Gluten-free and Dairy-free Chocolate Cupcakes with Dairy-free Cashew-Coconut Icing

These gluten-free chocolate cupcakes really turned out great so I want to share the recipe.  I used goat yogurt in them, but you can easily replace this with a non-dairy milk.  They are also egg-free and maple syrup sweetened!  It is adapted from the Carob Cupcake recipe in May All Be Fed by John Robbins.  I made it gluten-free.  I also made a Cashew-Coconut Icing to go with it that was great - but it's not in the picture.

Gluten-free Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes:  24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups maple syrup

3/4 cup canola or safflower oil

4 1/2 ounces goat yogurt or non-dairy milk

2 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup water

1cup Bette's Featherlight mix

1 cup teff flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1/4 cup white rice flour (additional to mix)

1/4 cup tapioca (additional to mix)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Lightly oil 24 muffin pans.
2. Combine maple syrup, oil, yogurt or milk, vanilla and water in a mixing bowl.
3. Combine all dry ingredients in another bowl.  Add the maple syrup mixture and combine until well blended.
4. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 15 minutes or until a tester comes out clean from one of the cupcakes.  Let the cupcakes cool 5 minutes before removing them from the tins.

Raw Cashew-Coconut Icing

You will have to play around with the measurements a little bit because I didn't measure as I was making it.

Ingredients:

1-2 cups of raw cashews, soaked for 6-8 hours or until soft, drained

1-2 cups coconut milk

10-12 dates, soaked if not very soft

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp agave nectar

pinch of salt

Steps:

1. Put the cashews into a food processor and process until very fine.  Add the rest of the ingredients and process until very smooth.

Notes: My food processor didn't get the cashews and dates blended very finely, so I took the mixture out and used my blending wand to blend it the rest of the way.  This made it extra smooth.

Enjoy!