Valentine’s Day Cupcakes

LOVE

If you have it, you don’t need to have anything else,

and if you don’t have it,

it doesn’t matter much what else you have.

Sir James M. Barrie

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we wanted to share our gluten free cupcakes with you. After a few trials, we succeeded in making delicious and easy to make cupcakes. We started out by adapting our sponge cake recipe, but we eliminated any flour whatsoever. It is made primarily with finely ground almonds, shredded coconuts and mashed bananas. Also, we didn’t want to use any sugary frostings, but instead, created a cream cheese and strawberry topping -reminiscent of cheese cake.

You will need the following ingredients:

Cupcake Batter Ingredients (makes about 18 cupcakes):

4 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. water
3/4 cup sucanat, or raw sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1-3/4 cups finely ground almonds
3/4 tsp. guar gum, or 1-1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 level tsp. gluten free baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp. orange extract
2 bananas, mashed

Topping ingredients:

1 packet of organic Trader Joe’s cream cheese
1 small container of raspberries
1 small container of strawberries
1 packet of gluten free Trader Joe’s chocolate chips
extra shredded coconut for decoration
about 4 Tbsp. of organic honey, for topping

2 extra tsp. vanilla extract for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C and line two muffin sheets with muffin/cupcake paper cups (you’ll need 18).

Separate 4 eggs (egg yolks in one bowl and egg whites in the other). With a handheld mixer, whip the egg whites until firm. Set aside.

Add the sucanat and vanilla extract to the egg yolks together with 6 Tbsp. of water. With handmixer, blend until creamy.

Then add the orange extract, 2 mashed bananas and the shredded coconut. Blend these ingredients well.

Now place the whipped egg whites on top of the creamy egg batter, add the finely ground almonds, guar gum, baking powder and baking soda on top of that. Using a spatula, or large spoon, carefully incorporate the egg whites and almonds into the egg batter. Do not stir, or mix, just gradually fold the egg whites into the remaining batter.

Fill the prepared muffin tins with this batter and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, start preparing the toppings. Wash the fresh fruit and slice some of the strawberries.

In a food processor, blend the cream cheese, honey and vanilla extract. Process until well incorporated. For the purposes of this recipe we decorated half the cupcakes with this cream cheese topping.

We added 4 fresh strawberries to the remaining cream cheese in the processor, blending until the cream cheese turned a nice pink color.

Start by filling the regular cream cheese portion into a pastry bag, using either a star, or half moon tip. Top one half of the cupcakes with this blend.

After processing the remaining cream cheese blend with the strawberries, repeat this process, decorating the remaining cupcakes. Top the cupcakes with a variety of of different designs. We selected raspberries for some, sliced strawberries for others and chocolate chips and/or shredded coconuts for yet others.

These cupcakes are truly delicious. They will bring a hint of Spring into this cold winter. Enjoy with your loved ones this Valentine’s Day!