Light and fluffy vegan red velvet cupcakes topped with a red velvet frosting. Perfectly moist, vibrantly red and crazy delicious!
Have you ever seen such gorgeousness as these vegan red velvet cupcakes? Or is that just me blowing my own trumpet since I made them and all.
Well I was mighty impressed with how these turned out.
Jaye took a batch to work, and then called me from the office to tell me that they had disappeared from the kitchen before the department secretary had even had a chance to send out an email about them.
And when he next crossed the office, people were flipping out about how good these were! He hadn’t even mentioned yet that they were vegan! Light, fluffy, moist, simply perfect! These were some of the words used. He said people were like congratulating him on how good they were. This was music to my ears.
So yes dammit – these cupcakes are really good!
The Frosting
I was first of all going to pair these with a white frosting, I thought red and white would be very pretty. But then at the last minute I decided to go with double red velvet, because why not?
And it worked out so extremely well, I was enormously pleased with it.
I was first thinking that it might not bring much to the party, like it might just be frosting dyed red, you know? Like it might not add much flavor. And yes, that’s true, the color doesn’t add to the flavor.
However, what does add to the flavor of red velvet is those hints of chocolate and vanilla. So I added some vanilla and some cocoa to the frosting and the richness and red velvet deliciousness comes through fabulously.
The Color
Honestly I just don’t think beets work at all for the color. It’s not like I didn’t try it – I did – and it didn’t work out, not even a little bit! Congrats to anyone who gets beets to work, but it’s not me. So for me it’s just gotta be proper food coloring.
We initially made these cupcakes with liquid red food coloring but then moved to a red gel food coloring (we used Americolor brand) and it works so well and holds up beautifully in baking. So I highly recommend you use a gel color as well. It also means you can use much less as it’s more concentrated than a liquid food color.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay perfect for a couple of days, or covered in the fridge where they will last for up to a week, but they’re most delicious when fresh.
They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. You can freeze them either frosted or unfrosted. Thaw overnight in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
More Vegan Cupcakes
- Midnight Blue Velvet Cupcakes
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
- Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
- Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
- Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
- Vegan Banana Cupcakes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
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Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Light and fluffy vegan red velvet cupcakes topped with a red velvet frosting. Perfectly moist, vibrantly red and crazy delicious!
Ingredients
For the Red Velvet Cupcakes:
- 2 cups (250g) All-Purpose Flour*
- 1 cup (200g) White Granulated Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
- 1 cup (240ml) Vegan Buttermilk (1 Tbsp Lemon Juice + Soy Milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Canola Oil*
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar*
- 1 tsp Red Gel Food Color*
For the Red Velvet Frosting:
- 3 cups (360g) Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
- 1/3 cup (75g) Vegan Butter
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Red Gel Food Color*
- 1–2 Tbsp Soy Milk (*see notes)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350Ā°F (180Ā°C).
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder and mix together.
- Prepare the buttermilk by adding 1 Tbsp lemon juice into a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line and allowing to sit for a minute to curdle into buttermilk.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, vanilla extract, oil, vinegar and red gel food color to the mixing bowl and whisk with a hand whisk to combine into a smooth batter.
- Line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners and divide the batter evenly between them.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Add all frosting ingredients except soy milk to your mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk starting on slow and gradually increasing speed until thick, smooth and creamy. Add soy milk as needed so that you get a consistency that can be easily piped or spread.Ā
- Pipe the frosting on top of your completely cooled cupcakes and serve.
Notes
*Measure the flour correctly, either using the spoon and level method – spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off with a knife – don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup. Alternatively weigh it on a food scale.
*Vegan buttermilk can also be made with almond milk. Other plant milks can also work for this, even if they don’t curdle as well as soy milk or almond milk.
*You can use also use vegetable oil if you prefer.
*You can use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar.
*We initially used liquid red food coloring for this recipe but have changed our recommendations to use a red gel food color. We used Americolor red gel which works wonderfully in this recipe.
*The amount of soy milk (or other non-dairy milk) that you use in the frosting will depend on the brand of vegan butter that you use. Very hard stick butters have a lower water content than tub style butters so will need more soy milk, whereas if you’re using a soft tub style you may even be able to skip the soy milk altogether. We used a tub style vegan butter that is nevertheless quite firm, and we needed both tablespoons of soy milk.
*For Gluten-Free: I think you could make these cupcakes gluten-free if you simply swap the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
*Nutritional information is for 1 cupcake including a generous amount of red velvet frosting.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake (of 12)
- Calories: 365
- Sugar: 47.9g
- Sodium: 255mg
- Fat: 9.8g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Carbohydrates: 66.9g
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 3.2g
Keywords: vegan red velvet cupcakes
Hi Alison
I have been making this recipe for valentine’s since a while now.
I believe you removed the flax egg as was in the recipe in the beginning?
★★★★★
Hi Priyanka, yes the recipe was very slightly updated for simplicity.
hi, I’m really excited to make these but I’m just checking would distilled vinegar be okay to use and is the soya milk sweet or unsweet?
Distilled vinegar is the right vinegar to use. The soy milk can be either sweetened or unsweetened, I haven’t found a difference in the end result.
These cupcakes are a hit in the office!
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks Irene!
Can I use vegetable oil? Thanks!
★★★★
Yes you can. š
I just tried baking these lovely looking cupcakes and they’ve turned out brown. I’m guessing it’s because of the cocao powder? I did also end up adding more food colouring but that didn’t help.
Any suggestions? I would love them to be a rich red colour!
Hi Amy, oh no sorry to hear that. Some brands of food coloring work better than others. I would just guess that the brand you’re using didn’t hold up too well to the baking process.
If I wanted to switch out the flour for buckwheat flour (GF) would the measurements remain the same? xoxo
I don’t know at all if that will work, but yes it would be the same quantity.
Hello! They came out wonderful! I had a few questions though
1) Can I use coconut or almond milk instead of soy milk? I don’t like the flavor of soy milk;
2) Is there a substitute for vegan butter?
Thank you
Hi Aditi, yes you can really use any non-dairy milk. Vegan butter works best for frostings though some have commented that coconut oil can also work.
Okey dokes. Thanks!
Best vegan cupcakes ever! Simply perfect š No one would say they are vegan. Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Constance!
Hi I thought they tasted great! Do you have a cream cheese frosting recipe?
★★★★★
Thanks Alison! Yes we do have a vegan cream cheese frosting! š
Mine came out really dense so I don’t know if I did something wrong? The icing was nice though š
★★★
Hi Becca, sorry to hear they were dense! They are definitely not supposed to be. This can happen if you overmix the batter though. It’s very important to mix only until ‘just’ mixed. Hope that helps! š
I made these delightful cupcakes with frosting for my yoga mates who aren’t vegan by the way and it was awesome! I love you Alison Andrews and my family and I make your fantastic dishes all the time…thank you so much!!!
That’s so awesome! Thank you so much TG! xoxo
Hi there! I was wondering if I could use almond milk instead of soy milk. If so, does it need to be unsweetened? Also, is there other alternatives to using ground flax seed meal ? (they are hard to find from where I live). Thanks so much! I’m excited to make these cupcakes š
Hi Ella, yes almond milk works great. You can use 3 Tbsp of applesauce instead of a flax egg if that is easier. š
Thank you so much for the weight measurements.
I’m sure the cupcakes will be tasty.