For St. Patrick’s Day this year, I wanted to make gluten-free Irish cream cupcakes. Being that Jay doesn’t eat chocolate, I was on the hunt for a chocolate-free option. As I searched and searched for an Irish cream cupcake recipe with a yellow cake base from scratch that I was happy with, my search came up empty. I settled on a recipe with chocolate and decided to go ahead and use it. After some trial and error, I found that instead of using cocoa in the recipe, I was able to increase the gluten-free flour from two to three cups and the cupcakes turned out wonderfully.
The Recipe
This gluten-free Irish cream cupcake recipe was inspired by Jules Shepard from gf Jules. If you are interested in Jules’ chocolate version of these cupcakes, please feel free to check out her website. I had also used homemade Baileys Irish Cream for this recipe and the cupcakes came out great. I think this will be my new go-to recipe for us to enjoy as a sweet treat on St. Paddy’s Day.
The Ingredients
Cupcakes:
3 Cups Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Cups Granulated Cane Sugar
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil (Safflower, Sunflower, Canola)
2 Eggs or Substitute
1/3 cup Irish Cream Liqueur
2/3 Cup Milk (Dairy or Non-Dairy)
Irish Cream Frosting:
1 Cup (2 Sticks) Softened Butter or Non-Dairy Alternative
3 Cups Sifted Confectioner’s Sugar
3 Tablespoons Irish Cream Liqueur
Step-by-Step Instructions
Line the Cupcake Tins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line twenty-four cupcake tins with cupcake papers (for larger cupcakes, only prepare eighteen to twenty tins).
Combine the Dry Ingredients
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Combining the Remaining Ingredients
In a larger mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil, whipping for five minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Slowly stir in dry ingredients, alternating with the Irish cream and milk, beating at medium speed until smooth.
Baking the Cupcakes
Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling to between 2/3 – 3/4 full. Bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes (this will depend on the size of each cupcake) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Making the Frosting
To make the frosting, cream the butter and one cup of confectioner’s sugar until fluffy. Next, stir in Irish cream with the remaining confectioner’s sugar and whip until thoroughly blended.
Frost the Cupcakes
Fill a frosting bag with a tip of your choice for decorating, or simply fill a quart-sized zip-top bag and cut a small hole in the corner in which to pipe through. If you choose to use a larger tip for frosting, you may need to double the recipe. By using a larger tip, you will be using a lot more frosting per cupcake than with a smaller tip.
Sprinkle with gluten-free sprinkles if you desire and I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as we did!
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