture

1 tablespoon dairy-free margarine

1 to two tablespoons mandarin juice

For decoration

Skin of 2 mandarins

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1. Shred the mandarin skins (for decorations).
2. Put whole mandarins for cake, and mandarin skins in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to the boil.  Drain and repeat twice more.
3. Set aside the whole mandarins to cool.  Toss the mandarin skin in caster sugar and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
5. Process macadamias in a food processor. Stop processing while you still have some slightly larger pieces, don't let it just become nut meal.
6. Cut whole mandarins and carefully remove the seeds. Then process the mandarins in a food processor until pulpy.
7. Beat margarine and sugar until light and creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, and beat between additions.  
8. Gently fold in polenta, baking powder and nuts.  Then mix in mandarins. The mix will be "sloppy" - which is OK, polenta soaks up a lot of liquid while it's cooking.
9. Fill paper patty cases with mixture. This will do 24 regular paper patty cases, or 18 muffin cases. (You will need to have the paper cases in patty tins or muffin tins, the mix is far to wet to just have the paper cases on a flat oven tray)  It's OK to fill the cases right to the top, as the cakes do not rise much at all.
10. Bake 35 minutes.  You will  notice that they just begin to brown.
11. Allow to cool. (Cool ten minutes in the tins before putting on to wire racks to cool completely.)
12. When you remove the cakes from the oven, leave the oven on.  Spread the sugared mandarin peel over a baking-paper-lined oven tray.
13. Place peel in oven for ten minutes, then turn off the oven and leave to cool with the mandarin peel inside. (The idea is to try the peel out thoroughly). 
14. Beat icing ingredients together until light and fluffy. 
15. Spread or pipe icing over cakes.
16. Decorate with dried mandarin peel.

Both of these cupcakes can be stored in the freezer.