Grain-free, Dairy-Free option 🌈
It’s party time! We’ve made every excuse in the book to keep making these magical cupcakes; New Year’s Eve, Anniversary, Birthday Party, Finished Cleaning The House Party– you get the idea–or you will you after you take your first bite!
But full disclosure here–these are not meant for every day. They are rich indeed. But rich treats such as these and say donuts or cheesecake are wonderful in moderation!
And what a treat these are to make! Grab your little helpers and get baking! They’ll love dipping the funfetti cupcakes into the magic shell + decorating them with pastels. Your kitchen will pretty much look like a unicorn paradise. 😉
But the best thing about these cupcakes is the taste–they are moist, springy with delicious vanilla funfetti flavor, perfect for any special occasion.
We have some tips for you today:
-This recipe is also wonderful without the magic shell, if you prefer to make a more traditional funfetti cake or cupcakes.
-For the dairy-free version, use almond milk and Earth Balance Spread in place of milk and butter. Also, instead of white chocolate chips, use dairy-free Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips. In this case, I recommend coloring your frosting pink. It will look beautiful under the dark chocolate shell!!
-Here is the vegan version of our grain-free funfetti cupcakes.
-Here are gluten-free dye-free “Jimmies” for the cupcakes and these gluten-free “Pastels” for the topping. You can use any variety of “jimmies” for the cupcakes just make sure you don’t use round sprinkles, as the colors will bleed and look muddy.
-If you cannot tolerate the cornstarch in the sprinkles, I would recommend making your own grain-free “jimmies”. A quick google search will lead you to some great recipes.💕
-You can find natural food coloring here.
Enjoy the recipe + Happy Baking! 😊
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Magic Shell Funfetti Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 45 min
- Cook Time: 25-30 min
- Total Time: about 1.5 hours
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour (Bob’s Red Mill)
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch (or potato starch)
- 1/2 sugar
- 1/3 cup “jimmies” (Color Kitchen brand is GF–link in post above)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (Hain brand is grain-free)
- 1/2 cup milk or plain almond milk
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (clear vanilla for light color cupcakes)
- FROSTING:
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar (Wholesome! brand is grain-free)
- 2/3 cup butter or Earth Balance
- 2 tablespoons milk or plain almond milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (clear for lighter color)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Color Kitchen Jimmies or Olive Nation Pastels (link in post above).
- MAGIC SHELL:
- 1 twelve ounce bag white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- a couple drops of pink food coloring, if desired. (Natural option in post above).
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, tapioca starch, sugar, “jimmies”, baking soda and baking powder.
- Add milk, olive oil, egg, apple cider vinegar and vanilla extract to your dry mix. Blend until smooth.
- Pour batter into your cupcake liners a little over half way full. Place cupcake tin into oven, bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. You can gently place foil overtop at about 15 minutes in, it will keep the cupcakes lighter in color and keep the tops a bit softer.
- While your cupcakes are baking, blend together your frosting ingredients until smooth and place into a large piping bag or large ziplock bag with and inch cut off the tip.
- Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack. After they’re cooled, swirl frosting on top with piping bag. Place cupcakes into freezer for 15-20 minutes until icing hardens.
- Meanwhile, in a small, microwave safe bowl, add in your white chocolate chips and microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring at each interval until melted and smooth. Add in coconut oil and stir again until smooth. Finally, add your food coloring, if desired and blend into chocolate well.
- Take each chilled cupcake and dip it into the magic shell, letting the excess drip off the side. Sprinkle with “jimmies” or pastels and place each one in the freezer to set up, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from freezer and serve or store in an airtight container until time of serving. Enjoy!!
Keywords: grainfree, glutenfree, funfetti, cake, cupcakes, birthday, party
These are soooo magical!!! Hahah I will definitely celebrate these after I’m finished cleaning the house!! ☺️ The pink is so pretty! Thank you for this grain free and dairy free option… I can’t wait to make these! Magical indeed!!
Oh thank you so much dear Natalie!! Haha, and that’s the best time to make them!! 😀 I hope you love these, they are such a fun treat to create. 🙂
These cupcakes look like quite the party! Are you sure we can’t eat them everyday? 🙂 Your recipe is spectacular and I know being grain-free & dairy-free will certainly make these cupcakes quite popular!
Haha! I wish we could! 😉 And you’re so kind, thanks so much Noelle, they’re so good with either version of the magic shell.
These look absolutely delicious! Do you have any suggestions for a less sugary icing? 4.5 cups of powdered sugar is a lot (I get it’s stand for a buttercream, I’m just trying to do less sugar in my diet) Can’t wait to try them!
Thank you so much!! I really wish I had a low-sugar buttercream alternative for you! We went all in on these cupcakes with rich ingredients. There is, however, a sugar-free confectioner’s sugar made by a brand called “Swerve”. I have not tested it, but if you’re ok with erythritol, it might make a good replacement. I hope you enjoy the cupcakes! 😀
Oh that would work! Thank you so much!!
Hi, these look amazing!! I want to make them for my daughters birthday (she’s low oxalate diet due to Rett syndrome), is it possible to use coconut flour instead of almond as she doesn’t tolerate it??
Oh I so wish this recipe could work with coconut flour, unfortunately it can’t be a replacement for the almond flour here. I really hope you find a nut-free recipe that will be just right for your daughter’s birthday! We will definitely have to look into testing and creating nut-free, low oxalate recipes.
Thanks for the response!! The hunt continues 🙂