These vegan key lime cupcakes are moist and fluffy and topped with a gorgeous lime frosting. Perfect for any special occasion!
I’m in love with these vegan key lime cupcakes!
They are perfectly flavored gorgeous little packages of delicious.
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. They look gorgeous and they taste even better!
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 perfect lime flavored taste experience.
The lime flavor 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. Basically, you’re going to love them!
And if you love these cupcakes then you’ll also love our vegan lemon cupcakes.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Cupcakes:
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Frosting:
Ingredient Notes
- Soy milk – can be switched for any non-dairy milk.
- Lime zest and lime juice – you can use regular limes or key limes, whatever is easiest to get hold of.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with vegetable oil.
- White vinegar – distilled white vinegar reacts with the baking soda and makes these cupcakes rise beautifully. You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Vegan butter – firm or stick style vegan butter works best for frostings. If your vegan butter is soft (in a tub) then you will likely use less lime juice, only add as much as you need to get your frosting to the right consistency.
How To Make Vegan Key Lime 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, vinegar, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake liners in your cupcake tray.
- 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 in the cupcake tray for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding vegan butter, powdered sugar and lime juice to the bowl of your stand mixer. Start at slow speed and gradually increase speed until your frosting is thick and smooth.
- When the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe on the frosting and serve.
Baker’s Tips
Weigh your flour. For the best accuracy weigh your flour on a food scale. Otherwise use the ‘spoon and level’ method: spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
Don’t overmix your batter. If you mix too much, you’ll over-activate the gluten in the flour and the cupcakes will be dense. So mix until just mixed and then stop mixing.
Bake immediately. As soon as your batter is mixed, transfer it to the cupcake liners and bake right away. If the batter rests too long the cupcakes won’t rise.
Make a layer cake. If you’d like to make a layer cake then check out our vegan key lime cake recipe.
Recipe FAQ
Can you make a layer cake from this recipe? You can make a three layer 6-inch cake. Bake for 20 minutes.
Can you make these cupcakes gluten-free? You can try switching the regular flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend. We have not tested it with this recipe, but that is usually what works well.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them covered at room temperature 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.
You can also freeze them (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
- Vegan Peppermint Cupcakes
- Vegan Banana Cupcakes
- Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes
- Vegan Coffee Cupcakes
- Vegan Biscoff Cupcakes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Key Lime Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour (218g)
- 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
- 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice Freshly Squeezed
- 1 Tablespoon Lime Zest
Frosting:
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar (480g)
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (113g)
- 2-3 Tablespoons Lime Juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a cupcake tray with 12 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, vinegar, vanilla extract, lime juice and lime zest and mix into a batter. Don't overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 cupcake liners in your cupcake tray.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the cupcake tray for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding vegan butter, powdered sugar and lime juice to the bowl of your stand mixer. Start at slow speed and gradually increase speed until your frosting is thick and smooth.
- When the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe on the frosting and serve.
Notes
- Weigh your flour. For the best accuracy weigh your flour on a food scale. Otherwise use the ‘spoon and level’ method: spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup.
- Lime zest and lime juice. You can use regular limes or key limes, whatever is easiest to get hold of.
- Vegan butter. Firm or stick style vegan butter works best for frostings. If your vegan butter is soft (in a tub) then you will likely use less lime juice, only add as much as you need to get your frosting to the right consistency.
- Storing: Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for a couple of days or covered in the fridge where they will last for up to a week.
- Freezing: You can also freeze them (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months.
It’s possible to use regular butter instead of margarine I am not a margarine fan or even the Earth balance butter?
Yes you can.
I would love to try these, but I don’t have baking soda. Would these work with baking powder instead, and leaving out the vinegar?
Hi Lucie, yes that should work if you use 3 teaspoons of baking powder.
They were a big hit. When everyone tasted these cupcakes, they were asking for the recipe. Everyone at the party loved it. They turned out really good.
Awesome! So glad to hear that Lakshmi!
Can I substitute oat milk, 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 and he LOVED them. They were moist and flavorful but not overpowering. I added 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 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 non-dairy milk unsweetened or just regular sweetened? 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.
Colorful, tasty and delicious lime cupcakes!