Just a few basic ingredients needed for these delicate vegan vanilla cupcakes topped with a sweet and creamy vegan frosting!

Ever since making these vegan chocolate cupcakes I’ve been getting requests for an equally easy vegan vanilla cupcakes recipe.  And of course I’m not complaining because, well, lets face it what day isn’t made better by having cupcakes of any flavour in it?!

The first batch went a bit awry – having worried that I’d under-filled the cases they actually ended up spilling over and were all kinds of odd shapes.  I shared that outcome on our Instagram stories.  Complete with a dodgy reflection of me and Meg sitting looking into the oven wondering what the heck had caused my lovingly crafted vegan cupcakes recipe to become mini Vezuviuses.

What was most perplexing was that they were an adaptation of the said vegan chocolate cupcakes, with a few minor tweaks and of course less chocolate.  And those chocolate cupcakes worked just about perfectly first time.  So after some harumphing I made the vanilla cupcakes again.  Though they’re such a simple cupcakes recipe I’m making it sound more dramatic than it actually was.  This time I changed the cupcake cases and put a smidge less mixture in them and hurrah.  Perfect little vanilla cupcakes.

It did of course mean we had extra cupcakes to eat, mini Vesuviuses or otherwise.

How to make vegan vanilla cupcakes

Just two bowls, a sieve and a spatula are all that’s needed for this easy recipe.  One bowl of wet.  One bowl of dry, mix the two together and bake.  Simple as.  The magic happens in the oven with the ingredients that you’ve carefully blended together to form soft little spongy cupcakes.

I’ve also been asked a few times recently about using baking powder and vinegar.  I use them in baking for a couple of reasons.  Firstly I find them a good egg substitute.  Together they make a chemical reaction giving vegan baking that lovely lift and airy crumb texture.  And secondly because they’re fairly accessible ingredients.  I’ve used flax and chia ‘eggs’ in baking before but they don’t seem to give the same rise.  And maybe people might have a little more difficulty getting hold of ground flax seeds or grinding their own.

Also, the best vanilla cupcakes require the best vanilla.  So buy the best you can afford.  Vanilla essence or the very liquid stuff is more than adequate if that’s your budget.  I use either this Nielsen Massey vanilla extract – it’s a little pricier but it’s got the best flavour.  Or this natural vanilla essence from Foodie Flavours – as with all their essences and flavourings, a little goes a LONG way!

I’m not going to pretend these are in any way healthy.

And I’ve noticed myself steering away from healthy baking recently in favour of outright decadence.  I’m not entirely sure why as healthy baking can be blimming fantastic.  Maybe I’m just trying to show as many people as possible that vegan anything doesn’t have to be difficult.  With weird, hard to find ingredients.  It can be delicious and easy and just as downright arse-fatteningly bad for you as its non-vegan counterpart.

Sure we (vegans) eat a good amount of salad.  But if I can follow that up with a rich vegan vanilla cupcake (or 3) I feel like I’m winning at life 😉

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