By Diane Kittle

Gluten-Free Butterfly Cupcakes

MAKES 24 CUPCAKES

Free of gluten, dairy, soy and nuts, these whimsical cupcakes (pictured on our cover) are a beautiful addition to any Easter or springtime celebration and a fun dessert to make with children.

1 batch Vanilla Cake

½ batch “Buttercream” Frosting

1 bar dark chocolate of choice half in a separate bowl. Add food coloring to one to create a pink glaze.*

Glaze

    6     cups powdered sugar
    4     tablespoons hot water
    -      Food coloring of choice
 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 dozen cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
2. Prepare Vanilla Cake batter according to recipe instructions. Fill each cupcake liner to nearly the top with batter. Bake cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes or until done. They should spring back to the touch or a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
3. While cupcakes are baking, prepare half a batch of “Buttercream” Frosting by dividing each listed ingredient in half. Set frosting aside.
4. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the pan and place them on a rack to cool. When cool to the touch, place cupcakes in the refrigerator to cool completely before icing. Glaze will not set if cupcakes aren’t chilled.
5. To make the glaze, place powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add hot water and stir until smooth. Glaze should be thinner than frosting but not so thin that it’s translucent. If your glaze is too thick, add a few drops of hot water at a time until it’s thick but has a pourable consistency. Divide the glaze in half, placing each half in a separate bowl. Add food coloring to one to create a pink glaze.*

6. To prepare cupcakes for decorating, place a serrated knife just above the top of the cupcake liner and cut the top off the cupcake horizontally. Cut each top down the middle to form two butterfly “wings.” Cover two cookie sheets with waxed paper or parchment paper and place a cooling rack on each sheet. Divide the cupcake “wings” equally between the two racks.

7. Spoon the white glaze over half the “wings” and spoon the pink glaze over the remaining half, being sure to glaze them completely. Glaze will spill through the rack onto the waxed paper. Re-claim it by carefully lifting the rack off the cookie sheet and spooning the glaze back into the bowl. Let the glaze set on the “wings” for approximately 10 minutes. (For a thicker glaze, re-glaze the “wings” a second time.)

8. Fill a pastry bag (fitted with a #2 or #3 Wilton round tip) with “Buttercream” Frosting. To make your own pastry bag, fill a plastic food storage bag with frosting and cut a very small tip off the bottom corner of the bag. Decorate the “wings” by piping frosting to form dots, curvy lines or a design of your choice.

9. With a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and filled with “Buttercream” Frosting, pipe frosting on each cupcake, up to ¼ inch of the liner edge. (Or snip a larger hole into the corner of your plastic food storage bag and pipe approximately 2 tablespoons frosting on top of each cupcake.) Place one decorated “wing” on one half of the frosted cupcake, angling the wing down in the center of the cupcake and coming up at the outer edge of the cupcake. To secure the “wing” into position, pipe a little additional frosting under the outer part of the wing to give it “lift.” Repeat this step for the second “wing” on the cupcake. Repeat this process for all cupcakes. Place decorated cupcakes in the refrigerator to set, as the frosting will harden as it cools.

10. Grate the chocolate bar by running it over the large holes of a food grater. Remove butterfly cupcakes from the fridge and sprinkle grated chocolate down the center of the cupcake in between the two wings to form the butterfly body. Cupcakes are best if brought to room temperature before eating.

Each cupcake contains 521calories, 22g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 41mg cholesterol, 300mg sodium, 79g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, 2g protein

*TIP To recreate the look of the pink glaze on our cover cupcakes, use 1 drop of red all-natural food coloring from India Tree Natural Colors (indiatree.com).

Read More on These Topics

• Celiac/Gluten Free
• Casein-Free/Dairy Free
• Cooking
• Dessert