It’s very difficult for children to be the only one at a party saying, “I can’t eat that because I’m a coeliac”, or because “I’m dairy intolerant”, or “I can’t eat eggs”.
Here at Denise’s Delicious Gluten Free Bakery in Cork, we started our journey 15 years ago baking for coeliacs. Nowadays, it’s so much more than that – we cater for gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free and yeast-free diets (and more).
This Halloween, when out and about trick or treating, let’s think about the kids that have a food intolerance or allergy. Rather than baking some regular treats, why not try an all-inclusive recipe that looks after everyone?
These Halloween Cupcake treats can be free of gluten, wheat, dairy, yeast and egg. I can guarantee you that you won’t taste the difference in this recipe.
Spooky Halloween cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
175g caster sugar
205g Denise’s Delicious Gluten Free Flour Blend (see below)
Pinch of gluten free baking powder
Pinch xanthan gum
1 tsp bread soda
200g milk (or dairy alternative, eg oat milk)
20g cider vinegar
80g rapeseed oil
To decorate:
Cake toppers (see below)
Free-from buttercream – 25g dairy-free margarine at room temperature and 50g icing sugar, sieved
*For a non-gluten-free recipe, use standard white flour, baking powder and don’t add the xanthan gum.
*Cake toppers are best made the day before you need them, to give them time to harden.
1 Preheat oven to 180°C. 2 Sieve the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, bread soda into a medium sized bowl.3 Stir in the caster sugar and mix well.4 Mix milk and vinegar in a separate bowl. Add oil and stir well.5 Add wet to dry ingredients and mix gently, using a whisk if necessary, to ensure there are no lumps.6 Prepare a baking tray for muffins by placing baking cases in each mould. I have used Halloween colours of orange, purple and green.7 Gently pour the mix into the baking cases, filling each one up three quarter. Do not fill to the brim, as they will overflow as they bake.8 Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out dry. 9 Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack until completely cool.To decorate: This recipe makes a very small amount of buttercream. This is to secure the cake topper on top of each cupcake.
1 To make the buttercream, cut the dairy free margarine into small cubes and place in medium bowl with the icing sugar. Mix with an electric hand-held mixer or by hand until fully blended. 2 Once the cupcakes are cool, slice a bit off the tops (if peaked) to make a flat top on which the cake topper can sit. Put a dot of buttercream in the centre to secure the cake topper.3 Place the cake topper on top of the cupcake and press gently to hold in place.4 For storage: hold in an airtight container for three to four days. Do not store in the fridge as the colour in your cake toppers will run!To make the cupcake toppers, you will need:
Some different coloured packs of icing (don’t forget to check the back of pack to make sure the ingredients do not include your allergen). For Halloween, I would use white, black, green and orange.
You will also need a cookie cutter and a sharp knife (make sure the cooker cutter is not bigger than the top of your cupcakes – you want this to sit snugly on top of the cupcakes).
Baking parchment and a pencil
A packet of eyes for the mummies, scary faces and pumpkins. Please remember that they are not edible so you could make eyes from the icing either
Mummies:
1 Sprinkle the board with some icing sugar. Roll out some white icing with a small rolling pin and cut out some white circles with the cookie cutter. 2 Cut a strip of white icing and cut into shorter pieces to make bandages that fit across the mummy’s face. Make sure to criss-cross the bandages and leave room for the eyes. 3 With the tip of a knife or small paint brush put a dot of water on the disc of icing, under the eyes and under each bandage to hold them in place.Ghosts:
1 Sprinkle the board with some icing sugar. Roll out some white icing with a small rolling pin and cut out white circles with the cookie cutter. 2 For the eyes, use black icing and roll out small amounts of icing and flatten them to make eyes. For the mouths, using a bigger piece of icing and flatten out, shaping the bottom to make a scary mouth shape. If you find this difficult to do, then draw the shape on the baking parchment and use the shape as a template to make the mouth shape. Don’t worry if the shapes are wobbly or crooked, that will help them to look even scarier!3 With the tip of a knife or small paint brush put a dot of water on the fondant discs under the eyes and under the mouths to keep them in place.Scary Monsters:
1 Again, any colour icing will work here. We used green and orange. Sprinkle the board with some icing sugar. Roll out the icing with a small rolling pin and cut out some circles with the cookie cutter. 2 Using black icing for eye brows and mouths, roll out a piece of icing and cut thin strips to use as mouths. Use two short strips for eyebrows and one longer strip for a mouth. For teeth, cut out some white triangles and use these under the mouths. Place together with some eyes on the circles to make some scary faces. 3 With the tip of a knife or small paint brush put a dot of water on the fondant discs under each piece of icing and the eyes to hold them in place.Assembly
Once made, slide the toppers on to a piece of baking parchment and allow to harden overnight in a cool room before using them to decorate the cupcakes.
Denise’s Delicious gluten-free
flour blend
Makes approximately 850g (2lb) flour blend
250g (10oz) rice flour
25g (1oz) tapioca flour
275g (11oz) potato flour
275g (11oz) corn flour
13g (½oz) teff flour
1 tsp gluten-free (GF) baking powder
1 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 Sieve all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Read more
Consumer: gluten-free choice
Gap in the market for oat drinks
It’s very difficult for children to be the only one at a party saying, “I can’t eat that because I’m a coeliac”, or because “I’m dairy intolerant”, or “I can’t eat eggs”.
Here at Denise’s Delicious Gluten Free Bakery in Cork, we started our journey 15 years ago baking for coeliacs. Nowadays, it’s so much more than that – we cater for gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free and yeast-free diets (and more).
This Halloween, when out and about trick or treating, let’s think about the kids that have a food intolerance or allergy. Rather than baking some regular treats, why not try an all-inclusive recipe that looks after everyone?
These Halloween Cupcake treats can be free of gluten, wheat, dairy, yeast and egg. I can guarantee you that you won’t taste the difference in this recipe.
Spooky Halloween cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
175g caster sugar
205g Denise’s Delicious Gluten Free Flour Blend (see below)
Pinch of gluten free baking powder
Pinch xanthan gum
1 tsp bread soda
200g milk (or dairy alternative, eg oat milk)
20g cider vinegar
80g rapeseed oil
To decorate:
Cake toppers (see below)
Free-from buttercream – 25g dairy-free margarine at room temperature and 50g icing sugar, sieved
*For a non-gluten-free recipe, use standard white flour, baking powder and don’t add the xanthan gum.
*Cake toppers are best made the day before you need them, to give them time to harden.
1 Preheat oven to 180°C. 2 Sieve the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, bread soda into a medium sized bowl.3 Stir in the caster sugar and mix well.4 Mix milk and vinegar in a separate bowl. Add oil and stir well.5 Add wet to dry ingredients and mix gently, using a whisk if necessary, to ensure there are no lumps.6 Prepare a baking tray for muffins by placing baking cases in each mould. I have used Halloween colours of orange, purple and green.7 Gently pour the mix into the baking cases, filling each one up three quarter. Do not fill to the brim, as they will overflow as they bake.8 Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out dry. 9 Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack until completely cool.To decorate: This recipe makes a very small amount of buttercream. This is to secure the cake topper on top of each cupcake.
1 To make the buttercream, cut the dairy free margarine into small cubes and place in medium bowl with the icing sugar. Mix with an electric hand-held mixer or by hand until fully blended. 2 Once the cupcakes are cool, slice a bit off the tops (if peaked) to make a flat top on which the cake topper can sit. Put a dot of buttercream in the centre to secure the cake topper.3 Place the cake topper on top of the cupcake and press gently to hold in place.4 For storage: hold in an airtight container for three to four days. Do not store in the fridge as the colour in your cake toppers will run!To make the cupcake toppers, you will need:
Some different coloured packs of icing (don’t forget to check the back of pack to make sure the ingredients do not include your allergen). For Halloween, I would use white, black, green and orange.
You will also need a cookie cutter and a sharp knife (make sure the cooker cutter is not bigger than the top of your cupcakes – you want this to sit snugly on top of the cupcakes).
Baking parchment and a pencil
A packet of eyes for the mummies, scary faces and pumpkins. Please remember that they are not edible so you could make eyes from the icing either
Mummies:
1 Sprinkle the board with some icing sugar. Roll out some white icing with a small rolling pin and cut out some white circles with the cookie cutter. 2 Cut a strip of white icing and cut into shorter pieces to make bandages that fit across the mummy’s face. Make sure to criss-cross the bandages and leave room for the eyes. 3 With the tip of a knife or small paint brush put a dot of water on the disc of icing, under the eyes and under each bandage to hold them in place.Ghosts:
1 Sprinkle the board with some icing sugar. Roll out some white icing with a small rolling pin and cut out white circles with the cookie cutter. 2 For the eyes, use black icing and roll out small amounts of icing and flatten them to make eyes. For the mouths, using a bigger piece of icing and flatten out, shaping the bottom to make a scary mouth shape. If you find this difficult to do, then draw the shape on the baking parchment and use the shape as a template to make the mouth shape. Don’t worry if the shapes are wobbly or crooked, that will help them to look even scarier!3 With the tip of a knife or small paint brush put a dot of water on the fondant discs under the eyes and under the mouths to keep them in place.Scary Monsters:
1 Again, any colour icing will work here. We used green and orange. Sprinkle the board with some icing sugar. Roll out the icing with a small rolling pin and cut out some circles with the cookie cutter. 2 Using black icing for eye brows and mouths, roll out a piece of icing and cut thin strips to use as mouths. Use two short strips for eyebrows and one longer strip for a mouth. For teeth, cut out some white triangles and use these under the mouths. Place together with some eyes on the circles to make some scary faces. 3 With the tip of a knife or small paint brush put a dot of water on the fondant discs under each piece of icing and the eyes to hold them in place.Assembly
Once made, slide the toppers on to a piece of baking parchment and allow to harden overnight in a cool room before using them to decorate the cupcakes.
Denise’s Delicious gluten-free
flour blend
Makes approximately 850g (2lb) flour blend
250g (10oz) rice flour
25g (1oz) tapioca flour
275g (11oz) potato flour
275g (11oz) corn flour
13g (½oz) teff flour
1 tsp gluten-free (GF) baking powder
1 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 Sieve all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Read more
Consumer: gluten-free choice
Gap in the market for oat drinks
This is a subscriber-only article
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