Gluten and Dairy Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I have always loved to bake. However, when we learned that our daughters needed to be strictly gluten and dairy free it was a challenging transition. These days it’s almost second nature to me, and it’s hard to remember how overwhelming it was at first. For our Poetry Teatime this week I made gluten and dairy free pumpkin cupcakes with faux cream cheese frosting. I know that not everyone is ready to embrace The Best Season of the Year (aka Fall), but I’ve been ready for weeks. At least I waited until September to break out the Autumn flavors, right?! I baked a test batch first and before adding icing I had everyone try one. My gluten-eating husband took a bite and exclaimed, “Oh, that’s delicious! This is gluten free?!” So there ya go!

Let’s back up a minute though. Yes, I did just say DAIRY FREE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. You might ask, how is this possible? Well, there are several brands of dairy-free “cream cheese” on the market these days. For frosting I really like the Tofutti brand. Though it does contain soy, which we typically avoid, it’s not something we absolutely must avoid, so sometimes I just go with it. If you must avoid soy try Daiya or Kite Hill.

Pictured below was my original plan for the faux cream cheese frosting

Then I decided to reduce the refined sugar so I made a honey sweetened version of the frosting, and it was a hit! I personally prefer the flavor of the powdered sugar because I’m not a big fan of honey for some reason. Unless it’s spread on cornbread with lots of ghee or butter. Yum! Anyway, I digress. My girls love honey, so it was no surprise they loved this dairy free cream cheese frosting made with no refined sugar!

The only other downside to using honey is that it doesn’t pipe quite as well. It’s very soft. In fact, the frosting was so runny that I scooped it into the piping bag and let it sit in the freezer for a bit to let it firm up. That certainly helped, but I was impatient and didn’t leave it in long and you can see it’s still pretty soft. It certainly didn’t prevent anyone from enjoying these cupcakes though!

There’s just something about pumpkin spice that makes me happy! And these were perfect for our weekly Poetry Teatime. It’s only our first week of the homeschool year, but we are loving 1st grade! With poetry, tea, and treats, what’s not to love? The top question when people see this is, “Where did you get that adorable dessert stand?!” I had been looking for months for just the right 3-tier serving stand when I came across this pretty little tiered wrought iron serving stand with a bird on top I knew I HAD to have it for our tea parties this year! I love birds, and this was love at first sight.

Here’s another tip that might just change your life. You can freeze cupcake batter. That’s right. I said it. I’m a busy mom and I don’t always have time to bake from scratch. By prepping ahead and freezing, we can still enjoy freshly baked muffins and cupcakes. Simply pour the batter into your cupcake liners in a cupcake tin and put it into the freezer until the batter is frozen solid. Then carefully pull the liners out of the tin and put them in a freezer bag. Then you can pull out as many as you’d like, pop them into a muffin tin, and bake! I think they come out fresher than when you bake first and then freeze. (Though that works too.) Just let them thaw a little on the counter while preheating the oven. Depending on how frozen they still are you might need to add to your bake time. I got sidetracked so these were nearly thawed when I put them in and didn’t need any extra time in the oven.

Hope you enjoy!

Gluten and Dairy Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

 

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These cupcakes are so delicious you'll never miss the gluten or dairy!

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups gluten free flour (I like Pamela's brand)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 (15 oz) carton pumpkin puree
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 
  

Frosting (honey sweetened version)

• 8 ounces dairy free cream cheese (I used Tofutti), softened to room temperature
• 4 tbsp (1/4 c) dairy free butter (I used Earth Balance soy free), softened to room temperature
• ¼ cup honey
• ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 
  

Frosting (traditional)

• 8 ounces dairy free cream cheese (I used Tofutti), softened to room temperature
• 4 tbsp (1/4 c) dairy free butter (I used Earth Balance soy free), softened to room temperature
• 2 c powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions

For cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
4. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer whisk together the eggs, oil, sugars, pumpkin puree, and vanilla.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
6. Fill the prepared muffin cups about ⅔ full.
7. Bake about 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
8. Allow cupcakes to cool on wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting

1. Cream together the dairy free cream cheese and butter using a hand mixer or stand mixer.
2. Add the sweetener and whip until smooth and creamy.
3. Experiment with the amount of powdered sugar to get the sweetness and consistency you want.
4. In either case, you can always cool the frosting a bit if you want it firmer. This is particularly true if you are using honey because it will not be as thick as a traditional recipe. You can spread it this way, it just might not pipe as well.

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