Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcakes

These cupcakes are amazing. I just wanted to start with that. You can’t tell that they’re gluten AND dairy free. My roommate’s eyes lit up when she took her first bite, and after her third she proclaimed it her favorite of my creations. Even I am wowed by how good this cupcake is. I can boldly but confidently say this is the best gluten-free red velvet cupcake recipe. AND the best dairy-free red velvet cupcake recipe. There. I said it. But I should know. I’ve eaten about 12 of these little guys. Including two this morning, before breakfast.

Three things contributed as inspiration for the best gluten-free red velvet cupcake I have ever eaten.

Brainstorming first came when I online-met Kelli of Ingested Read. Her recipes are created for a specific book she’s pouring over, I’m a big fan of this idea, and this blog. So she opened up her site for guest-posts with Intercaketuality. Brilliant. I’m sending her a big high five across the pond.

I knew I wanted to make some sort of red-velvet cake. In my gluten-free food crawl with a few friends I learned that the three bakeries in the city that boast gluten-free offerings disappointed our taste buds in the red-velvet department. Either too dry or too moist, none contained that classic cocoa flavor. But why?

Lastly, few months ago my cousin Daniella played Little Red Riding Hood in her high school production of Into the Woods and, as I predicted, was stellar, stealing the show. In this musical version Little Red has a slight obsession with baked goods, eating all the bread and sweets she is supposed to take through the woods to granny. Daniella herself is very allergic to dairy, so over the years we’ve commiserated at the dessert table as treats were passed around.

So when thinking about a new cake I wanted to work on, these three elements blended perfectly into The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake!

I can honestly say that this recipe is better than the two bakery ones we tried. The cakes are that perfect combination of being both moist and crumbly – they’re not dry at all, so they won’t fall under the pressure of a fork. The cocoa is definitely present, but in no way do they taste like chocolate. And I cut back the sugar aspect by a half a cup and substituted with 1/8 a cup of light agave syrup. I’m not at all a fan of using either of these things, but for experimentation purposes I had to go with it.

For a frosting I whipped up a tofutti / Earth Balance spread from Mama Sophia’s Soul Kitchen. It’s a very tasty recipe, tangy and sweet without being overpowering nor tasting like soy. But as you can see in this picture, it’s more like a pretty, thick glaze. It has a gorgeous sheen, but even when refrigerated overnight it was far too loose for piping. So I glazed the minis with these and am going to try a fluffier, shortening-based frosting tomorrow for the big guys.

Ooh, but here’s the recipe for the best gluten-dairy-free red velvet cupcake, ever. That I happily crown The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake