It’s the strawberry season here, so strawberry cupcakes it is! I love baking with strawberries, as you can see in my Vegan Strawberry Muffins, Strawberry Slice, or Strawberry Baked Oatmeal. With two kids at home, I have a passion for vegan cupcakes, and I already shared quite a few with you: vegan vanilla cupcakes, vegan chocolate cupcakes, and now these pink cupcakes! Strawberry cupcakes differ from other cupcakes in that they incorporate strawberry puree, which can upset the balance of your batter if it’s not done properly. I shared my strawberry puree recipe on my kid blog, it is basically blended raw strawberries, and it adds a lovely strawberry flavor and moist crumb to cupcakes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Fresh Strawberries are the best, but actually fresh or frozen strawberries work well. If you use frozen strawberries, thaw them overnight or for at least 3 hours, discard the juice they release, and use the thawed berries only. For fresh strawberries, the riper they are, the sweeter the cupcakes will be! Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice. Soy Milk or any plant-based milk you love like almond milk or oat milk or coconut milk. The combination of apple cider vinegar and dairy-free milk creates natural vegan buttermilk that makes the cupcakes crumb moist. White Sugar – I use unrefined cane sugar, you can use coconut sugar, but it alters the lovely pink color of the cupcake crumb. So for a lovely pink and white cupcake color, use any white granulated sweetener. Even erythritol works as a sugar-free alternative. Baking Powder – To make the crumb fluffy. Melted Vegan Butter or light vegetable oil like canola oil. Chopped Strawberries – I recommend fresh strawberries.
How To Make Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
It’s pretty simple to make vegan strawberry cupcakes. All you need to start this recipe are: For the buttercream, I started from my vegan vanilla frosting recipe, and I added the ingredients below to make a pink cupcake frosting with natural strawberry flavor:
Pink food coloring drops Strawberry powder – you can also use drops of natural strawberry flavor.
Vegan Strawberry Frosting
The next and fun part is the cupcake frosting. To do so, make sure the cupcakes are fully cooled down. Then, prepare the vegan strawberry buttercream. I had about 1/2 cup of frosting left that I stored in the fridge for other desserts, or you can freeze it for later.
Decoration
Cupcakes are always much more attractive if decorated right! So to decorate these lovely dairy-free cupcakes the vegan way, I recommend adding:
Fresh Strawberries – you can add a whole strawberry or half strawberry. I like to wash the strawberries first, then pat them dry on absorbent paper to prevent liquid from being released into the frosting – this ruins the frosting, so better to avoid strawberry juice. A pinch of Freeze-dried Strawberry Powder – I personally struggle to find this in store, so instead, I bought a strawberry-flavored superfood powder made of beetroot powder, pea protein, and plenty of other healthy nutrients. Desiccated Coconut Vegan Sprinkles. Not all sprinkles are vegan. Some use animal-based food coloring. So choose a conscious sprinkle brand to add to the top of these pink cupcakes.
Storage Instructions
These vegan cupcakes store very well in a cupcake airtight box in the fridge for about 3-4 days. You can also freeze the strawberry cupcakes in a box and thaw them in the fridge the day before eating. I recommend freezing cupcakes without the strawberry on top.
Allergy Swaps
Flours – you can swap wheat flour for an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend containing gums. Other flours that work well are white wholewheat flour or spelt flour. This recipe won’t work with almond flour or coconut flour. Refined sugar-free crystal sweeteners work well, but watch out! Coconut sugar turns the cupcakes brown. You won’t enjoy the same pink color. Food Coloring can be added to the cupcake batter for a much more vibrant color if you are making these as vegan Valentine’s day cupcakes, for example.
More Vegan Desserts with Strawberries
I have a passion for dairy-free desserts, and I have so many other lovely vegan desserts recipes for you to try this season.
