Friday, May 4, 2012

Cupcakes for Celiac Awareness – Chocolate with Cherry Vanilla Frosting

May is such a jam-packed month. May 13th-19th is both Food Allergy Awareness Week and Eosinophilic Awareness Week. But May is also Celiac Awareness Month. Yup, all of these food-related awareness activities are stacked on top of one another, giving us a lot to talk about.

But today it’s all about cupcakes!


The American Celiac Disease Alliance and 1 in 133 have asked us to bake cupcakes to spread the word about celiac disease. Last year, the world’s tallest cake was built in Washington as members of the celiac community lobbied for gluten-free labeling laws. This year, instead of one big cake, it’s cupcakes all over the world. Gotta love it!

While technically no one in my family suffers from celiac disease (at least not officially), my son is allergic to wheat (among other things) and I am gluten-intolerant. We have been eating wheat-free and gluten-free for eleven years, hence the eleven cupcakes.



I decided to make Basic Chocolate Cupcakes from Learning to Bake Allergen-Free: A Crash Course for Busy Parents on Baking without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy or Nuts with Cherry Vanilla Frosting. The cupcake recipe is gluten-free, vegan, and top 8 allergen-free, and can be found in the book. The frosting is super-simple:

Cherry Vanilla Frosting

3 cups confectioner’s sugar
12 tbsp Earth Balance natural shortening (softened)
2 tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cherry extract

Combine the sugar and shortening with a blender until crumbly. Add the water and extracts, and blend for 2-4 minutes longer until the frosting is smooth and creamy. Decorate the cupcakes!

I added some mini Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, because – well, do I really need a reason to add chocolate chips?


Now, the question is – do we have to share? Sure, why not...


Be sure to join the American Celiac Disease Alliance Cupcakes for a Cause event page to check out all the cupcake photos and/or enter your own. While you're there, click "like" on the entries to vote for your favorites.

5 comments:

Tasty Eats At Home said...

These look lovely! I'm a sucker for anything cherry. Yum.

Tasty Eats At Home said...

So lovely! I'm a sucker for anything cherry. Congrats on 11 years. :)

Colette said...

Thanks Alta! I don't think we can go wrong with cupcakes of any kind as long as they're gluten-free!

Carol Fenster said...

Hi Colette: I met Mimi Holtz at Camp Blogaway this past weekend and want to introduce myself. Your cupcakes look terrific!

Colette said...

Carol, oh lucky you! I would have loved to go to Camp Blogaway -- maybe next year. So cool that you and Mimi got to meet. I've been a fan of yours for a while :-)