Small batch vegan red velvet cupcakes! These easy to make cupcakes are moist, full of flavor and made in one bowl. Finished off with a simple dairy free cream cheese frosting that is bound to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Just could not let Valentine’s Day pass without something fun and festive! Though tbh these vegan red velvet cupcakes are perfect literally any day of the year, but they’re obviously red which makes them especially cute for Valentine’s Day!
These vegan cupcakes are so easy to make (hiiii one bowl recipe!), moist, fluffy with the perfect soft sponge texture. They’re finished off with a vegan cream cheese frosting which is 10/10 if you ask me.
The cupcakes themselves have hints of chocolate from the cocoa powder, vanilla and a *slight* tang from the vinegar, which replaces buttermilk since these cupcakes are completely dairy free and vegan. They’re colored red with food coloring, but you can easily leave that out and they’ll taste the same.
How to make this recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake tray with liners, this recipe makes 7 cupcakes. Set aside.
Add all wet ingredients (aside from the food coloring) to a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer.
Add in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour. For the all purpose flour, I find it easiest to measure 1 cup worth, then subtract 2 tablespoons (for 1 batch) which will equal 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp.
I of course used gluten free all purpose flour, but if you are not gluten free, regular will do! Don’t feel like you need to spend 10 dollars on a bag of flour, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to lol.
Beat together just until combined but careful not to over mix. Finally, whisk in the food coloring until evenly incorporated.
Scoop into your prepared cupcake tray, filling each about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 23-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 25 minutes is perfect in my oven, but all ovens are different.
Cream cheese frosting
To make the frosting, beat together the butter and cream cheese until well incorporated. Beat in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Finally, beat in the salt and vanilla.
Once the cupcakes have fully cooled, pipe on the frosting and enjoy! You are welcome to make a regular buttercream frosting by replacing the vegan cream cheese with more butter, but cream cheese frosting is classic with red velvet!
Other cupcakes to try!
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Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
Wet
- 1/2 cup granulated cane sugar
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond)
- 3 tbsp oil (I used avocado)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tbsp liquid red food coloring (less if you're using gel)
Dry
- 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour (I used gluten free)
- 4 tsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Frosting
- 4 ounces plain cream cheese (at room temperature)
- 1/4 cup vegan butter (at room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1-2 cups powdered sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1-2 tbsp milk as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a cupcake tray with liners, this recipe makes 7 cupcakes. Set aside.
- Add all wet ingredients (aside from the food coloring) to a large mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer.
- Add in the dry ingredients, making sure to spoon and level the flour. For the all purpose flour, I find it easiest to measure 1 cup worth, then subtract 2 tablespoons (for 1 batch) which will equal 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp.
- Beat together just until combined but careful not to overmix
- Whisk in the food coloring until evenly incorporated.
- Scoop into your prepared cupcake tray, filling each about 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for 23-28 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 25 minutes is perfect in my oven, but all ovens are different.
- To make the buttercream, beat together the butter and cream cheese until well incorporated. Beat in the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Finally, beat in the salt and vanilla.
- Once the cupcakes have fully cooled, pipe on the frosting and enjoy!
Jess
OK THESE ARE AMAZING
Technically you only need 1 bowl which is also amazing
The texture is incredible they come out with the perfect outside crisp and the inside is so almost doughy and smooth!
For some strange reason I didn’t have any baking soda so I swapped it for baking powder but tripled it and it worked just fine. I used raw sugar too I’m not sure if I was supposed to but it’s what I grabbed from the pantry. Also
Regardless these are the best red velvet cupcakes I’ve had and they were such a low maintenance process!!!
Claire Cary
Perfect! So glad they worked without the baking soda! Raw sugar is usually more coarse than other kinds of granulated sugar, but if you didn’t notice that in the texture, then totally fine! So happy you enjoyed these!