Baking cupcakes that are moist, light, eggless and dairyless seemed like an almost insurmountable challenge to me when I first went vegan.
Brainwashed as I had been through years of baking about the importance of butter and eggs to the process of cakemaking, I believed that a good cake was impossible to make without these ingredients.
I admit I lived through a few mistakes: cupcakes that weren't fluffy, cupcakes that were too tough, and cupcakes that just weren't, well, what cupcakes ought to be. Until, inspired by some cake veganizing tricks from other bakers, I scored a winner.
My Lemony Vegan Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are, to me, a small triumph for veganism. They taste so good, I bet they'd convert any sceptic. Desi is a regular cupcake gourmet and even he agrees these are among the best he's tasted.
So go on, I dare you. Put on your baking gloves and take a stab at these. I know you'll be back for more!
More vegan cake recipes
Recipe card
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the lemon cupcakes
- 1 â…“ cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup sugar (you can use regular)
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vinegar
- ½ cup vegan butter (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the cream cheese frosting
- 8 oz vegan cream cheese (left out of the refrigerator for at least an hour to soften.)
- ¼ cup sugar (powdered)
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
- ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
Instructions
Make lemon cupcakes
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and mix well. Set aside.
- Mix the milk and vinegar and set aside.
- In another bowl, with a hand mixer or a stand mixer set to medium speed, cream the vegan butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the two extracts.
- Add the flour mixture in three batches alternating with the almond milk, beating in well after each addition so there are no lumps. Scrape down the bowl after each addition.
- Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Divide the batter equally among the cups, filling each cup about â…”rds.
- Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Set aside on a rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make cream cheese frosting
- Put all ingredients in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer for a minute or two until light and fluffy. Using a spatula or, if you have one, a pastry bag, decorate each cupcake any way you wish. I go for abstract art, as you can see!
Nutrition Information
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Marlene Arnold says
Just found your site a few days ago and I'm very impressed! I got the stuff to make the almond biscotti (mandelbrot to me) and will be making it later this week. I have looked for a simple ingredient vegan recipe for that for a long time. Thank you for all you do.
Anonymous says
Is powder sugar same as confectioner sugar? Do we get vegan confectioner sugar in the stores? If yes, what is the name of brown brand?
Thanks
Solaripedia says
forgot to say cardamom in frosting, too.
Solaripedia says
Just made these this morning - yum! I substituted about three tablespoons of fresh-squeezed lemon juice for extract, but added a bit more vanilla extract, to still have a cup of liquid. We made frosting with fresh lemon juice, confectioner's sugar, Earth Balance and vanilla extract. Everything was delicious. Thanks, Vaishali!
Asha says
I was just about to ask Vaishali about lemon zest & juice in place of extract. Thanks for this heads up on it. Vaishali's recipes are terrific and not the run of the mill desi recipes. Fusion is adventurous. Thanks much.
Vaishali says
Rodnee, sure, you can sub the lemon with lime.
Rodnee says
This recipe sound delish! I will be trying this today. I've also been wanting to make a key lime cake/cupcake...Do you think that I could just sub the lemon for lime?
Michelle Woo says
I love this recipe~! It's quite simple to make and the result is a mouth-watering, delicious, moist lemon cake.
The difference that i made was to substitute the lemon extract with a real African lemon (rind and zest); and used some soy milk instead of almond milk and vinegar (as its difficult to find almond milk in my area).
The result was heavenly~ every bite exploded with lemony flavour~
Thanks for sharing this simple recipe. 🙂