Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

These vegan red velvet cupcakes are soft and fluffy, just like from a bakery. Made even more delicious topped with a creamy and tangy vegan cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes are perfect for any occasion. You won't even realise they are completely free from eggs and dairy!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings cupcakes

Calories 343kcal

Author Sally

Equipment

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1 cup dairy free milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 cups plain flour/all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup white sugar/granulated sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon red gel food colouring optional

For the cream cheese frosting:

250 g vegan cream cheese softened to room temperature
¼ cup (60 grams) dairy free butter
5 cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a muffin tin with 12 patty cases, and a second tin with 2 patty cases.
In a small bowl combine white vinegar and dairy free milk. The milk may split which is fine. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together canola oil, sugar and vanilla until combined.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the oil and sugar mixture, alternating with the milk until cupcake batter comes together, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Add the red food colouring to the batter, if using, and mix through, adjusting until you reach your desired colour. You can let the batter sit for 5 minutes for the red colour to develop further.
Spoon mixture into patty cases ensuring they are only ½ full before placing them in the oven for 20 minutes or until lightly springy to touch. Let cool completely before frosting.
Make the cream cheese frosting. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, beat dairy-free butter, vegan cream cheese and vanilla for 1-2 minutes until creamy. Add in 2 cups of the icing sugar and beat on medium until combined. Add in the final cup of icing sugar and salt to taste and continue mixing until it reaches a smooth and creamy consistency.
Place frosting into a piping bag with a round tip and pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes.

Notes

I don’t actually have a large round piping tip so I just placed the frosting into a disposable piping bag and snipped off the end to frost these ones pictured. I also sacrificed one of the cupcakes to decorate the rest with some cake crumbs because I thought it looked pretty - what I didn’t use became a tasty chef’s snack.

Vegan Cream Cheese: I use the brand Sheese which is available at Woolworths.

Dairy-Free Butter: I use Nuttelex to replace butter in most of my recipes as it is vegan and gives a 'buttery' flavour without being greasy. As this is an Australian product, the closest US alternative I believe is Earth Balance. Otherwise any dairy-free spread will work.

Dairy-Free Milk: I've used both almond milk and oat milk in this recipe and both work perfectly.

Nutrition