Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

Home » Vegan Desserts » Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

The best vegan vanilla cupcake recipe, easy, light, fluffy vanilla cupcake recipe perfect to celebrate any occasion. Don’t forget to add the vegan vanilla frosting and few sprinkles to make them a little fancy!

How to make this vegan vanilla cupcake recipe?

It is easy to make homemade vanilla cupcakes without eggs or dairy. All you need is to combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, using an electric beater, spoon, or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Let’s see the ingredients you need to start and create the best moist vegan vanilla cupcake recipe!

Wet ingredients

First, stir the non-dairy milk with apple cider vinegar. The reaction between the acid and plant-based milk will curdle the milk creating vegan buttermilk. The remaining wet ingredients will be added in the dry ingredients later in the recipe along with the vegan buttermilk.

All the wet ingredients you need to make easy vegan cupcakes are:

• Non-dairy milk – I love to use unsweetened almond milk, the texture of the cupcake is lighter and fluffy but, soy milk, oat milk or any plant-based milk will work here.
• Apple cider vinegar – or any acid ingredients like lemon juice or white vinegar. This curdles the non-dairy milk and creates moist cupcakes.
• Vegetable oil – I used avocado oil but melted coconut oil will work too! But watch out, never add melted coconut oil into cold non-dairy milk, or your coconut oil will solidify and form lumps! Make sure the milk and coconut oil are at the same temperature if you use this option.
• Vanilla extract

Dry ingredients

You only need 3 dry ingredients in this vegan cupcake recipe including:

• All-purpose flour – you can probably use all-purpose gluten-free flour blend too, but I didn’t try this option so I am unsure how it will affect the cupcake texture. Spelt flour is another great option but its a heavier flour and the cupcakes will be less fluffy with this option. Oat flour won’t work in this recipe.
• Baking powder – or if you prefer, replace by only 3/4 teaspoon baking soda.
• White sugar – there is plenty of healthier white sugar options like low GI cane sugar, or unrefined cane sugar, use your preferred option. I don’t recommend coconut sugar in this vegan vanilla cupcake recipe, it makes the batter heavy, brown  in color, and not as appealing.

First, combine all these dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Then, make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the vegan buttermilk made before along with oil and vanilla extract. Combine the ingredients with a whisk, spoon, or electric beater. I recommend an electric beater to create fluffy, moist cupcakes, and avoid lumps.

Filling cupcake liner

The tricky part to making beautiful cupcakes is to fill the cupcake liners evenly up to a maximum of 2/3 of their capacity. You should never fill the cupcake liner up to the top, or the cupcakes overflow in the oven and look like muffins.

I recommend using a measuring cup to fill each cupcake liner and add 1/3 cup cupcake batter in each cupcake liner. Then, if you still have some batter left, add evenly in each cupcake.

Baking vegan cupcakes

This easy vegan vanilla cupcake recipe bakes in 20-23 minutes in the center rack of your oven at 180C (370F). Your vegan cupcakes are ready when a toothpick inserted in the center of one cupcake comes out clean and the top is golden.

How to make vegan vanilla cupcake frosting?

A cupcake won’t be a cupcake without frosting right? To make a creamy, sweet dairy-free frosting, read my recipe here. You need:

• Soft vegan butter – there are many brands available, I recommend Earth Balance.
• Powdered sugar – also known as icing sugar.
• Vanilla extract
• Unsweetened almond milk

To make vegan vanilla icing for cupcakes, beat the butter with vanilla extract until pale and fluffy. Then, sift in the powdered sugar gradually until it forms a thick frosting. Sometimes the frosting is too thick to your liking. If it is the case, add extra unsweetened almond milk about 1-2 tablespoons for a softer consistency.

Cupcake frosting

First, cool the cupcakes for at least 3 hours on a cooling rack. Then, prepare the vegan cupcake frosting recipe as explained above. Finally, spread or pipe vegan cupcake icing over each cooled cupcakes. You can top your cupcakes with sprinkles, most of them are vegan friendly.

Storage

You can store your vegan cupcakes at room temperature for 24 hours maximum. Then, store in a cupcake box in the fridge for up to 3-4 days. The cupcake box prevents the cupcake frosting from drying out and it keeps the cupcake crumb moist and fluffy too.

Of course, you can also freeze the cupcake in a sealed container. Then, thaw the cupcakes the day before at room temperature.

More vegan cake recipes

I love to bake vegan desserts including vegan mug cakes, vegan muffins, or vegan cakes.  If you love vegan baking recipes, you may also love to try the recipes below!

Have you tried these vegan vanilla cupcakes and want to share a picture with me? Join me on Instagram, I love to connect with you,

Your friend, Carine