I
went apple picking and wanted to bake something that I have never made before
using the apples. I intended to
bring what I baked to a friend’s house for dessert. The dietary challenge of the day: bake something gluten free, dairy free,
potato and coconut free. Well, at
least I could use eggs and sugar!
Long story short, I did not want apple pie crust, but I did want cooked
apples with something cake-like.
Cupcakes with apple pie filling and non-dairy whipped cream answered my
cravings. I made a vanilla dairy
free cupcake following the recipe from Nom Yum & Free, but changing it into
a gluten free recipe. I chopped
and cooked up some apples on the stovetop for the filling. My go to dairy free whipped cream
recipe uses cold coconut milk solids, but coconut was not an option. I decided to make a dairy free frosting
recipe, but double the shortening to make it less sweet and more creamy and
fluffy. It worked perfectly to
make a topping that tasted very much like whipped cream.
The cupcake tasted just like apple pie with whipped cream! It has all of the flavors of apple pie
in a cupcake.
I
frosted the cupcakes in two ways.
All of the cupcakes were cored and filled with cooked apples. With some cupcakes I took the piece of
cake that came from the core and put it on top of the apple filling and then
frosted the whole top. With some
other cupcakes I piped out some frosting on top of the apple filling and
cupcake (and ate the cake core).
Both tasted really good, but it was agreed by all that the small
mountain of frosting with the extra bit of cake made for a better “apple
pie” eating experience.
Please feel free to experiment and decide which way you prefer.
 |
GLUTEN FREE DAIRY FREE
APPLE PIE CUPCAKES
Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
VANILLA CUPCAKE
¾ cup
|
Sorghum
Flour
|
¼ cup
|
Tapioca
Flour
|
¼ cup
|
Chickpea
Flour
|
¾ tsp
|
Xanthan
Gum
|
2
tsp
|
Baking
Powder
|
½ cup
|
Oil
- mild tasting such as canola
|
¾ cup
|
Sugar
|
2
large
|
Eggs
|
½ cup
|
Non-Dairy
Milk of choice (I used almond)
|
1
tsp
|
Vanilla
Extract
|
APPLE PIE FILLING
3
medium (3-inches wide)
|
Apples
- peeled and chopped into small pieces about ½ inch x ¼ inch in size.
|
1
tsp
|
Cinnamon
|
⅛ tsp
|
Nutmeg
|
⅛ tsp
|
Sea
Salt
|
¼ cup (adjust to taste)
|
Sugar
|
¼-½ cup (depending upon the juiciness of the apples)
|
Water
|
1-3
Tbs (depending upon the juiciness of the apples)
|
Corn
Starch
|
“WHIPPED
CREAM” FROSTING
1
cup
|
Shortening
(I used butter flavor Spectrum which is not hydrogenated and is dairy free.)
|
7
oz.
|
Confectioner’s Sugar
|
2-3
Tbs.
|
Non
Dairy Milk of choice (I used
almond)
|
1
tsp
|
Vanilla
Extract
|
Directions
First make the Cupcakes:
1) Preheat
oven to 350℉. Line each cup in the cupcake pan with
paper liners.
2) In
a small bowl add the flours, salt, baking powder and xanthan gum. Mix well and set aside.
3) In
a large bowl add the sugar and oil and mix.
 |
| Sugar and oil mixed. |
4) Add
the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
 |
| After adding the eggs, one at a time. |
5) Add
the vanilla and mix in well.
6) Add
⅓ of the dry ingredients and mix
in. Add ⅓ of the milk and mix in. Repeat until all the ingredients are
incorporated. The batter is very
thin and liquidy.
 |
| Adding ⅓ of the flour. |
 |
| Adding ⅓ of the milk. |
 |
| Batter with all the ingredients mixed in. |
7) Fill
each cupcake liner ¾ full.
 |
| Raw batter in paper liners, about ¾ full. |
8) Bake
20-25 minutes or until done. The
center will spring back when gently pressed with a finger. Allow to cool completely on a rack
before filling and frosting the cupcakes.
 |
| Cupcakes after baking is finished. |
Next make the Filling:
 |
| Chopping the peeled apples. |
1) Add
the smaller amount of corn starch, 1 Tbs., and all of the salt, sugar, cinnamon
and nutmeg into a medium saucepan and mix well.
2) Add
the smaller amount of water, ¼ cup,
and whisk together until smooth.
3) Add
the chopped apples and stir and cook until the apples are tender.
4) Add
more water, sugar or cornstarch as needed to make the filling to the taste and
consistency that you prefer.
5) Allow
the apples to cool completely before filling the cupcakes.
 |
| Filling after cooking and cooling |
Next make the Frosting:
1) Add
the sugar, shortening vanilla and 1 Tbs. of non-dairy milk to the bowl of a
stand mixer or a large bowl. Mix together using the whisk attachment
of a stand mixer or using a hand held electric mixer in a large bowl. Start on low speed until the sugar is
mixed in , then increase to medium high or high speed.
2) Add
more non-dairy milk, a Tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is smooth, light
and fluffy.
 |
| Frosting, nice and fluffy. |
Finally Assemble the Cupcakes:
1) Core
the center of each cupcake using a cupcake corer or a sharp knife.
 |
| Coring the center of each cupcake. |
2) Fill
each hole with apple filling, you can let some overflow onto the top of the
cupcake (I like lots of filling.)
 |
| Filling each cupcake with cooked apples. You can just fill the hole (left) or overfill it (right). I prefer lots of filling. |
3) Frost
the cupcakes in one of two ways.
Use a pastry bag with a ½-inch
tip to pipe frosting or use a knife to spread frosting onto the top of the
filing. Or put the piece of cake
core on top of the apple filling and then frost the cake core and apples so
that it looks like a small mountain.
 |
| Cupcake on left with the cake core on top of filling. |
|
| Cupcake on left with the core covered in frosting to make a small mountain. Cupcake on right with frosting piped on top ( the core is already eaten). |
4) I
filled the cupcakes just before I served them to prevent the cake from getting
soggy.