“A party without cake is just a meeting.” – Julia Child

And isn’t that true? She’s just so awesome. Red Velvet cake is my favorite. It was the cake served at my first birthday and I think it set me up for a lifetime of cravings. I wish I’d realized that it could be done gluten free so much sooner – and really, I just wish I had tried out some alternative flours before it became a medical necessity. This recipe beats any flour based version I’ve had, and I’m not just saying that because I don’t get a vote anymore.

I know it looks like a lot of ingredients.  It is.  If you do a decent amount of gluten free baking (or baking in general) you probably have most of these on hand.  The coconut flour can be a bit tricky to find, but if you have a store nearby with a good Bob’s Redmill Selection, you should be able to find it. (You can also thank CrossFit Paleo peeps for making coconut everything suddenly available everywhere.)

In a medium bowl combine:

• ¾ C Brown Rice Flour
• 4 T Coconut Flour
• 4 T Tapioca Starch (‘flour’ is the same thing, name changes by brand)
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ¾ tsp Xanthan Gum
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 T cocoa powder, (you’ll need 3T total)

Now blend them together nicely.  A fork will get the job done.

In larger bowl beat together:

• ½ C Vegetable Oil
• ¾ – 1 C White Sugar
• 1 Egg
• ½ C Apple Sauce

In my recipe, I go lighter on the sugar. I prefer a medium sweet cupcake with a super sweet frosting.  This is up to you.  If you plan on using a lower sugar frosting, go ahead and use the full cup. Stop counting calories, we’re making cake.

Begin to add dry flour mix and ½ C Buttermilk alternating between the two until totally blended.

In separate small bowl make a paste of:

• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• ½ to 1oz Red food coloring
• 1 T Cocoa Powder

Go ahead and add this to your batter.

Things are about to get colorful!!

Now, at this point, you have a choice. I tend to go for cupcakes, but this batter cooks up just lovely as a regular cake if you’re looking to go that route. If you’re going for cupcakes, I recommend transfering the batter to a gallon Ziploc bag.  Gluten Free Batter is a bit stickier than your regular cake batter which can be challenging to spoon out in to small portions.  Plus, it’s just cleaner and easier, and I like that.  Place the batter in a bag, cut about 1 inch off the bottom and go to town.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, depending on your pan, until center looks set and toothpick comes out clean.

So pretty and bright!  Of course, a bald cupcake might as well be a muffin (© Jim Gaffigan).  I like to frost mine with Buttercream Frosting.

Enjoy!!