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    Home » Desserts

    Vegan Peppermint Cupcakes

    Published: Dec 21, 2017 Updated: Dec 3, 2021 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe
    Vegan Peppermint Cupcakes

    Gorgeous vegan peppermint cupcakes with a pink swirl peppermint frosting! Moist, light and fluffy and loaded with peppermint flavor.

    Vegan peppermint cupcakes topped with a pink and white swirled frosting.

    I’m pretty pleased with myself I must admit. I reckon I really knocked it out of the park with this pink swirl in the peppermint frosting, don’t you think?

    These vegan peppermint cupcakes are perfect for Christmas baking. They are light and fluffy with a delicious peppermint flavor, and they’re so easy to make too.

    The recipe is a simple adaptation from my vegan vanilla cupcakes – a winning recipe if there ever was one!

    And if you love peppermint then you’ll also love our vegan peppermint bark and vegan peppermint fudge.

    Vegan peppermint cupcakes topped with a pink and white swirled frosting.

    How To Make Vegan Peppermint 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 sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
    • Add soy milk, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, oil and vinegar and mix into a batter. Don’t over-mix.
    • Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter evenly between them.
    Peppermint cupcake batter in cupcake liners ready to bake.
    • Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
    Freshly baked peppermint cupcakes in a cupcake tray.
    • Transfer the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
    Vegan peppermint cupcakes cooling on a wire cooling rack.

    The Frosting

    The pink swirl in the vegan peppermint frosting is actually too easy. All you have to do is separate your frosting into two bowls and then add a couple of drops of pink (or red) food color to the one bowl and mix it in, so you have a bowl of pink and a bowl of white.

    Vegan peppermint frosting divided into two bowls.

    Now you just put roughly equal amounts of each into your piping bag and then just go for it! Every cupcake will have a slightly different amount of each color but the swirl will be there.

    You can either put in the white frosting into your piping bag first and then just add the alternate color into the middle. Or you can place half the color on one side and then half the color on the other side. It’s not perfect (pretty messy in fact) but it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t need to be perfectly lined up to come out with a nice swirl.

    And then top with some crushed peppermint candy canes for the perfect peppermint topping!

    Peppermint cupcakes topped with peppermint swirl frosting.

    Storing and Freezing

    Keep them covered at room temperature and they’ll stay wonderfully fresh for a few days, or keep them covered in the fridge if you need them to stay fresh longer, in the fridge they’ll stay good for up to a week!

    You can also freeze them either frosted or unfrosted for up to 3 months.

    Vegan peppermint cupcakes topped with frosting and chopped candy canes.

    More Delicious Vegan Cupcakes

    1. Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
    2. Vegan Oreo Cupcakes
    3. Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes
    4. Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes
    5. Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
    6. Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes
    Vegan peppermint cupcake cut in half.

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Vegan peppermint cupcake topped with frosting and crushed candy canes.

    Vegan Peppermint Cupcakes

    Gorgeous vegan peppermint cupcakes with a pink swirl peppermint frosting! Moist, light and fluffy and loaded with peppermint flavor.
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Cupcakes, Dessert
    Cuisine: American, Vegan
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Total Time: 35 minutes
    Servings: 12
    Calories: 370kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    Ingredients

    For the Peppermint Cupcakes:

    • 1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour (220g)
    • 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
    • 1 tsp Baking Soda
    • ½ tsp Salt
    • 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or Almond Milk
    • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
    • 1 tsp Peppermint Extract
    • ⅓ cup Canola Oil (80ml) or Vegetable Oil
    • 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar

    For the Pink Swirl Peppermint Frosting:

    • ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
    • 3 cups Powdered Sugar (360g)
    • ½ tsp Peppermint Extract
    • 2 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
    • 2-3 Drops Pink Food Coloring or Red food coloring

    For Topping:

    • Peppermint Candy Canes Crushed
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    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, vanilla, peppermint, oil and vinegar and using a hand whisk, whisk it up briefly to remove any big lumps (tiny lumps are fine!). Don't overmix.
    • Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners and divide the batter evenly between them.
    • Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
    • Transfer the cupcakes to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
    • Add the vegan butter, powdered sugar, peppermint extract and soy milk to the bowl of an electric mixer and beginning on low speed, gradually increase speed until the frosting is thick and smooth.
    • Divide the frosting into two bowls. Add a few drops of pink or red food coloring to one of the bowls and mix it in to get a nice pink color.
    • Then add roughly equal amounts of each color frosting on either side of a piping bag or syringe and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, getting the pink swirl.
    • Top with crushed candy canes.

    Notes

    1. Keep them covered at room temperature and they’ll stay wonderfully fresh for a few days, or keep them covered in the fridge if you need them to stay fresh longer, in the fridge they’ll stay good for up to a week!
    2. They are freezer friendly (frosted or unfrosted) for up to 3 months. 
    3. Nutritional information includes frosting.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Cupcake | Calories: 370kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 261mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 447IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
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    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Nic says

      November 28, 2021 at 2:41 pm

      Peppermint always takes me back to being a kid and having peppermint mice at the Christmas fair in school so having to make something to take to work I made this as a 3 cake penguin playground and used blue food colouring instead of pink for ice/snow. It is absolutely delicious but took forever to bake (I ended up having to do 45 minutes a cake) so will definitely keep it to cupcakes in future 🙂5 stars

      Reply
    2. Pauline says

      January 23, 2019 at 4:06 am

      I made this cupcakes today. Everyone who had one loved them. Thanks for sharing your recipes.5 stars

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 23, 2019 at 10:11 am

        Wonderful! Thanks for the great review Pauline! 🙂

        Reply
    3. Pauline says

      January 21, 2019 at 7:09 pm

      Question: What is the best way to store these cupcakes? I also saw that there is no flax egg in these. Is that correct?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        January 22, 2019 at 12:16 pm

        Hi Pauline, yes it’s correct there is no flax egg needed in these cupcakes. Store them covered at room temperature where they will stay good for a few days or in the fridge, also covered, where they will stay fresh for up to a week.

        Reply
    4. Vivi Belle says

      December 12, 2018 at 10:45 pm

      What recipe size alterations/baking time alterations would you suggest for making this into a two layer round cake? Thank you!

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        December 13, 2018 at 9:15 am

        Hi there! This recipe will adapt to two 7″ round cake tins exactly as is just increase the baking time to 30 minutes. If you want to make it for 8″ cake pans it would be 1 and 1/2 times the recipe, just be careful with the calculations! You could double it for 9″. 🙂

        Reply
        • Vivi Belle says

          December 13, 2018 at 11:39 pm

          Thank you so much! I just love all your recipes; I make them all the time, and I’m always so excited when you post new things! Thank you for being an awesome vegan baker/cook and sharing your wonderful recipes!

          Reply
          • Alison Andrews says

            December 14, 2018 at 11:14 am

            Thanks so much for your kind words Vivi! So happy you enjoy the recipes. 🙂

    5. Kerri says

      August 15, 2018 at 4:17 pm

      What do you use for vegan butter? Is it like a margarine?

      Reply
      • Alison Andrews says

        August 16, 2018 at 8:28 am

        Yes, it’s margarine basically, you get vegan made buttery spreads like Earth Balance (US) and Nuttelex (Australian), other countries may not have a vegan made product but usually will still have a dairy-free margarine that is good for baking so it depends where you are. You can make your own vegan butter that tastes divine and works great in baking.

        Reply
        • Kerri says

          August 16, 2018 at 9:14 am

          Thanks- I made one of your recipes before and the vegan butter I used was so oily so I think I need to explore other options!

          Reply
    6. Anna Andrews says

      December 21, 2017 at 5:27 pm

      Very festive looking but mostly delicious!5 stars

      Reply

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