The Best Non-Dairy Vanilla Cupcakes

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These vanilla cupcakes made without dairy or eggs are a wonderful dessert option for Spring, Easter, Mother's Day, Birthdays, and various other holidays or celebrations. They are suitable for people of all ages! With this simple recipe, you can quickly make them and have more fun moments with your loved ones.

full view of basic cupcakes topped with frosting on wood surface.

I think cupcakes are superior to cake. Truly.

They're easily held which makes it perfect when you're on-the-go and need to mingle with family or friends. Especially with little ones. These are easier for their tiny hands to hold!

This recipe also makes use of my perfect vegan buttercream frosting!

Jump to:

🥘Ingredients
🔪Instructions
📖Variations
🍱Storage
❓Frequently Asked Questions
📖 Recipe

🥘Ingredients

If you need to use Gluten-free flour, make sure to use an all purpose kind! Things such as plain almond or coconut flour will leave you with unrisen cupcakes!

You can swap the lemon juice for vinegar if needed.

Any plant-based milk is fine. I prefer to use oat.

1 teaspoon of baking soda can be replaced by 2 teaspoons of baking powder or the other way around.

See recipe card for exact measurements.

🔪Instructions

Start off by adding lemon juice to the plant-based milk and setting aside for 5-10 minutes. This will be your buttermilk.

step one in making cupcakes with all ingredients in bowl.

Step One - In a large bowl, sift flour and baking powder, once sifted,add sugar and saltand whisk until well mixed. Next, add in your liquid ingredients, oil, vanilla and buttermilk mixture.

Step Two - Stir everything together until you end up with a smooth batter.

cupcake batter in muffin tin inside of cupcake paper.

Step Three - Grab a 12 cup muffin tin and line it with cupcake liners. This is optional, you can simply oil the muffin cups if you wish to skip using cupcake liners. Depending on the liners you use, you may still need to oil them as well.

freshly baked cupcakes on a cooling rack.

Step Four - Bake those cupcakes, pull them out and let your cupcakes cool for at least 2 hours to overnight before frosting them.

👩🏻‍🍳Cook's Tip
Try not to over-mix your cupcake batter as this may cause rising and overall texture issues. And of course use cake flour for an even fluffier cupcake. And if you can find it of course.

close up bite shot of crumb for vegan cupcakes.

Thanks to my amazing husband for hand modeling for me!

📖Variations

This vegan cupcake recipe leaves it open to customization!

Add different flavoring like orange extract or almond extract. Cut back on the plant-based milk by a tablespoon per tablespoon swap of other flavoring liquids. Add up to 2 tablespoons of other flavorings.
Food coloring would be super fun for a kids birthday party! Be sure to use gel type food coloring to avoid adding too much liquid.

🍱Storage

Refrigerator - These cupcakes can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 7 days.

Freezer - You can freeze these cupcakes without icing for up to 3 months in a freezer safe bag or container.

Thaw naturally in the fridge and then add icing.

Be Sure to Check out some other Desserts!

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❓Frequently Asked Questions

Are vegan cupcakes healthy?

While vegan cupcakes may not contain as much fats or saturated fast and definitely has no cholesterol, they are still considered a dessert and aren't really meant to be a health food. You can certainly make healthy vegan cupcakes, but why would you want to?

Why are my vegan cupcakes dense?

There could be a number of reasons for this. Did you make sure your oven was preheated before putting them in? Did you sift the flour when you added it? Is your baking powder out of date? What kind of flour did you use? Different things can cause disasters in baking.

If you've tried this recipe and enjoyed it, I would love it if you could rate it 5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a comment! It's a great, and free way to support me!