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These gluten free cupcakes have the classic vanilla flavor and texture you want for birthdays, weddings, baby showers, or any celebration where no one should miss out.
They’re simple, reliable, and easy to frost, decorate, and serve! Plus, there's a simple buttercream frosting recipe below for the perfect bakery-style pairing.
Table of Contents
- Why this recipe works
- Cupcake ingredients
- How to make gluten free cupcakes (step by step photos)
- How to make vanilla buttercream frosting (step by step photos)
- Frosting ingredients
- How to make the frosting (step by step photos)
- Expert tips
- Ingredient substitutions
- Storage suggestions
- Vanilla Gluten Free Cupcakes Recipe
- FAQs
“Just made these cupcakes today for a wedding. I received nothing but praise. Everyone questioned whether they were gluten free or not!”
Why this recipe works
The cupcakes bake up with a light, even crumb that stays moist without ever feeling heavy. The vanilla flavor is simple and classic, so they taste like the cupcakes everyone expects.
The batter is easy to make, with no sifting or special steps: just mix the batter, scoop it into the tin, and bake. Plus the cupcakes rise with flat tops that are perfect for frosting.
They’re easy to dress up with vanilla frosting, chocolate frosting, sprinkles, or nothing extra at all. You can also freeze the plain cupcakes for up to 3 months, so they’re ready when you are.
Cupcake ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make this recipe at home, plus an explanation of the role each ingredient plays in the perfect cupcake:
- Gluten free flour blend: Provides most of the structure for the cupcakes. I recommend Better Batter's original blend, Nicole's Best multipurpose with the added xanthan gum listed in the recipe, or Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 in the blue bag with 1/2 teaspoon extra xanthan gum since it has some, but not enough to prevent a crumbly result that goes stale faster. Since this is such a simple recipe and it's best not to rest the batter, it's especially important to use something with superfinely ground and sifted rice flours to avoid any of that telltale grit that gluten free baked goods can suffer from.
- Baking powder + baking soda: Help the cupcakes rise and stay light and airy, and brown gently around the edges.
- Salt: Enhances other flavors and balances sweetness.
- Butter: Adds richness and moisture to help create that soft, tender crumb, plus lots of buttery flavor.
- Granulated sugar: Sweetens the cupcakes and keeps them moist by locking in moisture.
- Egg + egg white: Give structure and help the cupcakes rise evenly and the extra egg white helps them hold their shape without collapsing as they cool.
- Vanilla extract: Adds depth of flavor.
- Buttermilk: Adds moisture, gentle tang, and reacts with the leaveners to help the cupcakes rise. You can also use regular milk, but I'd recommend reducing the amount by about 1 teaspoon since regular milk has more moisture and could make the cupcakes cave in as they cool.
How to make gluten free cupcakes (step by step photos)
Making these gluten free cupcakes is as simple as whisking, creaming, and alternating the wet and dry ingredients. Here's a visual overview with some explanation of why each step is important:
Whisk the dry ingredients
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the gluten free flour blend, xanthan gum (if needed), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. This is we ensure that there are no bitter clumps of leaveners and that the cupcakes rise evenly. Then set those dry ingredients aside because we'll add them later.
Combine the wet ingredients with the sugar
In a large mixing bowl, place the butter, sugar, egg and egg white, and vanilla, and beat them together until fluffy and well-combined. This helps dissolve the sugar in the butter first to create some lift, but not as much as it would if you creamed the butter and sugar together first separately. That might create too much rise, and the cupcakes could dome like gluten free muffins.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients
To the bowl with the egg and butter mixture, mix in the whisked dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with buttermilk in two parts in between. Start and end with dry. This is the best way to ensure that everything is combined well without overmixing, which could lead to too much rise or a stringy mixture.
Portion the batter
Scoop the soft but thick raw cupcake batter into a lined muffin tin, filling each well about 2/3 full. This way they'll rise to about the top of each liner. Plus, baking in liners will help the cupcakes keep their shape and ensure that nothing sticks to the muffin tin.
Bake at 325°F
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops spring back when gently pressed. Don't overbake or the cupcakes can turn out dry.
Cool completely
Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes just so you don't collapse them when they're too warm, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
How to make vanilla buttercream frosting (step by step photos)
This classic vanilla buttercream is smooth, stable, and pipes beautifully. It’s naturally gluten free and the perfect match for these cupcakes.
Frosting ingredients
Here's what you'll need to make a simple buttercream frosting, but you can use any gluten free frosting you like best:
- Butter: Room temperature butter provides the creamy base for buttercream frosting. It adds buttery flavor, traps air well when beaten, dissolves the sugar, and creates a smooth texture. We use unsalted butter so we can control exactly how much salt we add.
- Confectioners' sugar: Sweetens and thickens; it also helps the frosting hold its shape by dissolving quickly and easily into the butter, and creates structure by thickening the dairy both with the finely ground sugar and the bit of added starch it contains (usually cornstarch).
- Vanilla extract: Adds depth of flavor.
- Milk (as needed): Helps thin the frosting to piping consistency since it can be hard to get the amount of sugar added exactly right.
How to make the frosting (step by step photos)
This is a visual overview of how to make a simple vanilla buttercream frosting,
Cream the butter
Unlike in the cupcakes, we want to beat the butter until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes, to add air to it which helps make it spreadable and easy to pipe.
Add the sugar, vanilla, and a splash of milk
Beat in just 1 cup of confectioners' sugar for 1 stick of butter at first until well-combined, then add in vanilla which will contribute some moisture. If the buttercream seems at all crumbly or seems to stiff to spread smoothly on a cake or cupcake, beat in some milk.
Whip until fluffy
Turn the mixer to high and beat for about 5 minutes, or until the frosting is light and airy.
Adjust consistency
The frosting is ready to use when it doesn't grip the side of the mixing bowl too tightly. Add more sugar to thicken or a few drops of milk to loosen, but go slowly. Try piping some right back into the mixing bowl, and if you see frayed edges it needs a bit of moisture. If it doesn't hold its shape, it needs some more sugar.
5. Frost your cooled cupcakes
Use a piping bag or just scoop with a spoon, but be sure not to frost warm cupcakes, or the frosting will melt rather than holding its shape.
Expert tips
Use room-temperature ingredients
Cold butter, eggs, or milk won’t mix evenly and can cause texture issues.
Don’t overmix
Mix just until the batter is smooth. Overmixing adds too much air and can create tunnels.
Scoop evenly
Fill cupcake wells about 2/3 full to prevent overflow and ensure even baking.
Bake just until done
At 325°F, bake until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Skip the toothpick, as it can be misleading here and lead to overbaking if you wait until it's completely clean.
Cool completely before frosting
Warm cupcakes will melt your frosting. Let them cool fully for best results.
Measure by weight
For reliable results, use a digital kitchen scale instead of measuring cups, especially for the flour which is very easy to overmeasure. Plus, you don't want to use what your measuring cups say is a cup, you want to measure exactly as I, the recipe developer, did to get my exact results.
Ingredient substitutions
Dairy-Free
Use block-style vegan butter (like Melt or Miyoko's brands are best) or butter-flavored nonhydrogenated shortening in place of butter.
For the best texture, replace buttermilk with a mix of half plain yogurt and half nondairy milk by volume. You can also use just unsweetened, unflavored nondairy milk, but the crumb will be a little more condensed.
Egg-Free
Replace the egg with a chia egg, Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer, or Just Egg. Avoid flax eggs because they add a strong flavor that doesn’t work well here.
Storage suggestions
Room temperature
Store unfrosted or frosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Avoid the fridge since it dries out cakes, especially when they're made with butter instead of oil.
Freezing unfrosted
Once completely cool, wrap each cupcake tightly in freezer-safe wrap, then place in a sealed container or zip-top freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months or the flavor might taste a bit off.
Freezing frosted cupcakes
You can freeze them fully frosted, too. Let them defrost at room temperature, and don’t microwave or the frosting will melt.
To serve from frozen
Unwrap and let sit at room temperature until thawed, or microwave unfrosted cupcakes at 50% power in 20-second bursts.
Vanilla Gluten Free Cupcakes Recipe
Equipment
- Stand mixer or handheld mixer
Ingredients
For the vanilla cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes) (Click thru for full info)
- 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.
Video
Notes
For best results, use Better Batter original blend or Nicole’s Best multipurpose blend with added xanthan gum as directed. Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1-to-1 also works well as long as you add ½ teaspoon xanthan gum to the dry ingredients to prevent crumbling. To make your own blend, see the All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blends page. Nutrition information: Approximate nutrition information is per cupcake, excluding frosting.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQs
Yes, vanilla bean paste works well and has a stronger flavor than extract. Use the same amount as you would vanilla extract.
Yes, just reduce the baking time. They’re ready when the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
That usually means the oven was too hot, so the outside set before the inside had time to build structure. Use a standalone oven thermometer to be sure your oven temperature is accurate. Or you may have added too much moisture by using milk instead of buttermilk.
Yes! Freeze them (unfrosted or frosted) as soon as they’re completely cool. Defrost at room temperature for best results.
You can. Just divide the batter evenly across more tins, and rotate them during baking for even results.
No, this recipe doesn't have enough structure to hold its own as a full cake. Instead, use our vanilla gluten free cake recipe. It calls for a few more steps, but go see the comments. You'll see it's worth it!
Just a heads up to anyone baking at high altitude: you will need to modify this one or they will over rise and sink in the middle. I have made this recipe several times in the past with great results at 2-3000 feet but I am newer to high altitude baking (at 6000 ft now). With gluten free I have been trying recipes as written first because they don’t always need modification. When I make these next I will try reducing leavening 20-25%. I’m always afraid to increase baking temperatures for fear of drying out gluten free items.
Yes, you always need to make adjustments for high altitude baking, Vanessa. Gluten free baking is no exception. Unfortunately I can’t recreate that condition, so I can’t test any of my recipes at altitude. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Just made these today and they were sooooo good!
I take my baking seriously and am always grateful for thorough comments, so this will be a little long.
First time that I made these they rose beautifully, then overflowed, browned and completely caved in in the oven, but the flavor was so good I wanted to try again. First time I used measuring cups, overfilled the liners, and I’m pretty sure I over-mixed the batter because the batter felt a little gummy and sticky before baking.
Second time I made sure to not overfill the cupcakes (I ended up with 18). I weighed my ingredients and made sure to turn off the mixer between adding the flour and milk. They still browned and caved a little, but they stayed risen enough to be able to cut off the sunken part and still have a beautiful fluffy cupcake. The texture was soooooo good. And the flavor was beautiful.
I used the Cup4Cup flour and you could barely tell they were gluten free. I mixed in chopped fresh strawberries to half of the batter as an experiment and Wow! Delicious. I topped these with a passion fruit curd, passion fruit whipped cream and more fresh strawberries. Super good, definitely will use this recipe again. Thank you for it!
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Adding more moisture to the cupcakes by adding fruit will definitely make them overflow (and also take up more space). And since these are cupcakes, not muffins, they don’t rise into a larger dome, which is why the instructions say to fill the wells 2/3 of the way full. When baked goods rise and then fall when they cool, it’s usually because of a too-hot oven (too much moisture can also contribute), which is why I always recommend an oven thermometer as most ovens run hot and drift out of calibration easily.
These were delicious and easy. I used one cup Pillsbury gluten free flour and a half cup almond flour. I still need to work on my buttercream frosting to get the right texture, but it tasted great. Thanks for this recipe!
Hi there! I am looking forward to trying this recipe and it will be my first time using the recommended flour blend, “Better Batter”. Since that flour does contain xantham gum should I omit the xantham gum that is mentioned in the recipe?
Thank you!
Correct, as the recipe states to omit the xanthan gum if your blend includes it, you’ll omit it when using Better Batter’s classic blend.
Thank you! I made them for a party this afternoon and they were amazing. I added a homemade strawberry jam filling and topped them with your buttercream recipe for a “strawberry and cream” cupcake…Wow! Also, thank you for all of the notes. I have been GF for 14 years and understanding the “why” behind a method helps me so much.
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!
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.
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?
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.
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!
Can i add cocoa powder to make these chocolate cupcakes?
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!
Thank you!
These cupcakes look great. Do I omit the cornstarch if I’m using the cup4cup flour?
Hi, Monica, yes! Just measure out more Cup4Cup by weight. :)
Hi Nicole,
Can I use tapioca starch or arrowroot flour instead of cornstarch? One of my family members is intolerant to cornstarch. Thanks!
Hi, Gurleen, definitely you can use arrowroot. That’s usually the starch I like in place of cornstarch and it should work great here!
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.
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. :)