Decadent, gluten-free brownie cupcakes

Last weekend, we made a great discovery. We decided to make cupcakes for our 6-year-old's pirate birthday party. My daughter shopped for a gluten-free cake mix but could only find a Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Brownie Mix. Since we had used it before for brownies, we decided it could work to make cupcakes. There really weren't too many alternatives. They were out of the regular cake mix and we didn't have a really good gluten-free scratch cake recipe so we used the brownie mix instead.

It turned out even better than we had expected. We expected they would at least be OK but they were moist, rich and SO delicious. In addition to being easy to make they were amazingly good. With the addition of a dairy-free frosting, we made a dessert that was very good yummy and gluten-free.

It even "fooled" our guests who were probably not expecting us to serve them a gluten-free treat. (Of course, we didn't tell anyone. When you tell people that the food is gluten-free, you always get a few who don't like it just because they know it is different!) All the kids liked the cupcakes and the adults raved over them.

It was a very nice pirate birthday party. My husband liked them so much that he decided he wanted the same recipe for his upcoming birthday.

Here's the recipe. We made 24 cupcakes which took two brownie mixes.

Decadent Gluten-free, Dairy-free Chocolate Cupcakes

2 Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free Brownie Mixes
Follow the directions on the back of the package, but substitute 3/4 cup of vegetable oil for the butter or margarine. You will also add an egg and water.
Spoon batter into 24 cupcake liners placed into muffin pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until cupcakes are done. They need to be firm when pressed but not overcooked. Allow to cool fully before frosting. With a decorator's bag, pipe frosting onto the top of cupcakes. The finished cupcakes don't have to be refrigerated.

Dairy-free Chocolate Frosting

3/4 cup vegan margarine
2 pounds Confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring
Approximately 1/2 cup almond milk

Cream margarine in a mixer. Add Confectioner's sugar and mix (mixture will be crumbly). Add 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring. Add 1/4 cup almond milk and mix in almond milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until creamy and stiff enough to set up but thin enough to spoon into a decorator's bag and pipe onto the tops of the cupcakes. All of the almond milk doesn't have to be used. Serves 24.