You may have seen the post last month where I mentioned that I served these lemon cupcakes as a part of an at home afternoon tea for Mother’s Day. I mentioned in that post that the cupcakes themselves were quite plain, and they are. If you’re looking for a simple GF sponge recipe, this one is perfect for you. However, what I was really hoping to achieve with this vegan lemon cupcakes recipe was a different kind of icing.
When I decided to make lemon cakes, I didn’t want to do a basic drizzle, didn’t really want to make a lemon buttercream – so I decided to make a creamy lemon cashew frosting. It’s a really simple blend of soaked cashews, icing sugar and lemon, it tastes soft and creamy in the mouth but it sets like a regular icing would. If you don’t have time to/ don’t want to soak the cashews, you could very easily sub this for a regular vegan buttercream and add some lemon zest to it.
Nutritional Information
Cake and nutritional benefits don’t exactly go hand in hand so this section will be very brief. As the icing is cashew based, they do offer some benefits here. Each cupcake provides just over a quarter of your daily vitamin E and over half of your daily omega 6.
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes Recipe (GF)
This is a light cupcake recipe rather than a heavy loaf or pound cake, so it’s perfect for a light mid-morning/ afternoon snack.
If you’re looking for an easy vegan bake, this is perfect. It’s a really light and simple vegan lemon cupcakes recipe, one bowl recipe that takes less than 30 minutes to prep and bake! A great one for anyone experimenting with free from baking to try.
This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, nut free, soy free and vegan.
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes Recipe (GF)
A really light and simple vegan lemon cupcakes recipe, one bowl recipe that takes less than 30 minutes to prep and bake! A great one for anyone experimenting with free from baking to try.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup 60ml vegetable oil (only use 50ml if not GF)
- 140 g GF self-raising flour or regular self raising flour if not GF
- 100 g golden caster sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅔ cup non-dairy milk
- 2 lemons zested 1 juiced
Icing
- 1/3 cup cashews soaked
- ¼ cup icing sugar
- Juice & zest of one lemon
Instructions
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Heat oven to 200°c/180°c fan/gas 6. Line a cupcake tray with 6 cake cases. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest in a bowl. Add the oil, lemon juice and non-dairy milk, then mix until smooth.
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Pour the mixture into the cases until about ¾ full*. Bake for 20-25 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then remove and transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool fully.
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For the icing, drain the cashews and blend them with the lemon juice and zest. Starting with 1/8 cup, stir in the icing sugar until the mixture has thickened but still pourable and creamy. Pour over the surface of each cupcake, ensuring the edges are fully covered. It will take a few minutes to set once the icing is poured, but then they’re ready to serve!
Serve and enjoy!
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I only filled mine just over half way and they rose to nearly the rim of the cake cases so ¾ full should be enough for a fluffy cupcake.
Lemon is a favourite of mine when it comes to cupcakes/ cake flavours in general. What’s your favourite cupcake flavour?
Until tomorrow,
Sophie
Aaah I loooooooove “plain” cakes! I can’t be bothered with all of the fancy stuff so a bit of lemon drizzle is perfect for me. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I love how there aren’t too many ingredients, too.
Oh, lemon flavoured cakes are one of my favourites! The frosting sounds really nice, I am learning so much about vegan and gluten-free alternatives from you. Definitely giving me inspiration to making more baked goodies like this! Also congratulations of posting out a new recipe every day, looking forward to seeing the rest!
Aimsy xoxo
ooooh! This looks super easy! I always thought cupcakes are hard to make, thank you for sharing
I do enjoy having a lil cupcake as a snack, these look lovely. My favourite is usually the standard chocolate cupcakes, although when I was younger I used to always make those butterfly cupcakes where you cut the top of them and then pop them on the top so they look like lil butterflies, so I’m a big fan of cupcakes that have jam in them too.
Chloe xx
http://www.chloechats.com
The cashew icing sounds so interesting! I would’ve never thought of making an icing using cashews x
https://www.femaleoriginal.com
My husband loves lemon cupcakes so he might actually get some over the bank holiday!
Love, Amie ❤️
The Curvaceous Vegan
Lemon flavoured cake is one of the best flavours ever! These look delicious! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
These look amazing, as usual!! I need to try these x
Lemon cupcakes are my mom’s favourite. She wanted my elder sister to bake it for her. Thanks for sharing this recipe. This will help us bake for our mom!
Oooh! I love how your cupcakes turn out. Big plus that it is gluten-free! I need to get my hands on this hehe. I like that it takes so little ingredients to make! Big plus that you can just quickly prep it and leave the oven to do the rest of the work.
Nancy ♥ exquisitely.me
Anything with lemon is so refreshing! Since it is growing so hot where I live, I cannot wait to give these a go, and I love that these are small. That will discourage me from eating too many. 🙂
These sound delicious – I love lemon! I find that I’ve been itching to bake more often while being stuck here at home. I’ll have to give these a try when I get my bake on later this week!
I haven’t had a lemon cupcake in the longest time but they are the best! I definitely need to give this fab recipe a go soon x
I’ve always had a thing for lemon cake. And the cashew frosting sounds amazing! I’m going to have to try these. Thank you!
I’ve never heard of a cashew cream topping, this looks interesting!
Oooh I love lemon drizzle cakes and these vegan ones have a similar recipe to non-vegan so I think I have most of the ingredients anyway. Do you know if there is an alternative to cashews for the icing? Just thinking about allergies x
Megan | https://meganelizabethlifestyle.com/
I’m not great at cupcakes but I definitely want to give these a try. I love anything with lemon xx
Tiffany x http://www.foodandotherloves.co.uk
Oh my gosh – these look so incredible, thank you I’m gonna make these! I’m sending you so much love. Stay strong, stay home, stay safe. ♡
With love, Alisha Valerie x | http://www.alishavalerie.com
A great, simple and delicious recipe. I love lemon cupcakes and the fact these involve a cashew and lemon icing is right up my street. I’ll have to get baking lol!
These look good. I will pass this on to my gluten free friend xx
I have been trying to become vegan but it is always things like cakes and chocolate that let me down. I will be trying this recipe! Sounds like the perfect thing to fulfil my cravings.
These look fairly easy – so i might try it!
Mollie | https://mollieclarke.co.uk
Yum! I made some lemon cupcakes a few weeks ago and they were so good. Might need to whip up another batch!
My all time favourite cake is lemon drizzle so I am definitely a lover of lemon! “creamy lemon cashew frosting” almost literally made my belly do a grumble, haha! I love that you have included the nutritional information, it is so interesting to know these things about the food we eat. I love that these lemon cupcakes are an easy bake because it gives me the confidence to give them a try! Thank you! *pins recipe* xx
I usually blend/grind my gf oats to make oat flour, and much to my chagrin, I went to the cupboard this morning to make myself some oats, only to realise that I had run out :’) Soon as I get some more, I’ll have to work that into trying some of the lemon-themed recipes you’ve had lately!
Oh no!! To be fair, I do the exact same thing to make my oat flour. I’m usually staring at my pantry trying to figure out if I have enough left for oats and baking . Let me know if you try something!
Lemon is one of my favourite flavours EVER so I’d love to try these! The perfect addition to an afternoon tea 🙂 xxx
I’m not really a fan of cupcakes but lemon ones sound so good x
My mum absolutely loves anything lemon flavoured and it’s her birthday coming up so I’m going to make her some of these. Thank you for sharing.
Hi,
These cupcakes seem very simple to make, but I can’t seem to see the milk that’s mentioned in the instructions, on the ingredients list. Can you please advise how much to use?
Thanks.
Hi, apologies! I’ll edit now. It should say two thirds of a cup. Start with roughly half a cup then mix until you get a typical cake batter texture.