Well, if Valentine’s is sneaking up on you, the way it is on me, you still have time to get in the kitchen & bake some of these delicious gluten free Red Velvet Cupcakes for your sweetie. I was quite impressed with the texture and how moist these cupcakes were. I’d never had Red Velvet cakes before going gluten-free, so this was new to me. I will warn you, however, for some reason, the tops of the cupcakes were not perfectly smooth…that’s where the frosting comes in. 
All the bumps and valleys are filled in with this delicious cream cheese frosting. YUM!
Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcakes
Author: Jeanine Friesen
Serves: 30
You can bake this batter as cupcakes, or as a two layer, 9-inch cake, either works beautifully, although you will have to increase the bake time for the cakes.
Ingredients
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend (see note)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch-processed cocoa)
- 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon red gel colouring, or 1 (1 ounce) bottle red food colouring (optional, you can omit if you’d like)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups confectioners’ (icing) sugar
Instructions
Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line or grease 30 muffin cups. Set aside.
- Combine flour, cocoa, xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir to mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter on medium speed for 5 minutes, until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, buttermilk, food colour and vanilla.
- On low speed, gradually mix in the flour mixture. Beat on high for 1 minute. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup 2/3 full.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar, continue beating until smooth.
Notes
The flour blend consists of 4 cups superfine brown rice flour, 1 1/3 cups potato starch (not flour), 2/3 cup tapioca starch. Combine all ingredients in a large zipper-top bag. Shake until well blended.
You read my mind!! I was just searching for a GF red velvet cupcake recipe. I will have to give this a try. Thanks!!
@Elizabeth Phew! I'm glad that I took the time to post it then! Let me know how it works for you!
Looks so delicious! I want to eat it right off the screen right now.
Looks good to me..great presentation Jeanine!
For some reason with the last couple posts, the pictures aren't showing up. hmmm….
Oh my word! These looks SO GOOD!!
Thanks, Eliana & Betty! They sure were good (past tense…alas, they are gone).
Anon…I'm not sure why the pics aren't showing up. Sorry! I use Firefox, and both Vista & Windows 7, and have no problems. Hope it's fixed soon!
Thanks, Marlow!
These taste so good!!! Mine sunk a little in the middle though, maybe I over mixed it? Anyway, flavor is great! Keep up the good work, I love your blog.
OMG these were so good! I whipped up a batch this morning to leave for my hubby and 2 little boys since I am on afternoon shift today. The extras I brought into work…no one even knew that they were GF! I did put a regular butter cream icing on them, which was good, but hubby thought it overpowered the red velvet…so next time cream cheese icing it will be.
I must say I absolutely love the texture of these cupcakes, the closest I have ever gotten to the "real thing". Thanks so much for the recipe, it will be put in my favourite file for future use.
Cheers from Ontario!
Michele B
@Alisha Mine sunk a bit too, well, not really sunk, but they weren't smooth on top. That's where the frosting comes in.
Glad that you enjoyed them though! Thanks. 
@Anonymous Michele, thanks so much for the comment. SO glad that they were such a hit with your family. Mine really, really liked them too.
Hope ON is warmer than MB…we've hit the deep freeze again. Brrr…
Hi, I'm new to your blog, stumbled upon it while searching for a gluten free red velvet cupcake recipe. I made these and they were AWESOME. So moist and delicious. I omitted the red food colouring (just because I am hesitant to feed my kids that stuff), and I used 1 tsp orange extract, in place of one of the tsp of vanilla. I also added 1/4 tsp orange extract to the cream cheese icing. So, they weren't really RED velvet, but sort of chocolate orange velvet instead, and they were DELICIOUS. Thanks for the recipe. I'm off to try my hand at the cinnamon buns…..
~Andrea from Toronto
@IrismoonInTheCity So glad that you found me, Welcome here!
Those sound like some fantastic changes that you made to the recipe, I love chocolate & orange together as well. Enjoy the cinnamon buns, you won't be disappointed!
adding the flour is said twice in this recipe… hope it works adding it the first time instead of the second…
Thank you so much for this recipe- I have already made these twice and they have been perfect each time -absolutely fabulous texture, moistness and taste. They also keep well for at least a few days. I am going to try avanilla version next as I have not been happy with many of the gluten free cupcake recipes I have tried. The tops of mine have also been perfect each time and I have made a half recipe without any issues. My gluten eating friends are SO impressed!
That is wonderful to hear, Sue! So glad that you’re enjoying them. I, too, have a really good vanilla cupcake on my “to do” list, hopefully soon we’ll all enjoy vanilla cupcakes!
These turned out perfect! I used Carol Fenster’s flour blend that calls for 1 ½ cups sorghum flour, 1 ½ cups potato starch or cornstarch, 1 cup tapioca flour and the cupcakes turned out light & tasty! Thanks!
Perfect! Thanks for letting us know that that blend worked well.
These were absolutely fabulous! The consistancy was incredible! However mine also sunk in the middle. Just wondering if you have any tips for making the cupcakes rise better? Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!
These are awesome! I made mini-cupcakes and regular sized ones. The tops of the mini ones were a little wrinkled, but the normal came out perfect. I had to “test” a couple of them (without frosting) to make sure and the consistency is amazing. Thank you so much for posting this!
Haha, I know all too well about the “test” and “test” Hmm…not sure, “test” again.
Glad to hear they were a hit with you!
Hi Jeanine, Thank you so so much I have just baked my very first Red Velvet Cupcakes. What an absolute success, very yummy straight out of the oven (just could not wait!!) and that is without the icing. I made the half recipe a trial for my step daughters 30th this weekend and with the flour blend. Amazing Amazing.
Awesome! So happy to hear that, Jennie! Hope they were a hit!
Hi Jeanine, Just popped onto your site in search of another yummy recipe. Those red velvet cupcakes I made were an absolute success and were dressed up with a yummy teal cream cheese frosting and I made some black fondant bows one of which was popped on the top of each and then for a little magic they all received a sprinkle of glitter. Thanks again. Warm wishes from Olinda, Australia.
Hi Jennie! Those cupcakes sound beautiful! So glad that you liked the recipe. Welcome here!
Hi Jeanine
i can’t wait to try this GF red velvet. I have a question cream cheese can’t go with fondant?
A few days ago i have cream cheese frosting for my RV and top with a figuring fondant (for deco)
the next day the fondant melts I am not sure why is that so i never have a problem with my buttercream frosting if i top any figuring made of fondant. I hope you have an answer to this. Thank You
- kind rgds
Hi Wendy!
If you’re using a fondant decoration on top of a cream cheese frosting, you will probably have to do it right before serving. The cream cheese frosting has much more moisture in it than buttercream does, so it will basically start to dissolve the sugar in the fondant. I’m thinking that if the fondant is brightly coloured, you would probably have colour running into the frosting as well. HTH
Thanks for ur informative answer Jeanine. Yes! correct the small decorated flower was a bright red and the red running into the frosting I was very frustrated it looks very awful. Should i add more tylose powder and corn starch to the fondant before i start doing the figurine?
I’m not sure, I’m not a fondant pro.
You don’t want your fondant to dry out either, because then it’ll be too hard to work with. For LOTS of great info about fondant and decorating cakes, etc, check out http://www.cakecentral.com they have a great forum over there that you can search and ask questions. Good luck!
I made this as a 9″ layer cake…. I was searching & searching for a GF MOIST RV Cake… This was a hit!!! Terrific. I made it for my friend who has celiac disease and he loved it!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I madeca few adjustments…. I added 1 Tbs vanilla & 2 tsp. Of Organic Chocolate Extract in addition to the cocoa powder. It was great!
As for the frosting I made 1 1/2 times the recipe. The texture was different— kinda paste like or gooey. (I’m nit sure if I over mixed it or what???). But, the flavor was great! I will make it again for my GF friends!!!! Thanks again! ;o)
I made this as a 9″ layer cake…. I was searching & searching for a GF MOIST RV Cake… This was a hit!!! Terrific. It was my friends 1/2 Birthday and I wanted to make his favorite cake. He hasn’t had RV cake since he was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I wanted it to ROCK!!! Well, he loved it!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I made a few adjustments…. I added 1 Tbs vanilla & 2 tsp. Of Organic Chocolate Extract in addition to the cocoa powder. Oh yeah, and I omitted the xanthan gum and it was STILL great!
As for the frosting I made 1 1/2 times the recipe. The texture was different— kinda paste like or gooey. (I’m nit sure if I over mixed it or what???). But, the flavor was great! I will make it again for my GF friends!!!! Thanks again! ;o)
Glad to hear that it was a hit! OH, chocolate extract would be a great addition, nice!
I need to use carob powder instead of cocoa. Would it be an even amount or do I need to add/subtract?
Sorry, I have no experience with carob powder.