Gluten Free Lemon Cupcakes

Ingredients  

• 2 ¼ cup gluten free flour blend * see note
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ¼ cup sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 ¼ cups almond milk 
• ¼ cup coconut oil melted

Frosting

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest to top cupcakes with
• ½ cup unsalted butter Softened, use dairy-free butter if you are dairy-free
• Optional: 3-5 drops of yellow food coloring

Direction

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F. Be sure that the oven rack is in the middle setting.
2. Line a cupcake tin with paper cupcake liners. I like to use parchment paper liners so the cupakes don’t stick to the paper.
3. In a large bowl, add all of the dry ingredients.
4. Whisk to blend these ingredients.
5. In a medium bowl, add all of the wet ingredients and whisk to blend them all together.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until they are just barely mixed. This will help to keep your cupcakes light and fluffy.
7. Use a large cookie scoop to add the batter to each cupcake liner. Fill each cup about 3/4 full. Try not to overfill the batter or your cupcakes can rise too high.
8. Sprinkle the top of each cupcake with lemon zest.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes until done. (*See note to test if they are fully baked)
10. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire cooling rack.
11. Mix all of the frosting ingredients in a stand mixer. Use the whisk attachment to make this frosting really fluffy.