Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

Light and fluffy cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, dairy free, egg free and vegan

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Keyword Cupcake, vegan

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 438kcal

Author thebakingexplorer

150 g Dairy free butter block softened, I prefer Flora Plant unsalted
50 g Vegan shortening I used Crisp n Dry. This is optional, replace with the same amount of dairy free butter if you don't want to use it
400 g Icing sugar
1 ½ tsp Vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp Dairy free milk

Pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with cupcake cases
In a mixing bowl, or a large jug, whisk together the vegetable oil, milk, vanilla extract and vinegar
In another mixing bowl, stir together the caster sugar, self raising flour and baking powder
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, and pour in the oil and milk mixture, whisk them together gently with a hand whisk until smooth
Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases. I find it easier to put the mixture into a jug or piping bag to do this as it's quite a wet batter
Bake them for 20-25 minutes or until they are risen and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack
Make the buttercream by first mixing together the dairy free spread and vegan shortening until combined and smooth. Then add the icing sugar, plant milk and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand or for best results use an electric mixer. If the buttercream is too stift, you can add more plant milk
Spread or pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcakes, and decorate with sprinkles if you like
Store in an airtight container in a cool place and eat within 3 days

I've use both oat and almond milk for the cupcakes, but you can use any plant milk that you prefer.

I've found that the best dairy free butter for vegan buttercream is Flora Plant. Stork Baking Block is also very good. Using a block dairy free butter is much better for the buttercream. A margarine or spread style dairy free butter will make the buttercream too loose. I also like to add some vegan shortening, but this is optional.

You can use a different type of oil besides vegetable oil. I'd recommend one that doesn't have a strong flavour, canola and sunflower oil would both work well.

You do need to add the vinegar to this recipe to get a good rise - it reacts with the baking powder to create air bubbles. Cider vinegar is the best vinegar to use, but white vinegar would be a suitable replacement. Balsamic or malt vinegar (the kind you put on your chips) will not work. And don't worry - you can't taste the vinegar in the cupcake!

For the best flavour, make sure to use a good quality vanilla extract and not an essence. You can also use a vanilla bean paste. I like to use the brand Nielsen Massey.

Although I provide cup measurements, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients out using digital kitchen scales. It is the most accurate way to measure ingredients and will ensure the best results. Digital scales are very low cost and can be purchased for around £12 ($16.50) .

For teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoon (tbsp) measurements, please use measuring spoons and not the type of spoons you eat with. Again this will ensure accuracy and provide the best results.