Soft, light, and oh-so fluffy vegan vanilla cupcakes…
Egg Free
Dairy Free
Easy To Make
Just 8 Ingredients
This classic vanilla cupcake recipe is so simple, you probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry to make them.
You Might Also Like: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies – NO Crazy Ingredients
Do You Have A Go-To Cupcake Recipe?
Well now you do!
Everyone should have a basic cupcake recipe in their repertoire, because cupcakes are perfect for so many occasions. They’re quick to whip up any time you’re asked to provide a dessert last-minute for work or school, and you can keep all of the ingredients on hand to ensure you’re always prepared.
Cupcake Frosting Ideas
I frosted these with the homemade vegan cream cheese frosting from my Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe.
The best thing about vanilla cupcakes is that they’re a blank canvas, meaning you can change up the frosting to turn them into any flavor you wish. Chocolate frosting, buttercream, coconut frosting, peanut butter, raspberry jelly, whipped cream, chocolate ganache… the choice is completely yours. If you don’t want to bother with frosting, they’re also good plain!
If you do opt for the frosted route, my favorite icing tip is this 1M star tip by Wilton.
It’s my simple trick to effortlessly transform any basic cupcake recipe into something that looks so professional, people always think they must have come from a bakery. And yet, the entire process of frosting the cupcakes takes less than five minutes.
I also had a lot of fun with these photos. They kind of remind me of The Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh, just with cupcakes instead of houses.
If only all houses were cupcakes.
The vegan vanilla cupcakes can be:
Whole Grain
Gluten Free
Soy Free
Refined Sugar Free
Oddly enough, the recipe was adapted from my Blueberry Baked Donuts!
And if you’ve read the above statement and are now wondering, Does this mean you can add blueberries to batter of today’s cupcake recipe too? happily the answer is YES, you can. Feel free to stir half a cup of fresh or thawed frozen berries into the batter—very carefully at the end, so they don’t break—and then proceed with the recipe as usual.
The blueberry version is especially good topped with homemade coconut butter.
The cupcakes turn out light and fluffy without any eggs. I used a gluten-free all-purpose mix for the vegan cupcakes in the pictures because I was taking them to an event where I knew some of the attendees were gluten-free. I’ve also tested the recipe successfully with white, spelt, and oat flours, so those are all options here as well.
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
If you want a chocolate version, try these Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Print This Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1 1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup or agave
- 3 1/2 tbsp oil, or applesauce for fat-free
- 1 cup white, spelt, or bob’s gf flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- optional pinch cardamom or cinnamon
Instructions
Whisk first 5 ingredients. Let sit for at least 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin. In a large bowl, stir all remaining ingredients, then add wet and stir just enough to form a batter. Portion into the liners about 2/3 up, because they will rise. Bake 10-12 minutes or until risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. (While I’m not personally a fan of the applesauce version, numerous readers have written in to say they tried and like it, so I’ve included the option here.)
More Healthy Party Desserts
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Vegan Cheesecake – NO Cashews
(Reader Favorite Recipe)
Brittany Audra @ Audra's Appetite says
Oh I’ve never used maple syrup as a sweetener in cakes before! Can’t wait to try that 🙂
Manaslu Trek says
Cupcakes are best….
Cassie Autumn Tran says
You’re absolutely right when you said that I likely already have all the ingredients I need in my kitchen! Well, I just need applesauce, but really, that’s it! I love a really delicious but simple recipe that doesn’t require a crazy amount of ingredients. Oat flour, applesauce, some almond milk, baking powder, all that jazz, and BOOM, CUPCAKES. BEST go-to cupcake recipe ever!
Linda @ the Fitty says
Happy december Katie! Ant wait to whip out my spatula and make your recipes this holiday season.
ERIN GLASS says
Hi Katie.
Oh my goodness, these are so good. I have not had a regular cupcake in YEARS! And this tastes just like one I would get at a party or from the grocery store. I wrote on the top of my print out copy of this recipe a keeper!
I used Coconut oil and honey (I did not have maple syrup). Wow.
Thank you so much for making these and then posting the recipe. Please keep the sweet treats coming! DF/Soy free/ and Vegan, but I can always tweek it if I have to. 🙂
Jason Sanford says
So happy you tried them! Thank you so much for making the recipe 🙂
Jason (media relations), and Katie
Nina says
These look fantastic. I can’t wait to try them.
Allison says
Hi Katie,
Looking so forward to trying these asap! One question…you mentioned the baking soda and vinegar combination to get the rise, but I don’t see baking soda in the recipe. Did you intend to include it or does the baking powder take it’s place?
Thanks for all of your recipes!
Jason Sanford says
Hi, sorry for the confusion. The original post sent out as an email did mention this, but it was changed when Katie realized her mistake – she’d gotten the recipe mixed up with her pumpkin cupcakes while writing the commentary. This one does not need any baking soda 🙂
Jason (media relations)
Sara says
Can you try this with white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour?
Jason Sanford says
We haven’t tried it so honestly can’t say! They might be dense. Be sure to report back if you try!
Jason (media relations)
Alexandra R says
Can I substitute the agave for white sugar? If so how much sugar should be used in its place?
Thanks!!
Ariel says
Can you substitute bob mills gf flour for oat flour?
Jason Sanford says
We can only vouch for flours we’ve tried in the recipe, but please feel free to experiment, and be sure to report back if you do!
Jackie says
I saw the recipe and I thought I would try it. I am going to use all purpose flour too. I hope that turn out okay. I do have white spelt flour but have never tried it. I do not eat vegan so that is why I am going to use regular flour.
Kelli says
Can these be made into a cake round?
H says
AMAZING recipe.
I do have a question though; I would like to substitute buttermilk for oil and I was wondering, would it affect the cupcakes, for instance the texture/structure?
Thank you, in advance, for answering my question.
H says
Also, would additional baking soda/ powder be needed?
Jason Sanford says
We haven’t tried so can’t say, but be sure to report back if you experiment!
Hannah says
Made these cupcakes coconut cupcakes by subbing 1/4 cup flour for sweetened shredded coconut, using canned coconut milk and extra 1/4 cup water, leaving out the oil/applesauce. I also only used 2 tbsp sugar and they came out amazing! Thank you
Hannah says
Thank you Katie
Jason Sanford says
SO cute!
Amy says
Thanks for this delicious recipe! It’s the only one I could find that was vegan and refined sugar free (and the perfect amount of sweetness!) I needed to find something for a group of two year olds and this was perfect, although I enjoy them quite a bit! I used oat flour as FYI.
I’ll be topping these with coconut cream frosting dyed purple using purple carrot juice (since we avoid artificial dyes in our house.) Thanks again!
Megan says
I made these with Bob’s Red Milk GF flour and with apple sauce cause I didn’t have any oil. They came out really gummy. I will have to try again with regular flour.
Megan says
Bobs Red Mill
Megan says
I meant Bobs Red Mill **
Sharon says
Can the recipe be doubled? Or will the proportions be off? It’s a small amount in your recipies
Jason Sanford says
Honestly, sometimes baked goods work out doubled and sometimes it just doesn’t work at all! If you try this one doubled before we do, be sure to report back!
Jason (media relations)
Lisa Murphy says
Hi, is only 1/4 cup of plant milk correct? I have tried this twice to make sure I did not miss something and both times it was way too thick. I had to add another full cup of plant milk to get a batter consistency. Thanks, Lisa
Jason Sanford says
Hi Lisa, are you using a different type of flour, or any other changes to the recipe? Using a full cup of milk for just a cup of flour would result in a thin soup of a batter, for ANY cupcake recipe. Unless you changed it to use coconut flour?
Jason
Jaslene says
Is it ok to use oat flour for this recipe?
Jason Sanford says
It sounds like a fun experiment. They will probably be more dense but should be fine as long as you don’t mind the dense texture. Be sure to report back for the rest of us if you try!
Jason
Lisa Scott says
In the article, she actually says she tried it with oat, spelt and white flour. Just thought I would point that out.
I was also wondering if you could double it and make it into a round cake as another person mentioned. If anyone else has tried it, I would like to see the amounts used or I may just wing it and see what happens.
Lauren says
I followed this recipe exactly and they did not come out well at all. The batter was so thick, thicker than a banana bread batter and they did not rise much, staying dense like a banana bread. They did not taste like a vanilla cupcake or look like one, they looked more like thick biscuits.
Jason Sanford says
I would love to help troubleshoot but need more information because otherwise it’s impossible to guess, especially since the recipe always works for me. What flour, oil, sugar, etc did you use? Thanks!
Jason
Esther says
Has anyone tried this recipe with oat flour? And if so did you have to adjust the leavening agents at all?
Kathie says
Katie, these were delicious! Made these today and frosted with your chocolate cream cheese frosting. Yummy!
My hubby and I are trying to clean up our diets a bit but both of us have a sweet tooth. Whenever I am in the mood to bake, I always check your website first.
Lia says
I want to sub sugar instead of using maple syrup or agave. How much sugar would you recommend? 1/3 cup as well?
Ella says
Hi, how long will these last in the fridge in an air tight container? About a week?
Graziella says
Doubled the recipe and they came out perfectly fluffy and delicious! I used white flour and oil for mine.
Midori says
Has anyone tried making this recipe into a cake rather than cupcake? I noticed the question has come up but hasn’t been answered yet. Looks like another great recipe, would love trying to make it into a double layer cake! Maybe double the recipe and increase baking time?
Thank you!
Kitten says
Just tried these for Easter using Sprouted Buckwheat Flour to help them fit into our low-glycemic diet, and although the taste was wonderful, they were very dense. So, I’d stick with Katie’s options for flour. My kids loved them, so we will be saving the recipe and having them again, though.
AMANDA HALL says
Awesome cupcakes! They worked great and even rose at altitude (6,500 feet). We were blown away, so soft, moist, and simple to make. We added sprinkles to make them funfetti. Thank you for sharing! Now we are able to make yummy cupcakes for my son’s birthday who is allergic to eggs.
Jen says
Very thick batter. Came out more of a biscuit than a typical cupcake. Still very tasty, just not the usual consistency.
Jason Sanford says
Hi what flour, sugar, oil, etc did you use?
Shira Ben Israel QT says
These were a huge hit! Made with coconut oil and maple syrup
Yumm yumm lots of requests for more
Antoinette D says
Katie, this is the best non-dairy vanilla cake recipe I have ever tried! Second time making it. I have tried it with every flour and prefer it with regular cake flour. I have also made it with half oat flour half regular cake flour and it was awesome. It did not taste good with the King Arthur Gluten Free blend but perhaps I try Bob’s next. I used Nutiva Shortening for frosting with half Confectioners sugar and half Swerve confectioners. Looks and tastes great.