Gluten-free Vanilla Cupcakes

After making the Gluten-free Chocolate Cupcakes, I found out that the favorite flavor of the girl I am making the cupcakes for is vanilla!  So, after an excessive amount of research involving vanilla extract vs. GF vanilla extract I tried my hand at the vanilla cupcakes.  Turns out that vanilla extract can be classified as GF because it is below the FDA threshold of 220 ppm, but if someone has an extreme sensitivity to gluten they may still have a reaction.  There's a long explanation that I can go into if you are interested, but I won't bore you!  Most of my research showed that people find McCormick's brand to be safe.  That's what I use, so I moved forward with the vanilla cupcakes.  Although, I am considering purchasing specific GF vanilla for the party cupcakes.

Back to the test bake - my batter was very thin and I found myself adding more GF flour.  I always taste my batters and can usually tell whether the cake will be good or if I need to make changes.  I have not found this to be true with the GF cupcakes!  More than the GF chocolate cupcakes, the vanilla batter was not even remotely tasty!  It seemed grainy, had a strong GF flour flavor, and over vanilla-ed.  I was close to throwing out the batter when I decided to bake it anyway and see what happened.  The result?  A surprisingly, well-rised, spongy, perfectly flavor-balanced cupcake!  I didn't see that coming!  I'm learning a lot from these GF cupcakes!  I'm not sure if the girl I am making these for likes vanilla frosting or chocolate frosting, so I made both for the test.  Personally, I really enjoyed the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.

I did have a little bit of paper sticking issue because I realized while making the GF Chocolate cupcakes that my beloved cooking spray contains . . . FLOUR!  It would be counterproductive to make GF batter and then spray your liners with flour!!! So, I had to use my backup spray which was almost empty.  Glad I had this epiphany before serving someone with Celiac disease supposed GF cupcakes!!

My test monkey husband loved the GF Chocolate cupcakes!  He said that had he not known they were GF and if he wasn't actively looking for a difference he would have never known.  He did make the same notes regarding texture that I did.  

I packed up a sample pack for my other test monkeys - my friend Deanna, her family, and some of the girls at the restaurant.  I'm happy to report that the GF cupcakes received glowing reviews all around! I will be making two dozen GF vanilla cupcakes for the party with vanilla and chocolate frostings!