Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes

This recipe was adapted from The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook's recipe for Easy Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake.  The cupcakes turned out moist with a light crumb, and stored well in the fridge for later snacking.  Surprisingly these little gems got the stamp of approval from my two year old niece, Lauren - I used them as part of her birthday cake!

1-1/2 cups all purpose GF flour (I recommend Better Batter)
1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/3 cup sweet white rice flour (also known as "glutinous rice flour".  Silly, because it's gluten-free!!
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
3/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon GF baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (note - if you don't keep buttermilk handy, use the same quantity of 2% or whole milk, "soured" with a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar)
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons GF Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare two cupcake tins (total of 24 cakes) with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, oil, and vanilla with a whisk.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins, filling each about 1/2 full.   Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans in the oven (not necessary if you have a convection setting on your oven).  Bake for another 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cake comes out cleanly.

Immediately remove cupcakes to wire cooling racks and cool completely before frosting with your favorite frosting - I recommend a vanilla or cream cheese buttercream.