Check out my other recipe for a Lemon Almond Tart (gluten free, by the way) that I made for my chocolate-hating (but dessert loving!) significant other. Separate, they are good, but together, they make for a sweet duo, and a brilliant end to a perfect meal!
Chocolate Cinnamon Orange Cupcakes
The dry:
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 cup almond meal
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup + 1/4 cup cocoa powder (weird, but would you rather 7/12?)
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
The wet:
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of an orange
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
Juice of 1 orange, which is roughly 1/4 cup
2 tsp vanilla extract
Both of these bake at 350° F, it’s like they were meant to be together! Kismet.
Line a 12 cup cupcake tin with your favorite liners. Once again, combine your dry ingredients in a bowl, and whisk out any lumps. Take the same care washing and zesting your orange. Once you’ve collected the zest, you can get the juice. You may look at me funny for saying it, but everyone messes up the order of zesting to juicing at least once in their life. Perhaps I’ve just doomed you to do it. Once all of your wet ingredients are all combined in a large bowl, add the dry to the wet in batches again. Over mix all you want! That’s the ‘free’ in gluten-free! Fill your liners about 3/4 of the way full and bake for 13-18 minutes. Cool the pan on a rack, popping your cupcakes on their sides, so air can get all around, and they don’t get soggy bottoms.
We’re not done just yet, cupcakes need frosting! More specifically, in the spirit of the season, and to restore the balance to your life, they need chocolate ganache frosting!
Simplistic Chocolate Ganache Frosting
1 cup of high quality chocolate chips
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of coconut milk – hot!
Put your chocolate in a heat-safe glass bowl, and add the salt. Heat your coconut milk on the stovetop, or microwave, until almost bubbling. Remove the milk immediately from the heat, and pour over your chocolate. Let it sit for a minute, to facilitate the melting, and then stir. Stir like the dickens. It will look streaky, and like it may never combine, but it will. Stir you must. Soon, it will become glossy and gorgeous, then you may set it aside until your cakes cool. Once your cupcakes are ready to be frosted, you may pour (as it may be more of a thick liquid) or smear (if you’ve refrigerated it) your frosting on.
At this point, all should be right with the world.The sun should be shining, little cupids should be fluttering about, and you will rest comfortably in the knowledge that your differences are the very thing that makes your relationship stronger. Better yet, if you’re flying solo- it just means more cake for you!
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