Peach Cupcakes - Gluten Free Small Batch
There are may delicious features of these Gluten Free and Small Batch Peach Cupcakes! The cupcakes are flavored with freeze-dried peaches, then garnished with caramelized peaches, and topped with peach butter-free buttercream frosting. This is an easy small batch and gluten free recipe that yields 4 moist cupcakes.
Servings: 4 Cupcakes
Equipment
- 1 - Muffin/Cupcake Pan
Ingredients
Caramelized Peaches
- 1 fresh peach, cut into slices
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Peach Cupcakes
- 2 tablespoons freeze dried peaches, ground to powder see Notes
- 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons blanched almond flour
- 3 tablespoons arrowroot starch/flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch/flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons milk, any kind
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons cold pressed refined coconut oil, melted
Peach Butter-Free Buttercream
- 3 tablespoons freeze dried peaches, ground to powder see Notes
- 5 tablespoons unsweetened canned coconut milk or cream, full fat see Notes
- 5 tablespoons cold pressed refined coconut oil
- 2 cups +1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Caramelized Peaches
- In a small saucepan or skillet add the honey and lemon juice. Heat over medium low heat until the honey starts to loosen. Add the peach slices and heat until the honey starts to caramelize and thicken. This may take 3 - 5 minutes. Note - Don't overcook the caramel peaches as the peaches will get too soft. The caramel sauce will thicken more as it cools.
- Remove the caramel peaches from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Set aside, or cover and refrigerate, until ready to assemble the cupcakes.
Peach Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line a cupcake/muffin pan with 4 cupcake liners.
- In a blender or food processor, grind the freeze-dried peaches to a powder.
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt the coconut oil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, arrowroot starch/flour, coconut flour, tapioca starch/flour, baking powder, salt, and peach powder.
- In small mixing bowl or liquid measuring cup, add the egg and milk. Whisk until combined. Add the honey. Whisk to combine. Pour the liquid ingredients, along with the melted coconut oil, over the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined and smooth.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes for 16 - 18 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan set on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely.
Peach Butter-Free Buttercream
- For best results, I recommend reading the blog post for the original Butter-Free Buttercream recipe on the blog.
- Make the frosting while the cupcakes are baking - In a small saucepan, add the coconut milk solids, solid coconut oil, and 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar. Heat over medium-low heat and stir the mix with a spatula until it has completely melted together – this should only take about 1 minute. Do not boil. The mixture will resemble a creamy soup.
- Transfer the mix to a small mixing bowl and stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature – about 10 minutes. You still want the mix to be be liquid when you add the powdered sugar. Note – You can also refrigerate it for a few minutes to speed up the cool down.
- Add the remaining 2 cups of powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments at a time. Using a handheld mixer fitted with the whisk attachments, add a 1/2 cup of the powered sugar to the coconut mixture. Start at low speed to incorporate the powdered sugar and avoid having it spray everywhere. Turn up the speed to high and beat for 1 minute. At this point, the frosting will look sticky and gooey.
- Continue to add a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time – beating for at least 1 minute after each addition. With the final 1/2 cup, add the peach powder and beat the frosting for an additional 2 – 3 minutes, until it is light and creamy. The frosting should be thick and creamy and resemble the store-bought frosting you buy in the small tubs at the grocery. If the frosting still looks loose, refrigerate it for about 10 minutes, then beat for a couple more minutes until it thickens.
- The frosting is ready to use right away or can be refrigerated. If refrigerating, the frosting will firm even more. Allow refrigerated frosting to come to room temperature and stir/mix to fluff before frosting.
- Assemble the cupcakes - Once the cupcakes are completely cool, assemble the cupcakes. Spoon the caramelized on top of each cupcake. I recommend piping the frosting on the cupcakes next - piping won't cause the caramelized peaches to fall off when frosting. Serve and Enjoy!
Notes
- Freeze Dried Peaches - I recommend grinding the whole bag (1.25 ounces) of freeze dried peaches for this recipe. You can add more peach powder to the frosting to suit your taste. You may have a little leftover peach powder that you can save for another recipe, or sprinkle over the top of the frosted cupcakes.
- Unsweetened Canned Coconut Milk - This is the brand I use and recommend for the frosting. For more helpful tips on making the frosting, visit the original Butter-Free Buttercream Frosting recipe blog post.
- Refrigerate The Coconut Milk Overnight - This helps separate the coconut solids and liquid. We only use the coconut solids.