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
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
- 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 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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These cupcakes were a hit with all my non-vegan family members! I’m glad I didn’t follow the advice of others and reduce the sugar. It was just the right amount of sweetness for me… and apparently everyone else who had one or two. Next time, I plan to add just a touch more of lemon extract to the muffin mix because I wanted a little more of it. Delicious though. Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Kristal! And I agree – it’s not too sweet at all! 🙂 Thanks so much for the great review.
Everyone loved these and I like that the ingredients are easy to find in my rural grocery store. My frosting was a little runny, I used margarine. Just kept them in the fridge and they were fine.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Sharon!
I’ve lost count how many times I’ve made these cupcake for friends and family, they are that popular (and I’m not even vegan!). My go-to dessert for parties, thanks for sharing this straight-forward recipe with us 🙂
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much Colin!
Just made these. Your site is my absolute favorite vegan recipe site! I cut the sugar for the cupcakes part in half and I made 2/3rds of what the frosting recipe called for. I also used two tbsp lemon juice for the cupcake and added a bit of extra lemon zest. It was all incredible. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Lisa!
Thank you for this delicious recipe. First time making vegan cupcakes 🙂
I absolutely love this recipe! The cupcakes are delicious and so easy to make. They rise beautifully everytime. Lemon is my new favourite cupcake flavour.
★★★★★
Thanks Janice! So happy to hear that! 🙂
These were delicious and didn’t last very long! As per usual with vegan recipes, I felt there was too much sugar so dropped the amount by 25% with no ill effects on taste or texture.
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious and so simple to make. I have made these time and time again and the recipe never fails. Beautiful with candied lemon peel on top if you want to make them look more fancy.
★★★★★
Thanks Kaala!
Can this recipe be made into a layer cake?
Hi Shani, we have a layer cake lemon cake recipe. Alternatively this recipe would make a 2-layer 7-inch cake.
Thanks for the recipe, fluffy, light and yummy, I used I cup raspberries, and sub quarter cup coconut yoghurt and 3/4 soy milk, and 2 tsp of almond essence instead of lemon. Will definitely be my go too recipe. Thanks again.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Marianne!
Hi !! Is it just as nice without the icings ? I m not a big fan of icing but like lemon cake.
Yes it’s delicious without frosting too. 🙂
Hi I was just wondering if I’d be able to use self rising flour since its all I have left and I can’t get flour in the shops at the moment!
Hi Ann, yes I think you could. Since self raising flour contains baking powder and salt just omit the salt from the recipe and also reduce the baking soda by half. All the best!
My son is a lemon lover. I made these today to drop over his house for his birthday. We usually have a dinner at my house but we can not this year.😞 We need to stay safe
. Really yummy!! I know he will love them.
★★★★★
I hope he loves the cupcakes! Thanks so much for sharing Helen! xo
Cupcakes were fine but not so sure about the frosting. I couldn’t get it to fluff up at all! I added a LOT more lemon juice and it was better but not fluffy. It was like fondit. I followed the directions to a tee! Frosted the cupcakes anyway, with some difficulty, and refrigerated them. I’m sure for a midnight snack they’ll be a hit!
★★★★
Try adding about 2 teaspoons of soy milk, or whichever nut milk you prefer.
Update- It helps to add a bit more of everything! This is easily my favorite frosting recipe, with a delicious lemony flavour.
SO GOOD OMG!!! I found the icing worked best if you refrigerated it a bit before trying to spread to thicken it but these are a huge hit with me & my non vegan fam!
★★★★★
Thanks Mackenzie!
Hmmm I don’t have lemon extract! Is there a way of modifying the recipe so they’re still super lemony? Xxx
Hi Helen, you could replace the lemon extract with lemon juice, it should still have enough lemon flavor, though you can add in more lemon zest to the batter as well.
Great thanks for the advice! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe! I used coconut milk (carton not can) and made a lemon glaze instead of the icing and everybody loved them! I think next time I won’t use any glaze or icing so we can eat them with raspberry jam.
Awesome! 🙂