Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes

What Are Strawberry Cupcakes?

Strawberry cupcakes differ from other cupcakes batter as they incorporate strawberry puree.

I shared my strawberry puree recipe on my kid blog, it is basically blended raw strawberries, and it adds a lovely strawberry flavor and moist crumb to cupcakes.

Are Strawberry Cupcakes Vegan?

No authentic Strawberry Cupcakes contain eggs and butter, so they are not vegan friendly.

How To Make Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes

It’s pretty simple to make vegan strawberry cupcakes. All you need to start this recipe are:

Ingredients

• Fresh Strawberries are the best, but actually fresh or frozen strawberries work well. If you use frozen strawberries, thaw them overnight or for at least 3 hours, discard the juice they release, and use the thawed berries only. For fresh strawberries, the riper they are, the sweeter the cupcakes will be!
• Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice.
• Soy Milk or any plant-based milk you love like almond milk or oat milk or coconut milk. The combination of apple cider vinegar and dairy-free milk creates natural vegan buttermilk that makes the cupcakes crumb moist.
• White Sugar – I use unrefined cane sugar, you can use coconut sugar, but it alters the lovely pink color of the cupcake crumb. So for a lovely pink and white cupcake color, use any white granulated sweetener. Even erythritol works as a sugar-free alternative.
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Melted Vegan Butter or light vegetable oil like canola oil.
• Chopped Strawberries

Vegan Strawberry Buttercream

For the buttercream, I started from my vegan vanilla frosting recipe, and I added the ingredients below to make a pink cupcake frosting with natural strawberry flavor:

• Pink food coloring drops
• Strawberry powder – you can also use drops of natural strawberry flavor.

Making The Strawberry Milk

First, you will make strawberry milk. Weigh the strawberries – I used about six large strawberries or about 4.5 oz.

Place the hulled strawberries and soy milk in a blender and blend on the medium-speed setting until it forms pink milk.

Set aside in a bowl and stir in the apple cider vinegar to curdle the mixture.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder and stir to combine evenly.

Finally, make a wheel in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the melted vegan butter and strawberry milk above.

Stir to combine until all ingredients are evenly coming together and no lumps of flour can be seen.

Fold in chopped strawberries and stir a few times to incorporate

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper liner cups and slightly oil with oil spray.

The oil prevents the cupcakes from sticking to the baking paper when they cool down.

Fill each muffin paper case up to 3/4 their level.

Decoration

Cupcakes are always much more attractive if decorated right! So to decorate these lovely dairy-free cupcakes the vegan way, I recommend adding:

• Fresh Strawberries – you can add a whole strawberry or half strawberry. I like to wash the strawberries first, then pat them dry on absorbent paper to prevent liquid from being released into the frosting – this ruins the frosting, so better to avoid strawberry juice.
• A pinch of Freeze-dried Strawberry Powder – I personally struggle to find this in store, so instead, I bought a strawberry-flavored superfood powder made of beetroot powder, pea protein, and plenty of other healthy nutrients.
• Desiccated Coconut
• Vegan Sprinkles. Not all sprinkles are vegan. Some use animal-based food coloring. So choose a conscious sprinkle brand to add to the top of these pink cupcakes.

Storage Instructions

These vegan cupcakes store very well in a cupcake airtight box in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

You can also freeze the strawberry cupcakes in a box and thaw them in the fridge the day before eating.

I recommend freezing cupcakes without the strawberry on top.

Allergy Swaps

• Flours – you can swap wheat flour for an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend containing gums. Other flours that work well are white wholewheat flour or spelt flour. This recipe won’t work with almond flour or coconut flour.
• Refined sugar-free crystal sweeteners work well, but watch out! Coconut sugar turns the cupcakes brown. You won’t enjoy the same pink color.
• Food Coloring can be added to the cupcake batter for a much more vibrant color if you are making these as vegan Valentine’s day cupcakes, for example.