Vegan Lemon Cupcakes (Moist and Perfect!)

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!

1. Classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
2. Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes
3. Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
4. 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

---

★★★★★

5 from 18 reviews

• Author: Alison Andrews
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 45 mins
• Yield: 12

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

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 virgin 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

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. 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.
3. Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter between them.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. When baked transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
6. 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.
7. 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