Mocha Chip Cupcakes
I love a good mocha, which was the inspiration for these chocolate cupcakes studded with chocolate chips made with natural sugar. They are frosted with a coffee date buttercream that you won’t believe has no added sugar, just dates to sweeten it. The key to a good, gluten-free cupcake is the balance between the texture and limiting the amount of sugar so it tastes just right and could still be considered healthful.
SERVINGS: 18 CUPCAKES
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour*
3/4 cup almond flour (superfine)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 eggs
¾-1 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
extra chocolate chips
Coffee Date Buttercream
4 Medjool dates, pitted, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, strained
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
3 tablespoons almond milk or regular milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
PREPARATION
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2 In a mixing bowl add the melted butter and cocoa powder until well combined. Add the coffee granules to the boiling water and stir. Add the hot coffee to the mixing bowl and whisk together.
3 Add the sugar and vanilla to the bowl and mix. In a separate bowl, place your dry ingredients: gluten-free flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum and whisk together.
4 Place the mixing bowl in the mixer with a paddle attachment. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Then add 1 egg at a time.
5 Slowly pour in the milk. Start with ¾ of a cup. The batter should look like chocolate pudding. Add more milk if needed. Add in the chocolate chips.
6 Line 2 cupcake pans with liners and fill them with batter until 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7 To make the Coffee Date Buttercream: Add dates, coffee granules, milk, vanilla extract, and salt in bowl and blend with immersion blender. Add butter and blend until you reach a buttercream consistency. (To use a blender see notes below.)
NOTES
*We used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Flour here which has more chickpea flour and some xanthan gum. You could use another flour, but many of them have rice flour and you’ll need to use closer to one cup of milk probably less xanthan gum, depending on the blend.
Don’t smell the flour as you’re mixing it! It smells heavily like chickpea, but the cupcakes are pure chocolate when baked.
We used an immersion blender for the frosting. We also made the frosting in a smaller blender, which works, but is a bit trickier. First blend all the ingredients besides the butter. The take 4 tablespoons of the butter, softened, and blend it with the mixture. Then use a spatula to stir it together and add the final 4 tablespoons (this butter should be cold).