April Gluten Free Baking Challenge

Practice your baking skills and join the monthly Gluten Free Baking Challenge hosted by Sharon of What The Fork Food Blog. New challenge recipe every month and the chance to win the baking challenge prize!

Welcome to the first ever Gluten Free Baking Challenge here on What The Fork Food Blog! I’ve thought about doing this for a while and after asking you guys on Facebook and Instagram with lots of interest, I decided to make it happen.

This month, we’re getting off to a little later start than normal. Between Easter falling on April 1st this year, and starting a major project this past week, I had to postpone a tiny bit. It’s well worth the wait though! So, let’s get started!

What is the Gluten Free Baking Challenge?

Each month, a gluten free baking recipe (new or old) is chosen to be the monthly challenge recipe. Bake it, take a picture of it, then share it to be entered to win the giveaway. Share your photos throughout the month using #whattheforkbaking on Instagram, or upload a photo of your recipe to my What The Fork Food Blog Facebook page and/or What The Fork Gluten Free Baking Community Facebook group. Read below for exact details!

How To Enter The Baking Challenge

To participate in the Gluten Free Baking Challenge, you have to make the challenge recipe. (Continue to read below to see what the recipe is!)
Take your own photo of the finished challenge recipe and share it on social media before April 30th 11:59pm EST. Entries after this will not be eligible to win the prize.
In order to be eligible for the prize, you must include the official baking challenge hashtag #whattheforkbaking when sharing your photo. Keep reading to see where you can share your photos.
Photos must be your own in order to be eligible for the prize.

Where To Share Your Photos

Instagram – Share your photo of the Gluten Free Baking Challenge recipe to you public Instagram account. (If it’s a private account, I won’t be able to see it.)
- To qualify, you must use the #whattheforkbaking and tag @whattheforkfoodblog
Facebook Group – If you’re a member of my What The Fork Gluten Free Baking Community Facebook group, you can post your image there.
- To qualify for the prize, include the #whattheforkbaking in your post!
- Click here to request to join the group.
Facebook Page – Share your photo to my What The Fork Food Blog Facebook page with the official baking challenge hashtag, #whattheforkbaking

*** Share to at least one of the above. You can even share on all three to increase your odds of winning the challenge prize. ***

The Prize

This month’s gluten free baking challenge prize is a $50 Amazon Gift Card. All who enter the contest by sharing a photo and using the hashtag will be eligible to win. Please note, your chance of winning the challenge prize has nothing to do with photo quality. Winner will be randomly drawn from the entries.

April’s Challenge Recipe

I posted a poll in my Facebook Group asking which recipe should be the first Gluten Free Baking Challenge Recipe.

And the winner was….

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes! This is the perfect recipe to start with, especially since April is What The Fork’s birthda-versary month! Birthday/Anniversary because I can’t really decide what it should be called for the start of a blog. So Birthda-versary it is! This is the recipe I made last year to celebrate. Love how it worked out like that!

Click here to get to the recipe for gluten free vanilla cupcakes

Tools Used to Make This Recipe

Muffin Pan – I use 2 standard 12-cup Muffin Pans to make this recipe.
Paper Liners – Pictured are Reynold’s Wrap Foil Baking Cups. I really love them because I find that the cupcakes bake really evenly and I never have issues with batter sticking. I also like using unbleached parchment liners and for a fancier feel, Meri Meri cupcake liners.
Food Scoop – I use an Oxo Large Cookie Scoop to transfer the batter to the muffin tin. It’s easier than using a spoon. I love it for cookies and muffins too!

Frosting Options

I love a good old classic – Chocolate Buttercream Frosting on vanilla cupcakes. It’s one of my favorites!
- Chocolate Frosting Recipe
- Vegan Chocolate Frosting Recipe
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting – Another classic combo, vanilla on vanilla. You can make your frosting any color you choose or keep it simple and plain!
- My favorite Vanilla Buttercream Recipe can be found here, just double the recipe for these cupcakes!
- A dairy-free/vegan vanilla frosting recipe can be found here.

Happy baking, friends! I can’t wait to see all your cupcakes! And if you’re baking during the week, be sure to read my tips to make weeknight baking a breeze!