Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes with Dairy Free Cream Cheese Frosting
These festive and fun vegan gingerbread cupcakes are full of warming spice and super moist and fluffy! Topped with a dairy free cream cheese frosting and mini gingerbread cookies for fun Christmas cupcakes!
The cutest vegan Christmas cupcakes!
If there ever was a cupcake that embodied the Christmas and holiday spirits, I’d say it’s these vegan gingerbread cupcakes.
They’re truly my favorite Christmas cupcakes (though I do love my vegan pistachio Grinch cupcake recipe, vegan white chocolate cupcakes, and red velvet cupcakes). These ginger cupcakes are full of warming holiday spices, along with that wonderful and robust burst of molasses that accompanies the holiday classic.
Topped with a deliciously and secretly vegan dairy free cream cheese frosting, and a sprinkle of sugar and mini gingerbread cookies, these vegan gingerbread cupcakes are fit for any holiday party!
Not to mention, they’re entirely egg free, dairy free, and can easily be made gluten free and nut free- aka anyone can enjoy these easy Christmas cupcakes!
Vegan gingerbread cupcake ingredients
As I mentioned above, these vegan gingerbread cupcakes are so incredibly easy and straightforward. You’ll only need a few key ingredients:
- Flour: you can make these Christmas cupcakes gluten free or regular- whichever you need!
- Coconut sugar
- Molasses: I like to use the molasses by Wholesome Sweets- it’s my favorite!
- Spices: I actually use a mix of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves- because all four are just lovely spices this time of year!
- Dairy free milk: you can use any dairy free milk here. I personally recommend oat milk or coconut milk.
- Applesauce: this acts as both the “egg” in our vegan gingerbread cupcakes, along with helping to reduce the oil while maintaining moisture.
- Olive oil: just a touch to add some depth of flavor!
For the cute little gingerbread cookies, I actually used half of my vegan gingerbread cookies and used a mini cookie cutter!
And for the vegan cream cheese frosting, you’ll just need vegan butter, vegan cream cheese, and powdered sugar!
How to make super moist vegan gingerbread cupcakes
The full measurements and written instructions are found down below in the recipe card, but let’s go over the basics, shall we?
To make these vegan gingerbread cupcakes:
- Whisk the dry ingredients all together. Whisking rather than mixing ensures that everything is evenly distributed throughout!
- Mix in the room temperature wet ingredients, including the dairy free milk, molasses, and applesauce.
- Pour the batter into each cupcake liner, only filling them about 2/3 of the way up (this prevents the muffin top look!).
- Bake! These ginger cupcakes will bake for about 25-28 minutes
And that’s it! We’ll need to allow the cupcakes to fully cool before we frost them, or else the frosting drips onto the floor (which we don’t want!).
Then we’ll make the vegan dairy free cream cheese frosting for these lovely and moist vegan gingerbread cupcakes!
The best dang vegan dairy free cream cheese frosting
I am seriously so obsessed with this dairy free cream cheese frosting. Like I think that it’s even better than conventional cream cheese frosting (shh, don’t tell anyone!).
And the best part? It’s so easy.
The most crucial part is that the vegan cream cheese and vegan butter are softened to room temperature. This doesn’t mean that you’ve melted the butter or cream cheese! It actually just means allowing it to sit at room temperature for a couple of hours.
I recommend starting this process an hour or two before you make the batter for the cupcakes.
Then once the two are softened and your cupcakes are cool enough to frost, simply cream the vegan butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.
Add in the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and a little dairy free milk to help with the consistency and continue beating until fluffy!
How to decorate gingerbread cupcakes
My all time favorite part in making Christmas cupcakes, or any cupcakes for that matter, is the decorating. I think this comes from my days at Georgetown Cupcakes.
You can use any piping tip here for piping the frosting onto the ginger cupcakes. I personally like the Wilton Round Decorating Tip #12.
Next, I like to sprinkle some decorative sugar on top to make the cupcakes look like snow. It’s so lovely and gives the cupcakes a really finished look (especially if you messed up on an area on the piping!).
Then I top with mini gingerbread men! I actually used a half batch of my vegan gingerbread cookies and this cute little mini gingerbread cookie cutter.
You can also just leave them as is with the decorative sparkling sugar! Whichever you prefer. But I think for Christmas and the holidays, we deserve to go a bit extra for our vegan gingerbread cupcakes!
I hope that you love these vegan gingerbread cupcakes as much as I do! They’re the perfect treat for the holidays. If you give these cupcakes a go, let me know down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others may find it!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy gingerbread cupcake baking and decorating!
More vegan Christmas recipes
Gluten Free Vegan Gingerbread Bundt Cake
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes with Dairy Free Cream Cheese Frosting
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These festive and fun vegan gingerbread cupcakes are full of warming spice and super moist and fluffy! Topped with a dairy free cream cheese frosting and mini gingerbread cookies for fun Christmas cupcakes!
Ingredients
Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes:
- 2 (275 g) cups all-purpose flour, sifted (swap in gluten-free 1:1 baking flour for GF)
- 1 cup (200 g) coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup (240 mL) vegan buttermilk , room temperature
- 1/2 cup (140 g) molasses
- 1/2 cup (122 g) unsweetened applesauce or dairy free yogurt, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (57 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1/2 batch vegan gingerbread cookies using a mini gingerbread cookie cutter
- 1 batch vegan cream cheese frosting
- Decorative sugar for topping
Instructions
Vegan Gingerbread Cupcakes:
- Make sure to prepare the mini gingerbread cookies beforehand if desired!
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cupcake tin with liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, coconut sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add in the remaining ingredients, and gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry with a rubber spatula. Mix until there are no streaks of dry ingredients left.
- Use a cookie scoop or spoon and fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way full. Place into the oven, and bake for 23-26 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow the loaf to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Vegan Dairy Free Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and butter together using a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
- Add in the sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract, and continue creaming until light and fluffy.
- You can add in the additional tablespoon or two of dairy free milk to help achieve a creamy consistency.
- Fill a piping bag with the desired tip with the dairy free cream cheese frosting, and pipe onto each cupcake. Decorate with decorative sugar and a mini gingerbread cookie. Enjoy!
Notes
Gluten free: I recommend swapping in King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten free flour.
Please see blog post for all tips and tricks!
These were a hit with my family! Everyone loved them! You cannot tell they’re vegan.
Aw my goodness this is just so sweet! So happy to hear it! Thank you!
The Cupcake itself is super tasty and the consistency is unreal!!! It’s fluffy and moist – just perfect! I’m not sure if it’s the brand of vegan cream cheese or what but the icing was definitely missing that tang of dairy cheese – although the friend I made them for (who is egg and dairy free) loved them 🥰
Hi Meghan! Aw so happy to hear the cupcakes came out well!! So sorry to hear about the frosting though- I’m guessing it was the brand? I personally don’t really like the TJ’s brand and Kite Hill, as they taste a bit “fake” to me. If you get to making them again, try Miyoko’s if you can! They’re my fave! So happy your friend loved them though!! 🙂 Thanks for the review!
I can’t wait to make these! Would they work as a cake? If so, how long would I bake it for? (:
Yes absolutely!! It should make about 1 6″ three layered cake or 1 8″ two layered cake. I’d say about 27-30 minutes in the oven, but you’ll have to check depending on which cake pan size you’re using. Start checking around 25 minutes to see!