Gluten Free Pink Lemonade Cupcakes Recipe
Updated Mar 27, 2020, Published Mar 09, 2011
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It is almost Spring Break time which means my normally sleepy little Florida beach town will get inundated with visitors – “spirited” college students will wander the streets, alabaster-skinned families from Minnesota will turn bright red on our beaches and most importantly, my g-kids arrive!
Whenever the g-kids come they always cook up ideas for money-making ventures and inevitably they want to have a lemonade stand. Unfortunately all attempts at selling glasses of freshly squeezed lemonade for 50 cents have been fiscal failures. What has been successful for them is baking gluten-free baked goods and selling them at business offices. So this year I thought of a way I could help them combine both – Gluten Free Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!
The cupcakes are light as air, the frosting sweet and pink and overall these gluten-free cupcakes are just as cute as could be – topped with a sugared lemon slice and a bright red maraschino cherry.
So, would you pay an adorable kid 50 cents for one of these treats?
Gluten Free Pink Lemonade Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large lemon
- ¾ cup sugar – use divided
- ½ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
- 2/3 cup gluten-free flour
Frosting
- 1 lemon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, - at room temperature
- Small pinch of kosher or fine sea salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar, - measured then sifted
- 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
Garnish
- 1 lemon
- ½ cup sugar plus more for coating the lemon slices
- ½ cup water
- 12 maraschino cherries with stems, - patted dry
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with paper liners.
- Separate the egg whites from the yolks putting each into a large mixing bowl. Beat the egg yolks in a mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, on high speed for 5 minutes or until they are lemony yellow in color.
- Zest the lemon then squeeze the juice. You should have ¼ cup of lemon juice, if not add a little water to make ¼ cup total. Add the lemon zest, juice and salt to the egg yolks. Mix to combine. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add ½ cup of sugar. Beat the mixture on medium speed for 4 minutes or until the mixture has doubled in volume. Turn the mixer to low and gradually beat in the flour. Mix until just combined.
- Beat the egg whites on high speed with the whisk attachment until foamy. Gradually add in the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Continue to beat until glossy and stiff peaks form. Fold half of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture then fold in the remaining whites. Fold until the mixture is no longer streaky. Put the batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned and spring back slightly when touched. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Frosting
- Zest and juice the lemon – you should have approximately ¼ cup of lemon juice.
- Beat the butter in a mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, until creamy. Add the lemon juice, salt, 1 cup of powdered sugar and the maraschino cherry juice. Beat until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until combined. Fold in the lemon zest.
Garnish
- Cut off a slice from each end of the lemon and slice into 6 thin slices. Combine ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water in a small sauce pan. Stir to combine and add the lemon slices. Bring mixture to a boil then lower the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour some sugar onto a plate. Drain the liquid off the lemon slices and gently lay the slices on the sugar with a fork or tongs. Cover with more sugar and let them cool. When cool, cut the lemon slices in half and toss them around to coat slices evenly with sugar.
- To assemble, frost the cupcakes and add a lemon half and a cherry on top of each cupcake.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hello! I’ve been reading your site for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Dallas Texas! Just wanted to tell you keep up the excellent work!
Thanks for the shout out!
This was my first Gluten Free recipe Ive ever made and it turned out!!!!! I was so impressed!! Everyone loves them!
A Million Thanks!!!!!
YAY! Good for you :)
Thank you for the recipe. I don’t see any butter or shortening in the cupcake ingredients. Am I missing something? thank you for sharing your talents.
You’re welcome and no, you are not missing anything – the cupcakes themselves have no butter, etc. They are light little sponge cakes. There is butter (or butter sub) in the frosting. Enjoy!
I answered my own question, this is more of an angel food cake, but then I question, no levening?
Nope, the beaten egg whites are all the leavening you need!
They looks so yummy, I will definitively try to make them :-) I love cupcakes
Thanks Vanessa! Enjoy.
These look delicious! Any good ideas as to rendering these lactose free? Thanks.
Sure that’s easy! Just substitue either dairy free butter (Earth Blance) or all vegetable shortening (like Spectrum) for the butter in the frosting. It will be delicious!
Thank you so much!
My pleasure!
Hi there! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any issues
with hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended
up losing several weeks of hard work due to no back up. Do you have
any solutions to prevent hackers?
I have! All I can say is to be diligent nad make make sure all your security measues are in place. It is difficult, but there is technolgly to keep you ahead of the game!
Hi Carol. I just baked these cupcakes and I don’t know what happened but the cupcakes stuck to the paper, maybe I should have added some oil to the mix? This is my first attempt at gluten free baking and I also noticed that the cakes didn’t rise or make it to the top of the liners. Was it supposed to be this way? I failed at this for sure, but i followed your recipe carefully. Any pointers?
Hi there!
Has anyone tried to do these egg free? If so, how?