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.
A friend brought these to supper last night. She kindly offered me your recipe. They were amazing. Nice and fluffy with the perfect amount of lime!
That’s great Joan! Thanks so much for your review!
I LOVE all your vegan cupcake recipes that I’ve tried and they are a HUGE hit among friends. I’m going to a Mexican themed party and I’m thinking about modifying this recipe by adding tequila to the frosting to make ‘margarita cupcakes’. Do you think the lime flavour in the cupcake will be strong enough or would you recommend adding extra lime juice/lemon extract?
Thank you
Jess
Sounds delicious Jess! The lime flavor is quite nice, but you could always add an extra half teaspoon. Remember less is more! 🙂
This recipe is great! I recently made this recipe for a bake sale at my roller derby team’s season opener, and they were a hit! The cake has a LOVELY and refreshing lime flavor, and the frosting has a nice sweet/limey flavor (I used one cup less powdered sugar) that make these cupcakes so awesome! Our fans bought the majority of them, and whatever few were left went to a few lucky teammates. 🙂
That’s so cool Katy! Thanks so much for sharing! Happy to hear that they were such a success!