Gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes are sweet and refreshing. These cupcakes are the best dessert to bring to a Christmas party at work or school during the Holiday season!
Need an easy Holiday dessert?
These gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes are right up your alley then!
I know most people think of cookies during Christmastime. After all, there’s so many to choose from.
But, do you have a Christmas party at work you need to bring a dessert to? Or do your kids have a Christmas party at school? Everyone else is probably bringing cookies.
I love cookies. Trust me, I do. But sometimes it’s fun to switch things up a bit and bring a little something unexpected! These cupcakes are just that.
Still filled with one of the classic Holiday flavors, chocolate peppermint, these cupcakes are an easy spin off of my gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.
Light, fluffy, filled with chocolate and a hint of peppermint, and topped with luxurious peppermint buttercream frosting, these cupcakes are decadent, chocolate-y, and refreshing.
There’s a few things to know before you start whipping these cupcakes up.
First, the most important thing with chocolate cakes or cupcakes is the cocoa powder. You need to make sure it’s thoroughly mixed into the dry ingredients so there are no cocoa powder clumps in your batter. Or else, you’ll get bites of chalky cocoa powder afterwards. Yuck.
There’s a couple ways to do that. First, you can simply whisk like crazy with a good whisk until you don’t see hardly any cocoa powder clumps.
Or, you can use a fine mesh strainer and pour the cocoa powder into the mixing bowl, through the strainer. Tap the cocoa powder through the strainer and it will take the cocoa powder clumps out for you!
Second, these Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes can easily be made dairy-free with coconut oil and almond milk. However, I haven’t made the frosting dairy-free yet.
If you want to make these cupcakes and frosting entirely dairy-free, I would recommend buying your favorite dairy-free frosting in vanilla, then stirring peppermint extract into it. I would still recommend 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract. That’s an easy way to have the best of both worlds.
I would not recommend trying to reduce or change the sugar in these cupcakes. I know, I like to make recipes healthier too. But these cupcakes are for the Holidays! That’s when balance kicks in for me and I know I can indulge a little too. 🙂
Last but not least, use your favorite sprinkles or some crushed up candy canes on top of these cupcakes for a fun touch!
The best way to crush up candy canes? I throw them in a ziploc bag and use my meat mallet to pound them out! It gets the job done for sure 😉 A regular hammer would work too, but be sure to crush them up carefully and on top of a cutting board!
Light, fluffy, chocolate-y and refreshing, these gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes are such a fun and easy Holiday treat.
If you want some cookies still, I’d recommend my gluten-free Molasses Cookies, Chocolate Peppermint Cookies and grain-free and vegan Thumbprint Cookies.
- 1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted (or butter)
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla and peppermint extract
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To begin, preheat your oven to 350 and line two muffin tins with 15 cupcake liners.
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In a mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, baking soda) and whisk them together thoroughly till there are no cocoa powder clumps. Alternatively, pour your cocoa powder into the bowl through a fine mesh strainer, to ensure there are no cocoa powder clumps.
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In another mixing bowl, add your coconut oil and sugar and whisk them together. Next, add your eggs, milk and peppermint extract and whisk them together.
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Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and whisk them together till everything is well incorporated. Your cupcake batter will seem very thin at this point (that's OK!).
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Pour your cupcake batter into your cupcake liners, filling each cavity about 3/4 way full. Bake in the oven for 14-16 minutes, or till the top is spring to touch and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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Let cool entirely before frosting.
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In a large mixing bowl, add your butter and beat with a hand mixer till smooth and creamy. Add your powdered sugar, milk and peppermint extract and beat till smooth. If necessary, add a little more milk or a little more powdered sugar, till the frosting is the right texture.
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Pipe on top of your cooled cupcakes. Add festive sprinkles or crushed up candy canes if you'd like!
Store these cupcakes on the counter for 1-2 days. You can also store them unfrosted in the fridge for up to a week, and frost them after removing them.
Hi! Should I reduce the baking powder for high altitude? I noticed in other recipes it’s been reduced. Thanks so much!
Hi Sarah. Yes, depending on your altitude you can reduce the baking powder from 2 teaspoons to about 1/2 teaspoon. I’m at about 5000 ft and these cupcakes work for me with 2 teaspoons still. If you live 6000+ I would recommend reducing it. Hope this helps!