The BEST Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

Deliciously tender and fluffy vegan vanilla cupcakes with a decadent vegan buttercream frosting that taste absolutely heavenly! One bowl and gluten free, no one will know these vegan cupcakes are healthy!

Your parties and celebrations just got so much more delicious with these easy and ultra tender vegan vanilla cupcakes!

Made from scratch and only using one bowl, these undetectably healthy cupcakes are the perfect treat for a birthday, party, or any time celebration!

Why these are the best vegan cupcakes

If you’ve ever thought that vanilla cupcakes are boring, your mind is about to be changed drastically.

These easy undetectably healthy vanilla cupcakes are anything but boring. One bite, and you’ll see that these cupcakes are:

• Tender
• Soft
• Full of “buttery” vanilla
• Just the right amount of sweetness
• Light yet decadent
• Fluffy
• Absolutely irresistible

These vegan vanilla cupcakes are the perfect healthy birthday dessert for both kids and adults because not only are they all of the above, but you’ll never know that these cupcakes are allergy friendly (aka they can be made free of the Top 8 Allergens), dairy free, gluten free, refined sugar free, egg free, vegan, and nut free.

And I’ve even been told by several people who do not regularly consume vegan baked goods that they’d never know these cupcakes are vegan.

Have I sold you yet? 😉

Vegan vanilla cupcake ingredients

So what is in these vegan cupcakes that makes them so incredibly delicious?!

For these vegan vanilla cupcakes, you’ll need:

• Cake flour or gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour (if using gluten free 1-to-1 flour, make sure to add in a teaspoon of arrowroot powder or cornstarch to get that similar tender texture that comes from cake flour)
• Sugar or coconut sugar (coconut sugar will give these a more amber color rather than yellow, but still delicious!)
• Leavening agents
• Dairy free milk with apple cider vinegar (this creates a vegan buttermilk)
• Coconut oil
• Unsweetened applesauce
• Dairy free yogurt (I recommend using a simple cashew yogurt or coconut yogurt that’s just the nuts or coconut, water, and probiotics)
• Vanilla extract

We’re going to be using a lot of vanilla. The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract in the cupcake batter and another in the vanilla vegan frosting. I know that seems like a lot, but using any less is probably the reason why you think that vanilla cupcakes are boring!

Now you might be thinking “Do I really need dairy free yogurt in these cupcakes?” The answer is: YES! Please do not omit any of these ingredients, but especially the dairy free yogurt.

By adding a vegan yogurt to the batter, the cupcake then becomes ultra tender and soft when you go in a for a bite. It’s that quintessential cupcake texture that makes these vegan cupcakes seem like they came from a regular top bakery.

Recommended equipment for vegan cupcakes

Of course, I’d love to have a cake stand mixer, but right now, I’m rolling with a hand mixer and a bowl, and that’s really all you need.

You’ll just need a bowl and a rubber spatula for the batter, along with a hand mixer for the vegan buttercream frosting.

Then if you’d like to get fancy like I do, and pipe the frosting on rather than smearing it (of course, you can smear the frosting on! It’ll still look beautiful!), then I recommend a pastry bag and frosting tip.

I use the Ateco 829 open star tip if you’d like to get the same frosting look as I do.

How to make vegan cupcakes in one bowl

I made a YouTube video on how to make vegan vanilla cupcakes if you like video tutorials like I do, but I promise making these healthy cupcakes is actually quite easy!

First, we’ll go over how to make the vegan cupcake batter, then the vegan buttercream frosting!

In the final section, I’ll go over some tips for the cupcakes. If you’re just learning how to pipe frosting onto cupcakes for the first time (or are a beginner), definitely check out the YouTube video because it will give you a visual tutorial on how to create those swirls!

The vanilla cupcake batter

One of the most important parts about the batter is that you whisk together the ingredients. I also recommend (read *strongly* recommend) sifting the flour before beginning.

This will ensure that the flour isn’t clumped, and the whisk will ensure that the dry mixture contains the leavening agents evenly distributed. The same holds true if you’re making vegan gluten free vanilla cupcakes instead of just vegan vanilla cupcakes.

Also, make sure that your wet ingredients are room temperature. This is imperative for baking, but even more so for vegan baking. Because vegan baking ingredients are not entirely 1-to-1 with more conventional baking, we need to make sure that we do everything we can to get them as close as possible to the outcome of those conventional ingredients.

This is done by using room temperature wet ingredients, such as vegan buttermilk, dairy-free yogurt, and unsweetened applesauce, for your vegan vanilla cupcake batter.

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Once the batter is folded together, fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way full, and bake!

You’ll know when the cupcakes are ready by seeing if they’re lightly golden on top, and they spring back at a light touch.

The vegan cupcake frosting

Before we frost, make sure that the vegan cupcakes are entirely cool before frosting. We don’t want any of our vegan buttercream frosting slipping off the cupcake!

You can make the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling, just make sure that you’re waiting until the cupcakes do not feel warm at all to touch.

Next, you’ll need the vegan butter softened. You should be able to make an indent into the vegan butter with your finger tip, but it will still feel slightly cool.

Another important tip for making vegan frosting is sifting the powdered sugar. This will ensure that there are no clumps when it comes time to frosting the cupcakes, which will make the frosting not only look more elegant, but will also prevent it from clogging the piping tip.

Then of course, you can sprinkle on some vegan sprinkles to make your vegan vanilla cupcakes even more elegant!

Healthy cupcake tips & tricks

Sift the dry ingredients: I know I said this above, but it is imperative that you sift the flour, whether you’re making regular vegan cupcakes or gluten free vanilla cupcakes. This will give you that tender cupcake texture that will make anyone think these vegan cupcakes are anything but vegan!

Make sure all wet ingredients are room temperature: using room temperature wet ingredients will prevent a vegan cupcake from becoming gummy or under-baked (despite sitting in the oven for a long period of time!). Give yourself an hour or two for the ingredients to come to room temperature before beginning to bake!

Make these gluten-free: if you’d like to make gluten free vanilla cupcakes that are vegan, simply sift together gluten free 1-to-1 baking flour with a little arrowroot powder (exact measurements are in the recipe card) or cornstarch. This will give the texture of cake flour.

Refined sugar free? No problem: to make these vegan vanilla cupcakes entirely refined sugar free, swap in coconut sugar for both the cupcake and the frosting. With the vegan frosting, you’ll need to turn the coconut sugar into powdered sugar by pulsing it in a food processor. An extra step, but so worth it if you’re looking for a healthy cupcake!

Don’t over mix the batter: I know we all get eager to make sure our batter is entirely mixed, but don’t over mix, or this will create gummy cupcakes rather than light, fluffy, and tender cupcakes.

Don’t open the oven door! Whatever you do, keep that oven door shut while baking your cupcakes. Many don’t realize that the oven temperature drastically changes when you open the door. Have you ever opened your oven door and felt a rush of warm air?

That’s because the warm air is so drastically different in temperature from the cool, so it seeks an equilibrium (this is getting scientific, I’m so sorry you didn’t come for a science lesson but it needs to be explained!), so the heat transfers to the cool, leaving the oven not at the 350F that you set it at. This will ultimately cause an uneven bake.

To ensure that your oven temperature remains even while you check on your cupcakes, simply turn on the oven light to see when they’re safe to remove!

Let the cupcakes sit in the cupcake tin for 15-20 minutes: this simple tip actually allows the cupcake liner to pull cleanly off the vegan vanilla cupcake!

Add in vanilla bean paste or pod seeds for extra vanilla flavor: if you want to get fancy like Georgetown Cupcakes (ugh, miss working there! It was so much fun!), you can add in some vanilla bean pod seeds or vanilla paste for that speckled vanilla look! Plus the taste is so “buttery” without adding any dairy!

Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting: I mentioned this in the above section, but just make sure that your cupcakes are completely cool before frosting. You shouldn’t feel any warmth whatsoever when you touch the top. If it’s warm, you risk melting the vegan buttercream, which will slip and slide off the cupcake!

I hope that you love these healthy vanilla cupcakes as much as I do! If you give them a go, make sure to let me know how they went in the comments section below.

As always, I love to see your beautiful creations, so be sure to tag me on Instagram and Pinterest!

Happy vegan cupcake baking!

More healthy vegan cupcakes and cakes:

Vegan Pistachio Cupcakes

Healthy Pumpkin Cupcakes

Paleo Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

The BEST Vegan Vanilla Cake

Paleo Vegan Chocolate Cake

Vegan Cinnamon Cupcakes

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If you make something from The Banana Diaries, I would love to see your creations! Don’t forget tot rate this recipe and leave a comment below! Also, follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook for more vegan recipe inspiration!

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