These Vegan Lemon Cupcakes are bursting with flavor! Perfectly soft and moist lemon cupcakes are topped with a vegan lemon buttercream frosting. Best of all, they are easy to make in just 1 bowl!
Of all the many flavors of dessert out there, lemon has become my absolute favorite. Of course, there are times when nothing but chocolate will satisfy (I’m looking at you Vegan Brownies or Chocolate Cake), but most of the time I would choose a lemony dessert.
I am so excited to share this recipe for vegan lemon cupcakes with you! Not only are they bursting with sunshine lemon flavor, they are also incredibly EASY to make in just 1 bowl. They have just the right amount of “tang” for a lemon cupcake, and are perfectly sweet and moist. This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes, so feel free to cut the ingredients in half or double if you’re planning a party!
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What provides the lemon flavor for vegan lemon cupcakes?
A few things contribute to the lemony-ness of these cupcakes. First, freshly grated lemon zest. I highly recommend getting an inexpensive but handy Zester/Grater so you can easily have fresh lemon zest anytime you want without a struggle. Lemon zest is basically finely grated peel of a lemon, and it adds so much wonderful fresh lemon flavor to food!
There is also a bit of lemon extract in the cupcakes, and lemon juice in the frosting, as well as more zest!
Want more Vegan Lemon Dessert recipes? Try one of these:
1 Bowl Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Lemon Cupcakes:
- 1 1/2 cups soy milk
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup softened vegan butter
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup vegan butter softened to room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 tablespoons soy milk
Instructions
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a standard muffin pan with paper liners. Spray the cups lightly with oil to help the cupcakes come out easily.
- In a measuring cup, combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Let sit a few minutes until it curdles (this is your vegan buttermilk).
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened vegan butter and sugar with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add the lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla and beat to combine.
- With the mixer on low speed, add in the soy milk/vinegar mixture and mix for 30 seconds.
- Now add the flour, then sprinkle the baking powder and salt on top of the flour. Mix on low speed until well combined, scraping the sides as needed with a spatula.
- Fill the liners 3/4 full and bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and they are lightly golden on top. Let them cool completely before frosting.
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- Wipe out the bowl you used for the cupcakes and rinse the beaters from your mixer. Beat the vegan butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in 2 cups of the powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla. Beat on low, then switch to medium speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Now add in the remaining 2 cups of powered sugar and mix. If the frosting seems too thick, add a tablespoon at a time of soy milk. If the frosting gets too thin, add a little more powdered sugar until a spreadable, thick frosting consistency is reached.
- Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes or simply spread it on with a butter knife.
Notes
- May substitute almond, coconut or hemp milk for the soy if desired. I think soy milk makes the best vegan buttermilk though.
- For the cupcakes, softened coconut oil could be substituted for the vegan butter, but it won't work in the frosting. You really need vegan butter for the buttercream frosting.
- May also be frosted with my Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting if desired.
Nutrition
Silly question – I don’t have cupcake liners. Are they essential to getting these out of the pan or will greasing & dusting the cups be ok?
No you don’t need them, I would just grease your pan.
I have made these cupcakes before and they were a huge hit !!!
Is it possible to alter the recipe to make them orange flavoured ? If so , what substitutions would I make?
Thank you
It would probably work! I would substitute orange juice and orange zest, perhaps orange extract if you can find it.
Amazing recipe! I actually halved the frosting recipe because i thought it was sweet enough. Big hit!
The best cupcakes!! Tastes amazing, must try!
Thanks so much!!
Mine Popped up like a muffin, I’m wondering how to get them flat! I used Flax milk instead, not sure if that matters.
Must do soon??✨
Hello. In my country (Chile) we don’t have vegan butter and vegan cream cheese :-(. How can i replace them?
For the cupcakes, you can probably sub another vegetable oil for the vegan butter. For the frosting, you could use vegan margarine or vegetable shortening in place of the vegan butter. Hope that helps!
Ive been using a few of your recipes (although I always mess around a bit) and I love them! They are great for tricking people into eating vegan.
Im baking a lot for a charity next week. So Im gonna try and freeze the batter without the baking powder. Wish me luck.
One thing I have noticed is that for cupcakes where it says 18, I get an easy 24. Than again they vanish so quick, you’d never notice.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
Hi Nora,
I made these Lemon Cupcakes for Anzac Day today – added poppy seeds in :). My frosting, no matter how much mixture I put in, stayed rather runny but I think it could be the butter I used (low fat Nuttelex), which could very well have been the culprit! My husband and my mum both loved the flavour of the frosting anyway and said the cake consistency was perfect.
Thanks for a super delicious recipe once again!
I’m glad they were enjoyed! Yes, likely the low fat Nuttelex caused the frosting to be runny. Make sure your vegan buttery spread is quite firm when you begin. Thank you!
Is there any way to use a bit less sugar. Trying to cut back. Any subs you could recommend? Thanks!
You could probably go down to 1 cup in the cupcakes. I’m not really familiar with sugar substitutes, but it’s certainly an option if you know of one you like. A lot of the sugar is in the frosting, so you could just omit the frosting or try to use less. Thanks!
try using stevia its vegan and works great !!
There were great! I used Almond Milk since that’s what I had and it worked just fine. I’ll have to try it with soy milk though as well! I overcooked them a tad so the edges are a little crisp, but the inside is fluffy and soft and had a wonderful lemon taste (though I almost want a bit more lemon…) For the frosting I left my butter out for about 20 minutes as suggested and the end consistency was perfect! Will definitely make again!
Hi! Love the icing but had a question about the cake part. When I made the cake part they were very dense and not soft and light. Any suggestions to what I did to do? Thanks so much!!
It’s hard to know what went wrong, as the cupcakes should be quite light, not dense. Did you make any substitutions at all, or instead of the tablespoon of baking powder did you use 1 teaspoon? It’s hard to know what went wrong without being there with you unfortunately!
Overall these came out great but I had to leave out the apple cider vinegar because the whole mixture curdled and would not combine and I had to toss it! Did it without and added lemon juice instead and worked great! They came out awesome!
Glad it worked out!
I just had the same exact problem – it all curdled and wouldn’t combine. I can’t figure out why, since I’ve curdled almond milk this way before and it worked fine. Any idea why that would happen?
Let me start by saying, I NEVER leave comments, but this recipe is AMAZING. I was shocked by how easy it was to make! I had most of the ingredients at home already and the consistency of the batter and frosting were just like normal cupcakes. I’m not vegan myself but I made these for a friend who is so I am very picky about pastries while he is used to having to settle for dry tasteless overpriced cupcakes. Let me tell you, these cupcakes are so soft and moist! I replaced lemon with lime and added crushed graham crackers for a key lime cupcake flavor. Hands down one of the best cupcake recipes out there vegan or not! and you only have to clean one bowl!!!
Next, I’m going to try the base of this recipe for an oreo cupcake with chocolate ganache in the middle!
Thank you so much for this must have vegan cupcake recipe!!!
You’re so welcome, and thank for the great review!
Hello!!!
How do you think these would hold up frozen for a couple days? Have you ever tried freezing them/dethawing?
I can’t wait to try the recipe!!
I think it would work fine actually! I haven’t tried it with these cupcakes but I do freeze cake and cupcakes quite often with good results.
What a gorgeous recipe. This makes a large number of cupcakes. Lovely texture and flavour.
Thank you Mary! So happy you enjoyed them!
If the butter isn’t supposed to be “too softened” (which is mentioned in a comment) then why does the recipe say “softened to room temperature”? The consistency is awful, and I have pretty much the entire bowl of frosting left since the only way I could actually get it into the cupcakes was just to dip the tops, which doesn’t use up very much. I didn’t know what I’m going to do with this huge amount of liquid frosting. I wasted a lot of powdered sugar and butter, when I should have just gone with my instincts and made it MY way. I didn’t even use the whole amount of milk in the frosting that it called for in the recipe.
Hi there, I have found that some people try to microwave the vegan butter to a point that it’s nearly melting and way too soft, which is why I tried to clarify that in a comment above. It’s a little bit different than working with real butter. Like I said, I will leave it at room temperature for about 20 minutes, and that’s perfect. It’s soft and mixes easily, but does not melt when I mix it with my hand mixer. It sounds to me like your vegan butter was too melty. Sorry it didn’t turn out for you!
Which vegan butter do you use? I’ve only tried the earths best in the tub with other frosting recipes and the texture isn’t right.
I use Earth Balance brand. I try to use the baking sticks as they work best, but I often do use the tub. It works great! You just can not soften it too much or it will be totally melty and the texture won’t work. I leave the tub (or sticks) out at room temperature for 20 minutes or so then use it.
These are amazing. I typically don’t even like lemon desserts (I made them for my lemon-loving friend) but I LOVED these and so did everyone that tried them. My friends were shocked they are vegan. The only thing I had trouble with was the frosting, it came out pretty heavy and the pretty designs I made on the cupcakes didn’t last, but it tasted amazing so I don’t even care. 10/10 recommend.
Amazing!!!! Best cupcakes ever, huge hit with my brother… he’s VERY picky.
Woo hoo! Thank you.
Can I swap the apple cider vinegar for lemon juice? Also, can this recipe be made as a layer cake? Thanks!
Yes, you can swap the apple cider vinegar for lemon juice. It probably could be made as a layer cake, but I recommend you make this cake instead: Vegan Lemon Cake. The recipes are similar, but I developed the cupcake recipe to be easier to hold; the cake is just a bit more light, moist and fluffy.
Hi, how do you measure out your flour for the cupcakes? I do the whisk, scoop, amd sweep (level) method. Thanks
That is perfect. I don’t usually whisk first, but I do scoop then level with a knife.
Hi. Can I use fresh lemon juice instead of extract in the cake? -thank you.
You could, yes, they just won’t be as lemony flavored because the lemon extract is stronger. But it should be fine, thanks!
This may be a silly question, but why does the lemon cake need aquafaba but the cupcakes don’t? I used the cake recipe for cupcakes a few weeks ago. I’m super curious about this.
No worries! You can totally use the cake recipe (with aquafaba) to make cupcakes. But I wanted to create a recipe that was easier to make and could be done using just 1 bowl. Also, I found when I made cupcakes from the cake recipe, they were very tender and often fell apart quite easily. The cupcakes are similar but they are easier to hold in your hand without being so soft they fall apart. Hope that helps explain things! 🙂 I love them both.
OMG!! This is the best thing! Thank you so much for this simple and delicious recipe!