Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
Moist, spongey and made in one bowl, these vegan lemon cupcakes are the perfect sweet treat! They’re also gluten free and feature a creamy dairy free lemon buttercream frosting.
I love a chocolate cupcake as much as the next person, but this time of year I’ll almost always choose a lemon, berry, or vanilla dessert over chocolate.
These vegan lemon cupcakes are sweet but perfectly tangy and have the most amazing texture all without eggs, dairy OR gluten.
I thought the whole gluten free and egg free thing would be hard, but this recipe was actually pretty easy to create! Especially after my vegan gluten free vanilla cupcakes.
Of course, they don’t have to be gluten free, you can use all purpose flour in place of the gluten free blend I used. Either way, this recipe is comes together in about 30 minutes and I promise they’ll impress your friends and family.
There’s no need for any lemon extract or artificial lemon flavor, all of the flavor comes just from fresh, real lemons! Try my gluten free lemon loaf or orange olive oil cake next!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Easy to make
- One bowl
- Vegan & gluten free
- Moist
- Tangy yet sweet
Key ingredients
Flour. We’ll be using a mix of gluten free all purpose baking flour and almond flour. The almond flour really helps with the texture, so I don’t recommend any swaps. If you are not gluten free, regular all purpose flour works!
Sugar. Just regular white sugar! I do not recommend any subs here because we want to keep the color nice and light and the texture fluffy.
Oil. I used refined avocado oil but any neutral tasting oil will work such as vegetable.
Milk. I highly recommend soy milk, but any other non-dairy milk will work. Soy milk has a higher protein content which helps when you are baking with no eggs.
Lemon. A bit of lemon juice and zest add a lot of flavor. You are welcome to add lemon extract for a more powerful taste.
Baking soda/powder. A bit of both will help the cupcakes rise properly and get a nice fluffy texture.
How to make vegan lemon cupcakes
PREP. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin/cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
WHISK. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients. Whisk in all dry ingredients, sifting the almond flour if it seems lumpy.
Whisk together just until combined. You don’t want to over mix because this will force too much air into the batter and can cause the cupcakes to sink in the middle when they cool. Fill each cupcake tin about 3/4 of the way up.
BAKE. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine take 18 minutes, but all ovens are different.
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COOL. Remove from the oven and let cool in the tray for about 10-15 minutes, then careful remove and let cool on a cooling rack.
They’ll still be delicate when they’re warm, so I like to tip the cupcake tin on its side slightly and carefully pull them out by twisting gently so I don’t leave any indents with my fingers. Try my lemon raspberry cookies next!
Vegan Lemon Buttercream
Buttercream is one of the easiest things to make dairy free/vegan. All you need to do is swap the regular butter for your favorite vegan alternative! This recipe is sweet (as buttercream is), but also has a nice hit of tang from the lemon.
To make the buttercream, add the room temperature butter to a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat until creamy and well combined.
Beat in the lemon zest. You can use as much or as little as you want to achieve your desired lemon flavor.
Mix in the sifted powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until your desired consistency is reached. You will need 2-3 cups of sugar, depending on how thick you like it. Sifting the sugar is important for that silky smooth feel, but if you’re in a pinch, you can get away with not sifting. Finally, mix in the milk and lemon juice.
Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting. I like to let them cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes, then stick them in the fridge for about an hour to ensure they’re cool all the way to the center.
The lemon buttercream will make enough to add a generous, but not very thick layer of frosting to each cupcake. If you prefer more frosting on your cupcakes or are planning to pipe it on, I suggest doubling the buttercream recipe.
How to store cupcakes
These vegan lemon cupcakes are best at room temperature, but with the lid slightly ajar or just on a plate with foil on top.
Otherwise, the buttercream can get too moist and almost melt off slightly, especially if it’s a warm day!
They will last at room temperature for a couple of days, or in the fridge for about 5 days.
Can I use a different frosting?
Definitely! While I love the lemon buttercream, you can also try a blueberry or strawberry frosting with these cupcakes. I like this blueberry frosting recipe, but use dairy free butter to keep it vegan.
For a lighter option, you can use the lemon glaze from my gluten free lemon drizzle cake instead of a buttercream if you want to cut back a bit on the sugar.
Love this recipe? Try these next!
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes
- Lemon Blueberry Cookies
- Gluten Free Lemon Cake
- Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes
Lastly, if you want more recipes straight to your inbox, be sure to subscribe to my email list. As always, tag me on instagram if you make this recipe so I can see your creation!
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
by: claire cary
Ingredients
Wet:
- 1 cup soy milk
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon zest
- ¾ cup granulated cane sugar
- ⅓ cup oil vegetable or avocado
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Dry:
- ¾ cup blanched almond flour not meal
- 1 ¾ cup gluten free all purpose baking flour regular will work too!
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Lemon Buttercream
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup dairy free butter at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1-2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a muffin/cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients.
- Whisk in all dry ingredients, sifting the almond flour if it seems a little lumpy. Be sure to spoon and level the flours.
- Whisk together just until combined. Taste and make sure the lemon flavor is strong enough for you. Keep in mind the buttercream will also add lots of flavor!
- Fill each cupcake tin about 3/4 of the way up.
- Bake for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They take 18 minutes in my oven, but all ovens are different.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the tray for about 10-15 minutes, then careful remove and let cool on a cooling rack. They’ll still be delicate when they’re warm, so I like to tip the cupcake tin on its side slightly and carefully pull them out by twisting gently so I don’t leave any indents with my fingers.
Buttercream
- Add the room temperature butter to large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer and beat until creamy.
- Beat in the sifted powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until your desired consistency is reached. You will need about 3 cups of sugar, but more or less depending on how thick you like it.
- Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and milk.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting. Top them off with fresh lemon zest and enjoy!
Notes
Comments
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Is there a low carb AP flour to use with the almond flour since all almond doesn’t work.
Thanks-
I don’t recommend trying to make these low carb!
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Curious- do you think using Ricemilk in replacement of the soy milk would cause much change to your recipe, or yield similar results? Maybe I’d have to add more cornstarch? I usually stick to recipes 100%, but may need to sub out for these birthday party cupcakes (allergy). Any advice would be much appreciated!
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Rice milk should be fine! I wouldn’t make any other subs.
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Because soy is made from wheat and my husband being celiac and cannot eat wheat in any form, I used almond milk in place of soy milk.
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Soy is made from soy beans, not wheat. There is wheat in soy sauce, but that is simply an additive. Regular soy milk will be gluten and wheat free.
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My batter was also thick like a dough like some of the commenters but they turned out fluffy and delicious! I used AP flour and olive oil and chose this recipe because it has less sugar than other recipes and included almond flour as well. I ended up having to use powdered sugar because that’s what I had and it worked fine. I added 1/2 tsp of lemon extract as well. The moisture was perfect and they had a perfect crisp – I’ll definitely make these again!
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If you use powdered sugar in the cupcake batter, it’ll definitely be thicker like dough. Glad they turned out well though!
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What about xanthan gum?
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The recipe calls for a gluten free all purpose baking flour that already contains xanthan gum, so there is no need to add more!
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Bonjour Claire. Think I can replace lemon juice with orange juice? Thanks
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That should be ok! You may want to add some orange extract because orange juice isn’t quite as potent of a flavor as lemon.
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Amazing recipe, came out beautifully and super easy to make
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Thanks Carla! So happy to hear that.
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The proportions seem off. I started mixing in my dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and only used 3/4 of the dry ingredients before my mixture was the consistency of dough. I added some more oil and milk and still couldn’t use all the dry ingredients. What am I doing wrong?
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That definitely shouldn’t happen. I would double check the wet ingredients were measured correctly as this batter is fairly thin.
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Hi!
What could I sub out for the corn starch? Would arrow root work? If yes, same amount?
Thanks!
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Yes, that should work as a 1:1 sub, but I have not tested that myself.
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I made a couple of batches of these for some guests at my daughter’s wedding. They were delicious and I happily received many compliments! Not only from the targeted consumers! 🙂
I was surprised at how easy the recipe is. Thanks!-
Thank you Freda! So happy they were a hit.
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Just curious why my batter was like dough when I put it in the cupcake pan?
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It definitely shouldn’t be. How did you measure the flour?
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Would I be able to use almond flour only? Not including the other flour? They look delicious!
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Unfortunately, no, you need the other flour in these!
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do these vegan lemon cupcakes freeze well?
susan-
Hi Susan! I haven’t tried that, but I think it would work fine. The texture is going to be different upon defrosting, but the flavor will hold up well. Let me know if you try it!
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If I don’t have almond flour, how much total regular flour should I use?
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Almond flour is really important for keeping these cupcakes moist and giving them a light/fluffy texture, especially if you’re using gluten free all purpose flour. However, if you can’t use it, I would recommend subbing for 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour. I haven’t tested them this way, so I can’t guarantee the result. Just keep an eye on them as they bake!
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Treats can be my weakness. I made this on the fly trying something different than the regular go-to muffin recipe that I usually use each week. I have a five-year-old daughter and she was game to being the taste-tester for something new. I did not have almond flour on hand, so I only used 1 1/2 cups of white flour. And, I exchanged the cane sugar for date sugar (as an experiment.) These whipped up quite fluffy! Instead of the buttercream frosting, I had some leftover Miss Jones Baking Co. Vegan Vanilla Frosting in the fridge. I warmed it up and dabbed some on top of the cake…Yum! No complaints on this end. We both devoured two of them!
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oh good! So glad they worked out with those subs. Happy you both enjoyed them 🙂
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