Last Updated on March 3, 2023
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes are topped with lemon glazed icing, packed with lemon flavor. This is the recipe you make when you want some refreshing citrusy sweets to go with your coffee or tea.
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
These Vegan Lemon Cupcakes may look very simple, but to be honest, they are probably the sweets I made most often at home.
With inexpensive ingredients, the cake batter is made in one mixing bowl, a great deal to save you time, money, and energy. It’s also extremely versatile in that you could sub the poppy seeds for fruits, nuts, or seeds.
These Vegan Cupcakes are…
The perfect balance of Lemony flavor from Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest. They add a bright, pungent, citrusy flavor to these cupcakes that can be both refreshing and light. They’re also:
Glazed with shinny Lemon icing
Soft and Moist
A Just-right tartness
Not too Sweet
Healthier- made with Spelt flour and poppy seed
Small portion
And You’ll definitely fall in love with them after the first kiss…
The Lemon Glaze Icing is made with lemon juice and confectionary sugar( also known as powder/icing sugar.) For this icing, there is no mixer required. Just mix it up with a fork and spread with a small palette knife.
Ingredients for Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
Here’s what you need for these Vegan Lemon and Poppy Seed Spelt Cupcakes. They’re pantry ingredients!
Wet Ingredients
- Psyllium Husk + Water– We use Psyllium Husk mixed with water to replace eggs as a binder in this recipe. Psyllium Husk also makes baking goods soft and fluffy.
- Plant-based Milk( non-sweetened)– Pick the type of plant-based milk you like. Here I use soy milk.
- Lemon Juice– I’ve tried a few times with fresh lemon juice and bottled lemon juice. Turned out they both work pretty well.
- Vanilla Extract– an essential ingredient for baking.
- Oil– Use neutral-flavoured oil. Here I use Grapeseed Oil.
- Zest of 2 lemons– Lemon zest can be added to either the wet ingredient group or the dry ingredient group. The end results are the same.
Dry Ingredients
- Spelt Flour– I use wholemeal spelt flour for this recipe. spelt Flour Is Like All-Purpose Flour But much healthier. Spelt flour is a type of whole wheat flour made from the entire grain (bran, endosperm, germ, and all). From a nutritional perspective, Spelt flour has a similar nutritional profile to common wheat. It is higher in protein and some important vitamins. You can use an equal amount of all-purpose flour too.
- Organic Sugar (Castor sugar)
- Baking Powder
- Poppy Seed
- Salt
Lemon glaze icing recipe
For the lemon glazed icing, we simply use powder sugar and lemon juice, then mixed with poppy seed.
- Confectionery Sugar(powder or icing sugar)
- Lemon Juice– Fresh lemon juice and bottled lemon juice. Turned out they both work pretty well.
- Poppy Seed& Sliced Lemon Rind(optional)– They are for decorative purposes.
How to make Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
1. In a small bowl, whisk together the psyllium husk with the water. Set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients: unsweetened plant-based milk, lemon juice, oil, vanilla extract, and thickened psyllium husk mixture.
3. Use an immersion blender stick, blend at high speed for 30 seconds until the mixture is smooth and slightly thickened (you can use a food processor if you don’t have an immersion blender stick).
4. Place a large sieve on the top of the bowl, sift sugar, spelt flour, baking powder salt into the wet mixture.
5. Add poppy seed and zest of two lemons (only the yellow skin part on the surface, not the white part) into the batter and mix together.
6. Use a spatula, mixing the dry and wet ingredients gently through the folding technique. (mix until the dry ingredients are disappeared and no lumps are visible, then stop. Don’t no over mix the batter.) Then cover the batter with a clean tea towel, let it rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Preheat the oven to (180°C = 356°F) fan-forced. (P.S. Letting the batter rest will help to give any gluten that may have formed while mixing the batter time to relax).
7. Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with paper cases. Divide the batter between the 12 prepared cupcake cases. Fill the cupcake liners around ⅞ full.
8. Place the tray in the oven bake for 20-25 minutes. When done, insert a bamboo toothpick into the center of the cups and it should come out clean.
Note: It’s very important to make sure cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting.( otherwise, the icing will just melt on the top.
How to make Vegan Lemon Glazed Icing
- Prepare your ingredients for lemon glazed icing.
- Add the powdered sugar, lemon juice to the bowl, mix together with a fork until form a thick, smooth paste. (not runny, the icing needs to stick on the top of the cakes, the texture is like soft butter. if too runny, add more powder sugar; if too thick, add more lemon juice)
- MIX poppy seed into the icing mixture.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool( otherwise the icing will melt), spread on the lemon glazed icing and serve.
I’m pretty obsessed with eating these little cupcakes with my afternoon tea. I hope you all love these vegan lemon cupcakes!
More Easy Vegan Sweets
vegan lemon cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
The Wet Ingredient Group
- 1½ tsp Ground Psyllium Husk
- ¼ Cup Water
- 1 Cup Plant-Based Milk( non sweetened)
- ¼ Cup Lemon Juice
- ⅓ Cup Oil Note1
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract