Vegan Red Velvet Cupcake
So many people love red velvet cake and cupcakes. I haven’t ever really been one of them, probably because I was never given too many opportunities to try them. When I finally had a red velvet cupcake several years ago in New York, I was underwhelmed. The flavor wasn’t very memorable – mainly it was just pretty. But then I made them myself a few weeks ago, and I got why they were special: chocolate.
Don’t mistake me – red velvet cupcakes don’t have a very strong chocolate flavor, but you do have a hint of it, which is sometimes all you need. This particular recipe is a winner because the flavor, color and texture is all exactly what you’d want in a red velvet cupcake. It’s sweet, mild on the chocolate, the color is a lovely shade of dark red, and moist, plus the cupcake holds together pretty well. The frosting is not very thick, but it complements the cupcake with a creamy, sugary finish. I shared these cupcakes with some friends, none vegan, and they all agreed that they were delicious!
Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
This recipe is taken from Food.com
Yields approximately 12 cupcakes
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 cup vegan milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup vegan granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons vegan red food coloring* or two small bottles of red food coloring
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon chocolate extract, optional (this can be hard to find, so omit it if you cannot locate it in your local store)
For the Frosting:
- 1/4 cup vegan butter, softened
- 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups vegan powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line muffin pans with liners.
Whisk together the vegan milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle. Note that I have only used soy milk in this recipe, so I do not know if other vegan milks will thicken in this step.
Curdling soy milk with apple cider vinegar
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl and mix.
Sifting the dry ingredients
Add the oil, food coloring, chocolate extract (if using), vanilla extract and almond extract to the curdled soy milk. Whisk well to combine.
You'll use about two small bottles of red food coloring
Make well in center of dry ingredients and gently fold wet ingredients into dry, mixing until large lumps disappear. Do not over mix, or your cupcakes will turn out gummy – small lumps are okay.
Finishing up the batter
Fill cupcake liners about three-quarters full as these cupcakes will rise fairly high. And make sure you use the right size of cupcake liners – mine were too small for my pan, but I used them anyway!
Filling the liners with the batter
Place in hot oven and bake 18-20 minutes until done, or until toothpick inserted in the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
Cool cupcakes in the pan for five mintues, and then transfer to a cooling rack or surface to cool completely.
Cooling on the rack
Using a hand mixer (or by hand), cream together the vegan butter and vegan cream cheese until just combined.
Mixing it all by hand
Whip in the powdered sugar in 1/2 cup batches. Scrape down the sides and mix until smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla.
Now it just needs to chill to firm up a bit
Keep tightly covered and refrigerated until ready to use.
When ready, spread some frosting on each of the cupcakes.
Spreading frosting on red velvet cupcakes
Then serve and enjoy!
Worth it.
What is your favorite cupcake?
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best cupcakes ever EVEN BETTER THAN THOSE WITH ANIMAL PRODUCTS IN THEM!
I’d never had a red velvet cupcake before and made these just this morning. I just love them. The recipe is easy, the crumb is nice and moist, and the flavor is delicious. I’ll be making these again! Thank you so much!
I love your blog…♥♥♥….Thanks…..
If you want this recipe to be completely vegan, do not use red #40. It is made from crushed red beetles. I would find a vegan dye or use beet juice.
I’ve used beet juice to color a red velvet cake. It gives it a more redish brow color, and not the bright vibrant red that food coloring gives it. The beet juice will not alter the taste. I’ve also used applesauce to replace oil, but never in a vegan recipe. It would be worth a try!! As for the frosting, I am worried that some of the ingredients will be hard to find? I’m new to this vegan stuff, so I don’t really know where to look!! I found this cool recipe for whipped cream using coconut milk. Coconut milk is a little easier to find, so this might be an alternative for those who don’t have access to specialty items. http://nuttykitchen.com/2010/06/01/coconut-whipped-cream/
Yum, I used this to make em over the weekend, so delicious and exactly what I was craving! Though I’m pretty sure that food.com took the recipe for the cakes directly from the ‘Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World’ cookbook, but the frosting is different form what’s in the book, which I like because this recipe for frosting you have here seems easier to make, and it was divine… we nearly licked the bowl clean!
These were amazing and were fed to all my meat eating friends (they loved them too!)! I couldn’t find any vegan cream cheese so i used soya milk and lots of icing sugar and grapefruit juice for icing with candied pink grapefruit peel for decoration. THanks :D
Oh my gosh! I am so happy I found this recipe! I’m transitioning into being vegan and have been looking for vegan recipes of my favorite dishes. My mother and youngest brother’s birthdays recently passed and for the past few years, I buy red velvet cupcakes for the birthdays in my family. My other brother’s birthday is in February and my birthday is in March, and I began to think of how I can maintain my red velvet birthday tradition. I think for the next round of birthdays I will be baking cupcakes. They look surprisingly similar to the cupcakes that I buy.
Can i use applesause instead of oil??
I have never actually used applesauce as a replacement to oil, so I couldn’t give you good advice on this one. I know that you can use it as a replacement, but not sure how it does in this kind of cake. My suggestion would to do a little research on the web. Sorry!
These look great! Posting it to my Facebook page. Have a few Vegans there.
Delish! Saw this on tasteologie….nice work!!!!
I’m not the biggest fan of cake, much less red velvet. I have never figured out why people love it so much?! It is beautiful though.
I recently saw a recipe for using beets to dye the cake that I have been meaning to try (if I can find someone to eat all the cake).
Mmm, these look great, I would really love one right now! :)
I have used hemp milk AND almond milk with the vinegar trick, so there’s two more that work! ;)