These light and fluffy gluten-free lemon cupcakes topped with lemon cream cheese frosting burst with lemon flavor! They're made with almond flour and oat flour, giving them the softest crumb. Sour cream makes them exceptionally soft!
These aren't just any gluten-free lemon cupcakes. They're the lemon cupcakes we served at our wedding! The same lemon cake recipe we used to make our mini cut cake (you know, the one we tried to eat out of the freezer on our first anniversary). These cupcakes are special.
These super moist gluten-free lemon cupcakes recipe starts with a vanilla cake base that's made with almond flour and oat flour.
The flours blend together to behave much like an all-purpose flour in baked goods like cake. While you get a bit of warm whole grain notes, their flavors are subtle, which allows the lemon to shine. I use the same blend in my sweet and tart gluten-free lemon drizzle cake!
My friend who'd just finished pastry school had agreed to make the cupcakes for our wedding. After spending a day several months before the wedding recipe testing cupcakes in her kitchen, we landed on the perfect lemon cupcake recipe. I think she also made pumpkin spice and red velvet cupcakes for the big day, but they clearly didn't leave an imprint like the lemon cupcake. Just because I'd broken up with gluten, I wasn't about to skip out on those lemon cupcakes. So she made the lemon cupcakes with a bag of all-purpose gluten-free flour.
Now that I'm six years into baking gluten-free, I can finally do these cupcakes more justice as a true made-from-scratch gluten-free lemon cupcake.
Also, I just re-read that diatribe against gluten and I'm still baking my way through the 1000 cupcake liners I ordered for our wedding...six years later. And not for lack of trying - I bake a lot of gluten-free cupcakes.
Do I need xanthan gum for Gluten-Free Cake?
No. And yes. Ha - you like that?
NO, you don't need xanthan gum in gluten-free cake. If your flour blend uses a high ratio of sweet rice flour, it acts much like xanthan, giving the cake the sticking power that lends to a beautifully chewy crumb. So if you can't or choose not to eat xanthan gum, you can rest assured that leaving it out of any cake recipe on my site won't ruin your cake!
But YES, you may want xanthan gum in your gluten-free cake. This gluten-free cake recipe calls for xanthan gum as optional. Cupcakes with xanthan gum will be a little fluffier and less dense, and will have a springy chew more like regular cupcakes. I prefer that.
Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
The tanginess of lemon cream cheese frosting is the perfect complement for a sweet and tart lemon cupcake. I use my go-to fresh lemon cream cheese frosting recipe, which is lightly sweetened and thick enough to pipe!
Here's the closed star pastry tip I use for my cupcakes. To get bakery-style frosting, start piping in the center of the cupcake working outwards, then doubling up when you get to the edge and coming back to the center.
Recipe
Fluffy Gluten-Free Lemon Cupcakes with Almond Flour
Ingredients
- ½ cup (81 g) sweet rice flour, also called Mochiko - different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour"
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) gluten-free oat flour
- ½ cup (78 g) millet flour
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, optional**
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (208 g) (granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, From 2-3 lemons
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest, 3-4 lemons
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk or buttermilk***
- 1 batch lemon cream cheese frosting
INSTRUCTIONS
Gluten-Free Lemon Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the sweet rice flour, oat flour, millet flour, xanthan gum (if using), baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar over medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- With the mixer on low-speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, mixing until just combined.
- Keeping the speed on low, slowly add the dry ingredients in two batches, adding the milk in between, mixing until just combined.
- Divide the batter among 12 lined cupcake cups, until about ½ to ⅔ full.
- Bake for about 22-26 minutes, or until the tops bounce back a little when tapped and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prepare the cream cheese frosting from this recipe. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes. For the pattern above, use a large closed-star pastry tip
Alene -
Hi. Do you have a suggestion for replacing the rice flour? I can't eat rice anything. Thank you.
Sarah Menanix -
I would recommend replacing it with tapioca starch by weight. Your results will vary, but this should still produce a delicious cupcake.
Chentelle -
Hi, can you use Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour in this recipe?
Sarah Menanix -
Yes! Substitute all the flours with BRM 1-to-1 by weight!
Alex -
Can I use coconut milk instead of regular milk?
Sarah Menanix -
While I haven't tested it with this exact recipe, I've made almost all of my other cakes using coconut milk or oat milk and it works great! I think you should have no problems with this substitution.
Marie -
What a treat! The texture is not crumbly but moist and tender and just the perfect amount of lemony goodness. I made my own oat flour and they were delicious. Will definitely make these again.
Ann -
I don’t have millet flour, but I do have sorghum flour and buckwheat flour. My instinct is to substitute the millet flour with sorghum flour. How do you think that would work? I’d prefer not to buy yet another kind of flour (I have at least 5 types ????). Thanks for a recipe that looks like it’s going to make me very happy!
Sarah Menanix -
While I haven't tried it in this recipe, sorghum flour would be the best bet here - substitute it by weight! I have other muffin recipes that I use sorghum in place of millet and it works great. It bakes up similarly to millet flour, but will have a slightly more sweet wholesome flavor. The color may also be a tad darker with sorghum flour. Best of luck!
Marcella -
Making this right now and I don’t see how much baking soda to add?
Sarah Menanix -
I'm so sorry for the delay! Your comment when to my spam for some reason. That was a typo from when I'd copied over my instructions from my vanilla cupcake recipe - updated!
Marcia Karls -
Is it baking soda or powder?
Sarah Menanix -
Only baking powder! (In the instructions I had copied over it had originally mistakenly said "add the baking powder and baking soda" when it should have just said baking powder, hence the confusion. The recipe above is correct).
Iram -
I made these yesterday for my little girl with Celiac disease. The whole family liked them very much. Delicious and fluffy as promised.will. E making them again.