My boyfriend, Alex loves Starbucks coffee and today is his birthday. I decided to try and make him something simple, yummy, and fun. I am a Pinterist fan and discovered a few creative Starbucks birthday ideas. I also have a few food allergies, milk and gluten, so I needed to find a recipe that would work for me to eat as well. In the end I mixed a bunch of ideas I had and found together and came up with these cupcakes, which were a very big hit by the way!
Gluten & Dairy Free Coffee Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes ~ 20 minutes ~ oven at 350 degrees
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups gluten free flour
1 teaspoon tapioca flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons ground coffee or instant coffee mix
1 cup almond milk
1/2 cup strongly brewed coffee
3 eggs
Cream butter and sugar together. Add coffee, milk & eggs. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to bowl of wet ingredients, mixing well.
Alex’s favorite Starbucks drink is a Caramel Macchiatio so I tried to replicate that as best I could using all caramel flavored coffee and frosting.
For the frosting I ended up using the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations with the Caramel flavored packet. I was a little pressed for time and have not found a homemade allergy-free frosting recipe I am happy with yet. This frosting however, proved to be one of the best store bought frostings I have ever had! For my coffee grounds/instant coffee mix I used this Nescafe Memento Caramel Latte mix. Later I discovered it did have a small amount of milk in it, but thankfully it did not bother me!
After the cakes were cool, I frosted them using a star shaped decorating tip so it would look sorta fancy and hopefully coffee-like. Then I printed and cut out my custom cupcake wrappers! Here is my template I used:
For the logo, I simply looked up the image I wanted and added it to the document before printing. You can also have this template print to the back side of some pretty scrap booking paper for another type of custom and decorative look.
For the straws, I simply cut some green straws in 4 pieces and stuck them right into my “drinks”. Then I drizzled some caramel topping on!
These are an easy and fun way to add some personality to any party or event. You can easily transform them into most any company’s “drink” or flavor!
Feel free to share any of your own creations or ideas!!!
-Holly