Dairy Free Egg Free Vanilla Cupcakes

Looking for a great allergy-friendly vegan cupcake recipe? These dairy-free and egg-free vanilla cupcakes use just 7 ingredients and take 25 minutes to make. Perfect for any occasion such as kids’ parties, weddings, or even just to enjoy with an afternoon cup of tea.

This recipe was originally published in January 2022 and has been updated to include new photos and more helpful tips.

Why I Made This Recipe

When I was growing up in the UK, my Mum always used to make fairy cakes. I loved to help out and I think that’s where my love of baking started. The smell of freshly baked cupcakes always takes me right back to my childhood kitchen in Wales.

So when I started developing food allergies a few years ago, cupcakes were at the top of my list of bakes to perfect. I knew that I wanted a solid vanilla cupcakes recipe that was both egg free and dairy free but still tasted as good as the ones I remember from my childhood. I also wanted to be able to make a safe option for our kids that they could take to school or for parties where they can enjoy a sweet treat.

Why You Need to Make These

This is a classic family-favourite recipe which you absolutely need if you have dairy and/or egg allergies in your household. These cupcakes are light and fluffy, moist, easy to bake and use just 7 ingredients. Perfect for every occasion and to whip up as a last minute treat.

Pair with my vegan vanilla buttercream and your favourite sprinkles or fruity sauce. These truly are proof that having food allergies doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy scrumptious cupcakes!

Ingredients and Substitutions

This recipe uses everyday ingredients, most of which you may already have in your pantry. We are using plant-based butter, vegan buttermilk, and some extra baking powder as our main substitutes for a more traditional cupcake recipe. Check out the FAQs for more tips.

Dry Ingredients

Flour: this recipe uses self-raising flour which helps the cupcakes rise and also ensures a lighter, more airy texture. We want to achieve a nice, springy crumb and self-raising flour is perfect for that. If you don’t have this type of flour in your pantry, you can easily make your own. Check out my detailed post where I cover how to make regular and gluten free self raising flour.

Sugar: fine white sugar is perfect as we want to keep everything light and fluffy. If your sugar is more coarse, I highly recommend blitzing it in a food processor for a few seconds to grind it down. No food processor? Just skip the blitzing – it will affect the crumb slightly but it’s not a big deal.

Baking Powder: we need to add ‘puff’ to our cupcakes. The SR flour already contains some but not quite enough for an egg-free recipe. Generally, eggs help a light batter rise so a little bit of extra baking powder will help compensate for the lack of eggs.

Wet Ingredients

Plant-Based Butter: My unsalted butter was taken out of the fridge around 30 minutes before I started making this recipe. You want to ensure that your butter is slightly soft to the touch. Too soft and your cupcakes will sink. Too hard and it won’t incorporate into the batter evenly. I also highly recommend using a block butter, not a spreadable version, as block butter reacts better in baking, has a lower water content, and a less greasy consistency.

Vegan Buttermilk: my go-to egg replacement in cakes and cupcakes is usually buttermilk. It helps to bind the other ingredients together and adds extra moisture and acidity to the batter to help activate the baking powder.

To make your own buttermilk for this recipe, add 2 tsp white vinegar to 120ml plant-based milk, stir and let it sit for 10 minutes before using. You can read more about vegan buttermilk in this detailed post. Feel free to sub with your preferred egg replacer (such as 2 flax eggs) or if you’re not vegan, use 2 eggs.

Flavourings

Vanilla Bean Paste: I use this paste in almost every recipe. I love the little speckles of flavour that it adds. Of course, if you don’t have the paste, you can swap it out with extract. Feel free to change to a different flavour as well, such as almond, strawberry or lemon. The possibilities are endless with this recipe.

Toppings

As a bonus, I’m also including my vegan buttercream recipe in this recipe card. If you’d like to learn more about this buttercream, check out my more detailed post for some tips and tricks. This is a wonderful buttercream that comes together in no time at all and is so silky smooth that I guarantee that you’ll want to lick the spoon. I also added a drizzle of store-bought strawberry sauce and a cute royal icing flower to finish off the cupcakes.

How to Make Cupcakes

Only 7 ingredients? Yes, you read that correctly. This is about as basic as it comes for a cupcake recipe. If you’re new to baking, it’s a great one to start with. And if you’re a seasoned pro, why not add this to your back pocket of staple recipes? I guarantee that it won’t let you down, both in terms of taste and consistency.

All-in-one Method

I use an all-in-one method to make the cupcake batter. Wait, what?? Ok, so generally you would start with creaming your butter and sugar first then add in the rest of your ingredients. I tested 7 variations of this recipe and the one that had the most consistent results was the all-in-one method. Yay for skipping steps! Perfect when you want to make a quick treat with very few steps. Feel free to cream the butter and sugar first though if you prefer.

Start by making the buttermilk (see above) then throw all of your ingredients into your mixing bowl (ok, maybe don’t throw them), stir to combine, and then add to your pre-lined cupcake pan. This batter is fairly thick so I love using my trusty ice cream scoop to evenly fill my cupcake cases without getting in a huge mess. It’s seriously my favourite tool when I’m baking and is such a timesaver.

Let’s Bake

Bake the cupcakes at 350F for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden on top. As a side note, when I was developing this recipe, I wanted to ensure that the cupcakes would bake flat. There is always a debate in the baking world about whether cupcakes should be flat or slightly domed…. and honestly, I think it’s a personal preference. I usually decorate my cupcakes with either fondant or buttercream so I prefer a flat surface to work with.

Let’s take a moment to look at these beauties when they came out of the oven. The smell always transports me back to my childhood. So good!

Time to Decorate

Frost with vanilla buttercream and your cupcakes are ready to serve. You can’t go wrong with a swirl of scrumptious buttercream on top of a freshly baked cupcake. I used a 1M piping nozzle in a piping bag to achieve this swirl.

I decided to go one step further and drizzle some strawberry sauce on top. Yum!

And finally add a royal icing flower on top for an extra pop of colour. Perfection!

Storage and Freezing

If you can resist eating them on the day they are baked, these cupcakes will store well in an airtight container in a cool place at room temperature for up to 3 days. Pop them in the fridge if your room is particularly warm or humid.

To freeze any leftover cupcakes, seal the cupcakes in an airtight container and store them for up to 3 months. To defrost, remove from the freezer and leave on the counter to come to room temperature before opening the container. This will reduce condensation forming on the cupcakes. 

And yes, you can freeze them unfrosted and frosted.

Vanilla Cupcake FAQs

We just adore these dairy free egg free vanilla cupcakes. I hope you’ll love them as much as we do. Let me know in the comments if you try them.

Craving More Treats?

Check out more of my favourite cupcake and muffin recipes:

• Indulge with some red velvet cupcakes (Vegan)
• How about some zesty lemon drizzle muffins (Vegan)
• Satisfy your chocolate cravings with some rocky road muffins (Vegan)

Dairy and Egg Free Vanilla Cupcakes

Bake Angel

Looking for a great allergy-friendly vegan cupcake recipe? These dairy-free and egg-free vanilla cupcakes use just 7 ingredients and take 25 minutes to make.

Paired with silky vanilla buttercream, these cupcakes are perfect for any occasion such as kids' parties, weddings, or even just to enjoy with an afternoon cup of tea.

5 from 15 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Jump to Video

Prep Time 8 minutes mins

Cook Time 17 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Vegan

Servings 12

Equipment

• Kitchen Scales
• Hand Mixer
• Mixing Bowl
• Spatula
• Ice Cream Scoop
• Cupcake Cases
• Cupcake/Muffin Pan
• Piping Bag
• Piping Tip 1M

Ingredients

  

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Vanilla Cupcakes

• 125 grams Self Raising Flour (1 US Cup plus 1 tbsp)
• 125 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted) (1/2 US Cup plus 1 tbsp)
• 125 grams White Sugar (1/2 US Cup plus 2 tbsp)
• 120 ml Plant Based Milk (1/2 US Cup – see note re Buttermilk)
• 2 tsp White Vinegar (for the buttermilk)
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste (5 ml)

Vanilla Buttercream

• 100 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted) (7 tbsp)
• 227 grams Icing Sugar (1 3/4 US Cup)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
• 10 mililitres Plant Based Milk (2 tsp)
• Pinch Salt

Instructions

 

Cupcake Method

• Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C and line your cupcake pan. Make the vegan buttermilk by adding 2 tsp white vinegar to 120ml plant based milk. Stir and allow to sit for 10 minutes while you get all of the remaining ingredients ready.
  2 tsp White Vinegar, 120 ml Plant Based Milk
• Using the all in one method, mix all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl until just combined, including the buttermilk.
  125 grams Self Raising Flour, 125 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted), 125 grams White Sugar, 1 tsp Baking Powder, 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
• Fill the cupcake cases 3/4 full. I highly recommend using an ice cream scoop to fill them evenly.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes then place cupcakes on a cooling rack.
• Top tip: let the cupcakes cool completly before icing them.

Buttercream Method

• Cream the butter in your stand mixer.
  100 grams Plant Based Butter (unsalted)
• Add icing sugar in stages and mix on a low speed until fully combined.
  227 grams Icing Sugar
• Add the milk, vanilla bean paste and salt then stir until fully combined.
  1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste, 10 mililitres Plant Based Milk, Pinch Salt
• Scrape down the bowl to double check that everything is incorporated.
• Add to a piping bag and then you're ready to decorate. Pipe a swirl of buttercream on the cupcake and add sprinkles if desired.

Video

Notes

• These cupcakes are best enjoyed on the day of baking but will store well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
• To make vegan buttermilk, add 2 tsp white vinegar to 120ml plant based milk, stir and allow to sit for 10 minutes. It will curdle slightly. Add to the recipe as per instructions. 
• Gluten Free option: sub the self raising flour with gluten free self raising flour. I always make my own with a 1-to-1 GF baking flour, salt and baking powder. Here’s my post on GF SR flour which has more info. Happy baking!
• To freeze, seal in an airtight container. To defrost, remove from the freezer and leave on the counter to come to room temperature before opening the container. This will reduce condensation forming on the cupcakes. 
• To change the flavour, swap out the vanilla bean paste with your preferred flavouring. You can even add chocolate chips. sprinkles, dried fruit or nuts. The possibilities are endless with this family-favourite recipe. 
• I always recommend using a kitchen scales to weigh your ingredients when baking. This will ensure a more accurate result every time. US Cup measurements have been included as a guide. 
• For more vegan recipes, check out this collection of delightful treats. 

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