Light and spongey vegan lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. Packed with lemon flavor, deliciously moist and super simple to make.
These vegan lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting and lemon zest are so divine, they are my latest favorite cupcake in the whole entire world.
Well, of course that is until I bake one of my other absolute favorites in the entire world – such as – any of the other cupcakes on this site. Love them all I must admit.
These were super good and I’m a big fan. As is everyone else who ate them.
That being said I didn’t have the easiest time in making these. I had the idea of using lemon juice (in quite a large quantity, maybe that was the mistake) to make these, but hey, it just didn’t work out.
The moment I added that lemon juice to the batter it fluffed up in a way that just didn’t look right, so I was highly sceptical even before they went into the oven, and I wasn’t wrong!
They came out just as ‘not quite right’ as they went in.
The perfect lemon flavor
So I had to ditch the lemon juice idea and instead went for lemon zest and lemon extract to create the deliciously lemon flavor for these cupcakes. The lemon buttercream ended up being where the lemon juice got a chance to shine!
The lemon buttercream has lemon juice and lemon extract and has a fabulously lemony taste, and topped with lemon zest there is no doubt that these are lemon cupcakes!
I adapted the recipe from my vegan vanilla cupcakes which is just the best recipe! Perfectly moist with a light and spongey texture.
I think you are going to love these vegan lemon cupcakes! They are:
- Deliciously lemony
- Light and spongey
- Perfectly moist
- Topped with lemon buttercream
- Super easy
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for a couple of days, or keep them in the fridge (covered) where they will last up to a week.
More vegan cupcakes!
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes
And if you love lemon flavor then check out our vegan lemon cake and our vegan lemon pie.
So let us know what you think of these lemon cupcakes! Leave a comment and rate the recipe if you’ve made it!
And definitely sign up to our mailing list – you’ll get a free book with 10 great recipes – and you’ll stay updated with all our latest recipe postings!
Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 45 mins
- Yield: 12
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Light and spongey vegan lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. Packed with lemon flavor, deliciously moist and super simple to make.
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (200g) Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (240ml) Soy Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Vegetable Oil (I used extra virginĀ olive oil)
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
For the Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 3 cups (360g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
- 1/3 cup (75g) Vegan Butter or Margarine
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice (freshly squeezed)
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
For Decoration:
- Lemon Zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350Ā°F (180Ā°C).
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda and salt. Then add the soy milk, vegetable oil, vinegar, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon zest. Whisk briefly with a hand whisk to combine properly and remove any lumps.
- Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter between them.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- When baked transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, lemon juice and lemon essence to an electric mixing bowl. Start at slow speed and gradually increase speed until smooth and thick. If it’s too thick, add a little more lemon juice (a couple of drops at a time) until you reach the right consistency.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and then decorate with some lemon zest.
Notes
Adapted from our Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes.
- Category: Cupcakes, Dessert
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake (of 12)
- Calories: 345
- Sugar: 48g
- Sodium: 254mg
- Fat: 9.4g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4g
- Carbohydrates: 63g
- Fiber: 0.6g
- Protein: 2.5g
Keywords: vegan lemon cupcakes
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Love how clear this all is.
Can I just check the weights are right on the instructions? It says 220g of flour and 200g of sugar, but 3/4 of a cup MORE of flour – surely 3/4 of a cup doesnāt only weigh 20g?
★★★★★
Hi Ellie, the weights are correct because it’s not a measure of volume but of weight. So a cup of stones weighs more than a cup of feathers for example. So in the case of flour – 1 cup is 125g and in the case of sugar – 1 cup is 200g. All the best! š
Can I use lemon juice instead of lemon extract? I donāt have any
Sure, the lemon flavor will be more subtle though. š
I was wondering if I could use applesauce to replace the oil.?
Hi Anna, sure it should be fine to do this. All the best! š
Can I double the recipe or do I need to make it separately for 24 cupcakes?
Made these last week and were DELISH! Making again for another party this week!
★★★★★
Hi Jen, if you’re careful with the measurements you should be fine to double it! So glad you enjoyed the recipe, thanks for the awesome rating! š
Awesome! Winner!!!
★★★★★
Hi Alison. I made the cupcake batter this past weekend and unfortunately my oven just decided not to work. My husband then suggested that we should try making it into pancakes and it actually worked wonderfully. They were super yummy and he(husband) and my son could not get enough of it. And to think I almost threw the batter out(rolls eyes). I’m glad to know my husband still has a working brain, hahahaha! Anyway, thanks for the great recipe š
Oh wow! Who knew? Haha, thanks so much for sharing! So happy it worked out. š
I made these today and they were super easy like you said! I substituted white sugar for brown sugar and they turned out perfect! More vegan pastry recipes please!
★★★★★
So glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for sharing and the awesome review! xo
These should be called “vanishing lemon cupcakes”… they are eaten as fast as I can make them! Absolutely delicious.
★★★★★
Hahaha I love that name! So glad they were delicious! Thanks for the awesome review Barbara. xo
tried this for my boyfriend’s mom’s birthday today and they were a huge hit!!! wanted a lemony cupcake and I definitely got one – so incredibly simple as well!
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad they were a hit! Thanks for the wonderful rating. š
Thank you Alison… absolutely wonderful vegan lemon cupcakes with smooth, tangy frosting! I always use lemon essential oil in place of lemon extract; it works beautifully. LOVE your recipes!
Hi Barbara! So happy to hear you enjoyed the cupcakes and glad to hear lemon essential oil is great to use as well. Thanks for sharing. š
Can you use lemon juice instead of lemon extract?
Yes you can, the lemon flavor won’t be as strong though.
Sorry I give this recipe 5stars yummy ??
★★★★★
Converted this recipe into gluten free and tweaked it’s a little I used doves gf plain flour and I replaced the sugar with sugar and crumbs lemon icing sugar I use an extra 1/8 of olive oil and I didn’t use the lemon or vanilla extract but did up the lemon zest to about 2 tablespoons.OMG they was fluffy, soft and moist ? I put a zesty core of lemon curd and made a Sherbet lemon frosting no-one noticed that they was vegan and gluten-free ?
★★★★★
Sounds awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and the fabulous review! xo
Hey Alison how many cupcakes will the above recipe make ?
It makes 12 cupcakes. š
Hi, I’m wondering what ratio to use to substitute all purpose with cake flour ? Would this recipe still work?
Hi Kanika, the ratio would be the same, I haven’t tried this with cake flour, but usually cake flour has a lower percentage of gluten in it, but nonetheless I think it should still work fine and as far as I remember, others have used cake flour in some of our cakes and it has worked fine. All the best! š
Lemon cupcakes were perfect, will be making them again. Thank you for sharing recipe, keep them coming:)
★★★★★
Fantastic! So happy to hear. Thanks so much for the wonderful review! š
Hi
Is there anything I can substitute the vinegar with as I only have malt vinegar.
Thanks
Hi Hannah, the acidity of the vinegar reacts with the baking soda and causes the cupcakes to rise so you should be able to use lemon juice instead since it’s also an acid ingredient, though I haven’t tried it in this recipe.
Hi, instead of soy milk can I use regular milk?
Sure! š
I made these last weekend. Incredibly sweet and tangy! I would say that unless you are a big fan of lemon you should make these with a vanilla/chocolate/strawberry frosting. I loved them, but the lemon frosting was a little to much lemon for my husband. I think the cake part of these is the real winner; so perfectly moist and sweet, it was the best “cake” part of a cupcake I have ever had. Do not write these off if you don’t want the lemon buttercream. Just make them with a different flavor frosting. They are well worth it! Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Vivi, thanks so much for sharing and the great review! š