Easy Raspberry Cupcakes (Vegan + Gluten Free!)
These super fluffy, moist, and tender raspberry cupcakes are so incredibly easy to make and secretly vegan and gluten free! Made from oat flour and bursting with fresh raspberry and vanilla!
You are just going to love these raspberry cupcakes. Not only have they been approved by some of my vegan friends, but also my non-vegan cupcake loving family members.
My 22 year old brother was in disbelief that he was eating a gluten free vegan cupcake. I’m serious! Devoured the whole thing in one go!
With a super fluffy raspberry buttercream, and the most tender and light vanilla raspberry cake, these perfectly moist cupcakes are sure to please all eaters, whether you’re gluten free, dairy free, vegan, or nut free- or not!
Ingredients for gluten free vegan cupcakes
You’ll be shocked by how simple these light yet tender and fluffy raspberry cupcakes are. They’re secretly and naturally vegan and gluten free, making them even more accessible and easier to make for all.
With just a few ingredients, and some patience while they bake, you’ll have the best vanilla raspberry cupcakes around!
To start, you’ll need:
- Oat flour: using oat flour makes these cupcakes naturally gluten free, yet entirely gum free as well. We are using a touch of arrowroot powder to create that cake flour texture. If you don’t want to use oat flour, you can also use gluten-free 1:1 baking flour, all purpose flour with some arrowroot, or cake flour!
- Sugar: I used granulated sugar here, but if you’d like to keep these gluten free vegan cupcakes refined sugar free, simply swap in coconut sugar.
- Vegan butter: I used Flora Plant Butter here, which is nut free. However, you can also use Miyoko’s Vegan Butter, Forager Project, or Earth Balance. I’ve tested these cupcakes with all four, and they work wonderfully!
- Vegan buttermilk: this is a combination of apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar) and dairy free milk. You can use any dairy free milk here; oat milk and coconut milk taste the best in my opinion!
- Unsweetened Applesauce: this acts as our egg replacement in vegan cupcakes. I use unsweetened to lessen the sugar content as well.
- Vanilla: just a bit of vanilla extract makes these wonderfully sweet raspberry cupcakes that much better.
- Baking powder: to help these gluten free vegan cupcakes rise!
- Raspberries: we’re using fresh raspberries here! Trust me, it makes these cupcakes amazing!
How simple was that? You don’t even need a stand mixer for these raspberry cupcakes. Just a bowl, a hand mixer, and a cupcake tin!
How to make raspberry cupcakes from scratch with fresh raspberries
Like all of my recipes, the full recipe and ingredient measurements are listed down below in the recipe card. However, we’ll go over the basic steps and tips here!
- Make sure to measure your flour with a spoon. This will ensure that you’re not measuring too much oat flour, yielding a dense and chewy cupcake. Using a spoon will give you the perfect amount of oat flour without having to weigh the flour, and will thus yield a really tender and crumb-y soft raspberry cupcake!
- Make your own vegan buttermilk. This is my favorite vegan baking trick: making homemade vegan buttermilk. It works just as well as regular buttermilk or even homemade buttermilk, but it’s entirely dairy free. Now if you’re wondering why we’re using vegan buttermilk and not just dairy free milk, the reason is that vegan buttermilk, like buttermilk, helps to give these cupcakes a super moist, slightly tangy, tender texture to the cupcake. It’s truly what makes these raspberry cupcakes stand apart from the rest.
- Don’t skip the arrowroot starch. This is crucial for the oat flour, as you need something to help with creating the “gluten” texture. What’s more, arrowroot also helps to create that cake flour texture. If you don’t have arrowroot, though, you can swap in cornstarch! They are interchangeable!
- Don’t be afraid to fill the gluten free vegan cupcake batter to the top! Because oat flour doesn’t act quite like all purpose and cake flour, you can fill these cupcakes nearly to the top, and they won’t create a “muffin top.”
- These raspberry cupcakes are truly one bowl- that’s all you need! Don’t worry about having to clean up extra dishes. You really just need one bowl and a whisk to make these cupcakes!
Vegan raspberry buttercream
I could honestly eat this raspberry buttercream with a spoon, it’s so good.
Not only is it undetectably dairy free and vegan, but it’s bursting with fresh raspberry flavor.
Now, I’ve made this raspberry buttercream a few ways. One with raspberry preserves and the other with fresh raspberries.
Personally, I prefer the fresh raspberries, but there’s a caveat. Sometimes, the fresh raspberries cause the vegan buttercream to separate. This happens when the vegan butter is either too warm or too cold.
You want it to be sort of the Goldilocks of all butters. Here are a few more tips on room temperature butter (butter that you can indent, but might still have a bit of chill to it- the perfect butter for this buttercream).
Seeing as it’s frustrating when the vegan buttercream splits, it might be best to just use raspberry preserves. However, I’m listing both options in case there are some vegan buttercream pros out there that want the fresh raspberry taste.
Either way, the raspberry buttercream will just have these cupcakes bursting with sweet and fruity flavor; like eating a fresh raspberry, only better!
Raspberry Cupcake FAQ’s
Can I use regular all purpose or cake flour instead of oat flour?
Yes! If you don’t need these to be gluten free vegan cupcakes, you can absolutely make these raspberry cupcakes with just all purpose flour or cake flour.
If you’re using all purpose flour, mix in a bit of arrowroot starch, like you would with the oat flour. The reason being is that this will help the cupcakes to emulate a cupcake made from cake flour: super tender, soft, and crumby.
Can I make these raspberry cupcakes into a small raspberry layer cake?
If you’d like to make this into a raspberry layer cake, not a problem! Simply double the recipe (there’s a button in the top right corner of the “Ingredients” section to double it), and you’re ready to bake!
What if I’m not vegan? Will I still like these cupcakes?
The short answer: YES. I’ve had several non-vegans bake and try these raspberry cupcakes. Every single one of them said they were hands down the best raspberry cupcakes they’ve ever had.
Trust me when I say vegan baking is not complicated, it’s not difficult, and it’s not more expensive than regular baking. If you’re not vegan, you won’t even know difference.
Can I use coconut oil in place of vegan butter?
You can replace the vegan butter in the cupcake base! While I like the taste of vegan butter more here (I use Flora Plant Butter or Miyoko’s Creamery), you can use coconut oil as well for the actual cupcake.
When it comes to the vegan buttercream, however, stick with vegan butter if you can. Coconut oil won’t yield the best frosting!
How do I store any leftover cupcakes?
To store these cupcakes, place them in an airtight container, and into the fridge for up to 5 days.
I hope you love these vegan raspberry cupcakes as much as I do! They’re the perfect cupcake for Valentine’s Day or any spring time celebration!
If you try these cupcakes, let me know down below in the comments section, as well as giving a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others may find these cupcakes!
As always, I absolutely love seeing your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest so be sure to tag me there!
Happy cupcake baking!
More vegan cupcakes you’ll love:
Best ever vegan chocolate cupcakes
Vegan white chocolate cupcakes
Super moist vegan gingerbread cupcakes
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Easy Raspberry Cupcakes (Vegan + Gluten Free!)
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 23
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These super fluffy, moist, and tender raspberry cupcakes are so incredibly easy to make and secretly vegan and gluten free! Made from oat flour and bursting with fresh raspberry and vanilla!
Ingredients
Fresh Raspberry Cupcakes:
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated or coconut sugar
- 1 cup vegan buttermilk*
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups oat flour or all purpose flour + 1 tsp arrowroot powder or cornstarch, spoon measured and leveled
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup fresh raspberries, mashed
Vegan Raspberry Buttercream:
- 1 cup vegan butter, softened but still room temperature
- 2–3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup raspberry preserves or fresh raspberries, mashed*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the vegan butter and sugar until the sugar for 4-5 minutes. This creates air in the mixture, giving the cupcakes a bit of a lift.
- Add in the vegan buttermilk, applesauce, and vanilla extract, and continue to mix until combined.
- Sift in the oat flour, arrowroot starch, and baking powder, and whisk together until there are no more dry streaks.
- Mix the raspberries into the batter until evenly distributed.
- Divide the batter into the 12 cupcake liners, filling each cupcake almost to the top. You should fill just 12.
- Place into the oven to bake for 23-25 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool in the cupcake tin for 10 minutes. Then flip the cupcakes onto a cooling rack to cool.
- When ready to frost, beat the vegan butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar and cream until combined. Add in the raspberry and mix again.
- Fill a piping bag with tip and pipe the frosting onto each cupcake.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Vegan buttermilk: 1 cup dairy free milk + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. Combine the mixture and allow it to sit for 5 minutes to curdle. Then use in your recipe.
- Vegan buttercream: fresh raspberries can at times cause separation in the frosting, especially if the vegan butter is too warm or too cold. Your best results will come from using raspberry preserves.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake with frosting
- Calories: 337
- Sugar: 23.8 g
- Sodium: 14 mg
- Fat: 20.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 12.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 36.7 g
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Protein: 2.7 g
- Cholesterol: 50.8 mg
If I wanted to make this recipe into 2 6inch cakes, would I leave the recipe as is or double it?
You can make two 6 in cakes with the recipe just as is! If you want a 3 layer 6″ cake, you can double the recipe (but the layers will be a bit thicker!)!
My cupcakes and the frosting taste great, but they stick to the cupcake liners. At first I thought maybe they weren’t cooked fully, but they are. Do you know why this would happen?
Hi Zora! So this is probably the type of liner you used- some cupcake liners stick to the cupcake/muffin more than others, even if there’s fat in the recipe. I use the Wilton cake cupcake liners if that helps! These should peel right off (they always have for me!) but it can also help to use a cooking oil spray and lightly spray the inside of the cupcake before you put the cupcake batter in. That will help with the cupcake peeling out of the liner!
What are your thoughts on using frozen raspberries instead of fresh? It’s just what I have on hand. 🙂
Hi Diane! Hmm I’m thinking the frozen might be too much moisture for the oat flour! If I were to try it, I’d coat the raspberries in oat flour as well before adding them to the batter- that would in theory help to absorb some of the extra moisture! I’m so sorry I can’t be of more help!
Looks yum I wanna tryvit but I dont like apple sauce. will yoghurt be a better sub?
Hi Aya! Yes you can use yogurt instead 🙂 Enjoy!