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Vegan Cupcakes
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Vegan Cupcakes are perfect as wedding cupcakes, birthday cupcakes or any other sort of cupcake you need! They are just as good too!
Back in June, I made a truck load of vegan cupcakes for the wedding of a family friend. Clearly I didn’t think this decision through because {1} I don’t have a commercial kitchen {2} I’m a Mom and didn’t realize that I would need time to bake 10+ dozen cupcakes and {3} I’m not a vegan, nor a very good vegan baker and agreed to make THEM ALL VEGAN. Oh and did I mention I agreed to make them all vegan? YEAH.
Enter panic mode.
Umm…what was I smoking when I agreed to this??
Luckily, I did some research and started testing and testing….and testing.
Vegan means no animal products whatsoever. No eggs, no milk, no butter. Seems hard to make a yummy cake without any of those ingredients, right? Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve found the be-all-end-all of vegan cupcake recipes. One that will please vegans and carnivores alike. {Only took me 17 tries–>literally!} AND, it’s really not that hard to whip out a batch either 🙂
Overall, it took me 9 hours to bake, frost and decorate these bad boys, but it was certainly worth it! After I got them all arranged, I sat back, relaxed, basked in the glory and said ‘let them eat cake‘.
The end.
Here are the deets about my vegan cupcakes–
Kind numero uno: Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting–I used the vanilla cake recipe below and topped them with a vanilla bean frosting and a fresh raspberry. About the frostings, I made these in such huge quantities that I don’t have exact measurements but here’s what went into the frosting: coconut oil, vegan shortening, butter extract, vanilla extract, vanilla beans and powdered sugar.
Kind two: Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Frosting–I used the vanilla cupcake recipe and added vegan chocolate chips. Topped these with the same vanilla bean frosting as mentioned above, but added some mini chocolate chips for garnish.
Numero trois: Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting–I used the vegan vanilla cupcake recipe and added lemon and vanilla extract. For the frosting, I used vegan cream cheese, vegan shortening {just a little}, coconut oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, powdered sugar. I topped these with teeny tiny flowers that the lady at Safeway just gave me. Kind of random but so awesome.
Kind Four: Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting- I used the chocolate cake recipe as written below and topped these with chocolate cream cheese frosting and some chocolate syrup. The frosting included vegan cream cheese, coconut oil, vegan shortening {just a little}, tiny splash of butter extract, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, cocoa powder.
So that’s that! And of course here’s a fun picture of some of the Brennan’s who attended the wedding. I sure do love all these people! And the ones not pictured too! Also, isn’t my husband adorable? I think so..
PS–here’s a great tip for transporting a zillion cupcakes you just decorated: make a grid with masking tape on a cookie sheet. It will keep the cupcakes separate and still give your hands enough room to take them out. A cheap-o way to get around buying a bunch of cupcake boxes.
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Adapted from HolyCowVegan these Vegan Cupcakes are perfect as wedding cupcakes, birthday cupcakes or any other sort of cupcake you need! They are just as good too!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance butter or other vegan butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream vegan butter with sugar. Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a measuring cup, stir soy milk together with vinegar. Set aside to curdle.
- In a separate bowl, measure out dry ingredients and stir to incorporate. Alternate stirring in wet and dry ingredients beginning and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins to be 2/3-3/4 way full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until very lightly browned and toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs after being inserted. Cool and frost as desired.
- Variations: Lemon Cupcakes- stir in 1 teaspoon lemon extract to batter with vanilla.Chocolate Chip Cupcakes- stir in 1/2 cup vegan mini chocolate chips to batter.
Nutrition
Calories: 172kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 114mgPotassium: 77mgSugar: 13gVitamin A: 80IUVitamin C: 1.5mgCalcium: 45mgIron: 0.8mg
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Other recipes you might like:
Inside-Out Breakfast Peach Cobbler {almost vegan}
Coconut Curry Sweet Potato Soup {almost Vegan}
I haven’t made these yet, but have my son’s birthday approaching, and definitely will.
I’m new at eating vegan, but love to cook. It’s been fun trying new recipes. Thank you.
Hello ^_^
I made them and they are very delicious,
although they do not have nice high domes. :c
do you think it would matter what kind of margarine that you use?
Maybe block margarine would be better than from the tub ?
And should the milk be room temperature so that the butter does not curdle ?
Thank you very much.
I think they are very delicious and I would love to make them again and have higher domes.
Tub has less fat so sticks are better for baking in general and will be closer to real butter.
Not quite sure what you mean by butter curdling. If butter and sugar are creamed together, adding liquid should not separate the butter out – this only occurs when the butter/sugar aren’t combined well enough.
Yeah, this recipe is amazing, adding it to my favorites.
[…] Vegan Cupcakes […]
Can I make these gluten free? What would the flour exchange be?
wheres the link to the chocolate cupcake recipe ?
[…] 8-inch round cakes are actually from this recipe that is VEGAN! Can you believe that? No dairy products or eggs in this cake and it always comes out perfectly […]
also looking for chocolate cupcake recipe please.
The chocolate cupcake recipe is missing ???
Where did the chocolate cupcakes recipe go?
Hi Lauren- I discovered your site a number of months back and your double vanilla sour cream cupcakes became my new go-to vanilla. I recently was asked to make vegan cupcakes for a party so was thrilled to see you had a vegan cupcake option. Your pics looked amazing too! I made these last night on a trial run and I baked them for about 20 minutes but the middles sunk in when I removed from the oven. The tops were golden but I’m now wondering if they should’ve cooked a little more? Not sure- did your middles sink in at all? (even a little?) Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Everyone seems so excited about this recipe! I am looking for a recipe that will let me freeze the cupcakes and frost later. Is this possible?
This came out so beautifully! Thank you for giving me the perfect wedding cake recipe 🙂
The cupcakes look beautiful and so do the photos! Love the masking tape idea, I should do that for large cupcake orders 😉
Ok, I just made these and they were awful. I’m not saying it was your fault but can you please help me troubleshoot??? I used spelt flour but I use spelt all the time and never any issues. I even made 4 batches! 1st batch was as listed except for spelt and I used apple cider vinegar. I thought I might have miss calculated the flour so I made it again paying more attention. The 3rd batch I added a bit of xantham gum thinking maybe the lack of gluten was a problem and the final batch I baked for 30 min. They all turned out concave and extremely gummy! Please help!!
I don’t know how to help other than just use the recipe as stated! I make these pretty consistently with no problems!
This is the very first time I’m happy with the outcome of my cupcakes. And even happier it’s vegan! I am so glad i stumbled upon your recipe. Thank you for sharing! I’m going to be a regular on this blog :)).
Will this recipes work with a gluten free flour blend?
[…] 8-inch round cakes are actually from this recipe that is VEGAN! Can you believe that? No dairy products or eggs in this cake and it always comes out perfectly […]
Can a regular size wedding cake be made using this recipe?
I made the plain vanilla cupcakes last night for my son’s Christmas party. Perfect! My husband and I couldn’t stop licking the batter–in fact we dipped some of the first batch of cupcakes into the batter while “test tasting” instead of icing them. Can’t wait to try some of your other variations.
Great recipe! Could you post the recipe for the frosting too?
[…] Vegan Wedding Cupcakes recipe via Lauren’s Latest […]
My friend has an egg allergy and vegan cake and cupcakes seem to be the way to go. Would it still be possible to use regular butter without it affecting the rest of the recipe? I’m super new to vegan cooking and haven’t gotten the basics of baking down, yet.
Pretty sure regular butter would be fine. It would’t be vegan anymore, but it should still work.
Could I ask what kind of cupcake papers (liners) you used. I don’t think they are foil, but look sturdier than the normal paper ones from Wilton. Thanks! They are just beautiful! I may be attempting to bake vegan cupcakes for a wedding of about 100 people in August, so want to try some recipes soon!
I bought these colored ones online…don’t remember where!
Such beautiful cupcakes. Who needs a cake? 🙂
I wish I was invited at that wedding just to enjoy in your lovely cupcakes. I’ve featured these recipes on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.
[…] Find the recipe at : www.laurenslatest.com […]
Could you make this recipe as a cake? We just found out my daughter can’t have dairy and I have been looking for a vegan recipe to use as her birthday cake. These look so delicious I was just wondering since she asked for a cake instead of cupcakes this year.
I’ve never made this as a cake before, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
Hi Lauren, I used this recipe to cater for my egg / dairy / peanut allergic friend – they were delish. Thanks again.
[…] vegan one I could find as a base batter (i.e. vanilla). Here’s my adaptation of Lauren’s latest recipe (makes 9-12 cupcakes depending on the size of the […]
Love the look of your cupcakes! What kind of tip do you use to pipe and are there any tricks to getting them neatly swirled? Thanks!!
You are awesome!
Since my husband can’t have any cow dairy, I’m always looking for good non-dairy cake mixes. I’m already good with the frosting part – Tofutti brand makes great “cream cheese” for non-dairy frostings. I will make these for his birthday coming up soon
[…] available at Lauren’s Latest. No […]
Those are some pretty cupcakes! Perfect frosting!
The frosting on those chocolate cupcakes is incredible! I bet these were a huge hit and I’m only sad I couldn’t have been there to sample 😉 I’m featuring this post in today’s Food Fetish Friday (with a link-back and attribution). I hope you have no objections and I can’t wait to see what you create next…
brilliant idea for transporting! i’ve never done vegan cupcakes… you go girl for tackling such a big project!
I love the idea about the tape! Never thought of that before. These look amazing!
Can I replace soy milk with almond milk? I REALLY, really dislike soy milk and I would hate to buy it just for the cupcakes 🙁
Other than that I LOVE the look and sound of this recipe :))
Cristina, from my experiences YES! You can replace soy milk with almond milk, it’s better even! I even use the vanilla almond milk, it makes it taste even better. It’s still a protein source and consistency is great. I only use almond milk! 🙂 Hope this helps!
That’s a lot of cupcakes!
I don’t have kids, but I, too, have catered cupcakes for an all-vegan wedding… it’s a LOT of work when you don’t have a commercial kitchen! Your cupcakes look fantastic! I’m impressed you used the vegan cream cheese (blech!) – I had to, too, but man is that stuff weird and not very tasty. 🙂 I LOVE and will use your tip for keeping the cupcakes from touching eachother – masking tape! Who knew!!!
Wow! You’re definitely amazing! WTG, Girl!
Hi there! This cupcake project is impressive and everything looks wonderful.
I’ve just nominated your blog for a Liebster Blog award. Love your cute ideas and fun writing style. Congrats!
And thank you for sharing the tape trick!! I have cupcakes to make later this fall and will need this to carry them all!!
Mmmmm delicious!!
Wow, great job!! And I love the tip on the masking tape grid – brilliant!
Major props! They look gorgeous!
First of all, I’d love to see you on Cupcake Wars. I bet you’d be a fierce competitor. 🙂 Second, that masking tape idea is GENIUS. Seriously. The cupcakes are gorgeous!!
Did you see how long it took me to make these? I couldn’t survive cupcake wars! LOL!
You rock my friend! You should be SO PROUD! Xo
Wow, those look amazing! Your friend must have been thrilled!
ugh…the power went out so I’m having to retype my comment. The first one was better! Anyway….Those look icredible, and I can’t believe they’re all vegan! Great job! Doesn’t it suck throwing away cupcakes because your experiment went awry? I have to do that a lot with my high altitude baking. The tape trick is fantastic! I’m going to try it in my boxes. Brilliant!
Lauren, definitely looks like a TON of work, and conquering a vegan dessert can be quite challenging. and making SO MUCH… that is quite a feat. They all look delicious though. AWESOME way to transport cupcakes, too. I have a lot of trouble with that!
As always, beautiful photos and delicious recipes. And I tried all the cupcakes and they were fabulous. I remember liking the chocolate chip one best, but it was hard to choose. Nothing like a challenge to bring you up to your best!
Wow, this looks amazing. Love that there are so many Vegan options. And that masking tape is genius!!
Nice work! Baking in bulk like this can be tough and stressful! Your cupcakes look delicious and I’ve never made a vegan cupcake before so I can imagine it was a challenge to get them right. Beautiful!
Wow! Congrats on making this! I think you’ve really “made it” in the world when you bake for a wedding!
Love the masking tape trick, too! 🙂
How impressive! Looks like a lot of work, but they all look delicious!
And I love the masking tape trick!
Great idea for transporting the cupcakes! For minis, I recommend egg cartons!
It is definitely harder to find a good vegan cupcake recipe… I have a chocolate one but will definitely try your vanilla!
Ooh interesting! I presume the soy milk & vinegar make a sort of vegan buttermilk? They all look so beautiful Lauren!
I cannot even imagine how much work this was….but boy, it sure looks amazing! You need to open a business!
wow! that looks like a bake-a-thon and a half! they are all so beautiful! I love the masking tape idea, that’s genius!