Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes; fluffy plant-based vanilla cupcakes swirled with sweet whipped vanilla frosting.
Vegan cake doesn’t have the best reputation.
Dry chocolate cakes, crumbly cupcakes, sponge cakes with the texture of an under-baked blondie. It can be a real challenge to enjoy or create plant-based cake without a LOT of experimentation.
These Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes are no exception. I’ve been tinkering around with THREE different iterations of vanilla cake recipe, and countless slices of disappointing cake, before finally settling on the one you see before you now.
Throughout the reading, experimenting and tasting, a recurrent problem has become apparent. Being from a nation (and whole continent) that bloody loves its dairy and eggs, it can be incredibly difficult to judge a vegan dessert objectively. The mind’s first natural response is often “it’s not as good as [enter traditional dessert here].” While this is inevitable, I think it’s the main reason why so many people write off vegan baking before they really get into it.
Already on a vegan diet? Try out these Biscoff Brownies!
There have been points in making and tasting these cupcakes in which I properly enjoyed what I was eating. It would have good flavour, good texture, but my mouth was always looking for something that wasn’t there. However, it’s becoming clear that this may be like drinking a mouthful of fizzy water and bemoaning the fact it doesn’t taste like champagne.
Porridge made with double cream in place of milk would likely taste better. Sandwiches with more cheese than bread would likely taste better. You get the picture. Indulgence and excess are obviously delicious, but that doesn’t mean cooking and baking more frugally and minimally has to be some kind of punishment.
Similar to the first time one tries vegan meat substitutes or vegan cheeses, the obvious response is that it is “worse” than the original. This doesn’t mean we should never try, or that we should stop experimenting and enjoying them. It can be a good chance to break from tradition or routine. Equally, it can be beneficial to the environment, to animal welfare, to our health, and to our wallets.
Anyway, shall I wax lyrical about these cupcakes now?
The happy product of endless recipe testing is a pretty good recipe. One that takes care of the characteristic soft and fluffy texture of a sponge cake, and the gentle sweet flavours that follow.
These Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes have a wonderfully tender crumb. They carry the gorgeous golden colour you’d expect thanks to a good quality margarine. They promise the lightness we all love courtesy of a relative increase in raising agents, and a sharp change in temperature while baking.
The whipped frosting on top is every bit as cloud-like as it looks. Beaten for 5+ minutes before being piped onto the cupcakes, the frosting is gleaming white and has a gloriously smooth mouthfeel.
To make these Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes, I’d recommend using a 12-hole cupcake tin as well as a piping bag and star-nozzle. Otherwise, run free my children.
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe this #veganuary and that you’re all doing as well as you can at the moment. Thanks as always for stopping by, and see you soon!
Want to save these Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes for later? Pin the image below:
To make these Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes, simply follow the recipe below:
Ingredients
For the vegan vanilla cupcakes:
- 350ml (1 ½ cups) non-dairy milk (I use Oatly oat milk)
- 120g (8 tbsp) melted vegan butter/margarine
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 250g (1 ¼ cups) caster sugar
- 250g (scant 1 ¼ cups) self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch of salt
For the vegan vanilla frosting:
- 200g (13 ½ tbsp) vegan butter/margarine
- 400g (3 ⅓ cups) icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract, or the seeds from ½ a vanilla pod.
Instructions
For the vegan vanilla cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven – 220 C / 200 C fan / 400 F / gas mark 6 – and line a 12-hole cupcake tin with liners.
- In a large bowl, measure together your sugar, flour, raising agents, and salt.
- In a medium bowl or jug, whisk together your milk, melted butter, vinegar and vanilla.
- Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and gently whisk until just combined into a wet cake batter. Whisk just long enough to remove any lumps but not too much, as this can cause a tough cake!
- Spoon your batter evenly between the 12 cases, you may have a wee drop leftover.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, before reducing the heat – 180 C / 160 C fan / 350 F / gas mark 4 – and baking for a further 20-22 minutes. The cupcakes should be lightly golden, risen, and firm to the touch.
- Remove the tin from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool completely. Meanwhile, make your frosting!
For the vegan vanilla frosting:
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until you have a white fluffy frosting. This can take up to 10 minutes by hand, or up to 5 with an electric mixer.
- Spoon or pipe your frosting onto your cooled cupcakes, and decorate however you like.
- Enjoy!
