The moist tender and moist vegan white chocolate cupcakes that don’t taste dairy free!! Topped with dairy free buttercream Christmas trees, these white chocolate cupcakes make the perfect vegan holiday cupcake treat!

The cutest vegan Christmas cupcakes

I know I’ve said that I love my vegan vanilla cake, but man. I think I have a new favorite.

These vegan white chocolate cupcakes are so dang fluffy and light, yet entirely (and secretly!) dairy free and can be gluten free.

I really have never had a better tasting cupcake. Seriously, I’m that obsessed.

The cupcake base, inspired by my vegan white chocolate cake, is tender and moist, and the Christmas inspired fluffy vegan buttercream is the perfect complement to these white chocolate cupcakes.

If you make any holiday cupcake this year, I highly recommend these. Top with some fun vegan sprinkles, and you have a cupcake that’s full of holiday cheer and fit for any Sugar Plum Fairy (or Nutcracker!).

white chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting

How to make white chocolate cupcakes vegan

One reason I always recommend people try out cupcakes if they’re intimidated by cakes is because vegan cupcakes yield the same desired flavor and elegance, yet are super easy (and relatively quick!).

There’s no need to crumb coat or worry about stacking several tiers of cakes. These vegan white chocolate cupcakes are truly a testament to elegant yet shockingly easy.

The full recipe and instructions to these white chocolate cupcakes is found down below in the recipe card. However, let’s go over the main tips here:

Use room temperature wet ingredients This is so crucial to making sure that your dairy free white chocolate cupcakes are super light and tender. Using varying temperatures in wet ingredients will mess up the texture of the cupcakes. Allow some time for the wet ingredients to fully come to room temperature.
Cool the vegan white chocolate before using. Much like how you don’t want cold vegan buttermilk going into your cupcakes, you also don’t want piping hot vegan white chocolate to go into the batter. Once you melt the vegan white chocolate, you’ll let it cool for a few minutes at room temperature before using.
Whisk together the dry ingredients. It’s so crucial to use a whisk here, as this will help evenly distribute the leavening agents and sugar throughout the flour. This will also ensure an even bake.
Look for lightly golden tops. Another trick if you don’t have a toothpick to check the doneness of your vegan cupcakes is to look for the coloring and do the bounce-back test. You can carefully remove the cupcakes from the oven for a moment (near the end of the bake time), and use your oven mitt to lightly touch the cupcake to see if it bounces back. If it does, they’re finished and ready to be cooled, but if they feel too soft still, then they’ll need a few more minutes.
If your cupcakes are sticking to the liners. They really shouldn’t with this recipe, as there is some oil from the vegan white chocolate that helps to peel away the liners. However, to ensure this doesn’t happen, allow the cupcakes to cool in the cupcake tin for 10 minutes. This moisture helps the liner easily release from the cupcakes, even with an oil free recipe.

white chocolate cupcakes with christmas tree buttercream

The number one trick for moist and fluffy vegan cupcakes

Do not over mix the batter!

If you over mix the batter, you’ll collapse the bubbles that start to form from the baking powder reacting with the apple cider vinegar in the vegan buttermilk.

This reaction is what helps create those super fluffy and moist cupcakes that have your jaw on the floor (despite the cupcake being vegan!).

Make sure that you mix just until the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated. After that, begin to divide the batter into the cupcake tins!

Vegan buttercream Christmas trees

I got this idea from the amazing Amy Droubay from Neurotic Mom. Amy does these beautifully pastel colored swirled Christmas trees made entirely of buttercream.

Of course, I wanted these vegan white chocolate cupcakes to be entirely dairy free, so we’re using my favorite vegan buttercream frosting and vegan plant-based food coloring for the trees.

The trick to coloring these lovely Christmas trees for our Christmas tree cupcakes is following the saying less is more. Start with just the tiniest drop of red food coloring. I used the Whole Foods 365 brand made from beet juice), and that should yield a beautiful pastel pink.

That’s why I love all natural food colorings, because you already get the lovely pastels without any effort.

The full tutorial is found down below in recipe card of this post, along with a link to Amy’s video!

How to decorate vegan Christmas cupcakes

I personally love white chocolate cupcakes as the base of these Christmas cupcakes. It’s such an underrated flavor, and to me, really reminds me of holiday cheer.

You can, of course, use a different cupcake base if you just want to make Christmas cupcakes. I suggest my vegan gingerbread cupcakes, or perhaps my vegan chocolate cupcakes (both oil free).

Once the buttercream Christmas trees have hardened in the freezer (make sure to add the sprinkles before you place the trees into the freezer!), you’ll carefully remove them from the parchment paper.

Place them into the vegan buttercream that has been piped onto each cupcake. Then use some extra sprinkles or decorative sugar for sparkly sugar plum fairy-inspired cupcakes.

vegan Christmas cupcakes with pink frosting

I hope you love these white chocolate cupcakes as much as I do! If you make them, 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 Christmas cupcake decorating!

Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!

If you make something from The Banana Diaries, I would love to see your creations! Make sure to leave a review in comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others may find the recipe. Also, follow along with me on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook for more vegan recipe inspiration!

Unbelievably Vegan White Chocolate Cupcakes

Author: thebananadiaries
Prep Time: 10
Cook Time: 27
Total Time: 37 minutes
Yield: 12 1x
Category: Dessert
Method: Baking
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegan

Scale

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour or sifted gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour (if doing gluten-free, add in 1 tsp arrowroot powder)
3/4 cup granulated sugar or coconut sugar (see Notes)
3/4 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup dairy-free milk with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, room temperature
1/3 cup vegan white chocolate, melted and cooled
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Vegan Buttercream Christmas Trees (inspired by @neuroticmom ):

2 batches vegan buttercream
Vegan food coloring (blue, yellow, red, green)
Vegan sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 12 cup-cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt.
Add in the dairy free milk mixture, unsweetened applesauce, vegan white chocolate, and vanilla extract. Use a rubber spatula to stir until there are no more clumps of dry ingredients left, being careful not to over mix the batter.
Use a large cookie scoop or a spoon to fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way full. Place the cupcake tin into the oven and bake for 27-30 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. Another way to test this is the tops of the cupcakes should be lightly golden and the cupcake should spring back at a light touch.
Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool completely before making the vegan buttercream frosting.
Prepare the vegan buttercream according to the instructions in this post.
Vegan Buttercream Christmas Trees: line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In 4 bowls, spoon about 1/2 cup of frosting into each. Add the food coloring in small amounts to each bowl: only 1/2 drop for the red to create pink, red and yellow for orange, green (or blue and yellow), and 1/2 drop for the blue to create a light blue. Fill 4 piping bags with star tip and the buttercream. On the parchment paper, pipe the frosting in a zig zag, starting small at the top and working down to create a 1.5″ tree. Repeat for the remaining colors and amounts of frosting. Sprinkle with sprinkles while still soft, and place the baking sheet into the freezer for 10 minutes.
With the remaining vegan buttercream, spoon the buttercream into a large piping bag with a large piping tip. Pipe the frosting on top of each cooled cupcake.
Once the Christmas trees are ready (they should be rock hard to the touch), carefully place each tree on top of each cupcake.
Serve and enjoy!