These beautiful Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes are made with plenty of fresh strawberries and the most luscious pink frosting. The perfect treat when strawberries are abundant at the farmer’s market!
You will never meet a prettier cupcake! These vegan strawberry cupcakes are bursting with flavor and have the best texture. They are fluffy with a tight crumb and never dense. Plus there are little chunks of real strawberries throughout!
They are a bit more work than my vegan vanilla cupcakes or vegan chocolate cupcakes, simply because you have to puree and cook down fresh strawberries. That’s what gives them their signature strawberry flavor!
The strawberry buttercream frosting is out of this world delicious and you will use a little of the strawberry puree in it as well. It’s impossible not to lick the bowl clean!
How to make Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
First, you will puree the strawberries and cook down the sauce until it reduces somewhat. It will take about 30 minutes, then transfer to a bowl and let it cool. I like to stick it in the refrigerator or freezer to speed this up. You can also do this ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake.
Make the cupcake batter using an electric mixer (again, the full process is below in the recipe card.) Fold in the strawberries. TIP: For pink/red cupcakes like mine, add a few drops of vegan friendly red food coloring to the batter. It’s optional though.
Divide the batter evenly in the liners filled 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting, or the frosting will melt right off.
Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
For the incredible pink frosting, make sure the strawberry puree is completely cooled. Add the vegan butter (I love Country Crock brand sticks for frosting) to a large bowl and beat with a stand or hand mixer. Now slowly add the powdered sugar, strawberry puree, vanilla and a few drops of pink/red food coloring, if using.
Beat until light and fluffy, then add to a piping bag with a large tip attached and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. You can also simply spread it on with a butter knife, but piped frosting looks much better. Stick a whole strawberry into the piped frosting, for decoration. Enjoy!
Want more strawberry recipes?
- Vegan Strawberry Cake
- Vegan Strawberry Pie
- Vegan Strawberry Shortcake
- Vegan Cheesecake (with optional strawberry sauce)
Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients
Strawberry puree
- 10-12 medium/large strawberries
Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup softened vegan butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup reduced strawberry puree
- 4-5 drops red or pink vegan friendly food coloring, optional
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup diced strawberries
- 12 whole strawberries, for topping each cupcake
Strawberry buttercream frosting
- 3 tablespoons reduced strawberry puree, completely cooled
- 3/4 cup vegan butter, slightly softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3-4 drops red or pink vegan friendly food coloring, optional
Instructions
Make the strawberry puree
- Rinse and hull the strawberries. Using a food processor or blender, puree them.
- Pour the puree into a small pot and simmer for 25-30 minutes, until it reduces somewhat. You will need 1/3 cup for the cupcake batter, and 3 tablespoons for the frosting. Allow it to cool for a few minutes before adding to cake batter and let it cool completely for the frosting. I like to stick it in the freezer to speed this up.
Prepare the oven and pan
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a cupcake pan with liners. Spray the liners with oil.
Make the cupcakes
- Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Stir a little, then set aside.
- Using an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar until creamy. Mix in the soy milk mixture, vanilla, reduced strawberry puree and food coloring, if using.
- Stop the mixer, and add the cake flour, baking powder and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix on low speed until just combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Fold in the diced strawberries, gently.
- Divide the batter evenly in the liners (3/4 full) and bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow them to cool in the muffin tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make the frosting
- Once the strawberry puree is cooled completely (you can do this by sticking it in the freezer), add the vegan butter to a bowl and mix until fluffy and creamy.
- Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, then mix in the strawberry puree, vanilla and optional food coloring. Add the remaining powdered sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy. If the frosting is too thin, add additional powdered sugar.
Frost and decorate
- Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes, and top each one with a whole strawberry. Serve and enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or the refrigerator for 4-5 days. They can also be frozen.
Notes
- May use another non-dairy milk such as almond, cashew or coconut.
- If you can not find cake flour, all purpose flour can be used, but they won’t be and light and fluffy.
- For gluten free, substitute a gluten free all purpose flour. I like King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour.
Hi Nora,
I want to make this recipe, but I was curious if you could make it as a layer cake instead of cupcakes.
Thanks,
Allison
I think it will work, but I would double it for a 2-layer 8 or 9 inch cake. I haven’t tried this myself, but it should work fine. Thanks!
I’m going to make these for my daughter’s birthday party! They look so good. Have you tried with frozen strawberries?
I haven’t tried it but it should work fine, I’d just probably skip the strawberry on top of the cupcake as frozen ones will be kinda mushy. Enjoy!
Nora, my first time making vegan cupcakes and I used this recipe. Oddly enough, I needed to make maraschino flavored cupcakes and all I had to do was use maraschino juice for the puree and diced maraschino for the berries. They turned out so well. A great recipe, I appreciate it very much! Thank you!
I used this recipe multiple times and it has been AMAZING!!! but this time the strawberrys made it way too moist. What should I do?
I wonder what was different about this particular time since you’ve made them before with success? Did you reduce the strawberry puree the same way? Did you only use 1/3 cup of the reduced strawberry puree in the cupcake batter, or did you add a bit too much?
These were ridiculously good! The best strawberry flavored cake and icing I’ve ever had. It’s strawberry season here in NC and we loved how these cupcakes were not too sweet and allowed the strawberry to shine. YUM
Hi Melissa. I’m thrilled you loved the cupcakes! Fresh strawberries, so amazing! Thanks for sharing your awesome review and feedback!
Definitely a keeper and one that will be in the regular rotation. The icing is amazing and pipes so well! Loved by even the non vegans!
Hi Jennifer. I love this cake, and am thrilled you did as well! Thank you for your positive review and feedback! I’m thrilled this cake is going into your dessert rotation! Happy cooking!