Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
Easy vegan strawberry cupcakes packed with 3 cups of fresh strawberries for the best flavor (no strawberry essence needed)! These cupcakes are soft and fluffy and come together in one bowl using common ingredients.
These pretty pink cupcakes are the perfect dessert for birthday parties, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or any special occasion!
Ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Strawberries, either fresh or frozen. Make sure you use strawberries that are sweet and flavorful as it’s the main flavor of the cupcakes. Bland strawberries will give you bland cupcakes.
Pink/red food coloring or beetroot powder. Food coloring provides the most reliable and consistent results. Beetroot powder varies a lot depending on the brand and age. Sometimes, the color of beetroot powder doesn’t ‘stick’ during baking and the cupcakes will turn brown/orange. If you make these cupcakes with no added color, they will be a pale pink color.
Baking powder and soda. We’re using double raising agents to ensure these cupcakes are FLUFFY and to counteract the high amount of fruit.
Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (not pictured). When an acid is combined with dairy-free milk, it creates vegan buttermilk which gives the cupcakes a more tender crumb.
How to make vegan strawberry cupcakes
First, puree your strawberries in a food processor or blender. If you have a stick blender, you can add them to your mixing bowl and blend.
TIP: If you have a large blender, it can be tricky blending the strawberries by themselves. If so, blend the berries with the milk and rest of the wet ingredients.
To make the cupcake batter, mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. We don’t want any lumps of baking powder/soda in the cupcakes! Then the wet ingredients until just combined. Some lumps are fine but make sure there are no lumps of flour.
The cake batter will be bubbly from the high amount of raising agents. Don’t whisk out the bubbles or let the batter sit around. Just quickly transfer the batter to the cupcake tin.
If you’re using beetroot powder, the results can vary a lot, so here are some tips:
- Start with around 2-3 teaspoons of beetroot powder and add it to your dry ingredients. Towards the end of mixing, add more if you prefer a stronger color. However, avoid overmixing your batter.
- Beetroot powder fades during baking, so add more than you think you’ll need.
Baking and decorating the cupcakes
I always prefer using ice cream scoop to divide cupcake batter as it’s easier and less messy.
These vegan strawberry cupcakes are wonderful with my strawberry buttercream frosting or strawberry cream cheese frosting. You can also top these cupcakes with:
- Whipped dairy-free cream
- Chocolate ganache
- Vanilla buttercream
- Dusting of powdered sugar
Do I need to reduce the fresh strawberry puree on the stovetop?
No, you don’t need to reduce the strawberries for these cupcakes.
Some strawberry cake recipes ask you to make a strawberry reduction to remove excess water from the strawberries. However, I tested this method and it doesn’t make enough of a difference for the amount of effort. You’re removing water from the strawberries but adding it back to the cupcakes through dairy-free milk.
However, a strawberry reduction is useful for recipes that need less moisture, such as my vegan strawberry cheesecake.
Customizing these vegan strawberry cupcakes
For the easiest vegan gluten-free strawberry cupcakes, I recommend baking my vegan gluten-free strawberry cake in a cupcake pan.
The below recipe can be made gluten-free, but only if you use a combination of different flours, and significantly more flour (see the notes in the recipe card for details). Even though we’re using more flour, the batter is runnier than the original, and the baked cupcakes are flatter than the original. When I tested the gluten-free version, adding even more flour resulted in domed cupcakes, but they were very dry on the second day.
I also tested the cupcakes recipe using a few 1:1 gluten-free flours including Bob’s Red Mill but they resulted in dense and doughy cupcakes.
This recipe bakes differently in a larger pan. Instead, check out my vegan strawberry cake and small-batch vegan strawberry cake. My double strawberry muffins are a heartier and more breakfast-like version of these cupcakes!
More vegan strawberry desserts
If you love easy vegan cupcakes, check out my vegan red velvet cupcakes, carrot cake cupcakes or coconut lime cupcakes.
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Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (310g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled (note 1)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt, optional
Wet ingredients
- 3 cups (360g) ripe strawberries, fresh or frozen then defrosted (weighed after stems have been removed)
- ⅓ cup (85g) dairy-free milk
- ⅓ cup (85g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- Few drops of pink or red food coloring, or 3 teaspoons beetroot powder
To decorate
- 1 quantity Vegan Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting, OR
- 1 quantity Vegan Strawberry Frosting
- Fresh strawberries
- Freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line 1-2 cupcake trays with liners.
Making the vegan strawberry cupcakes:
- Add all your strawberries to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined and there are no big lumps. If you're using beetroot powder, mix it with the dry ingredients.
- Add the strawberry puree and the rest of the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl. If you're using food dye, add it at the same time. Fold the mixture until just combined. The batter should be thick and slightly bubbly. Some lumps in the batter are fine, as long as they aren't lumps of flour. Avoid overmixing the batter, otherwise your cupcakes will be dense.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to divide the batter between your cupcake liners. Each cupcake cavity should be around two-thirds full. You will get anywhere from 12 to 16 cupcakes, depending on the size of your cupcake pan.
Baking the cupcakes:
- Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick into one of the middle cupcakes and it comes out clean. The baking time will depend on the size of your cupcakes.
- Cool the cupcakes in the tray for 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack. These cupcakes may brown underneath which is normal. If you eat the cupcakes immediately, they may stick a little to the liners and will be very moist (this is due to the high amount of strawberries in the recipe). However, when the cupcakes cool, they'll peel away from the liners more easily and the texture will change.
Decorating and serving the vegan strawberry cupcakes:
- Prepare the frosting of your choice.
- When the cupcakes are completely cool, use a piping bag or spatula to decorate the cupcakes, as desired. Top the cupcakes with fresh strawberries and freeze-dried strawberries/raspberries if desired. Serve immediately.
- Store the frosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Video
Notes
- For the best results, use the grams measurements. If you’re using measuring cups, use the spoon and level method to measure the flour. To do this, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup and level it off with a knife. Do not use the measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container as too much flour will result in dense cupcakes. For gluten-free cupcakes, it’s easiest to bake my gluten-free strawberry cake in a cupcake pan. If you’d like to make the above recipe gluten-free, replace the all-purpose flour with 175g (1 3/4 cups) almond flour, 165g (1 1/2 cups) potato starch and 35g (1/3 cup) cornstarch. All the other ingredients/steps remain the same. Even though we’re using more flour, the batter will be runnier. You’ll ~14-16 cupcakes that are flatter than the original. This recipe does not work well with Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free flour.
This post was originally published in January 2017 and updated a few times since then with step-by-step pictures and more useful information.
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Just made these and they turned out lovely! Light and fluffy with a lovely strawberry flavor without being too sweet. And perfectly pink too (I used a pink liquid food dye). Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed these cupcakes! Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
Honestly, I’m not sure where I went wrong. I added quite a hefty amount of pink food colouring and the batter was pink but cooked to be brown in the oven – not sure if its the sugar caramelising in the strawberries. The batter was delicious but the cupcakes honestly tasted a bit meh. Not a very strong strawberry flavour at all. They’re for a dairy-free bake sale so hoping the icing will make up for them.
I’m sorry these didn’t work out for you like it did for others. I noticed that if the sugar from the batter isn’t adequately dissolved, it caramelizes in the oven and turns the cupcakes brown. And this affects the flavor of the cupcakes as you’re essentially eating caramel strawberry cupcakes. The cupcakes can also turn brown if your oven runs a little hot. Hope that helps!
I should have read your note about grams vs cups. I had way too much flour so I added more milk – it altered the recipe. Anywho, I’m sure they would have tasted better if I didn’t over measure the flour!
Two questions! First time baker here! Do i need to have :
Hand mixer
Measuring spoons and cups
Bowls
Pipe bag (or spatula)
Cup cake tray
Cup cake tins?
Also for the frosting recipe how do you do a reduction for the fresh strawberries?
Hi Journey! For the cupcakes, you’ll need a bowl, measuring spoons, a whisk or hand mixer, a cupcake tray and a small blender or food processor. It’s best to use an electronic scale to measure the ingredients, but if you can’t get one, measuring cups are fine.
For the frosting, you will need a hand mixer and a piping bag or spatula. In the gray recipe card, tap on the underlined text where it says ‘Vegan Strawberry Frosting’ and this will lead you to the frosting recipe and instructions. This will tell you how to make a reduction (or you can use freeze-dried strawberry powder). Hope that helps!