These vegan vanilla cupcakes are moist, light and delicious, and topped off with a simple but irresistible vegan raspberry buttercream!
I’m going to start this off by stating a fact about myself; I am definitely not a vanilla person.
I am 100%, no 100000%, a member of team chocolate. After all, I did name my blog Sweet Like Cocoa for a reason. I know my other team choco comrades are out there (virtual high five to you!), but today, this one is for team vanilla. For the rest of us chocolatiers, we get to add a vanilla recipe to our repertoire. Win win!
So heres to you, my vanilla peeps. This is a simple, delicious, non-chocolatey recipe for ya. What better way to extend my greetings to you than with some cupcakes! Right? Right! These cuppy cakes require simple ingredients, and come together in almost no time. It’s actually almost crazy pants how little time and effort these take. Aside from baking time and patiently (more like impatiently) waiting for them to cool before frosting, these come together in pretty much no time at all.
My favourite part of these cupcakes is the frosting, though. Which is quite odd for me, cause I am generally more obsessed with the actual cake than the icing. But the hint of raspberry flavour beneath all that sweet, smooth baby pink goodness is just too good. And guess what? My secret weapon for making this frosting is raspberry jam! I love using jams in frosting because they tend to add a lot less (or at least a more predictable amount of) moisture to frostings than adding fresh fruit, and they’re just so darn convenient (key word here being tend, depending on the jam you use). Just make sure to use a jam that has ingredients you’re okay with using – no funny stuff ya hear. And voila, you have a yummy, fruity frosting to frost all the things!
Did I mention that the raspberry paired with all this vanilla wonderfulness is just perfect for summer! Berries, vanilla, mmm. You’ve got me there, team vanilla, you’ve got me there. Whichever side you’re on, I hope you all enjoy this recipe. Cupcake lovers unite!
Ingredients
- Dry Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Wet Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 cup dairy free milk, unsweetened (I used Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Cashew Milk for some extra vanilla)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, room temperature (I used Earth Balance)
- 2 - 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbs raspberry jam*
- 1-2 tbs dairy free milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Line and or grease a 12 well muffin tin and set aside
- In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) and stir to combine. Set aside
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and melted coconut oil
- Add in dairy free milk, vinegar, and vanilla extract, and stir to combine
- Slowly add dry ingredients to wet, stirring to combine
- Take care to not over mix - a few lumps are okay!
- Divide cupcake batter into your prepared muffin tin
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean
- Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to fully cool on a wire cooling rack
- Using a stand or electric mixer, mix vegan butter for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy
- Add in 2 tablespoons of jam and mix until combined into butter
- Add 2 cups of powdered sugar to start with, and 1 tablespoon of dairy free milk, and continue to mix
- Depending on the desired consistency of your frosting, add more powdered sugar if it's too soft, or more dairy free milk if it's too stiff - I wanted a softer frosting so I only used 2 cups of sugar and 2 tbs of milk
- When the cupcakes are fully cooled, pipe frosting on top or spread over top of cupcakes
- Enjoy!
Notes
* The jam I used happened to be seedless, but I have made this before with seeded jam and it does not detract from the frosting in way and only affects it aesthetically!
What a great idea to use jam for color!! That’s genius. Beautiful job on the frosting application too. I’d love to nab a bite!
Thank you, Cadry 🙂
I’ve had a lot of success using a little jam in frostings. It’s a great way to add a little tint and flavour while avoiding food colouring!