Rice CrispyCakes

I know I already posted a picture of this cupcake, but I really needed to work on the recipe before posting that up. But after sampling about 3 more tonight, I think I'm ready.

I really tried to preserve the texture of a rice crispy treat in this cupcake, but found that it's nearly impossible to keep rice crisp cereal crisp when encapsulated in cupcake batter. So I've settled for ooey gooey melted rice crispy treat centers inside of gluten free cupcakes. If you call that settling.



Unlike most cupcake baking, you have to make the frosting first, as it serves double duty.

Ricemellow Frosting

1 cup Ricemellow Creme
2 Tbsp Earth Balance margarine
2 Tbsp vegan shortening (I like Earth Balance's)
2 cups of sifted powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
dash of ground cinnamon

Cream together the Earth Balance and shortening in a mixer. Then add the Ricemellow Creme and mix until well combined (it will be gooey). Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix slowly at first, then on med-high speed to fully combine. Last, mix in the vanilla and beat until smooth. Keep this frosting at room temperature until ready to frost the cupcakes.

Rice Crisp Centers

1 tsp oil (for greasing muffin tin)
1/2 cup of Ricemellow Frosting
1-1/2 cups of brown rice crisp cereal ( I like Erewhon's Organic)

Grease a mini-muffin tin. Fold rice crisp cereal into the frosting until it forms a sticky ball. Press rounded tablespoons full of the mixture into the mini muffin tin and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours is fine). Now these are fabulous just as they are, but they make great centers for cupcakes, too.

Rice CrispyCakes

1 1/3 cups rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch (or cornstarch)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup soymilk
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Combine dry ingredients (flour through xanthan gum) in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl or jar, combine soymilk, oil, vanilla, and flaxseeds. Stir this really well to activate the gumminess of the flax. Then add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir until thoroughly combined. Spoon about a tablespoon of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then place one mini rice crispy treat on the batter. Then fill the liners with the remaining batter. This should make 12 cupcakes. Immediately place these in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes*. Let cool almost completely before frosting. This is one case where the cupcakes should be ever-so-slightly warm when frosting because the gooey Ricemellow Frosting looks really pretty when slightly melted. And it gets really thick, so it doesn't hurt it to melt a bit.

*Note: It is tough to tell if they are done because the crispy treat will block a toothpick inserted into the cake. So you might want to do one cupcake without the treat inside, just to serve as a "doneness tester". Or you could just live dangerously. I can tell you from experience that children (and adults) will still love these even if they are undercooked- and there's no eggs to worry about!

This is my official Cupcake Hero entry for the month. I always seem to wait until really close to the deadline to enter, even though I knew my entry idea the moment I read the theme ingredient of marshmallows. Hmm... What does that say about me?

Unfortunately, I seem to have just missed the deadline for "Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free". But I might just send it in anyways for kicks.