Are you wearing green today? If you're not <<pinch>>

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In yesterday's post, I told you that the Vanilla Cupcake recipe was forthcoming, and I thought today would be a great day to share that with you! These cupcakes are what a cupcake should be - light and airy, but not crumbly or dry. And they hold up well for several days stored in an airtight container at room temp (I kept mine like this for 3 full days and they were still great!).

The recipe makes approximately 18 cupcakes, so the recipe is great for a party, but you can also make the entire batch and freeze some for another time, which is what I like to do.

Try them with my Superfood Frosting (chocolate), or dress them up for a special occasion like I did for St. Patrick's Day! If you need a dairy-free frosting recipe, check out my recipe for Mild Lemon Frosting - for a non-lemon version, simply substitute rice milk or water for the lemon juice.
Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
Egg replacer (prepared) to equal 2 large eggs
1/4 cup oil
1 cup rice milk (or other plant milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-section AND a 6-section cupcake pan with paper liners.

Combine dry ingredients (flour through sugar) in a large mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients (egg through vanilla). Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until batter is smooth.

Divide batter evenly among sections of cupcake pans. I got 18 cupcakes out of this recipe filling sections approximately half full (cupcakes rose to top of paper liner with a nice rounded top – no high peaks).

Bake cupcakes for approximately 15 minutes, but check for doneness at 12 minutes to prevent over-baking.

Cool cupcakes before frosting with your favorite frosting.

This recipe is linked to Mingle Monday at Add a Pinch.

This was not some lame attempt at getting my kiddos to eat their veggies. Truth is I LOVE beets - always have. I love the roots - bright staining pink or deep golden yellow - roasted, sauteed, or shredded in a salad. And let's not forget the tops - sauteed with red pepper flakes and sweet red onions - oh my! 

These cupcakes came to be spontaneously - I wanted a nice vanilla cupcake and I had just taken roasted beets out of the oven. Then, it occurred to me - what would be better than cupcakes and roasted beets? Beet cupcakes were born right there in my kitchen! 

I know what you're thinking...just bear with me here. These are really good cupcakes, and as a testament to that, I will tell you that I was sadly mistaken when I thought I would have beet cupcakes in the freezer for a while - ready to pull out, warm up, frost, and enjoy any time I liked. The recipe makes 1 dozen cupcakes, and there were 2 left over at the end of the day. I have a family of 4, with only 1 beet lover (me!). I did not eat all the cupcakes... honest. 

Oh, and don't think it was the honey cream cheese frosting that won all the non-beet lovers over - only half the cupcakes were ever frosted - the others were eaten "naked". They're that good!

I wanted to share the recipe, and I'm hoping some of you are brave enough to try these - I think you will be pleasantly surprised if you do. I'd love to hear from you if you  give these a try! Enjoy!

Beet-iful Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 c. GF flour blend (click here for suggestions)
1/2 T. baking powder
1/4 t. sea salt
1/8 t. baking soda
4 T. Earth Balance buttery spread (soy-free)
1/4 c. plus 2 T. honey
Egg replacer (prepared) to equal 2 eggs (use real eggs here if you like; or try one of these egg replacers)
1 medium roasted beet, peeled and cut into cubes
1/4 c. rice (or other) milk
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Line a 12-section cupcake pan with paper liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine cubed beet and rice milk and process until the mixture is pureed. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour blend, baking powder, salt, and soda. Stir with a whisk to combine, then cut in the Earth Balance until a fine crumb mixture is achieved.

In a separate bowl, combine the honey, egg replacer, beet puree, and vanilla. Stir this mixture to combine, then add it to the dry ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are fully incorporated.

Divide mixture evenly between 12 sections of cupcake pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops appear dry and spring back lightly when touched (careful!) or a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I baked mine for 17 minutes. Cool before frosting.

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese (I used Neufchatel)
4 T. honey
1 t. vanilla extract

Combine ingredients until a smooth frosting consistency is achieved. Top cupcakes and enjoy!
Note: Substitute your favorite non-dairy frosting here if you're dairy free like me.