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!
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour (220g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or other non-dairy milk
- 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil (80ml)
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Lemon Extract
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar (360g)
- 1/3 cup Vegan Butter (75g)
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
Decoration:
- Lemon Zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°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 20-25 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.
Video
Notes
- Nutritional information includes frosting.
- Adapted from our Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes.
Hello! If I add vegan buttermilk to this recipe, then can I skip almond milk and vinegar? Thanks so much
Yes you can use the equivalent amount of vegan buttermilk instead. 🙂
The best cupcakes I’ve made so far!
Thanks so much Olga!
These are some amazing cupcakes because not only do they taste great but they are vegan!
I made these for my family and they LOVED the cupcakes! Such a light and lemony flavor that is now a new favorite in our home 😀
Thanks so much Mori!
FANTASTIC. Boyfriend and I have been doing “no meat May,” which for me has been “Vegan May.” Pretty sure its going to turn into a long term thing with excellent recipes like this. Not really a sweets person but this REALLY hit the spot. Had been buying vegan cupcakes at a local health food store and while they are pretty good, found them to be generally dry and also very expensive. These were out of this world amazing. Followed the recipe exactly. Cupcakes took exactly 25 minutes. Only thing I did after following the recipe first and then tasting was to go back and add some more vegan butter to make it 1/2 cup. The original was a bit too overly sweet for my taste. In the future I may add some additional lemon to the batter as well, but 10/10 will make again.
Awesome Sarah! So happy to hear that! Thanks for the great review.
Made these for my Southern Non-Vegan Mom for Mothers’ Day and she loved them!!! Great recipe!!
Awesome! Thanks so much Erin!
Perfection!
Yay! Thanks a million!
I want to make these right now but I do not have any lemon extract, should I add more zest, lemon juice or I do have almond extract? Thanks
You can just use extra lemon juice.
Been looking for a recipe that mimics the one my mother used to make way back when for my children. Her recipe wasn’t vegan – but this looks very similar to the lemon drizzle cake she made. Think I will try these as cupcakes and then pour on the drizzle (lemon juice and caster sugar) once they come out of the oven.
Sounds awesome, hope they come out great!
I made this cupcake, though I didn’t make the frosting as I was using another flavor. This was the absolutely best cupcake I have ever made! You can’t even tell that it was vegan and I will 100% be making these in the future! Thank you so much!
Awesome! Thanks so much Jolie!
I would like to make 6 lemon cupcakes and 6 vegan chocolate.
Will using the ingredients in half its quantity work?
Hi Preeti, yes you can halve the recipe. 🙂
I was testing some lemon cupcake recipes to see which one was the best and this was the clear winner. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Thanks so much Leona!
Just whipped these up on a whim tonight. DELICIOUS, light and so easy
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
can i just ask if these can be made with gluten free flour
It should be fine so long as it’s a gluten-free all purpose baking blend.
Can you freeze the cupcakes?
Yes!
Omg these are absolutely divine!! They were a huge hit with my non vegan family ????????
Yay! Thanks so much Elicia!