Gluten-Free Creamsicle Cupcakes

With summer fast approaching, memories of orange creamsicles come flooding back to me. They were, by far, my favorite summer treat. That and banana popsicles!

I wanted to make a gluten-free cupcake that would do justice to the classic creamsicle ice cream indulgence. After much research, I settled on a source recipe from The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook for Orange Chiffon Cake. Then I adapted it quite severely to go from a cake to these fluffy, orange, cream filled delights you see here today.

The chiffon batter does tend to settle after baking so you will have a flat cupcake top. Perfect for what you need to do next and that is cut out the top with a melon baller, fill with creamy vanilla buttercream and then place the cutout cupcake piece back on top.

For the frosting, I took the vanilla buttercream filler frosting and jazzed it up with orange food coloring, orange extract and then piped it all with my Wilton 1M tip. The crowning glory: a little orange gummy candy and an orange candy stick which I simply cut in half as one large one is simply overkill for these beauties.

To begin, you will want to have 1 orange handy and some orange juice (pulp free). I added the scrapings of 1 vanilla bean to the batter plus one in the icing so I highly recommend you have these on hand as well. The vanilla bean enhances the entire cupcake from top to bottom giving it that vanilla flavor so well loved in the creamsicle treat.

This is my staple go-to book for gluten-free baking . I couldn't live without it. As with the Chocolate Cupcake recipe also posted here on Lemon Drop, the original Orange Chiffon one in her book is both vegan and gluten-free. My focus was simply to retain its gluten-free qualities. Therefore, I did used eggs rather than egg replacer.

Basic Gluten-Free Baking Mix
used throughout the book:

• 4 cups superfine brown rice flour (preferably from Authentic Foods)
• 1 1/3 cups potato starch (NOT potato flour)
  
• 2/3 cup tapioca flour or tapioca starch

You will need 3 cups of this baking mix blend for this cupcake recipe.

NOW LET'S GET STARTED!

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

CUPCAKES
2 cups fine granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup orange juice (pulp free)
zest of one medium orange
scrapings of 1 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons canola oil (Crisco oil is great)
3 cups gluten-free flour mix (see above)
3/4 teaspoon xanthum gum
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
orange food coloring gel or liquid food coloring

FILLING/FROSTING
2 1/2 cups unsalted butter at room temperature
6 cups icing sugar, sifted
scraping of one 1 vanilla bean
3/4 cup whipping cream

FROSTING EXTRAS:
1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
orange food coloring gel
orange gummy candies
orange candy sticks, cut in half

MAKE IT

LINE muffin pans (2) with 16 liners.
PREHEAT oven to 350F

IN LARGE BOWL, with electric mixer, blend together sugar and egg for 1 minute, MED speed
ADD orange juice, zest, vanilla bean scraping, liquid vanilla and oil
BEAT MED speed 1 minute
IN MEDIUM BOWL, whisk together remaining cupcake ingredients
SLOWLY ADD to wet ingredients in 3 batches, mixing slightly after each addition.
BLEND together at MED speed for 1 minute
ADD food coloring and blend into batter on LOW speed just until you have the color you want.
WITH ice cream or cookie scoop, fill liners 3/4 full
BAKE 15-18 minutes testing with a toothpick in center; if it comes out clean then they are done!
LET COOL in pan for 5 minutes
REMOVE and let cupcakes cool on rack completely for 1/2 hr

IN LARGE BOWL, with electric mixer, cream butter for 1 minute MED speed
SLOWLY add icing sugar and continue mixing for 4-5 minutes MED speed
ADD vanilla bean and whipping cream. When adding whipping cream, add only a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency

WITH MELON BALLER, scoop out a circle from each cupcake, approximately 1 inch deep. Set cut out tops aside.
WITH teaspoon, fill cut out areas with 1 teaspoon of white frosting.
COVER with cupcake cutouts
WITH remaining icing, add orange extract. Start adding food coloring: A little goes a long way so start adding a little bit at a time and mix after each addition until desired color is reached.

FILL piping bag with orange frosting and pipe onto cupcakes. I used a Wilton 1M tip for the swirls on top.

TOP with candy and orange stick.

ENJOY !!!

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