Gluten-free Chocolate Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting
Requested at almost every family birthday party, these gluten-free chocolate cupcakes are topped with an amazing fudge frosting! This might just become your go-to gluten-free birthday cupcake recipe too!
After my diagnosis with celiac disease several years ago, one of the first desserts that I knew I was going to have to make gluten-free was chocolate cupcakes. I adore cookies and brownies, but if I HAD to pick my favorite dessert, it would be these gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with fudgy frosting. They’re my favorite gluten-free cupcakes!
This is the only thing I bake that I have zero self-control around. I will usually eat 3 of these gluten-free chocolate cupcakes per day until they are gone, which is definitely not good for the waistline! It’s definitely best if I make them when I have somewhere to bring them!
I’ve been sharing these super chocolaty, moist cupcakes with their fudgy frosting with people for years. They always receive rave reviews from everyone that tries them, whether they eat gluten-free usually or not. No one can tell that they are gluten-free!
These gluten-free cupcakes have the best texture on the day AFTER baking them, which I think is a big plus! I can whip these up the day before a birthday party, holiday get-together, or BBQ and save myself the work on the day of the event. Sometimes I’ll frost these the first day, sometimes I’ll wait to frost them until a few hours before I need them. You can store these at room temperature if your house isn’t overly warm, or keep chilled until an hour before serving.
This versatile recipe comes from my favorite recipe for gluten-free Texas Sheet Cake. If you’re looking for a potluck friendly dessert, go check that one out!
Notes on ingredients for gluten-free chocolate cupcakes:
- Flour: As always, I recommend using a good quality gluten-free flour blend that isn’t made of bean flours. I have had great success with the texture of these cupcakes when I use Gluten free Mama’s Almond Blend or Gluten free Mama’s Coconut Blend, King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour, and also with Cup4Cup flour.
- Baking cocoa: In this recipe, I like to divide the total amount called for and use about 1/2 of dutch-processed, Hershey’s regular or Saco blend cocoa and 1/2 Hershey’s special dark cocoa. That is how I achieve a deep, dark brown to my cupcakes and icing.
Here’s a look at how full to fill the cupcake liners before baking and what the cupcakes look like after baking. You’ll notice the cupcakes are mostly flat, making them perfect for frosting!
This frosting – you MUST make this fudge frosting! You will totally want to just eat the frosting with a spoon. My hubby and I will fight over who gets to lick the beaters when I make it. Thanks to my friend Steph for sharing this frosting recipe with me back in my college days!
No matter what new cake recipe I try out, I always use this frosting as it is simply the best chocolate fudge frosting there is!
Now I often do the frosting like I do the cake – with half regular cocoa and half dark cocoa. This pic shows you what the frosting looks like made with all regular cocoa (the lighter colored frosting) or with the blend with dark cocoa and regular together (the darker colored frosting). It’s completely delicious either way, or to make it fun, make a batch of each like I did here if you want the pretty assortment to offer.
If you use this frosting while still warm, it is easily spreadable and has a glossy finish when dried like you see in the photo of my gluten-free Chocolate Love Cakes but can slide off of whatever you are frosting. If you let the frosting cool completely before using, then it firms up and can be placed into a pastry bag for piping for decorating cupcakes like I did in these photos.
The chocolate fudge frosting can also be refrigerated to use later; just microwave 10 seconds at a time, and stir, until you get to the right consistency for piping or spreading. If you like a lot of frosting on each cupcake (or if you eat too much of it with a spoon!), then you might need to make another batch of the frosting to have enough. If you have any frosting left over, I put it in a freezer bag and put in the freezer to pull out the next time I need some extra frosting (or need a pure chocolate fudge fix!) For piping the icing on these to make a fun swirl, I used a tip from this Ateco Decorating Set on Amazon.
You can also switch up your cupcake liners and add sprinkles to make these work for whatever holiday or party you’re bringing them to. Here I used red/white/blue liners and sprinkles to make gluten-free patriotic cupcakes for a Fourth of July potluck:
For gluten-free Halloween treats, I simply found some Halloween cupcake toppers and used them, along with some Halloween cupcake liners. I usually find these Halloween cupcake toppers at Hobby Lobby – but other stores like Michael’s and cake/party decor places should have them too. I took these easy Halloween cupcakes to a Harvest Party our church was having. The gluten-free kids in attendance were so excited to have gluten-free Halloween cupcakes to win in the cake walk game.
My personal favorite way to enjoy the best gluten-free chocolate cupcakes is to pull them out of the refrigerator and put in the microwave for 12 seconds. With a glass of cold milk as a chaser, I am in heaven as I enjoy chocolate overload! I hope you can make this soon and enjoy chocolate overload with me!
Looking for some other yummy chocolate recipes? Try my flourless chocolate cookie recipe for a real chocolate fix. Next try this skinny flourless dark chocolate cake recipe – it looks so decadent!
Recipe for Gluten-free Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting:
Gluten-free Chocolate Cupcakes with Fudge Frosting
These super chocolaty gluten-free cupcakes are even better made the day before eating, making them a great choice for birthdays.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 2 cups good quality gluten-free flour blend
- 1 tsp. xanthan gum *see note
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 cup salted butter (2 sticks, 16 Tbsp.)
- â…“ cup cocoa powder *see note
- 1 cup water
- ½ c. buttermilk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Fudge Frosting:
- ½ cup salted butter (1 stick)
- ½ cup cocoa powder *see note
- 3 â…” cup powdered sugar
- 6-7 Tbsp. milk
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.
- In your mixing bowl, combine gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, cocoa, and 1 cup water. Bring just to boiling, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and add to dry ingredients, beat until combined.
- Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and beat for one minute on low-medium speed.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners. I use a large scoop that measures about 1/3 cup batter into each opening.
- Bake at 350° for 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs (no wet batter).
- Let cool in pan for 4 minutes, then remove cupcakes. Wait to frost until completely cool.
Fudge Frosting:
- Using a medium glass bowl, melt the stick of butter in microwave. Whisk in cocoa powder, then heat for 1 minute. Add powdered sugar and milk alternately, beating with a hand mixer until creamy. Add vanilla last, beating in until mixed well.
- If you use this frosting while still warm, it is easily spreadable and has the glossy finish when dried like you see in the photo but can slide off of whatever you are frosting. If you let it cool completely, then it firms up and can be placed into a pastry bag for piping for decorating cakes or cupcakes. The icing can be refrigerated to use later; just microwave 10 seconds at a time, and stir, until you get to the right consistency for piping or spreading.
Notes
*If your flour blend already contains xanthan gum or guar gum, omit the xanthan gum called for in this recipe.
As always, be sure to double-check your ingredients for gluten.
For the cocoa powder, I like to use about 1/2 of dutch-processed or Saco blend cocoa and 1/2 Hershey's special dark cocoa. That is how I achieve a nice dark brown to my cupcakes and icing.
*You can also bake this as a cake in a 9x13" pan for ~35 minutes or in two 8" cake pans for 22 minutes. Make sure to spray the pans well with non-stick cooking spray.
Pin these to your gluten-free desserts board here!
I hope you and your family enjoy these and think they’re the best gluten-free cupcakes like my family does!
I’m new to gluten-free baking. My dad asked me to bake something gluten-free as a couple of co-workers are gf. This was my third time baking gluten-free and my second recipe that was actually designed to be that way.
All I have to say is I didn’t even get a chance to try them as my dad’s co-workers ate every last one. I was a little disappointed because they looked and smelled amazing.
I intend to make these again, this weekend, so my friend can have dessert at my graduation party.
Thank you for giving such great directions!
Hello, they look delicious. Do you have the measurements in grams at all for more accurate consistency as cups measurements can vary from country to country.
This is one of the best gluten free cupcake recipes I have ever come across. Once again it helps me love my family for special events – today baking it with a tinted blue buttercream frostings and baby shark cupcake toppers.
Thank you so much for your comment and 5 star rating Debbie! I’m so glad this helps you love on your family. I LOVE that you are making these as shark cupcakes today! Be sure to email me a pic or tag me on Instagram if you’re on there so I can see the photo! They sound so fun!
Can I use milk in place of water to mix with the coca powder and butter?
I haven’t tried that. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
I made these today and substituted some of the flours to make a better blend like you suggested. I used 1 cup bobs red mill 1:1, 1/2 cup almond flour and 1/2 cup oat flour. I am also dairy free and used the earth balance buttery sticks but i think next time I will reduce 2 tablespoons of the dairy free butter (they seemed a little greasy). Overall I really liked the recipe and will continue to modifying just a bit to get it right with the dairy free butter! Thank you!
Good luck to you as you make changes to make this fit your preferences!! Way to get in the kitchen and play! Enjoy!
I just made these *literally just removed them from the oven and ate it while it was still too hot lol*
I substituted flour with Gluten free Bisquick (it already has xanthan gum and find it to gave the best texture for baked goods)
Coconut milk, Earth balance butter (dairy free) and added the enjoy life (gf/DF) chocolate mini chips as per requested by my kids lol
These were so light and fluffy !!!! 17 minutes was the perfect time for these to cook.
I’ll be saving this recipie for the future 🙂
This recipe is our “go to” chocolate cake or cupcake recipe. I have followed the recipe as written, baked both cakes and cupcakes many times, and they have always turned out well. Much appreciated by our new family member who has celiac disease!
Trying to make these for my son’s birthday next week. I did a trial run since I am new to GF baking. I cut the sugar in half, used coconut milk instead of buttermilk (dairy issues) and Kerrygold butter. However I only got 20 cupcakes and they are super lumpy. My batter wasn’t smooth like yours. More sticky. I used Namaste perfect flour blend. Any idea what went wrong? Haven’t frosted them yet but the flavor is good just not pretty at all.
Yes – the problem is that you cut the sugar in half. I’m not sure why you would do that. My recipes are tested to be just right as written. The sugar here also counts as liquid in the recipe (that’s often the case in baking) You can’t cut half the sugar out and not expect it to effect the result. Sorry! Hope you can try again, following the recipe!
YUM!!! We used Pillsbury GF flour and they started to rise, but then fell a bit, but who cares … the taste is still fabulous. We will try to find your recommended blend and give it another go. The frosting is to die for, too. Thanks for a delicious recipe!
Wondering if this can be made egg free and if so what you suggest to try. This sounds amazing and I”m looking forward to trying it!
Would you be able to convert this to a regular round cake? I’d like to be able to make a traditional chocolate and vanilla layer cake? Thanks!
i just made this night. i did a half batch. the first attempt i forget the sugar. so i started again, it was better. i added 1/4 cup of melted semi-sweet to the cupcakes and the frosting. i only had skim milk, 53% vegetable spread for butter. Have not seen the flour in any of the post that i used but the one I used is Krusteaz, i check it to make sure it has xanthan gum, other why i would not been able to make them
These were amazing! I know gluten free cooking can be tricky so I understand that while many have excellent results, others have terrible results & no one can figure out why. Here’s what I did. I used a stand mixer & leaned toward over mixing rather than under mixing. I used my own blend of flours. My blend contains white rice, oat, potato starch, sorghum, millet & buckwheat. I usually use tapioca as well but was out. I used psyllium husk instead of xanthan gum. And I doubled the amount for the psyllium husk. Baking time did take longer than stated in recipe but no big deal. No one could believe these were gluten free. Outstanding!
GREAT recipe! I used King Arthur’s Gluten-Free flour. Rave reviews on cupcakes, especially the frosting, Made 24 cupcakes and had lots of extra frosting. Plus convenient to make the cupcakes a day ahead.
We made these twice in one night because after they were a spectacular failure the first time we thought we must have done something wrong. The second round was as no better. They rise for a while and then collapse into an undercooked goo no matter how low by you leave them in. We used almond flour, which appears to be an approved ingredient. Seems like way too much butter or something.
Sorry, how LONG you leave them in
I’m sorry that you misunderstood my instructions and thought I was saying to use almond flour. Do not use almond flour. I specify in the recipe to use a good quality gluten-free flour blend. I list several, one of which is called Gluten Free Mama’s Almond Blend. It is a blend of several gluten-free flours and starches including a small amount of almond flour.
The terrible results you experienced would definitely be due to using almond flour alone in this recipe instead of a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend. I hope you’ll try these again with one and enjoy!
They came out flat as a pancake and I followed the recipe step-by-step. first recipe ever to fail
I am curious if you know what a dairy free alternative to the butter milk might be?
I use almond or coconut milk and they turn out wonderful.
How many cupcakes can you first with this recipe?
Where do you get your flour from and cocoa powder?
These cupcakes were perfect!! I followed the recipe as written. I used the Namaste brand flour blend. All of my boys LOVED them and have continuously asked me to make them again since. Thank you for posting the recipe! We just had an allergy diagnosis last month and these cupcakes gave all of us hope and joy that there IS a way to have allergies and eat cake too! Thank you again!