I’m in love with these vegan key lime cupcakes!
They are perfectly flavored gorgeous little packages of deliciousness.
I took a while to figure these out though! I wasn’t sure how much lime juice/lime zest to use. And then I wasn’t sure if I wanted to dye these guys green or stick with their natural coloring.
In the end I settled on a mix of a little lime juice with a little more lime zest, and let the color stay au naturale. For the frosting on the other hand, I decided on green!
Just a couple of drops of green food coloring made the frosting this gorgeous shade of lime green!
The flavor for the frosting comes from lime juice, so if you want to forego the food coloring you can definitely do so.
And then a sprinkle of lime zest on top makes these the perfect key lime cupcakes.
Although, about that, I used regular limes and not key limes as key limes are hard to find where I am. But either or should work the same way for this.
The lime flavor in the cupcakes is subtle, but the overall effect when you bite into the cupcake with the lime frosting and the zest and the subtle lime flavor of the cupcake itself, creates a perfectly lime flavored taste experience.
If you wanted to intensify the lime flavor of the cupcake, you could add some lime extract or lime oil, but these are ingredients you’d generally have to order as they’re not easily available.
Don’t put lime zest in the frosting, because it will make it harder to pipe, on top is just perfect.
I really think you will love these key lime cupcakes, they are:
- Perfectly moist
- Spongey
- Lime infused
- Topped with velvety lime frosting
- So pretty!
The lime flavor actually offsets the sweetness in a wonderful way so that there’s a lovely flavor balance between the tartness of the lime and the sweetness of the cupcake and frosting. Too delicious really!
Keep these covered where they will stay wonderfully fresh for a couple of days or covered in the fridge where they will last for up to a week. They’re at their best in the first few days when they’re freshest though, so keep that in mind.
So let us know what you think of these vegan key lime cupcakes! Comment down below! And if you make them, please rate the recipe too as that is so helpful.
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Vegan Key Lime Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Deliciously moist and spongey vegan key lime cupcakes topped with a velvety lime frosting and lime zest. Absolutely perfect for any special occasion!
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 and 3/4 cups (220g) All Purpose Flour
- 1 cup (200g) White Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Lime (juiced – added to a measuring jug and then….)
- Add Almond Milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line
- Zest from 2 Limes
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Canola Oil
- 1 Tbsp White Vinegar (or Apple Cider Vinegar)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
For the Lime Frosting:
- 3 cups (360g) Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
- 1/4 cup (56g) Vegan Butter
- 1–2 drops Green Food Coloring
- 2–3 Tbsp Lime Juice
For Decoration:
- Lime 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.
- Squeeze a lime into a measuring jug and then add almond milk up to the 1 cup line. It will curdle. This is fine. Pour it into the mixing bowl.
- Add in zest from 2 limes, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract and whisk briefly to remove lumps and combine.
- Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter evenly between them.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vegan butter, lime juice and green food coloring to the bowl of an electric mixer and then starting at slow speed, gradually increase speed until it’s thick and smooth. If your frosting is too thin add more powdered sugar, if too thick add lime juice a drop at a a time until the right consistency is reached. You want it to be very thick so it pipes well, but not so thick that it won’t come out your piping bag.
- When the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe on the frosting and top with lime zest.
- Category: Dessert, Cupcakes
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake (with frosting)
- Calories: 332
- Sugar: 48mg
- Sodium: 247mg
- Fat: 8.5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.2g
- Carbohydrates: 63g
- Fiber: 0.6g
- Protein: 2g
Keywords: vegan key lime cupcakes
Can I substitute oat milk for almond, and are there any oil substitutes that will work well? Thanks in advance! I love all your recipes!
Hi Julie, oat milk should be fine, and you can really use any vegetable oil! 🙂 If you want to make it oil-free then you could try applesauce to replace the oil but it might result in a denser cupcake.
Made these for my son’s birthday & he LOVED them. They were moist & flavorful but not over powering. I didn’t have lime extract, so I increased the lime juice a bit & a little more zest. What I loved about this recipe, is that most all of the ingredients were items easily found or already on hand. Since my son is at the moment the only Vegan in the house, I’m still learning to cook “Vegan”. Thanks for a delicious, easy recipe.
★★★★★
So happy to hear that Tracy! Thanks a million!
My partner asked for lime cupcakes and to be honest I wasn’t sure they would taste nice but these are so good! They were extremely easy to make and tasted delicious. The recipe is perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks so much Janice!
I’m gradually working my way through all the cupcakes recipes and testing them on the ladies in our choir. These went down very well last night, with everyone commenting on how light and fluffy they were. Definitely will make these again! As with the other recipes they are so quick and easy to make.
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks so much Ann Marie! 🙂
Hi. Can I use quinoa or coconut flour instead of normal flour? If yes, would it be the same amount?
Thank you.
Hi Liz, you can try a gluten-free all purpose flour blend, but a single type of flour like coconut or quinoa will not work. All the best!
I made a vegan and non-vegan version of these cupcakes. SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Look so delicious want to make it.
Perfect vegan cupcakes ! I love how easy they are and how there are no weird ingredients. Perfectly fluffy and smooth with a great taste of lime.
★★★★★
Wonderful! Thanks for posting! ?
Hi Alison – Do you still need the vanilla extract if you’re using the lime oil? Also, for the lime juice in the frosting, can that be bottled lime juice? Thank you:)
Hi Jeanne, if you’re just using a teaspoon of lime oil then no need to take out the vanilla extract, it won’t be a big enough addition to make a big difference. This is how much lime oil I would start off with, I’m not sure how strong the flavoring is, as I have not tested it out with these cupcakes, so a teaspoon is how much I’d start with and then the recipe doesn’t need adjusting. For the frosting, I used fresh lime juice and haven’t tried it with bottled but it might be fine, I can’t say without having tried it. All the best! 🙂
YUM! This is a definite winner and keeper. I used key lime oil instead of vanilla extract. It’s concentrated and only needed 2-3 drops. I used the bottled lime juice for the frosting. I intend to make 5 dozen of these for this weekend and I think this will save me time. The lime flavor of the frosting is pleasantly intense. This combined with the more subtle lime of the cupcake made for the perfect balance.
That sounds lovely! Thanks for sharing Jeanne! 🙂
Hi Allison. I am going to try this. Can you please suggest a good vegan brand butter. Never done vegan things. Where do you think I can get it ?
TIA for the lovely recipe?
It depends where you are, if you’re in the USA Earth Balance is a great brand, in Australia Nuttelex is a good brand, in the UK Waitrose have a dairy free one under their own name, even if you don’t have any specifically vegan made brands, just check the ingredient lists for the margarines and see if you can find one that may be vegan and is good for baking, usually you can find one of those! All the best! 🙂
Loved the recipe! I used Bob’s Red Mill Paleo flour to sub for the wheat. So moist and delicious, printed and saved to my recipe book!
★★★★★
Awesome! So glad to hear they came out well! Thanks for sharing your adjustments. 🙂
Is the almond milk unsweetened or just regular Almond milk in the Key Lime cupcakes. This will be my first time making vegan cupcakes and they are for a very good friend. I want them to be perfect!
It can be sweetened or unsweetened, I usually use the regular version, which is sweetened, but on the occasion that I have used unsweetened, I haven’t noticed any difference, so either/or is fine.
Attractively decorated, colourful and very tasty and unusual lime cupcakes
★★★★★