These never-fail bakery-style gluten free vanilla cupcakes are incredibly moist and tender. They can even easily be made dairy free, too! And don't forget that creamy frosting — cupcakes like these are made for an incredible frosting.
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Why you'll love this gluten free cupcake recipe
I like a cupcake with a nice, flat top, so it’s easy to pile on a nice, fluffy frosting. You can see for yourself that this recipe for gluten free cupcakes is the perfect frosting delivery system.
My recipe for the very best gluten free vanilla cake is truly perfect in every possible way—and it does happen to make very nice cupcakes. But it requires some sifting and other fussiness in the method, and the cupcakes don’t bake up as flat.
These easy gluten free vanilla cupcakes effortlessly rise into a flat top, and they don’t require any sifting of the dry ingredients. And they're so light, fluffy, and moist, they really do taste like something you'd pick up at a fancy bakery.
They're also perfect for nearly any occasion. Birthday party? Game night? Wednesday night? Celebrate events big and small with cupcakes. You can even freeze these delicious little treats, so you can enjoy them later.
Gluten free vanilla cupcake ingredients
- Baking powder and baking soda – these ingredients help your cupcakes rise and give them that light, airy texture that's just perfect
- Salt – the ultimate flavor enhancer, salt really brings out the taste of the sugar and vanilla
- Butter – also helps with the texture and aroma of the cupcakes, but also adds richness and serves as a flavor delivery system
- Granulated sugar – these cupcakes are sweet thanks to the sugar, but this ingredient also works as a tenderizer
- Eggs – egg gives the cupcakes structure and contributes to the rise
- Vanilla extract – this is what gives the cupcakes that awesome flavor that reminds you of birthday cake
- Milk – use regular milk or buttermilk, though I find that buttermilk results in the most tender cupcakes with the crumb you want to press into the tines of a fork
Tips for making these gluten free cupcakes
Use room-temperature ingredients
Room-temperature ingredients just mix better, so pull out the cold ingredients about an hour before you're ready to bake. If you haven't planned ahead, try immersing your eggs in warm water for 10 minutes to increase their temperature gently, and chop up your butter so it warms faster at room temp.
Don't over-beat your cupcake batter
Mixing introduces air into your batter. This is fine because the air helps these cupcakes come out light and fluffy. But when you over-mix your batter or mix it using a high setting, you're going to introduce a lot of air — and during the baking process, it's going to develop big air pockets that form holes in your cupcakes.
Don't over-fill the wells of your muffin tin
Just be sure not to overfill the wells of the cupcake tin (2/3 of the way full is absolutely perfect). This prevents the dreaded cupcake explosion, where your cupcakes spill over the edges of the wells of the muffin tin.
An easy way to get uniformly sized cupcakes is to use a greased ice cream or muffin scoop. It ensure a perfect portion every time.
Don't over bake your cupcakes
Bake your cupcakes at no more than 325°F, and only until the tops spring back when pressed very lightly in the center. The toothpick test is not the best test for doneness here, and can easily lead to overbaking.
Let your cupcakes cool before frosting
If you're going to frost yours, you really do have to let them cool completely first. If you don't, your frosting will melt and make a sticky mess.
Properly measure your gluten free flour
When people tell me that they've had problems with gluten free baking, I can typically trace their problem back to the gf flour they're using. Sometimes, it's simply not appropriate for the recipe. But many other times, it's because they haven't used the right amount, despite using a measuring cup.
That's because a measuring cup isn't a reliable way to measure flour. I know what you're thinking: “how can that be?!” Let me explain.
Think about how you measure flour. If it's by sticking the measuring cup into the bag or storage container, you're already off to a bad start. When you do that, you pack the flour into the cup. This means you're going to end up with more than the recipe calls for.
Plus, dry measuring cups aren't standardized in size. Even if you spoon the flour into your measuring cup, your “cup” might be different from mine, even if we were both to measure perfectly right every time (which, of course, we can't).
The best way to measure gluten free flours is to use a kitchen scale. You'll notice that all my recipes also include ingredients in grams, so use that to ensure you're baking cupcakes precisely the way I have.
The best gluten free frosting for the best gluten free cupcakes
I've included a recipe for traditional vanilla buttercream frosting, and it's always a favorite. If you'd like something a little lighter, and a bit less expected, try our “Best” Vanilla Frosting. It's a cooked flour frosting that can be made in stages.
Instead of relying upon confectioners' sugar for the proper consistency, a cooked flour frosting has significantly less sugar than buttercream. And it's soft and velvety, but still stable at room temperature.
I haven't ever tried making it with dairy-free butter, I'm afraid. I bet it would work with butter-flavored Spectrum nonhydrogenated shortening, though.
How to store your gluten free cupcakes
Because these gluten free cupcakes don't contain preservatives, they won't last for weeks on your kitchen counter. I generally find that they're good for a couple of days before they start to go stale.
If you make more cupcakes than you can eat in that time frame, I suggest freezing them for longer-term storage.
Whatever you do, don't put them in the fridge. That just speeds up the drying process.
Freezing gluten free vanilla cupcakes
Once they're cool, unfrosted cupcakes freeze very well. Just wrap each of them individually in freezer-safe wrap and store them in a sealed container or zip top freezer bag. They'll stay fresh as frozen for up to 3 months.
Defrost at room temperature or speed them up by microwaving them for 20 seconds at low power. You can freeze them after they've been frosted, but whatever you do, don't microwave a frosted cupcake or the frosting will melt everywhere!
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy free
These cupcakes and buttercream can easily be made dairy free by using vegan butter (my favorite brands are Melt and Miyoko's Kitchen), or butter-flavored nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening in place of butter.
Any unsweetened nondairy milk works well in place of cow's milk. I like unsweetened almond milk because it has some fat and is less watery than some nondairy milks.
These cupcakes are more tender with buttermilk. If you're dairy free or don't have buttermilk, you can make a buttermilk replacement with half milk (dairy or nondairy) and half plain yogurt (dairy or nondairy) by volume.
Egg-free
It's a little tricky to replace the egg and egg white here than it would be if the recipe called only for whole eggs. I haven't tried it, but you can try replacing the egg and egg white with 1 1/2 chia eggs.
Be sure to use ground chia seeds, not whole seeds, though. And avoid flax eggs, particularly in a recipe as simple as this, as flax has a strong flavor.
Vegan
While it may be tricky to substitute the eggs in this simple gluten free cupcakes recipe, dairy is easy. And as the dairy and eggs are the only non-vegan ingredients, you can follow my substitution advice for each above to make vegan-friendly cupcakes. Just be sure your sugar isn't made with bone char, if you're a strict vegan.
FAQs
I recommend that you use a mixture of Better Batter and corn starch in the ratio provided in the recipe. Adding cornstarch lightens the gluten free flour to give it a consistency that's more like traditional cake flour. The flour blend you choose must be one of my recommended blends, or the recipe won't work.
No! Like a good chocolate cake, your cupcakes certainly shouldn’t have a strange aftertaste or a gritty mouthfeel. They should have a moist and tender crumb, just like you’d expect from a cupcake in a bakery. If you’ve had gluten free vanilla cupcakes in the past and found them to be “good, for gluten free,” you weren’t eating the right cupcake, made with the right recipe and ingredients.
A gritty mouthfeel is from an all purpose gluten free flour that contains a gritty rice flour. A strange aftertaste or mouthfeel likely means the flour wasn’t good quality and well-balanced.
A dry cupcake might be made with the wrong recipe, so the ingredients were poorly balanced. Or, again, the flour blend wasn’t good quality.
Yes, you can use vanilla bean paste instead, just note that it's going to have a stronger flavor than the vanilla extract. When substituting, include the same amount of paste as you would vanilla extract.
Yes — just adjust your baking time as mini cupcakes don't need as much. And testing for doneness is the same: Press lightly on the top of a cupcake. If it springs back up, the cupcakes are ready.
No, this recipe isn't quite right for making a cake. Instead, try my Classic Gluten Free Vanilla Cake recipe. The ingredient ratios are much better for baking in a larger pan.
These gf cupcakes will keep at room temperature for about two days, so if you're making them for a party or other event, I'd recommend making them only the day before.
If you need more time, go ahead and bake them, but then freeze them until needed. To defrost, just leave them on the counter for a couple of hours, covered with a dome so they don't dry out.
The most common reason that gluten free cupcakes sink is that your oven ran too hot, so the outside cooked before the center developed the proper structure to support it. So when the cupcakes cool, they cave in.
If your oven temperature is too low, your cupcakes will probably rise reliably, but won't rise very high. The only really reliable way to gauge oven temperature is with a standalone oven thermometer that you replace often. That's what I do!
Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe | Bakery-style
Equipment
- Stand mixer or handheld mixer
Ingredients
For the vanilla cupcakes.
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I like Better Batter here)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 2 tablespoons (18 g) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 (50 g, weighed out of shell) egg at room temperature
- 1 (25 g) egg white at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup (5 ⅓ fluid ounces) milk or buttermilk at room temperature
For vanilla buttercream frosting.
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar plus more as necessary
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Milk by the teaspoon as necessary
Instructions
For the cupcakes.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line 16 wells of standard muffin tins with cupcake liners or grease the wells, and set the tins aside.
- In a small bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and whisk to combine well. Set the bowl of dry ingredients aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl with a handheld mixer, place the butter, sugar, egg, egg white and vanilla, and beat at medium-low speed to combine. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until it appears whipped (about 2 minutes).
- To the large bowl with the butter mixture, add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with the milk or buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat lightly after each addition until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter should be light and fluffy.
- Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tin about 2/3 of the way full of the batter. Shake the tin back and forth to evenly distribute the batter in each of the wells.
- Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cupcakes are very lightly golden brown and spring back when pressed lightly in the center (about 20 minutes). Don’t over bake.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool for at least 5 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cupcake batter. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting and/or decorating.
For the frosting.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the butter. Beat on medium speed until creamy (about 30 seconds).
- Add the 1 cup (115 g) of confectioners’ sugar, the salt, vanilla, and 1 teaspoonful of milk, and beat on medium speed until well-combined (about 1 minute).
- Beat in more confectioners’ sugar until the consistency is thick but not stiff. Turn up the mixer speed to high and beat for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with your favorite piping tip. Pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes, or use two spoons to scoop a dollop onto each cupcake.
Notes
Nutrition
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Sonya says
Hi, have you or anyone else used King Arthur’s GF 1:1 blend? It already had xanthum gum in it so would I leave out any other ingredients?
Thanks!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Sonya, I’m afraid I don’t like their blends and can’t recommend them. I discuss flour blends in detail on the all purpose gluten free flour blends page, linked in this recipe and in every one that calls for a blend.
Kelsey says
I’m using Cup4Cup but my batter looks kind of sticky and gummy rather than particularly fluffy before baking. I weighed out everything and used room temp ingredients. Suggestions?
Nicole Hunn says
Did you add additional xanthan gum, Kelsey? Did you use any ingredient substitutions? Those are the only things that come to mind. It could also be that you undermeasured the liquid, which can’t be weighed.
Dana says
Made these today – great texture but all I tasted was butter. I did use vanilla bean paste, which the notes above said would be a stronger vanilla flavor, but it didn’t come through at all. Next time I’ll double the vanilla. Didn’t much care for the frosting either. Just whipped sweet butter. However, the texture was good. Moist and fluffy. I can build off of that! Thank you for sharing!
Bonnie says
Can i add cocoa powder to make these chocolate cupcakes?
Nicole Hunn says
No, Bonnie, there’s more difference between a vanilla and chocolate cupcake than just adding cocoa powder, which would unbalance the recipe. I have a recpe for gluten free chocolate cupcakes. Please use the search function!
Bonnie says
Thank you!
Monica says
These cupcakes look great. Do I omit the cornstarch if I’m using the cup4cup flour?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Monica, yes! Just measure out more Cup4Cup by weight. :)
Gurleen says
Hi Nicole,
Can I use tapioca starch or arrowroot flour instead of cornstarch? One of my family members is intolerant to cornstarch. Thanks!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Gurleen, definitely you can use arrowroot. That’s usually the starch I like in place of cornstarch and it should work great here!
Daniella says
I never read the blogs on recipes. This was 100% worth my time. Thank you so much! I’ve been baking GF for over a year now and have been trying to learn how to alter recipes instead of simply using my 1:1 all purpose flour with non GF recipes. I made mini cupcakes and they turned out GREAT. Better Batter was a little pricy, but totally worth it! Learned a lot by reading this page and followed instructions as accurately as I could! Very impressed. I measure Vanilla like I measure garlic (with my heart,) but otherwise, followed as instructed.
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so glad to hear that you had such a good experience, Daniella, and gratified that you were willing to read the post. Food bloggers tend to get a bad reputation for long posts, but I work hard never to waste anyone’s time, just to give you the “why” so you can be successful. Thank you for the thoughtful comment. It means a lot to me! And I love how you measure vanilla and garlic. Sounds smart to me. :)
Samantha says
Hi Nicole! Do the cupcakes freeze well?
Nicole Hunn says
Yes, Samantha! They freeze beautifully. Freeze them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, then pile them into a freezer-safe container and eliminate as much air as possible. Defrost at room temperature!
Heather F says
Mmm, these just came out of the oven and smell amazing! Mine happen to have divots in the middle. Do you know what may have caused that? I had to make substitutions for dairy and egg, and I used Presidents Choice gluten free flour blend. They aren’t extremely sunk in, so there’s just a little more room for frosting ;).
Nicole Hunn says
It’s all of your substitutions, Heather. You’ve made quite a few, including the flour blend, and each influences the result. Together, it’s nearly a different recipe altogether. Glad they smell good, though!
Crystal says
A couple of questions. I’m new to gluten free baking and bought 2 of your books. Do all your recipes work with Better Batter unless a blend is otherwise specified? If you just say gluten-free all-purpose flour and don’t specify a blend, can Better Batter be used? And I think cupcakes are where I should start, right? Is that easy enough to be a first recipe, or is there something else you’d recommend for someone just starting out? I don’t think I am prepared for the cost to make a custom blend right now, and have a lot to learn before I can do so. So, I’d like to make things a little easier and start with Better Batter.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Crystal, those are all great questions! Yes, you can use Better Batter’s all purpose gluten free flour blend anywhere one of my recipes calls for an “all purpose gluten free flour.” There’s actually never a reason to make mock Better Batter, unless you can’t or don’t want to buy the actual product. Instead of cupcakes, I’d actually start with drop cookies, like these gluten free chocolate chip cookies. Measure by weight, mind the temperature of your ingredients as specified in the recipe, and you’ll do great.
Lydia Kanar Reichelt says
Cupcake turned out to be sugar cookies lining muffin tins and the frosting was slime. Threw it all together and made delicious cake pops. Both taste amazing but neither resembled what they were intended to resemble. And I followed both recipes to a “T”! Even weighed the ingredients to be sure. super sad.
Nicole Hunn says
Lydia, it’s a shame that you weren’t successful with this recipe. Everyone states that they followed recipes to a T, but the recipe works when made as written, using the ingredients specified, including the all purpose gluten free flour blend specified, with the ingredients at the proper temperatures as specified. I assume you used a gluten free flour blend that is one I recommend against, but you didn’t give me any details, so I can’t help you troubleshoot to figure out where you deviated from the recipe as written. Regarding the frosting, it’s a classic buttercream. If you didn’t make substitutions, then your ingredients were too soft. There isn’t any other way a classic buttercream would be “slime.”
m. elaine yourick says
Could this batter be baked in a small loaf pan or a cake pan?
Nicole Hunn says
Definitely not, Elaine. I have recipes for quick breads, which are baked in loaf pans, and for an excellent vanilla cake, which is what you’ll need for a cake. Please use the search function!
Kimbettly says
HI! Thanks for this easy recipe. I made them a day before my son’s party. Should I refrigerate them unfrosted? Or is it okay to leave them in a sealed container over night?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Kim, I wouldn’t ever refrigerate them, since the that tends to be very drying. I would definitely leave them in a sealed container at room temperature overnight. For anything longer than that, I’d freeze and defrost, then frost and serve!
Jill says
Made these tonight as a practice run for a welcome home party for our son. Used Pamela’s all-purpose GF flour (because I didn’t have the patience for the all-important science Nicole detailed in her blend (another time)). These were delicious, not very sweet, and I can’t wait to try The Best Vanilla Frosting recipe on them (if they last long enough to frost)! Thank you Nicole for your tireless efforts.
Nicole Hunn says
I’m glad you enjoyed the cupcakes, Jill. I actually don’t have any experience with Pamela’s all purpose gluten free flour blend. I’ve always shied away because it leads with brown rice flour, and contains guar gum, which isn’t as good in heated applications as xanthan gum. It also has a lot of moisture-loving flours in it, so I’ve assumed it makes things gummy. Just to give you some perspective!
Rick Woodward says
Nicole, I have been following you for some time now. I consider you to be the top ” Kitchen Scientist” Baker there is. You are truly outstanding in your research, baking, recipes and caring for all of us who are gluten free and diary free. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do. Best wishes to you and your family. Sincerely, Rick W.
Nicole Hunn says
Thank you so much for the kind words, Rick! I really do try to do all of that, and consider it essential to my ability to promise you success in following my recipes. It can be very rewarding, and it’s definitely made much more so by your kind words. Thank you again for that. It means so much!
Christine M Eckels says
Hi, Pamela –
Can I substitute monkfruit for the granulated sugar?
Thanks –
Chris
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Chris, I’m Nicole, not Pamela. I haven’t tried making these with an alternative, but I do like Lankato brand monkfruit granulated sugar replacement, generally. It does tend to be drying, though, so you may have to add more milk or buttermilk. Please watch the video carefully and try to mimic the consistency of the cupcake batter. In short, you’ll have to experiment!
Pamela says
I have made GF cupcakes in the past. They were great fresh out of the oven. I made them a couple of days in advance and froze them so I could take my time decorating them. When I defrosted the cupcakes, the texture was like riced cauliflower and had a doughy taste. Is that just the nature of GF flours, or is there something I can do to avoid this problem?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Pamela,
It’s really hard for me to say for sure, since you didn’t use one of my recipes, but it sounds like an issue with a gritty rice flour. That, and unbalanced, poorly-written recipes, are the most common problems with gluten free baking. I recommend taking a look at my Gluten Free Flour Blends page for full information.