These vegan gluten free vanilla cupcakes are fluffy and moist and so delicious. No one will guess they are both vegan and gluten-free! Topped with a velvety vanilla frosting and sprinkles.
You will love these light, fluffy, moist and delicious vegan gluten free vanilla cupcakes. They are super easy to make and only require 1-bowl!
A common complaint about gluten free baked goods is that they are too dry. Well, that’s certainly not the case for these cupcakes (or any of our gluten-free baked goods for that matter…). They are perfectly moist and totally delicious.
The recipe is based on our vegan vanilla cupcakes (made with regular flour) and with just a couple of small changes we get the perfect gluten free vanilla cupcake recipe!
And if you love all things gluten free then also check out our easy gluten free chocolate cake and our gluten free pancakes.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Cupcakes:
Ingredient Notes:
- Gluten free all purpose flour – this should be a flour blend that is meant to replace regular flour in baking. You can really use any blend, we have tried a fair few and all have worked out great. One of our favorite blends is Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour. The blend you have may contain xantham gum or it may not, don’t worry about it either way. If your blend doesn’t contain it, there is no need to add it in.
- Baking soda – this must be baking soda and not baking powder. It is also known as bicarbonate of soda in some countries.
- White vinegar – distilled white vinegar reacts with the baking soda and causes the cupcakes to rise.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with any vegetable oil.
- Soy milk – can be replaced with any non-dairy milk.
Frosting
Frosting Notes:
- Soy milk – can be replaced with any non-dairy milk.
- Sprinkles – are entirely optional and just for decoration.
How To Make Vegan Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add gluten free all purpose flour, white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil, vanilla extract and distilled white vinegar. Mix into a batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if they’re done: insert the toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes, it should come out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the tray for a few minutes before transferring the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Add vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and soy milk to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and add sprinkles to the top.
Chef’s Tips
The cupcakes brown quite a lot on top. This may vary a little depending on the brand of gluten-free flour, but it’s not something to worry about. As you can see from the photo of the cupcake sliced in half (below) the texture inside is perfect.
The cupcakes must be completely cool before frosting. If they are even slightly warm, the frosting will simply melt off, so you have to be patient, which is difficult when they smell this good!
Recipe FAQ
This recipe can adapt to three 6-inch cake layers (bake for 25 minutes) or two 7-inch cake layers (bake for 30 minutes). It can also be made as a single layer 9-inch cake (bake for 30-35 minutes).
We have made vegan vanilla cupcakes with regular wheat flour, check out that recipe.
The BEST results are going to come from using a gluten-free all purpose flour blend. I have had some epic flops trying to use a single type of flour such as rice flour. Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Blend is a great flour to use, but any gluten-free all purpose flour blend is going to do the trick.
No, it will either already be in your gluten-free all purpose baking blend or it won’t, but either way, don’t worry about it. I have made gluten-free cakes with blends that did contain xantham gum and blends that did not. All have worked out wonderfully. As long as you’re using an all purpose baking blend, you should be good.
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay good for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where they will stay good for 5-7 days. They are also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze them. They can be frozen either frosted or unfrosted.
More Gluten Free Baking Recipes
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Gluten Free Carrot Cake
- Vegan Gluten Free Brownies
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread
- Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ¾ cups Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (238g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar
Frosting:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2-3 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
Decoration (Optional):
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.
- Add gluten free all purpose flour, white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil, vanilla extract and distilled white vinegar. Mix into a batter.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Check with a toothpick to see if they’re done: insert the toothpick into the center of one of the cupcakes, it should come out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the tray for a few minutes before transferring the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- Add vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons soy milk to the bowl of your stand mixer and starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth. If the frosting is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon of soy milk.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and add sprinkles to the top.
Notes
- Gluten free all purpose flour – this should be a flour blend that is meant to replace regular flour in baking. You can really use any blend, we have tried a fair few and all have worked out great. One of our favorite blends though is Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour. The blend you have may contain xantham gum or it may not, don’t worry about it either way. If your blend doesn’t contain it, there is no need to add it in.
- Make a layer cake: This recipe can adapt to three 6-inch cake layers (bake for 25 minutes) or two 7-inch cake layers (bake for 30 minutes). It can also be made as a single layer 9-inch cake (bake for 30-35 minutes).
- Storing and Freezing: Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay good for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where they will stay good for 5-7 days. They are also freezer friendly if you’d like to freeze them. They can be frozen either frosted or unfrosted.
- This recipe was first posted in August 2016. It has been updated with new photos and tips and the recipe itself has been slightly updated and improved.
Hi, would this recipe work with chocolate chips as well?
I’m not sure, I haven’t tried adding chocolate chips. It can sometimes be tricky because if the batter isn’t thick enough (like a muffin batter) then they can sometimes sink to the bottom. Since I haven’t tried adding chocolate chips to this I’m not sure if it would work.
What brand vegan butter, do you recommend I try the stick?
The stick version does work well in frostings. Earth Balance or Miyokos are both good brands if you’re in the USA.
Can I replace the white vinegar for something else or omit it?
If I use bobs all purpose flour do I still need the baking soda and salt?
You need the vinegar to react with the baking soda. You can use apple cider vinegar as well. You will always need the baking soda and salt.
Hi,
Did you use bobs 1:1 or Bobs All Purp?
Also would this work for 6” pans? I’m hoping for a 3 layer party cake. Thank you
Bob’s all purpose baking flour. It will work perfectly for 6-inch pans if you do 3 layers. 🙂
HI Alison,
Do you think I can half the recipe? I have guests who are allergic to rice (so gluten free flour is not possible) but I am gluten intolerant, so I was planning to do two separate recipes – one with all purpose flour, the other gluten free flour.
Thanks!
Hi Joyce, yes I think that will work fine!
Hi Alison,
Can we double the recipe ?
Also can we customise by adding stuff to it like coconut milk?
Hi Halima, I’m sure you can double the recipe, in terms of customizing, you could use coconut milk instead of the soy milk, but not in addition to it. All the best!
Hi!
Can you substitute applesauce entirely instead of using oil?
Also, when I made your vegan vanilla cake recipe, I’m not sure what happened, but the cake didn’t turn out golden and seemed relatively dense? The flavor was great, but it was also gummy. Not sure what could have caused that, maybe I didn’t cook it long enough?
Hi Kelsey, yes you can try replacing all the oil with applesauce. There can be a number of reasons for that to happen. Overmixing the cake batter, letting it sit too long before baking (it should be baked right away), or the oven temp not being correct (an oven thermometer is very handy to figure that out).
Please help Alison! I’m trying so hard to make gf cakes and I can’t figure out what’s going wrong. I followed your recipe to the letter as I’m aware, but my cupcakes sunk quite dramatically in the middle and the consistency wasn’t right at all, they were cooked but seemed stodgy. The batter was quite thin when it went in. What would cause this? X
Same thing happened to me. I also followed everything. Wanted something for baby’s first birthday who’s allergic to everything. I used a good GF flour blend. Still tasted great though. Any ideas how to fix if I try the recipe again?
Hi Elana, if your cupcakes sink in the middle this is usually because either the oven door was opened too early, or your baking soda has expired or just isn’t good anymore (you can test it by mixing 1/2 teaspoon baking soda with some distilled white vinegar, it should bubble up if it’s still good) and then it can also happen if your oven is running too hot, the best way to check this is to use an oven thermometer. Glad they tasted good though! Hope this helps for next time!
This recipe was a life saver. I made this recipe as a cake today for my son’s birthday. I have to say that this was one of the best gluten free egg free dairy free cakes I have tried! It’s been near impossible to make a GF DF EF cake that everyone would eat. I would make it again. Thank you!!
So happy to hear that Katie! Thanks a million!
Hi Alison,
Thanks so much for your recipe. Can you keep these out of the fridge and for how long? Thanks!
Hi Alicia, yes sure, about 3 days at room temp.
These came out great, very moist and not too sweet. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Wow, made these for my sons birthday really impressed. I put vanilla frosting and a raspberry on top, delicious. Thank you. Do you have a recipe for Yorkshire puddings?
So glad you liked them! I don’t have a recipe for Yorkshire puddings yet, but I can recommend this one from A Virtual Vegan. 🙂
How would I substitute the cup of white sugar for stevia? Or do you think it would even work? Thanks in advance.
Hi Julie, sorry I have no experience at all with subbing sugar for stevia so can’t advise.
Hmmmmm not sure what happened here but they came out very salty. Texture is great and color is nice but they sunk in the middle and taste heavy of salt. Followed recipe also.
Did you by any chance use a gluten-free self raising flour instead of gf all purpose? Self raising has baking powder added which would account for both the salty taste and the sinking in the middle.
I have tried several of the recipes and they have turned out well, however they did have a very heavy salty taste to them. If i omit the baking soda and use baking powder instead, the salty taste is not present.
Hello,
I made the cupcakes and they turned out well. I would say the flavour is a bit like caramel. I plan to serve mine with vanilla icing or frosting, LivB’s vegan caramel sauce and blackberries. Should be amazing. Thanks for taking the time to create this recipe. It filled a gaping hole in our family’s celebrations.
Hi Nicole! So happy to hear they turned out well. Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂