Chocolate cupcakes with chestnut & orange frosting

It took me by surprise that actually, baking gluten- and eggfree is easier: my previous muffins/cakes that were gluten- dairy- and sugarfree but contained some eggs always turned out a bit too dry for my taste. While experimenting with this recipe, I realised that if I get the ratios right, my cakes are turning out not too dry or wet, but exactly right. It just took me a little practice, that’s all. 🙂

Ingredients for 12 pieces:
dry ingredients:
60g millet (flour)
40g buckwheat (flour)
40g amaranth flour
50g brown rice flour
20g tapioca starch
pinch of salt (I use pink Himalayan salt)
1 level teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1/2 level teaspoon of stevia powder
pinch of ground cinnamon

wet ingredients:
100g olive oil
200g water
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of (home made) vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate (tried 50-81% cocoa content bars)
1 level tablespoon of very finely ground flaxmeal

for the chestnut-orange frosting:
250g roasted chestnut puree
juice of 1 orange
2 teaspoons of orange extract

I measure everything in grams not to annoy you, but to be precise – if you don’t have a small kitchen scale, I strongly recommend you buy one as it makes glutenfree baking so much more reproducible… Trust me (and Gluten-free Girl) on this one!

Millet and buckwheat flour I grind myself with a small spice/coffee mill – no need to look for glutenfree mills and buy it more expensive.

You’ll need 3 separate bowls: a tiny one to prepare flax eggs, a medium one for the wet and a larger one for the dry ingredients.

Trust me, this is going to take more time for me to type up than for you to bake!

1. Preheat the oven at 160 C / 320 F, no convection.
2. At first mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl, and heat them slightly, so that the chocolate melts.
3. Measure the dry ingredients in a larger mixing bowl.
4. Prepare the flax eggs: add 2-3 tablespoons of lukewarm water to the finely ground flaxmeal and whisk continuously with a hand whisk until a gelly-like mixture forms.
5. Now add the wet ingredients to the flax eggs in 2-3 portions, while whisking thoroughly.
6. Finally, combine wet & dry mixture, divide batter uniformly into 12 muffin caps and bake them at 160 C / 320 F for 20 minutes. (Baking temperature is important – if you bake them at 180 C / 356 F the muffins will get too dry!)
7. For the frosting, just combine the ingredients in a food processor and use some sweetener to taste, if desired. (I didn’t need any.)
8. Cover muffin tops with frosting and decorate with a small slice of orange.

This recipe was featured as a dessert at the Virtual Vegan Potluck in December 2014. 

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