{"id":2238,"date":"2013-02-19T07:38:51","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T15:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=2238"},"modified":"2013-02-19T09:35:51","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T17:35:51","slug":"gluten-free-cupcake-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/?p=2238","title":{"rendered":"Gluten-free Cupcake-Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes1.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2239\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes1\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes1-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For one of my friend&#8217;s birthday, I made some cupcakes this weekend. She recently overhauled her diet to eliminate gluten, soy, dairy and refined sugar and it was a cooking challenge I gladly took on. I&#8217;ve never tried gluten-free baking before and it seemed like a worthy experiment. And come on, what&#8217;s a birthday without chocolate goodness? I should preface all this with the fact that I am as un-gluten-free as you can get &#8211; I am sure that my grave will mention something about my carb-overload tendencies, so I was wading into truly uncharted territories.<\/p>\n<p>I had no idea what I was in for. There are <em>so<\/em> many gluten-free cupcake recipes!! I spent several hours researching, and finally decided to try out two: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elanaspantry.com\/paleo-chocolate-cupcakes\/\">Elana&#8217;s Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes<\/a> and a modified version of Love and Lemon&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.loveandlemons.com\/2013\/01\/09\/chocolate-cupcakes-avocado-frosting-vegan\/\" target=\"_blank\">Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Paleo cupcakes required coconut flour, coconut oil, baking soda, celtic salt, and a lot of eggs (my friend can eat eggs), and I made them mini:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2240\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes2\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes2-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For the vegan chocolate cupcakes, I used gluten-free flour instead of spelt and omitted the cinnamon and apple cider vinegar.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes4.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2242\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes4\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes4-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2244\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes6\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes6.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes6-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Whenever sweetener was called for, I used agave. Aren&#8217;t these cupcake liners pretty? They look like flowers when fully opened and you can find them <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wilton.com\/store\/site\/product.cfm?id=78A14B69-D4AC-5A41-104347946FB78296&amp;fid=88C96E26-0A00-4411-B602C8E10C292200\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2241\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes3\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes3-300x211.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2243\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes5\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes5.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes5-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Armed with two sets of cupcakes, I hauled them to the birthday gathering for a cupcake-off. The winner? By a landslide majority, Love and Lemon&#8217;s vegan cupcakes. They were both good, but the vegan ones were fluffier and lighter and had a more intense chocolate flavor. I personally think it was all about the chocolate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.loveandlemons.com\/2013\/01\/09\/chocolate-cupcakes-avocado-frosting-vegan\/\" target=\"_blank\">frosting<\/a>, made from <em>avocado<\/em> (also from Love and Lemon in that same post). Imparting incredible creaminess and absolutely no taste of avocado, the frosting was delicious.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2245\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes7\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes7.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes7-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes8.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2246\" title=\"vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes8\" src=\"http:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes8.jpg 800w, https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/vegan-vs-paleo-chocolate-cupcakes8-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What I liked about both versions was that I didn&#8217;t feel weighed down or treacly after eating them. Because the frosting was mostly avocado, I even felt somewhat virtuous. I have a lot of gluten-free baking supplies now, so I think some more experimentation is in order!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For one of my friend&#8217;s birthday, I made some cupcakes this weekend. She recently overhauled her diet to eliminate gluten, soy, dairy and refined sugar and it was a cooking challenge I gladly took on. I&#8217;ve never tried gluten-free baking before and it seemed like a worthy experiment. And come on, what&#8217;s a birthday without chocolate goodness? I should preface all this with the fact that I am as un-gluten-free as you can get &#8211; I am sure that my grave will mention something about my carb-overload tendencies, so I was wading into truly uncharted territories. I had no idea what I was in for. There are so many gluten-free cupcake recipes!! I spent several hours researching, and finally decided to try out two: Elana&#8217;s Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes and a modified version of Love and Lemon&#8217;s Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes. The Paleo cupcakes required coconut flour, coconut oil, baking soda, celtic salt, and a lot of eggs (my friend can eat eggs), and I made them mini: For the vegan chocolate cupcakes, I used gluten-free flour instead of spelt and omitted the cinnamon and apple cider vinegar. Whenever sweetener was called for, I used agave. Aren&#8217;t these cupcake liners pretty? They look like flowers when fully opened and you can find them here. Armed with two sets of cupcakes, I hauled them to the birthday gathering for a cupcake-off. The winner? By a landslide majority, Love and Lemon&#8217;s vegan cupcakes. They were both good, but the vegan ones were fluffier and lighter and had a more intense chocolate flavor. I personally think it was all about the chocolate frosting, made from avocado (also from Love and Lemon in that same post). Imparting incredible creaminess and absolutely no taste of avocado, the frosting was delicious. What I liked about both versions was that I didn&#8217;t feel weighed down or treacly after eating them. Because the frosting was mostly avocado, I even felt somewhat virtuous. I have a lot of gluten-free baking supplies now, so I think some more experimentation is in order!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cooking","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2238"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2262,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions\/2262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanaeishida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}