Simply the best Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes! Tender, fluffy and perfect for birthdays and other celebrations. Easy to make in 1 bowl. If you love these, you will also love my Vegan Vanilla Cake.
This is my favorite recipe for vegan cupcakes. They are the fluffiest cupcakes, not to mention soft, buttery and sweet with the perfect vanilla flavor. You definitely don’t need eggs, butter or milk to make delicious cupcakes, I promise!
Top with swirly Vegan Buttercream, Vegan Chocolate Frosting, Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting or Vegan Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
What I love about this recipe
- The cupcakes are made in 1 bowl, with a minimal list of simple ingredients.
- You don’t need a hand mixer (except for the frosting!)
- Cake flour makes the cupcakes incredibly fluffy, soft and moist. I made a batch with all purpose flour and the cupcakes were fine but drier and not nearly as fluffy and light.
- They are so easy to make; you will be eating cupcakes in no time!
How to make vegan cupcakes in 1 bowl
- In a measuring cup, combine soy milk (or another non-dairy milk) and apple cider vinegar. Set aside to curdle (this is vegan buttermilk).
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Pour in milk/vinegar mixture, melted vegan butter and vanilla extract.
- Whisk until smooth and well combined.
Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full and bake for 18-20 minutes. You will get 24 cupcakes out of this recipe, so either bake one pan at a time, or both at the same time if you have two pans.
Let them cool a few minutes in the pan before carefully transferring to a cooling rack. Let them cool completely before frosting.
Frosting for vegan cupcakes
To truly make these cupcakes in 1 bowl, simply wipe or rinse out the cupcake batter bowl and use it for the frosting. OR if you are feeling really lazy, you could pick up a container of Duncan Hines Vanilla Frosting, which happens to be vegan. I recommend making your own, it tastes way better! But I’m not here to judge. ?
Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting with Vegan Buttercream or other frosting you desire. I use this simple piping kit for decorating cupcakes, but you could simply spread the frosting on with a butter knife.
Check out my little tutorial for how to pipe cupcakes nice and tall in my Vegan Frosting Recipe. I also love to decorate them with sprinkles. Sweetapolita has the prettiest vegan sprinkles, and I always keep some on hand!
Gluten free vegan cupcakes
To make these cupcakes gluten free, you can substitute a quality gluten free flour mix, such as King Arthur’s Measure for Measure. They won’t be quite as light or moist as using cake flour, but it works pretty well!
Want more vegan cupcakes?
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
- 1 Bowl Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
- Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Pecan Frosting
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk (or use another non-dairy milk)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 3/4 cups cake flour*
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup melted vegan butter or neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 Recipe Vegan Buttercream Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin pan (2 if you have them, if not bake one tray at a time) with paper liners. I usually spray the liners with a little oil as well to prevent sticking.
- Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup or bowl, give a little stir and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined.
- Now pour in the milk/vinegar mixture, melted vegan butter or oil and vanilla. Whisk until well combined. There may be a few small lumps, but you don't want any large lumps in the batter.
- Fill the liners 1/2 full and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Carefully transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack, then place new liners in the pan and bake the rest of the cupcakes until you have used all the batter.
- Cool completely, then pipe on Vegan Buttercream Frosting or another frosting of your choosing. Decorate with sprinkles or sliced strawberries. Enjoy!
- Store cupcakes on the counter, covered for up to 4 days (they stay moist!). They also freeze perfectly for up to 3 months, with or without frosting.
Video
Notes
- I tested a batch with all purpose flour, and cake flour definitely produced fluffier, softer cupcakes. But in a pinch, you can use regular flour.
- Gluten free – Use a gluten free flour mix.
- One batch of vanilla frosting was enough for me to frost all 24 cupcakes, but if you want a LOT of frosting on each one, you may want to double the frosting recipe.
- Funfetti cupcakes – Add 1/2-3/4 cup sprinkles to the batter, folding them in at the end.
Nutrition
*This recipe was originally published in March 2020 and has been updated with a slightly improved recipe (less salt, vegan butter instead of oil) March 2022. I’m always working on improving my recipes, thank you!
Cupcakes tasted fantastic! I used veggie oil instead of canola in the recipe. My cupcakes came out slightly dense but still yummy. Is that caused by the oil? Or what would I have done wrong?? Everything else was according to the recipe
I don’t think that was caused by the oil, but there are a couple of reasons for dense cupcakes. One, and most likely, is that you over mixed the batter. It’s very easy to do, and almost always causes cupcakes to be more dense. Two, you measured slightly too much flour. I recommend spooning flour into a measuring cup, and leveling off with a knife for accurate measuring. Also, did you use cake flour? Because while regular flour works okay, they will be more dense without cake flour. Hope that helps!
I’ve only been mixing until just the lumps are gone :/ yes, I’ve been using cake flour too. I scoop it with my measuring cup and level it off that way. Would scooping it vs. spooning it in, make the flour off by that much?? I’ve never had an issue with my cupcakes in the past
Continuing from my other comment.. come to think of it, could it be anything with the vegan buttermilk? The last vanilla cupcake recipe I tried was a buttermilk recipe as well and they were also dense
Honestly, I’m not sure what is causing your cupcakes to turn out dense. It’s so hard to know without being there with you. I don’t think vegan buttermilk has anything to do with it, as I use it all the time. The most common reason for dense cupcakes/muffins/cakes is simply over mixing the batter, or not measuring correctly, but if you are doing those things, I’m just not sure. Try spooning the flour in, instead of scooping. It can make a difference. And you might want to check your oven’s temperature to make sure it doesn’t run too hot or anything.
Hi, is there an oil that would be an acceptable substitute for canola oil? Thanks.
Sure! Any light tasting oil will work. Melted coconut oil works as well.
I love it! I noticed sometimes you use applesauce in your other recipes. Is there a reason why you didn’t use it in this? And is it ok if I add fruit to it, ie strawberries, etc?
Thank you! Sometimes I use applesauce in baking but not always. I do a lot of recipe testing when it comes to baking to get to the final recipe I post, so it just depends on what I’m making. 🙂 It would probably be okay to add fruit but I imagine it will make the cupcakes a little more moist and tender, hopefully not too much so, because the fruit will leak natural juices into them as they bake, if that makes sense.
These are absolutely perfect! I used extra creamy oat milk for the plant milk, and added about 1/4 cup sprinkles make them extra fun and colorful. The cake flour is an absolute must – they are so fluffy, light, and tasty! I paired them with the creamy vanilla frosting (I usually go for Earth Balance but this time I used Country Crock plant butter sticks, which were a winner!). I used to make vanilla cupcakes for parties in my pre-vegan days, and these are even better! Thank you for the amazing recipe!
You’re so welcome!! I’m so glad you like them!
I recently found out only organic sugar is vegan. Is there a difference between organic granulated cane sugar and regular white granulated sugar? The organic cane sugar I bought looks coarser and darker than regular sugar and was wondering if this will effect the recipe. Thanks!
It depends on where you live (I believe in the UK all sugar is vegan). There is no difference in terms of taste between organic granulated and white granulated. They are both very fine sugar, but organic has a slight tan color instead of pure white. It sounds like you may have bought coarse or raw sugar, if so that is not the same. Hope that helps!
Hi there –
Just a heads up that the first step says to prep a 12 cup muffin tin…I missed that this recipe was for 18 and thought I made a mistake. Didn’t want to waste batter so I’m going to have ginormous cupcakes. I hope they turn out alright!
They are pefection even though I made them too big. I was half watching my toddler and didnt even think to make MORE cupcakes instead of bigger ones. Duh! I even had to use 3/4 cup almond flour bc I ran out of regular and theyre great. Thanks!
You’re welcome!!
I made these for my sons birthday and they were a hit! Thank you!
Would it be possible to add lemon extract instead of vanilla to make them lemon cupcakes?
Sure, I might also add some lemon zest, to both the cupcakes and the frosting. 🙂
Nice recipe! Would I be able to substitute the apple cider vinegar with white distilled vinegar?
Yes, that will work fine. Hope you enjoy!
Replaced the oil with apple sauce and it worked just great.
Hey, how much applesauce did you use?
Could you fold in sprinkles to this recipe to make it a funfetti cupcake?
Sure!
These were hands down the BEST cupcakes I have ever made. My whole family loved them. I did use store bought frosting though.
Thank you Nora!
You’re so welcome!!
Hi Nora, I came across your chocolate cake recipe on Pinterest, and made it for my fiance’s birthday. It was AMAZING! She’s only been vegan for a year, and having amazing recipes is helping fend off those pesky cravings. – – – In that recipe, you use regular flour, add boiling water at the end. Could that be done with this recipe, instead of using cake flour as written? How much almond milk would I subtract, to replace with boiling water at the end? I’m hoping that’s an option, since our local stores don’t carry cake flour, but we loved the moistness of the chocolate cake. Thank you so much!!! xo, Anna
I totally hear you, and you aren’t the first to ask if you can do the boiling water trick with vanilla cake or cupcakes. But I have tested it and for some reason it doesn’t work great. I have recently discovered you can make your own cake flour by taking 1 cup of flour, remove a tablespoon and add a tablespoon of cornstarch. Mix it up, and you have cake flour! Hope that helps!
Brilliant! You are so talented – thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!<3 <3 <3
You’re so welcome! Thanks for the comment!!
Yay! We made your amazing chocolate cake last month for my daughter’s birthday. Our son’s bday is tomorrow and he requested vanilla cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. Thanks for providing this with perfect timing!! Off to buy cake flour!
You’re welcome!
Hey Nora,
This is by far the best vegan cupcake recipe I’ve baked! They’re super fluffy, light and moist. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
You’re so welcome!
What if the nut milk and acv isn’t curdling?
It should still be okay. Some milks curdle more than others.
Hey Nora! Could this recipe be used to make a cake as well?
It probably could, though you could always make my Vegan Vanilla Cake. It’s quite similar.
Turned out pretty great, but not quite sweet enough for cupcakes in my opinion. I think I’ll add a bit more sugar next time. Linked recipe for frosting was amazing! 🙂
I think it’d be helpful to include your comment about adding cornstarch to all purpose flour to make cake flour within the recipe.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed them.
Hey Nora! Can I use a homemade cake flour substitute? BTW, I love your recipes. 😀
Yes, that should work well! Thank you!!
I want to make a banana cupcake, can I add a cup of mashed banana to this recipe? It looks incredible. BTW, your chocolate sheet cake is out of this world!!!! My family can’t stop raving…and eating it! Thanks for all your wonderful recipes….everything I’ve tried has been a winner!!!
Thanks so much, glad everyone is enjoying the sheet cake! It might work with mashed bananas, though they will be more moist. Probably will work though!
Yum!!!! These are so good. I made these with King Arthur Gluten Free All-Purpose flour and they probably weren’t as fluffy as yours, but they still turned out great!!
So glad to hear that!
I tried this with almond flour and I can’t explain what came out of the oven! 🙁 What did I do wrong???
Yes, almond flour will not work when subbed for regular flour in baked goods. You will almost always have this problem! It just doesn’t work the same at all. Usually you end up with bubbly, way too moist cake/cupcakes/brownies/cookies.
Wow! It’s like you were here lol! That’s exactly what I had. I am new to gluten free, so I had no idea almond flour wouldn’t work. 🙁 How sad. I guess I’ll have to do a little research next time. Thanks!!
Hey Nora, what is the name of the cake flour you use for this recipe.
Thank you.
It’s just called “cake flour”. I have used many different brands. If you need to, you can use all purpose flour, but cake flour makes the cupcakes lighter and fluffier.
Can this recipe be doubled and still be okay?
Yes, it can be doubled with not problems. Thanks!
Made these yesterday but had no vanilla so changed for coconut flavoring , they are super yummy
I’m so glad to hear they were yummy!
Oh my gosh!! My daughter literally just asked for vanilla cupcakes for her bday next week, and I said, hmm let’s check NoraCooks to see if she has something that might work. Miracle!! You’re awesome
That’s so great!
Ohhh they look gorgeous – there’s nothing so pretty as a cupcake!
I agree!
Thank you! My only complaint is the confusing statement “ You don’t need a hand mixer (except for the frosting!)”. So you DO need one, unless you’re eating plain vanilla cupcakes with no frosting.. which I’m sure people do, but does that qualify as a cupcake?
As someone who doesn’t have a mixer, I was excited to think why would that be included…
Thank you so much, can’t wait to try out some of these recipes.
Sorry if that was confusing! Yes, you don’t need a mixer for the cupcakes and you could choose to use store bought frosting or something like chocolate ganache (which I have a recipe coming soon!). I guess I included it because I still appreciate the simplicity of not needing a mixer for the cake or cupcake part, even if I have to get it out for the frosting. You can actually use a wooden spoon for buttercream type frostings, they just take quite awhile and will work your arm out. 🙂