Gluten Free Mocha Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting

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Gluten free mocha cupcakes with mocha buttercream frosting are decadent, rich and moist. As soon as you taste these coffee cupcakes, your heart will skip a beat because they are that good! They are sure to please a crowd, and you will never have a crumb leftover!

This mocha cupcakes recipe has the perfect combination of sweetness, chocolate and coffee flavors. You will also find a subtle cinnamon flavor that adds to the depth of these cupcakes. The star of the show is the mocha buttercream frosting because it’s creamy and delicious!

For all of my best gluten free cupcakes on the blog, check out my Gluten Free Cupcakes resource page!!

My daughter is a whiz at decorating cakes, and I am always happy to make tasty treats for her to decorate. She loves being artistic and expressing her creativity with these beautiful baked masterpieces! And Mr. Fearless Dining is always happy to eat them too!! So it is a double win if you ask me.  

If you want to see more of her art take a look at her Instagram account @ArtbyKaelag.

If you love this mocha cupcakes recipe, you should take a look at these other scrumptious cupcake recipes:

• These Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes With Chocolate Frosting are perfect for a birthday party.
• If you love chocolate, these Super Chocolatey Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes are delicious with chocolate frosting,
• Mr. Fearless Dining loves this Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. I hope you do too!
• These Gluten Free Lemon Cupcakes With Lemonade Icing are perfect and are bursting with lemon flavor.

This recipe was inspired by my good friend April's incredible mocha cake recipe called Mocha Cake With A Twist. I wanted to make a gluten free version of her recipe as cupcakes. April is in the U.S. a few times a year and I love when she is here and we are able to bake in the kitchen together.

The last time she was here, she made a gluten version of my gluten free scones, and I converted her Bakewell Tart into a Gluten Free Bakewell Tart for my readers.

Let me just say the gluten free mocha cake version turned out incredible!

Because I love to bake cupcakes (not as much as my daughter likes to decorate them but you know how that goes!) and I am sure you do so I wanted to do something a little different with today's Q&A. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to give you a few facts about cupcakes that you may not know.   

When is National Cupcake Day?

Did you know there is a holiday dedicated to cupcakes?? In case you didn’t know National Cupcake Day is on December 15th each year. So, celebrate with your friends and family by baking some yummy cupcakes for them each year.

Don’t worry; you can eat these delicious gluten free mocha cupcakes any time of year!

I am thinking about creating a special gluten free cupcake for National Cupcake Day this year. Tell me what flavors I should use to create a new cupcake recipe!!

I see specialty cupcake stores all over the Bay Area. Do you have them in your town too? Many have gluten free options, but I often wonder about cross-contamination.

The very first cupcake store was Sprinkles Cupcakes in 2005. Currently, there are 17 different locations for Sprinkles Cupcakes, none of which are in the Bay Area.

After cupcakes became a craze on the commercial level, individuals started to figure out they could make gorgeous cupcakes at home. Just watch Cupcake Wars or the Great British Baking Show for ideas!

I want to talk to you a little bit about the powdered coffee I used for the mocha cupcakes recipe with coffee buttercream frosting. You can use any instant coffee that you like, but I went with Starbucks Via. I love the extra deep coffee flavor that it adds to the coffee cupcakes.

Instructions:

Also, I have found that I can use different kinds of gluten free flour blends and have terrific results. Here are my favorites:

• Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend
• King Arthur Gluten Free Flour
• Authentic Foods Multi-Blend

Tips for perfect cupcakes:

If you LOVE light and fluffy cupcakes here are a few tips to help you make sure that your cupcakes come out perfectly every time.

• #1 most important, don’t overmix the batter. Often people think that they need to keep mixing it and that adds additional air to the mix. This creates a dense and heavy tasting cupcake.
• Room temperature ingredients – I used to think this was silly but now I let everything sit out, even the eggs. If the ingredients are too cold it can affect how they bake. Allow butter and other cold ingredients to sit at room temperature before mixing.
• I like to use a large cookie scoop to put the batter in the cupcake tin. Then you will have perfect uniform cupcakes.
• Don’t overbake or bake at too high of a temperature. Double check your oven temperature and check the cupcakes often to ensure you don’t over bake. Otherwise, they will turn out dry and not as flavorful.

(*Note in April's recipe, she uses a standing mixer. I know many of my readers do not have a standing mixer so I am showing you directions to make this recipe with mixing bowls and a whisk (and strong muscle power.)

Add your dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk to blend. I used instant coffee, Via actually, that I got at my local Starbucks...but any instant coffee will do.

I have tested two gluten free flour blends in this recipe. I liked King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure and Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour Blend. This doesn't mean other blends won't work, I just haven't tested any others. Try to avoid flour blends that are high in starch.

As always, if your blend does not contain Xanthan Gum, you will need to add 1 teaspoon.

Sorry, awful photo, but add the cooled instant coffee in liquid and the wet ingredients to a bowl and whisk to blend. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just barely mixed.

Add the batter to a muffin tin and bake at 350F degrees for 20-22 minutes until done.

To make the mocha frosting, add powdered sugar, instant coffee, softened butter, water, and vanilla to a standing mixer and mix until the frosting is fluffy.

Put frosting into a piping bag and pipe onto each baked cupcake.

Looking for some more sweet desserts? Try these:

• Paleo Delicata Squash Coconut Flour Brownies
• Drool-Worthy Gluten Free Banana Bread Pudding
• Gluten Free Cookie Dough 7 Layer Magic Bars
• Simple Gluten Free Cinnamon Crumb Cake

Continue to Content

📋 Recipe

Gluten Free Mocha Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes

Total Time: 37 minutes

A moist and delicious gluten free mocha cupcake recipe with homemade mocha buttercream frosting.

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Ingredients

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large free range or organic eggs at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2¼ cups gluten free flour blend
• ½ cup cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee (one that is finely ground like Starbucks via) dissolved in ⅓ cup boiling water, cooled
• 1 cup non-dairy milk like almond milk or buttermilk
• For the frosting:
• 1-2 tablespoons instant coffee (one that is finely ground like Starbucks via)
• (made with 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 3 tablespoons boiling water) Amount used depends on caffeine level you want
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1-2 tablespoons water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (170°C).
2. Add cupcake paper liners to a muffin tin.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together in a standing mixer or bowl.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix together well.
5. In a bowl, add the dry ingredients and whisk to blend.
6. Add to a small bowl the cooled coffee and the almond milk
7. Add the flour mixture to the batter alternately with the coffee/buttermilk mixture, beating after each addition. (Use two additions of the flour mixture and two of the liquid mixture.)
8. Pour the mixture into the cupcake liners.
9. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the top springs back when touched lightly and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
10. Cool the cupcakes on a cooling rack.
11. Add the frosting ingredients to a standing mixer and beat until fluffy.
12. Decorate the cupcakes any way you like!

Notes

For this recipe, I used instant crystals that I bought from Starbucks.

Recommended Products

There are affiliate links in my posts. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  Wholesome Sweeteners, Inc., Organic Powdered Confectioners Sugar, 16 oz (454 g) - 2pcs
• 
  KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Tilt-Head Stand Mixer with Pouring Shield, 5-Quart, Empire Red

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 423Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 262mgCarbohydrates: 63gFiber: 2gSugar: 41gProtein: 5g

Please note this nutrition information is calculated by a recipe plugin and is an estimate based on the ingredients used in this recipe.

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