red velvet cupcakes

Updated: Jul 1, 2020

These red velvet cupcakes are soft, light, fluffy and completely vegan!

I tried to keep this as simple as possible and used a classic vanilla frosting which worked beautifully. Traditionally, red velvet cakes will have a cream cheese frosting so you can certainly recreate that with a vegan cream cheese or by using soaked cashews, or simply add a little lemon juice to your icing.

I used a vegan brand of red food dye (there are vegan options available in some supermarkets, you might need to use google to find one near you) and you can certainly use something like beetroot to create a natural red colour but I don't have a tried & tested recipe for that just yet, so I used some vegan friendly red food colouring for now.

For decorations I made some red sprinkles by adding a tiny amount of red food dye to desiccated coconut. I stirred until it the coconut pieces were red.


1 1/2 cups plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/8 tsp salt 1 cup soy milk 2 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder 25g vegan red food dye 1 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

For the icing sugar

1 cup icing sugar 3/4 cups vegan butter or margarine 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 tbsp water or soy milk

1. In a small bowl, combine the milk, apple cider vinegar and vanilla. Mix and let it sit for a few mins.

2. In a large bowl, sift the flour and add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Add the vegetable oil and red food dye.

3. Add the milk mixture and stir until you have a smooth mix with no lumps. Do not over mix.

4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

5. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon the mixture into cupcake liners evenly. Place them on a flat tray and bake for 20 to 25 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

6. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Once they've completely cooled you can prepare your icing.

7. To prepare the icing, place the butter in a small bowl and stir to soften. Gradually add the icing sugar, vanilla extract and water or milk. I usually just use water. Keep stirring until the icing is smooth and mixed well. You can add more water if you want it to be thinner, or more icing sugar if you want a thicker consistency.

8. To ice the cupcakes you can use a piping bag, icing spatula or even a spoon to spread over the cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles or anything else you like and enjoy!

Tag @veganbyeden on instagram if you try my red velvet cupcake recipe, I'd love to see them!


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