Orange Halloween Cupcakes for Your Gluten Free Dairy Free Trick-or-Treaters

Gluten free baking mixes have their place, and for me the perfect use of a box of Betty Crocker’s GF Cake Mix is a surprise batch of cupcakes for the kiddos. Last week I whipped up a batch and made a few alterations to the recipe on the back of the box, so that we could have some gluten free, casein free, and very orange Halloween cupcakes.

Here’s how to do it for yourself:

Start with: 1 box Betty Crocker GF Yellow Cake Mix. And, follow the box instructions except for the following:

  1. Substitute: Coconut Oil for the butter.
  2. Add: 4 g red food coloring & 6 g yellow food coloring
  3. Then, Bake according to the directions on the box.

If you aren’t using a scale, then just measure the food coloring by drops and keep a 4:6 ratio of red to yellow.

I’ll also grudgingly admit that these cupcakes would be perfect for Tennessee, Auburn and Florida fans.

Here’s a comment from Sara, a nutritionist and one of my newsletter readers, about food colorings:

I wanted to let you know that there are all natural alternatives to artificial food colors – go to www.naturalcandystore.com. Many autistic and ADHD kids have gut dysbiosis and should avoid artificial colors. I think the same is true for everyone – we try to avoid them, and I would never willingly buy food colors and add them to homebaked goods!

I hope your trick-or-treaters enjoy these cupcakes as much as my kiddos did =)

5 thoughts on “Orange Halloween Cupcakes for Your Gluten Free Dairy Free Trick-or-Treaters”

  1. Jeff VanderMolen

    I am confused about how to combine the Sandwich bread recipe. The first set of instructions calls for the mixing of water with yeast. The third mix is eggs with the oil. The ingredients only call for water and flax as a replacement for the eggs. The ingredients call for milk but the assembly of ingredients does not mention milk. Help.

  2. I am a newbie to Gluten free and your website has helped me tremendously! What kind of frosting can we use on these cupcakes?

    1. I whip together pure cane powdered confectioners sugar in a standard butter cream frosting that has been highly whipped… if I need it to be dairy free, I use some trans fat free shortening… you can also use coconut fat or lard. Be sure to add the liquid, either milk or water, at a hot temp, even a boiling temp, and add the liquid a small amount at a time, whipping a bit between until of the best spreading consistency.
      The hot liquid will dissolve the sugary feeling on the tongue and make the frosting smooth.

      1. Thank you Linda! I was making frosting the other day and didn’t heat up my milk alternative (I used Hemp Milk) and the frosting was very grainy. Next time I’ll heat it up before adding it. 😉

  3. Hmmm. Wonder what this would taste like…add orange juice or half oj, half whatever liquid the cake mix calls for? (instead of the yellow food coloring). I’d grate some orange zest into it too, I think.

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