Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Recipe Tips & Tricks

• Rest the batter: Let the batter rest for a bit before baking. Oat flour, like all gluten free flours, benefits from a rest to let it absorb liquids. I find that resting the batter in the tins while the oven preheats is just enough time for the oat flour to hydrate. I’ve included this step in the recipe directions.
• Substitute hot water: If you don’t drink coffee, you can substitute 1 cup of hot water for the coffee if needed. Or, you can use (decaffeinated if needed) instant coffee or instant espresso if you don't regularly brew coffee at home.
• Use room temperature ingredients: Whether you’re making a regular cake or a gluten free cake, bringing the ingredients to room temperature is important! It helps them to better incorporate into the batter, making for a better-structured cake after it’s baked.
• Cool the cake completely: Oat flour cupcakes can be softer than wheat flour cupcakes, especially when they’re warm (although, every baked item needs to cool a bit regardless of whether it's gluten free). Make sure to cool the cupcakes thoroughly before frosting them.
• Save some coffee: I’ll often plan ahead when I’m making my morning pot of coffee and brew a little bit extra to use in the cake so it’s ready to go when I put the batter together (a quick blast in the microwave or heat on the stove will warm it up nicely). Or, if I have a cup or so of coffee left over, I’ll place it in a jar and keep it in the fridge until I’m ready to make this recipe.
• Make ahead: You can bake the cupcakes up to 24 hours in advance and I recommend doing this! Most cakes benefit from resting in the fridge overnight so their flavor deepens and the crumb firms up a bit. This will also make it easier to frost the cupcakes. Store the cupcakes, either unfrosted or frosted, covered with foil, or in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Frosting tip: Sift the powdered sugar before adding it to the buttercream. This is SO important to eliminate any clumps in the frosting.
• Any kind of frosting: I've included a simple recipe for my favorite frosting - chocolate buttercream. But, you can use any frosting you like to finish these cupcakes! Try vanilla buttercream, meringue, cream cheese frosting, or even whipped cream ...
• Halve the recipe: This recipe makes enough for 2 dozen cupcakes. That's a lot! If you don't want 24 cupcakes, you can go ahead and cut the recipe in half to make 12 cupcakes.
• Make it dairy-free: Choose your favorite non-dairy milk and non-dairy yogurt to use in the batter.
• Make it refined sugar-free: Substitute coconut sugar for the brown sugar and granulated sugar.
• Make it egg-free: I haven’t tried making this as a vegan or egg-free chocolate cake, but you could experiment with using a flax egg substitute in place of the eggs. Oat flour does need some kind of a binder - eggs work perfectly - but you might have success using flax eggs.

Why Use Oat Flour?

Oat flour is my favorite gluten-free flour to use in baking recipes. In many recipes, you can do a straight 1:1 swap if you measure the flour by weight (I’ve included both weight and cup measurements to keep things easy for you in the recipe card.) In this gluten free chocolate cupcakes recipe, the cupcakes bake up beautifully and don’t have the denseness or grittiness you may find in baked goods that rely on a gluten-free all-purpose flour substitute. If you need to substitute for oat flour, try sorghum flour or teff flour, another gluten free flour that plays well with chocolate. Or, use your favorite gluten free flour blend, although please note that the texture may not be the same.

Storage Options

Make sure to bring the cupcakes to room temperature for at least 30 minutes before you serve them to help the cake and frosting relax and soften a bit, making for a better texture when you take a bite. Here’s how to store your gluten free chocolate cupcakes:

• Fridge – To store, cover the cupcakes tightly with foil, or place them in an airtight container, and keep them in the fridge for up to 5 days.
• Freezer – Freeze the cupcakes two ways: frosted cupcakes should be stored in an airtight freezer-safe container. Unfrosted cupcakes may be wrapped in a layer of plastic wrap and placed in a sealable freezer-safe bag. Store the cupcakes in the freezer for up to 3 months, and thaw them in the fridge before serving.