Sophie's Super Special Magical Unicorn Birthday Cupcakes
That's right. The title says it all! Today is my daughter Sophie's 5th birthday. As I type this I can't even believe she is already 5. Where did the time go?! It feels like yesterday when I took a pregnancy test and told my boyfriend of four months (now husband -- hi honey!) I was pregnant. I was 27. I was on birth control. We were shocked. How did this happen? (Full story coming in a future blog post, promise). The point of this post, however, is that the initial surprise and shock blossomed in to the best thing that has ever happened to me — to us — Sophie, our FIVE year old! Everything about her is Super, Special, & Magical. I am so proud of the little girl she has become and cannot wait to see who she grows up to be.
So for Sophie's birthday today, I embarked on a rather daring journey: baking gluten-free, nut-free, and mostly sugar-free cupcakes (we were bringing to her pre-school class and had to adhere to all of the allergies under the sun). Luckily I am allergic to gluten and have many creative, gluten-free recipes in my back pocket. One of them being gluten-free coconut flour cupcakes. 10 minute prep time, 20min bake time. Perfect solution for someone who is always in a rush and trying to be a good mamma. Since I was pretty confident they'd look like crap, I relied on my trusted friend Amazon Prime to help out with the aesthetics. For $5 you get around 24 unicorn themed cupcake wrappers and adorable horn toppers.
Not as awful looking as I thought they'd come out, however not glamorous by ANY means.
Needless to say, the cupcakes were a success. Teachers were impressed, kids were happy with the unicorn theme, and Sophie was thrilled. Recipe below!
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
- 6 large eggs, cracked into a bowl and whisked to combine
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
FROSTING:
Simple Mills organic vanilla frosting sweetened w/ Coconut Oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with 10 paper cupcake liners. For guaranteed crumble-free cupcakes, grease the liners.
2) Beat together the oil, sugar, salt, vanilla, and eggs. Add the milk, and whisk until smooth.
3) In a separate bowl, sift together the coconut flour and baking powder. Add this mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir to combine.
4) Evenly divide the batter among the 10 liners, filling each 3/4 full.
5) Bake the cupcakes on the center rack of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
6) Remove the cupcakes from the oven, and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn them out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.
7) Frost the cupcakes with buttercream, or your favorite frosting.
Yield: 10 cupcakes (I doubled the ingredient amounts and got about 24 cupcakes)
