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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.
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.
Cupcake ingredients
- Baking powder and baking soda – these ingredients help your cupcakes rise and give them that light, airy texture
- 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 – we use 1 egg and 1 egg white to give the cupcakes structure and contribute to the rise
- Vanilla extract – this is what gives the cupcakes that awesome flavor that reminds you of birthday cake
- Buttermilk – 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
How to make gluten free vanilla cupcakes
Combine the dry ingredients; then the wet ingredients
- Whisk together the dry ingredients (gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt), and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, an egg, egg white, and sugar until well-combined and fluffy
Finish making the batter
- Beat in half the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, then the remaining dry ingredients.
- After each addition, beat until just combined.
- After adding the last of the dry ingredients, mix by hand into a smooth, soft but thick cupcake batter.
Transfer to the muffin tin & bake
- Line the wells of a standard muffin tin with greaseproof liners.
- Fill the wells 2/3 of the way full with batter. You'll have enough batter left over to make about another 3 to 4 cupcakes after.
- Bake at 325°F for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
- Let cool in the tin for about 5 minutes, and then fully on a wire rack.
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.
Key frosting ingredients
- Butter: Butter at room temperature adds flavor and forms the base of your buttercream frosting
- Confectioners' sugar: Adds sweetness and thickens the whipped butter so you can pipe in onto your cupcakes. It's powdered sugar plus some cornstarch to keep it from caking.
- Vanilla: Adds depth of flavor so the frosting doesn't taste greasy or flat
How to make the frosting
- Beat the butter just until smooth and creamy.
- Add the confectioners' sugar, salt, vanilla, and some milk to make it easier to beat together.
- Beat until creamy, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for about 5 minutes.
- The frosting should be light and fluffy, and should hold its shape when you scoop it. Add more confectioners' sugar if needed to thicken it.
- Place it in a piping bag with a metal tip, or a zip-top bag with the corner cut off, and pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Recipe tips
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.
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
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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Loved this recipe!! Using it again for my son’s birthday party. I wasn’t able to find Better Batter but used King Arthur measure for measure. I think the trick was weighing the dry ingredients because it seems to be a denser flour than better batter, when I weighed it out 1.5cups would have been way too much but in grams it was perfect! Moist, not crumbly at all. My favorite is always when my husband asks “this is gluten free?” Thank you!
I’ve never had cupcakes crumble apart the way these did. Also, the batch did not make 16 cupcakes. It made 14. I needed 16, and now I have to remake a whole different recipe because I have 14 crumbly cupcakes rather than 16 decent ones.
Heather, that sounds frustrating, and my first guess is that you used an inferior gluten free flour blend. Perhaps you also didn’t use any xanthan gum? Since you didn’t give any details about how you proceeded, I’m only able to guess. Please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page on the blog, which is linked in this recipe and every other that calls for that ingredient, for full information on appropriate blends, including calls outs of a few blends that are the worst. The flour blend is the most important part of the recipe, as we’re replacing wheat flour, and that’s why the text of the post references that ingredient again and again.
hi,
i just made your gluten free cupcakes using and im so dissappointed as theyve turned out awful..im trying to work out what ive done wrong.
i do bake quite a bit so felt confident theyd turn out well and the batter looked fantastic.
im in australia and used Yesyoucan gluten and dairy free plain flour which has xanthen gum added.
i added cornstarch as per the recipe.
the cupcakes did overflow so im guessing that i did overfill slightly also.
ill try again another day.
kind regards.
jayne
Jayne, frankly, I’m confused by a 2 star rating. As I discuss extensively on the blog, you can’t use just any gluten free flour blend and get the expected results. Please click the link in the recipe that is connected to the “all purpose gluten free flour blends” ingredient for full information on appropriate blends. And overfilling the wells is, of course, user error.
I’m little unsure if I’m understanding step 4 for the cupcakes correctly. The way it reads to me is that I’m supposed to divide the dry ingredients into three parts, then add part 1 and beat it in lightly, add half the milk/buttermilk and beat that in, add part 2 of the dry and beat it in, add the rest of the milk and beat it in, then finish with part 3 of the dry ingredients.
That’s how I understood the recipe and how I did it, but as I was in the middle of doing so, I was second guessing myself. I thought that maybe I was supposed to add half the dry (part 1), then add the milk (part 2), then add the rest of the dry ingredients (part 3).
The way I did it turned out great. I just thought I’d reach out for clarification, since I intend to make this again and want to make sure everything is right. Because if I did it wrong the first time but it just worked in spite of me, maybe I won’t get so lucky the second time.
These are lovely, and I intend to use them for my wedding.
You did everything fine, Sarah. Don’t worry and enjoy the cupcakes!
I’m so sad! I was so invested in making these for my friend who has Celiac, but I am in Canada and I can’t seem to get my hands on Better Batter flour without having to pay $100+ for 5Lbs of flour. But I also don’t know the cost of trying to make your Mock Better Batter.
Kayla please follow the link to the all purpose gluten free flour blends page that is linked in this and every recipe that calls for one. You’ll find information on how to blend your own “mock” Better Batter.
Hi, how can I make these sugar-free using monkfruit sweetener?
I’ve never tried this recipe with an alternative sweetener, Nina, but they do tend to be drying so the cupcakes will need more moisture. You’d have to experiment.
My cupcakes tasted like cornbread?? But they were very fluffy and delicious just don’t a sweet cupcake. Any suggestions?
That’s your flour blend, Gwen. It’s not one of my recommended brands.
Umm Nicole, I know that this was a response to an older comment, but I actually had this exact same issue today using Better Batter gluten free flour with all ingredients measured with a high precision food scale and followed the instructions to the letter; since Gwen did not name the type of flour that she used, I’m not sure that one can assume that she did not use an appropriate flour blend for your recipe?
Might you know of any other factors that could have caused these results? Over mixing? Under baking? Over baking? Of note, I did not use dairy. I made buttermilk using oat milk and an unsweetened plain coconut yogurt.
I am actually over the moon with the results of this recipe aside from the slight cornbreadish taste. I’ve been attempting to bake gluten free goods for almost a decade now and today was the first time I’ve ever managed to get the crumb and texture of a gluten free baked good to the point of it being good enough for me to eat myself and also be willing to serve it to others who are able to eat gluten.
I had actually tried at least one of your recipes before, but I don’t think I was ever as meticulous at following all of the instructions as I was today.
I have never ever even purchased a gluten free baked good that I’ve ever liked, whether a prepackaged commercial item from the grocery store or at a fancy bakery. All of these gluten free items have tasted terrible and have a gritty, chalky mouth feel. Blech!
All that said, I hope to try this recipe again since it was basically 95% successful as far as I’m concerned. It’d just be nice if I could perfect it and get rid of that cornbread taste? Please do let me know if you have any thoughts and/or suggestions that could help. Thank you!
Generally, when a crumb it tighter than you’d expect, it’s due to overmixing and/or baking in a too-hot oven, which causes the rise to happen too quickly and the baked goods fall as they cool. That’s all I can really offer!
I want to make a Donauwelle cake. How do you think this recipe would do with adding some cocoa and a little milk to half of it to make the swirls? I also think the cherries might add a little extra liquid, would you adjust for that or just dry them off as much as possible? Thanks!
I’m afraid I would not recommend using this recipe in that way, no. You can’t make vanilla batter into a chocolate swirl that simply. You’d really need a recipe for just that. Sorry!
Amazing recipe!! I had to make some cupcakes for Church so I thought to make some GF ones and these were a hit! One little kid said they were the best, and you know what that means when a kid says that!
Indeed I do know how hard it is to get that sort of positive response from a kid. No filter! So glad you loved them (as did that child!)
I made these today, they came out perfectly. Incredibly moist, risen and delicious. I used butter milk in the batter and a white chocolate butter cream and it complimented them perfectly. They are not dry and are very pretty without the wrapper on. I found hitting them on the bench and shaking them to make a world of difference :)
Perfect texture to pipe some ganache in the middle also. Yum!