Light and fluffy vegan lemon cupcakes with a lemon buttercream frosting. Moist, packed with lemon flavor and super simple to make.
These vegan lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting 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. But there is really something special about the tangy, sunshine flavor of lemon.
These cupcakes were super good and I’m a huge fan. As is everyone else who ate them. And they’re super easy to make too.
The perfect lemon flavor
The perfect lemon flavor in these cupcakes comes from lemon zest and lemon extract. The vegan lemon buttercream frosting is made with lemon juice and lemon extract and the flavors REALLY pop.
I adapted this recipe from my vegan vanilla cupcakes which is just the best recipe! Perfectly moist with a light and fluffy texture.
And if you love lemon like I do then you’ll also love our vegan lemon cake, vegan lemon cookies, vegan lemon pound cake, vegan lemon pie and vegan lemon poppy seed cake.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make These Cupcakes:
Ingredient Notes
- Soy milk – you can use soy milk or any other non-dairy milk that you have on hand.
- Lemon zest – we used 1 tablespoon of lemon zest in this recipe, which is usually what you’d get from 1 medium sized lemon.
- Lemon extract – this really pops the lemon flavor! If you can’t get hold of it, you could just use lemon juice but it won’t be nearly as flavorful.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with vegetable oil.
- White vinegar – distilled white vinegar reacts with the baking soda (called bicarbonate of soda in some countries) in this recipe and creates the beautiful rise. You could replace this with apple cider vinegar.
How To Make Vegan Lemon 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.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil, white vinegar, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest. Mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- When they are completely cool, frost them with vegan lemon buttercream frosting.
Recipe Tips
Measure the flour correctly. For the perfect light and fluffy cupcakes it’s crucial that you don’t accidentally use too much flour. So it’s perfect if you weigh out your flour on a food scale. If you don’t have a food scale though then the next best thing is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup.
Don’t overmix the batter. Mix it until just mixed and then stop mixing. Over-mixing can affect the texture and rise of your cupcakes.
Bake right away. As soon as the batter has been divided between your cupcake liners, bake them right away. Letting the batter sit too long can also affect the texture and rise of your cupcakes.
Gluten-free. If you’d like to make these cupcakes gluten-free then the best thing would be to use a gluten-free all purpose baking blend to replace the regular flour.
Decorate. If you want to decorate these cupcakes then a sprinkle of lemon zest on top (as in our video) works great.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for 2-3 days, or keep them in the fridge (covered) where they will last up to a week.
They are also freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
More Vegan Cupcakes
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
- Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour (220g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ⅓ cup Canola Oil (80ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Extract
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Zest
Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Extract
- 2-3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Add soy milk, canola oil, white vinegar, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest. Mix into a batter. Don't overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, lemon extract and 2 tablespoons lemon juice to the bowl of your stand mixer. Start at slow speed and gradually increase speed until smooth and thick. If it's too thick, add the remaining lemon juice a drop at a time until you reach the right consistency.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and serve.
Video
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. For the perfect light and fluffy cupcakes it’s crucial that you don’t accidentally use too much flour. So it’s perfect if you weigh out your flour on a food scale. If you don’t have a food scale though then the next best thing is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour and don’t pack it into the cup.
- Lemon extract – this really pops the lemon flavor! If you can’t get hold of it, you could just use lemon juice but it won’t be nearly as flavorful.
- Lemon zest – we used 1 tablespoon of lemon zest in this recipe, which is usually what you’d get from 1 medium sized lemon.
- Don’t overmix the batter. Mix it until just mixed and then stop mixing. Over-mixing can affect the texture and rise of your cupcakes.
- Bake right away. As soon as the batter has been divided between your cupcake liners, bake them right away. Letting the batter sit too long can also affect the texture and rise of your cupcakes.
- Gluten-free: To make these cupcakes gluten-free the best thing would be to use a gluten-free all purpose baking blend in place of the regular flour.
- Storing and freezing: Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for 2-3 days, or keep them in the fridge (covered) where they will last up to a week. They are also freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
- This recipe has been updated with new photos and extra tips but the recipe itself is the same.
Absolutely loved these! Could I use cake flour to make them even fluffier?
That would be fine Sarah! Thanks for your lovely review!
Hello, I just wondered if I could use caster sugar instead of granulated sugar and still get the same response? Thank you in advance, love your page!!
Hi Bayley! Caster sugar should work just fine. You can use the same amount as shown in the recipe. Thanks for your great review! 🙂
Really easy to make and absolutely delicious. So pleased with how they turned out. Thanks so much for the recipe.
So glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Gabby! Thank you so much for your awesome review!
These are so simple and amazing!! I love these. Two different jobs of coworkers loved them an didn’t know they were vegan! Was asked to make them for a benefit as a prize. Love how well the frosting stays together to decorate with. Thank you.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the cookies Kim! Thanks so much for your awesome review!
I made these and they were SO GOOD! Everyone loved them!! The texture and the flavors were just perfect. I did use an extra tsp of lemon extract because mine isn’t so good nor strong in flavor. I’m leaving this message because I came back to look for the recipe to bake them again on this rainy afternoon! Try them, you won’t regret it!
So happy to hear that Marcel! Thanks for sharing!
These were excellent! Big hit
Thanks Emily!
hello : ) I’m gonna try using this recipe to make these tomorrow but I just had one question about making the frosting: can I use vegetable shortening instead of vegan butter?😅
Hi there! We only tested this recipe with vegan butter, so I can’t really say.
I ended up making them with the shortening instead of the butter and the frosting turned out well! I just preferred using shortening because it’s a lot more stable than butter and I didn’t have to refrigerate it to stabilize but anyway I made these last week as well as today again and they’re delish and everyone loves them! TY for the recipe!
Happy to hear that it worked out for you Embri! Thanks for sharing and for your great review!
Thank you so much for the excellent recipe. Providing the measurements by weight was so helpful and I believe the reason for this recipe to be foolproof. Turned them into mini cupcakes (each batch made 30, but the extra that didn’t fit in the pan did well in the fridge during the 9-10 mins the first batch was in the oven.) Added one more teaspoon of lemon extract to the batter and used cake batter. They were so fluffy and the instructions to let them rest in the pan outside the oven first, then on a cooling rack was crucial. Put them in the fridge and the next morn did not stick to the wrapper as was happening right out the oven. Thank you so much!
So happy the mini cupcakes were a success! Thanks so much for sharing and the great review Sara!
These are amazing!!!
Thanks so much Cynthia!
I’ve made these a couple of times now; a great go to recipe. I use lemon juice as the acid instead of vinegar in the soymilk for extra lemoniness. (That is definitely a word.) Thanks!!
It’s absolutely a word. 🙂 Thanks so much for the great review Andrea!
I was thinking the same thing- lemon juice and vinegar have a similar pH, so why not boost the lemon flavor, and minimize any vinegar taste, by substituting lemon juice!
I look forward to trying this out!
Just made these lemon cupcakes and they are absolutely delicious. Thank you Allison.
Awesome! Thanks so much Athina!
I made these cupcakes with my friend and we absolutely loved them! Is there a way to make it into a cake? What would the baking alterations be?
Hi Cailin, so happy you loved them! This recipe as is would make a three layer 6-inch cake. Bake time would be 20 minutes. Alternatively you can take a look at our vegan lemon cake recipe.
Can I use avocado oil or evoo?
Hi Tre, yes you can. I have often baked with extra virgin olive oil but it should be mild tasting so that it doesn’t end up tasting like olive oil in the end result.
These Classic Lemon cupcakes are my go-to for birthdays and special occasions. The recipe turns out perfect every single time and the lemon frosting is very lemony and delicious!
The Classic Chocolate cupcake recipe is just as amazing! Thank you!!!
Thanks so much Melody!
I make these all the time and love them! However I’ve got home and realised I don’t have any vegetable oil left! Can I use vegan butter?
Hi Amelia, melted vegan butter should work fine! They might not be quite as moist as with the oil but it will work!
Will these work without lemon extract and just use the lemon zest? Thanks
Yes it will work, but the lemon flavor will be much more subtle.
I was at a birthday party today where these cupcakes were served – oh my goodness they were heavenly! My niece gave me the link to your recipe and I have it printed out and ready to go once I get some fresh lemons. Although I’m not vegan myself, I think these will definitely replace my non-vegan cupcakes.. Thank you.
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the amazing review!