Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

by Steph Sunshine at StephSunshine.com

Yield 24 cupcakes

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes

Total Time 42 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup vegan butter sticks (such as Earth Balance, softened to room temperature)
  • 2 cup vegan granulated sugar
  • 3/8 cup aquafaba (liquid from a can of chickpeas)
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp. white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
  • 4 cups cake flour*
  • 1/2 tbsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
  • 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. plain, unsweetened almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
  • 1-2 batch vegan buttercream frosting
  • vegan sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Then line two cupcake pans with 24 cupcake liners.
  2. Add your vegan butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment to cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3-4 minutes, until well-combined and fluffy. A handheld electric mixer works, too. Alternately, you can do this by hand, but you will need to spend more time mixing the ingredients.
  3. Add aquafaba, vanilla, and vinegar to your butter mix, and cream again until well-combined.
  4. In a separate large mixing bowl, sift together your flour, salt, and baking powder.
  5. Add 1/3 of your dry ingredients to the stand mixer, then turn the mixer to medium-low until just combined. Then add 1/3 of your almond milk and mix again. If you need to, you can scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Repeat twice more until you've added all of your dry ingredients and almond milk. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
  6. Use a pair of large spoons to scoop your batter into the liners. Fill each liner with 55 grams of batter (approximately 1 1/3 large spoonfuls).
  7. Bake for 21-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, and the cupcake springs back when light pressure is applied.
  8. Let your cupcakes cool in the pan until they're cool enough to handle, then remove them from the pan and transfer them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
  9. After the cupcakes are completely cooled, frost them with vegan buttercream frosting. For a thin layer of frosting, use 1 batch, and spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes with an icing spatula. For a thicker, cupcake-shop-style layer of frosting, use a piping bag with a large tip to pipe 2 batches of frosting on top of the cupcakes.
  10. (Optional) Add vegan sprinkles or other toppings to your frosting, and enjoy!

Notes & Hints

For the most accurate flour measurement, switch to metric and weigh your flour. If you don't have a kitchen scale, be sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup before leveling it off; don't scoop the cup into the flour.

You can use all-purpose flour in this recipe, but the cupcakes won't be quite as soft.

More instructions for piping frosting onto the cupcakes are available in the blog post above.

These cupcakes can be stored with frosting in an air-tight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, in the fridge for 5-6 days, or in the freezer for 3 months.

StephSunshine