4th of July Grain-free Vanilla Cupcakes

The 4th of July is just a few days away and if you are in need of a simple, patriotic, and allergy-friendly dessert, than these 4th of July grain-free vanilla cupcakes are the recipe you have been looking for! They are super easy to make and contain wholesome ingredients that may even qualify them as a ‘healthy’ dessert. But don’t worry, I think these cupcakes still have an amazing taste and texture despite being allergy-friendly and ‘healthy’! These 4th of July grain-free vanilla cupcakes are sure to be a crowd pleaser and will compliment your celebration fabulously! They are easy to make, fun to decorate, and delicious to eat!

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Modern Pioneer Recipe

These 4th of July grain-free vanilla cupcakes are a modern pioneer recipe. The early pioneers wouldn’t have had the means to make cupcakes, but that doesn’t mean that modern pioneers can’t enjoy these delicious little desserts! Aside from pie, I think cupcakes are probably one of my favorite desserts to make. It helps that I thoroughly enjoy decorating cupcakes and that this recipe is reliable and simple to make.

There’s nothing like setting out to make a holiday recipe only to have it turn out a flop! With these cupcakes, I am confident that you can whip up a batch with no problems at all! These simple cupcakes will turn into the perfect patriotic dessert that every modern pioneer can enjoy!

Being a modern pioneer recipe means I of course have to highlight the allergy-friendly features of these cupcakes. When I decided to try and create a grain-free cupcake, I wanted it to refined sugar free, use grain-free flours, and still have a sweet taste and perfect cupcake texture. This recipe fit the bill! And they are….

• grain-free
• gluten-free
• nut free
• corn free
• refined sugar free
• dairy-free option

Vanilla cupcakes not exactly your cup of tea? Then make sure you check out these grain-free chocolate cupcakes that can easily be decorated with a patriotic theme too!

Kitchen Experiments

Now, I don’t think I have ever done as much experimenting in the kitchen as I did to create this 4th of July dessert! First I had to figure out what dessert I wanted to do: donuts, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, brownies, bars, and the list goes on. Not only did I have to figure out what dessert to make, I also had to contemplate what elements the dessert was going to contain. Frosting, ice cream, berries, chocolate, vanilla, or a combination of several!

My first idea was to go with donuts and ice cream. So, I created a donut recipe, slapped some ice cream between them and…. they didn’t turn out how I wanted them to. First of all, the donuts froze rock solid (talk about a jaw breaker!). Second of all, the frosting colors where not what I was hoping for.

Then I went on to plan B. Plan B ended up being donuts (again) with the goal being to create a red donut, blue frosting, with white sprinkles. But…. that didn’t quite go as planned. I only have three words to attribute to the failure of this experiment: natural. food. coloring. More on that later.

To create my final plan (and thus present to you these 4th of July grain-free vanilla cupcakes) I decided to abandon my original idea of donuts and move onto cupcakes. I also decided to not attempt natural food coloring, I just couldn’t seem to get it right! So, these grain-free vanilla cupcakes really are a miracle! They are light and fluffy (not dense), not spongy, don’t taste like coconut flour, are easy to make, and don’t contain almond flour!

Natural Food Coloring Options

I must say, I learned a lot of lessons about natural food coloring while creating this 4th of July dessert! First, I had to brainstorm all the foods that were red, white, and blue that I could use as a food coloring. For reds I thought of strawberries, strawberry juice, beets, beet juice, freeze dried strawberries, and lastly pomegranate.

I thought of blueberries and blueberry juice for the blues. For the  whites I thought of shredded coconut, frosting, vanilla ice cream, marshmallows, and whipped coconut cream. Lets just say that I thought I had a list of great natural food coloring ideas, but boy did I learn some lessons! Here are a just a few….

• blueberry juice is not blue, it’s purple
• you can make blueberry juice blue by adding baking soda (I learned by experience about how much was too much baking soda)
• it takes a lot of beet juice to make something red
• once the beet juice gets baked (say, in a donut), it pretty much disappears and leaves the donut looking brown
• strawberry juice is actually pink
• frosting that contains coconut sugar or maple syrup is actually brown
• chopped frozen strawberries look like the perfect red sprinkles, until they unthaw and create a mushy, red mess!

Frosting & Decorating Tips

Needless to say, after I got done experimenting with natural food coloring options, I was almost ready to throw in the towel! Thankfully, there are some great all-natural, allergy-friendly decorating alternatives that I could resort too. ‘Cause what’s a patriotic dessert without the red, white, and blue colors!?

For these cupcakes, I decided to stick to o’natural and use berries to create the patriotic feel that I wanted the cupcakes to have. Blueberries were my blue option and pomegranate, strawberries, or raspberries are all great options to achieve the red.

As for the white, I left that to the frosting! Creating a frosting was also a tricky matter, my first frosting attempt (plan A) did not turn out great at all. My second frosting attempt (plan B) turned out to be pudding (that tasted like baking soda). But, to my great relief, my third frosting attempt turned out great and compliments these cupcakes perfectly!

You can whip a simple batch of this easy homemade frosting that is grain-free and refined sugar free, or you can also use an allergy-friendly pre-prepared frosting like Simple Mills frosting. When I feel like splurging, I love to use Simple Mills vanilla frosting. It’s dairy-free, grain-free, and super easy to work with!

Recipe Tips

Despite this recipe being super easy to make, I wanted to leave you with a few recipe tips. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s always a terrible feeling to try and make a festive dessert only to have it turn out a flop. While I think this recipe is pretty foolproof, here are a few recipe tips to help you along the way.

• I have not tried substituting in any flours other than ones listed in the ingredients. However, you can use arrowroot flour in place of the tapioca flour.
• You can use coconut oil or a dairy-free butter substitute in place of the butter as long as the substitute is softened.
• Aby liquid sweetener can replace the maple syrup, I just like using maple syrup for the flavor and because it is a stable, natural sweetener to bake with.
• Any granulated sugar can replace the coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is a just a nice low-glycemic, natural sugar to use in baked goods.
• I use Hain Pure Foods baking power which is corn free!
• I have not tried making these cupcakes with an egg replacer, so I don’t recommend trying unless you are feeling risky! The eggs help the cupcakes hold their shape and contribute to the perfect cupcake texture.
• Any dairy-free milk alternative can be use in place of the coconut milk.

These 4th of July grain-free vanilla cupcakes are the perfect patriotic dessert that everyone will enjoy, no matter is they have dietary restrictions or not! I absolutely love the taste and texture of these cupcakes, and making them is super simple!

Where to Find the Ingredients

• Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
• Otto’s Naturals cassava flour
• Nutiva coconut flour
• Nutiva coconut sugar
• Simply Organic vanilla extract
• Enjoy Life chocolate chips
• Simple Mills vanilla frosting
• Hain Pure Foods baking powder
• Let’s Do… Organic shredded coconut
• SoDelicious unsweetened coconut milk beverage
• Supplies: parchment paper muffin liners, muffin baking tins

These 4th of July grain-free vanilla cupcakes are sure to be a crowd pleaser at any holiday gathering, or maybe they’ll just be a simple dessert you whip to share with your family on the 4th of July! Either way, the texture of these grain-free cupcakes will make wonder if they really are grain-free after all! And the taste is perfect enough to rival traditional cupcakes any day. Allergy-friendly, super easy to make, and simple yet fun to decorate, these cupcakes are the perfect modern pioneer patriotic dessert!

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by Alexa