Flourless Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
Introduction
About this Recipe
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- ½ cup (115 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, divided
- 4 large eggs, separated and at room temperature
- 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla bean paste
- 1 cup (130 g) coconut flour
- ⅓ cup (40 g) tapioca starch
- 2 tsp (6 g) baking powder (gluten free, if needed)
- ¼ tsp (2 g) salt
- ½ cup (125 mL) milk, at room temperature
Frosting:
- 1 cup (125 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 5 ½ – 8 cups (715 g – 1040g) icing sugar, sifted
- ½ cup (125 mL) milk
- 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla bean paste
- Food colouring paste
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line mini muffin tins with paper liners.
Step 2
Beat the butter and ¾ cup (150 g) of the sugar together using electric beaters or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat in.
Step 3
In a separate bowl, sift the coconut flour with the tapioca starch, baking powder and salt in a bowl, and add this to the butter mixture alternately with the milk, mixing well after each addition and starting and ending with the flour, and beating on high speed for 2 minutes to make fluffy (no risk of overbeating when there is no gluten!)
Step 4
In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they are foamy, and then add the remaining ¼ cup (50 g) of sugar and whip until the whites hold a soft peak. Fold these into the batter in 2 additions. Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into the paper liners, filling them ¾ full. Bake the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes, until they spring back when gently pressed. Cool the cupcakes in the tin before frosting.
Step 5
For the frosting, beat the butter with 3 cup (390 g) of the icing sugar until fluffy. Add the milk and vanilla and mix slowly at first and scraping down the bowl often, until blended. Add the remaining icing sugar 1 cup (130 g) at a time, beating well until the ideal consistency for piping (the frosting should hold its shape, but not be too firm). Use the frosting at room temperature.
Step 6
Divide the frosting into as many rose colours as you wish, with a separate bowl for tinting the frosting green for the leaves. For the leaves, use small leaf tip #352 and large straight petal #127 or curve petal #116 for the rose petals. Fill the piping bags with the frostings.
Step 7
To pipe a buttercream rose, start by piping a little mound in the center of the cupcake (the bud). With the wide part of the piping tip resting on the cupcake at the bud, pipe a petal with a little lift up and then down again (remember, rose petals at the center are smaller than on the outside). Repeat, overlapping the next petal a little over the first one and continue this circling outward until the rose covers the top of the cupcake. Pipe a few leaves around the outside and repeat. Remember that in nature every flower is unique, so yours can be, too.
