Gluten Free Cupcakes and Icing

I have been told that the pre-made ones from Trader Joe's are really good and a great price when compared to other gluten free cupcakes.

My mum made some on the weekend. She's always making GF packet mix stuff. The cup cakes turned out fine, although they were a little dense. We all enjoyed them, including the boys.

I've done the Betty Crocker one and it was good. I'd eat one in a second, if I had one now!

Unless I'm missing something, gluten free icing is the norm. Either a buttercream or a ganache would work for you. They've got dairy, but no gluten.

The cupcake would be tougher. Use the suggestions below, or look up "GlutenFreeGirl" online. I'm sure she's got some great recipes.

If you have one in your city, go to a Whole Foods store and ask them.
I have found the employees there in the aisles, to be very helpful. I have actually asked them if something tastes good or not or what they think is a better tasting brand.

Or they might have already made, gluten free cupcakes to buy.
They have lots of gluten free products.

This answer is coming from the mother of a Celiac child. I personally would prefer to provide my own item for my child at a party. Even though you are using a GF mix if it is prepared in a kitchen that does not have GF utensils, bakeware, etc you run the risk of cross contamination of the cake. Unless I know the person VERY well, and they understand Celiac disease, I would rather cook for her myself to avoid any problems. That being said, the Betty Crocker GF cake mixes are very good. The devil's food flavor is our favorite, and we often serve it to guests and they have no idea it is gluten free. Betty Crocker frostings are also gluten free. The box only makes 12 regular size cupcakes, though, so depending on how many kids, you may need to make 2 batches.

Also - we have never found a store bought premade cupcake that we like. They are usually dry and very crumbly and my daughter won't eat them so I would not recommend wasting your money there. I would also recommend using a mix instead of making them yourself from scratch... the best ones require a mix of flours that can be expensive as well as xanthan gum. When are you ever going to use xanthan gum again? :-)

GF cake is actually really easy. Here's a couple of recipes. :-)

Gluten free icing: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carolines-Chocolate-Fudge-Fr...

GF yellow cake: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gluten-Free-Yellow-Cake/Deta...

And here a few mixes with reviews so you can see what others think. I only linked to the ones with excellent reviews. :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crocker-Gluten-Devils-15-Ounc...

http://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-19-Ounce-Packages/dp/...

King Arthur makes a mix available everywhere that is FABULOUS. I made a GF birthday cake for someone last year. It was a big party so I made a regular cake and then made the top layer GF (it was separated with a cake round to make sure it didn't touch the rest of the cake). I had some batter left over and made cupcakes that I planned to give to a friend so she could stash them in the freezer for her GF son and my kids ate every last one of them before I could store them. They were delicious.

Homemade buttercream icing should be gluten-free anyway. I use Domino powdered sugar when cooking for GF because I know that the brand name doesn't use any gluten in the starch (powdered sugar is cut with cornstarch). This is my go-to recipe and it's so, so good:

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

So sweet of you to cook something this boy can eat. Be sure to let his mom and the teacher know if advance so that there's no confusion.