Cupcakes are, without question, one of my favorite desserts and baked goods: they’re colorful, come in infinite variety, fun and creative to decorate, and most of all supremely delicious. These vegan lemon cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese frosting are a light, fluffy cakelette that simply doesn’t disappoint.
A Brief Flavor Profile – Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
Aesthetic, indulgent, and pretty easy to make, a cupcake like this has your name written all over it.
– On the lemony, perfectly moist cake
– On the creamy raspberry-flavored frosting
– And on the proverbial cherry on top, the fresh raspberries – a refreshing burst of flavor to cut through some of the tart lemon body and sweet frosting.
These Vegan Lemon Cupcakes: Are They Easy To Make?
These are, as cupcakes go, pretty basic. You’ve got the cake, the frosting, and a focal point topping, which is literally just a berry that you wash and then plop on. Easy!
The Cake Part
The cake itself doesn’t have any filling or fanciness about it, and it isn’t finicky to bake or hard to tell when it’s done baking. Simply poke the cupcake with a toothpick; if no batter remains clinging to it, then they’re probably done. Also, you can tap on the top – it should spring back if done.
The Frosting Part
The frosting for these vegan lemon cupcakes is perhaps trickier to master. Vegan frostings can sometimes be hard to get the right consistency. In this recipe, you’ll be using store-bought vegan cream cheese, like Tofutti.
You may have to do a bit of adjusting, such as adding more of one ingredient and less of another. Just keep messing around with the consistency of the frosting until it can hold a peak without collapsing. Then, you know it’s ready to pipe.
There exists an option to use either fresh raspberries in this frosting or raspberry extract instead. Fresh raspberries are very watery, so they dilute the frosting and make it harder to balance the consistency, so raspberry extract is preferred. However, the extract is harder to find than fresh raspberries. Really, either or is fine, just take that into account when making and balancing the frosting.
How To Pay the Piper
Don’t be afraid of the piping bag.
Decorating these vegan lemon cupcakes was my first time using a piping bag. Let me list for you several things I learned whilst piping, so that you can avoid a lot of the pitfalls when piping, and also avoid messing up…too much.
– Firstly, roll the piping bag down to an appropriate length, so that you don’t get frosting all up and down the whole bag. That’s just a hassle to clean, and you waste frosting that way.
– Make sure that you choose an appropriate piping bag tip, one that is not too big and not too small. Notice the openings as well, and think about how they will affect the frosting as it comes out of the bag. Some are jagged, some are perfectly circular – choose your style and go with it.
– Take it slow and steady with the piping. Apply an even amount of pressure onto the posterior region of the bag, and pipe the tops of each cupcake in one squeeze. That way, the design will come out contiguous and balanced – unless of course you want a design drastically different from this one, such as little floret shapes or something.
– Make sure to clean the inside and outside of the piping bag well after you’re doing using it, and then drape it over a large mouth jar to let it dry out completely before storing it again.
Not much more can be said about these beautiful vegan lemon cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese frosting. If you enjoyed these delicious vegan lemon cupcakes, let me know by leaving a comment and recipe rating!
Also, if you’re looking for another wonderful cupcake recipe, check out these black bottom cupcakes – they’re the best!
Lemon Cupcakes with Vegan Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- Oven
- Cupcake Papers
- 12-count Cupcake Tin
- Piping Bag
Ingredients
For the Lemon Cupcake
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup vanilla soy milk, or plain
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- ½ cup coconut oil or vegan butter, melted
- ⅔ cup sugar
- Zest 1 Lemon
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Vegan Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ – ¾ cup vegan cream cheese, like Tofutti
- ½ – 1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3-4 fresh raspberries, or ½ teaspoon raspberry extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F, and line a 12-count cupcake tin with cupcake papers.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Next, in a separate bowl, combine the soy milk and ground flaxseed, and let thicken – about 5 minutes.
- After that, add the melted coconut oil (or vegan butter), sugar, lemon zest and juice and vanilla to the milk and flaxseed. Whisk well.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet, and fold together until everything is incorporated. Fill the cupcake wells about ⅔ – ¾ of the way full, and then bake for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- While that's happening, make the frosting by combining all the ingredients together. Mess around with adding more cream cheese or confectioner's sugar to achieve a good, pipe-able consistency. Store in the fridge.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely, and then load the frosting into a piping bag. Pipe a design atop the cupcakes, and then plop a fresh raspberry down in the center.
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
These are gorgeous Cameron! Nice use of the piping bag. I so do love lemon and raspberries together. Thank you for such a great recipe. You do great stuff with food.
Thank you, Amy – you’re awesome!