Gluten Free Shamrock Shake Cupcakes | For St. Patrick's Day
These gluten free shamrock shake cupcakes have all the minty, green, fresh flavor of shamrock shakes, in a neat little cupcake. Make the light, creamy mascarpone frosting with or without food coloring, and celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style!
Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line or grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set it aside.
Make the cupcake batter.
In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt, whisk to combine well and set the bowl aside.
In a blender or the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade or, place the granulated sugar and 20 mint leaves. Pulse or blend until the mint leaves are ground fine. The sugar will be a pale green color.
Add the mint sugar to the bowl of dry ingredients, and whisk to combine well.
Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, milk, vanilla, peppermint extract or oil and eggs, and beat until well-combined and smooth. Mince the remaining 5 mint leaves, and fold them into the batter.
Bake the cupcakes.
Fill the prepared muffin cups about halfway full, and shake into an even layer in each well.
Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until very pale golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the middle muffin comes out clean, about 19 minutes.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting.
Place the mascarpone cheese and shortening in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla and peppermint, and mix to combine.
Switch out the paddle attachment for the wire whisk. Add the chilled heavy cream to the bowl, and mix on high speed until the cream thickens and holds a relatively soft peak (stiffer than a very soft peak that falls over on itself, but softer than a stiff peak that stands straight up).
Toward the very end, add the optional food coloring.
Frost the cupcakes.
Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large tip, and pipe a generous amount of frosting on top of each cooled cupcake. Sprinkle with the optional green sprinkles.
The whipped cream frosting is stable enough to sit at room temperature for about a day without wilting or separating. For a slightly firmer frosting, refrigerate the cupcakes after frosting and serve chilled.