Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes!
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Delicious and tasty vegan vanilla cupcakes!
Veganuary!
So, it’s the new year, and I am starting it out with a VEGAN recipe. That’s right, vegan. Don’t freak out or anything, but January is famous for being ‘Veganuary’ so I thought this would be a better time to post this, and I’ve made so many vegan cupcakes to try and find one I like the best, it took a little time.
This beauty of a recipe is based off of Loving it Vegans recipe, and it’s just so good! I did change a few little bits here and there as I’m in the UK, so our ingredients are different, and just to suit what I preferred basically! Either way, you can do a lot of experimentation if you prefer, but baking without egg is difficult!
Egg replacement
I’ve always managed to do dairy free because you can buy really good dairy free spreads in the supermarket, which work well in cake! Such as with my gluten & dairy free chocolate cake, it can be utterly delicious. The thing I have always struggled with, is getting the egg replacement correct.
It took me a good while to research into it all, which is why it’s taken so long to post. I am not vegan myself, so it’s not something I know a lot about, but after some requests I thought I would post a couple of recipes here and there to help out! A lot of egg replacers consist of apple sauce, or banana etc which I find a bit too faffy, and personally I can’t eat banana anyway.
Try not to over mix!
There are so many different vegan variations of cupcakes out there that you will manage to find what suits you, but this is definitely my favourite so far. It’s the only one I have found, that is actually tasty enough and has a good texture! If you do over mix the mixture however, it can go a little rubbery so be careful about that!
Milk alternative
I often have almond milk hot chocolates at home, because I love them, which is why I used it for these as well. You can easily swap to soya milk for example, or even oat milk, but I would be wary of coconut milk as it often has thickening agents in so is less ‘milk’ like. The taste doesn’t come through that much, but I still use the 2tsp of vanilla extract so you get a lovely flavour.
Buttercream
For the buttercream, I used Vitalite spread, and it’s my favourite one to use! I used it on my gluten & dairy free chocolate cake as well, and it’s been a big hit amongst my readers. There are quite a few others available, so it’s whatever you want to use in reality, but I know people will ask for which I used!
Check your ingredients
For the rest of the ingredients, you have to do the standard thing and check yourself whether and ingredient contains dairy or not if you have an allergy, but I can’t do that for you. Trust me, people have asked, but as I have readers all over the world, I have to say to double check everything first before buying!
I hope you love this recipe, and happy Veganuary! x
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 225 g self raising flour
- 200 g caster sugar
- 250 ml almond/soya/dairy free milk
- 2 tsps vanilla extract
- 75 ml vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Buttercream
- 150 g dairy free spread
- 350 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Sprinkles
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan, and get 12 cupcake cases ready!
- In a large bowl, whisk together your flour and sugar.
- Pour in your milk, vanilla, oil and vinegar, and mix until smooth.
- Try not to over mix, but make sure the lumps are gone.
- Split between the 12 cases (it will be quite runny), but stick with the 12 cases!
- Bake in the oven for about 20-22 minutes, or until baked through.
- Leave to cool fully!
For the Buttercream
- Beat your dairy free butter until smooth (it won't take long at all due to it being dairy free)
- Add in your icing sugar and vanilla and beat again until fluffy and buttercream like!
- Pipe onto your cupcakes how you please, and sprinkle with your favourite sprinkles!
Notes
- This recipe is based on Loving It Vegans recipe with a few changes!
- The cupcakes don't brown much at all, so don't worry if they look a little anaemic!
- You can substitute the oil for extra virgin olive oil!
- The buttercream will still be quite slack due to it being dairy free, so it doesn't hold perfectly - don't add any extra liquid!
- These will last 2-3 days once made, at room temperature.
ENJOY!
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J x
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Can I ask, do you think you could use rice flour in this recipe? 😀 <3 My friend is coeliacs
Hi Jane! I was just wondering if you could turn these into lemon cupcakes by replacing the vanilla extract with lemon extract? And maybe adding some lemon zest into the buttercream? Thanks!
Hi!
Would a spot of food colouring in the buttercream work or would it make it too slack?..
Thanks!
It would work as long as it was a super strong gel colouring so you don’t need to add much x
Hi Jane, I use your recipes a lot so thank you for them.
Quick question for you. I notice a lot of other vegan cake recipes say to mix the vinegar with the plant based milk and to set aside to curdle but you don’t mention this. Is there any difference in the two methods? Are results the same?
Thanks for your help. Mandy
Hey!! Ahh you are so welcome, my method just doesn’t require you to do this that’s all!xx
Absolutely love this recipe they come out amazingly, and everyone loves the finished bake!!
If I was use this recipe for a tiered cake, would you say the amount of ingredients would equate to one tier?
Thank you X
Have a look at the tiered version on my blog – https://hairhealth-discovery.info/2020/01/18/vegan-victoria-sponge/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
can you use balsamic vinegar
No, you need a white vinegar such as the white wine or apple cider x
Hi Jane, tried the recipe out, tastes yummy, is it common for them to be a bit doughy when they first come out of the oven x
Did they soften and become normal after cooling? It may be that they hadn’t finished baking quite so needed to cool first if so!
can you leave out the white wine vinegar in the vanilla cupcakes
No, you need a white vinegar or alternative for the recipe to work!!
Hi Jane,
I loved this recipe the cupcakes were perfect!
If I wanted to make chocolate vegan cupcakes how much cocoa powder would I need to add? Xx
Have a look at my chocolate orange ones, and remove the orange!
Could you make this recipe and replace the dairy free milk with normal dairy milk to just make egg free cupcakes? (Don’t have to be vegan just egg free)
Yes, but you would need to use whole milk x
Can I adapt this recipe to make Chocolate egg free cupcakes please? They don’t need to be vegan.
I would use the chocolate orange ones I have posted, but use whole milk in place of the almond milk (and leave out the orange!)
Hi I have a gas oven instead of electric, would I still be able to make these and would I need to change timing?
Thanks
I’m afraid I don’t bake with gas ovens but I would assume its just the equivalent temperature!
Hi, is there an alternative to white wine vinegar please? Is normal vinegar ok to use?
You need a form of white vinegar preferably. I have not tried it, but apparently lemon works as well but I can’t guarantee that x
I have tried apple cider vinegar and that works great
Been struggling with vegan baking but this was the first light sponge cake recipe I’ve done that’s worked! Cakes were beautiful and soft and delicious, thanks so much:)
I didn’t have any vegan milk to hand but just blitzed water, some oats and a drop of oil in a food processer, sieved it and used that, worked great and was really quick (and cheap!). Should have the viscosity of rich whole milk. Good trick if you don’t have any vegan milk to hand!
Think I had been overmixing similar recipes slightly and realised my ancient gas oven was running cool. Thanks again for the tips – off to crack your vegan Victoria sponge recipe next, then I’ll be unstoppable!!
Hi,
I tried these for the first time today along with your vegan choc chip cookies (they are amazing!) The cupcakes had a great rise and the icing is delicious. However the cake has a really weird oily after taste. I only put it 75ml as stated in the recipe. Just wondered if there was a substitute oil or if there is a reason you can’t use the dairy free spread?
Thank you
This recipe is just the same base as my other vegan cakes and I find the oil method works best by far – what type of oil did you use? It may be best to swap to a different type as some are more flavourful than others!
Hi, I have just made them for the first time and found they tasted very oily to, I used sunflower oil would this of made a difference?
Hiya, yes this can make a difference! Hope this helps x
What vegan spread would be best to use in these? thanks x
I use stork block now (the one in foil, not the tub) as it’s naturally vegan!
Flora Plant is amazing. It’s as stable as butter you would never know the difference
Hi Jane.
How do i convert this recipe to vegan chocolate cupcake recipe please?
Thanks
Have a look at my vegan chocolate orange cupcakes, but leave out the orange x