Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Okay, so these cupcakes come from a cake recipe I found on Pinterest  (from www.melskitchencafe.com) and adapted it to make cupcakes so amazing that no one can tell they're gluten free unless you tell them! Seriously far better than my normal gluten filled recipe and I doubt I will go back to so called "normal" chocolate cupcakes. Hope you all enjoy these as much as we did!


Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: ~ 20 cupcakes

You'll need about 1/2 cup (maybe a bit more) dry quinoa for 2 cups cooked. Make sure to measure the quinoa for the cake recipe after it is cooked and cooled. Also, make sure to cook the quinoa in water not broth.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa (see note above)
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcakes pans with cupcake liners. 

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Process just until combined. Add the cooked quinoa and the butter. Blend well until smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
Add the contents from the blender and mix with a wooden spoon or whisk until combined.

Using a cupcake scoop fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and bake on a rack in the middle position for 26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcake pans from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Place cupcakes onto cooling racks and cool completely.

This is how the cupcakes will look when they are cooled, so don't worry when yours look like this. 

Salted Caramel Buttercream:

Ingredients: 

1 cup salted butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup caramel sauce (I used hershey's, but you can make your own)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add powdered sugar and blend on low speed until mixture comes together. Then, add vanilla and caramel sauce and whip on medium high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 

The finished product. Yum!