Easy Vegan Funfetti Cupcakes

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These vegan funfetti cupcakes are moist, soft, and fluffy with rich and creamy buttercream frosting. It’s simple and super easy to make too and of course, so delicious! They are an excellent recipe for home bakers at all levels, great for bringing to home parties and perfect for special occasions like birthday parties! 

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Cupcakes are an excellent choice for a dessert at any time of year. They are one of my all-time favourites – I sometimes even feel they are vastly underappreciated! You can enjoy a cupcake while nestled in a blanket, and even in the summer when you want a light dessert, you may choose a cupcake.

I know it can be tough to find a good recipe for easy, fluffy, moist, and sweet cupcakes but this recipe won’t disappoint you, I promise! They tick all the boxes plus more. The main components in the majority of the desserts are milk and eggs but don’t worry my fellow vegan bakers, dairy and egg-free bakers, and just bakers! This recipe is 100% vegan, dairy-free, and egg-free. Yet the flavour is not compromised, You’ll never guess the cupcakes are vegan!

And precisely how easy is this recipe? You’ll only need a handful of ingredients to make this recipe which can be made in 1 bowl. One of the best parts of this recipe is that all of the ingredients can be found and purchased at any supermarket. It’s a fantastic cupcake recipe to bake with your partner or best friends at the weekends for a fun little activity! What better way to connect with people than to have homemade vegan cupcakes together? Let’s start baking!

Main ingredients and substitutions

Plain flour: I used plain flour to make this cupcake recipe! I like the fluffy texture that plain flour gives but you can also use gluten-free 1:1 flour if you want to make them GF. I use King Arther’s 1:1 gluten-free flour and I love it!

Soy milk: The plant milk I used is soy milk but feel free to use any other type of plant milk such as almond, oat, etc. They should work just fine!

Vegan butter: I used Naturli‘s vegan block for most of my baking recipes and have been loving using them. The texture and consistency are very similar to dairy butter and it works in cake batter, cookie dough, buttercream, etc. You can also use vegan margarine too if you want or use any other vegan butter!

Cacao butter: I used cacao butter from Sunfood to add a rich and slight flavour of white chocolate to the cupcakes. It turned out so good! You can replace it with vegan butter if you don’t have access to it.

Apple cider vinegar: Apple cider vinegar is used to make vegan buttermilk combined with plant milk. You can replace it with lemon juice too.

Colourful sugar sprinkles: aka, funfetti! I bought sugar sprinkles that are free from red colour extracted from insects. You can also use chocolate sprinkles too!

Soy whipping cream: My secret ingredient to make fluffy and airy buttercream frosting is soy whipping/single cream! I always add it to my buttercream and it turns out perfect every time. You can use plant double cream too!

Other ingredients: Vanilla, icing sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

*I use bone char-free sugars for all of my recipes. I cover the topic in my article Vegan Baking 101. Go to the “Is sugar vegan?” section to learn more!

Recommended equipment for this recipe

Cupcake tin: I used my 9 cupcake tin to make the cupcakes. I have ones that can bake 6 or 9 at a time. Use an appropriate size for your oven.

Cupcake cups: I like using cupcake cups/liners because it makes it so much easier to take them out of the tin! But if you don’t have them, you can bake straight in the tin too. Don’t forget to grease inside the tin with a thin layer of oil or vegan butter so that they won’t stick to the tin!

Piping bag and star tip: I like using fairly big star tips than small ones so I have big piping bags that fit my star tips too!

Stand mixer/hand mixer: To make creamy and fluffy buttercream, a hand mixer or stand mixer is a must! 

*The ingredient list and measurement for this recipe can be found in the recipe card at the bottom.

How to make vegan funfetti cupcakes

Step 1: Make vegan buttermilk

In a jug or a bowl, mix well the apple cider vinegar and soy milk together. The soy milk will curdle and thicken and this is used as vegan buttermilk! Set aside for a few minutes. Make sure to use room temperature soy milk so that it can be mixed with the melted vegan butter and cacao butter smoothly later!

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients

Mix the flour, sugar, cornflour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar sprinkles in a large mixing bowl until they are well combined with no lumps in the mixture. Mix thoroughly so that the sprinkles are in the batter evenly.

*Note: If you are using chocolate colour sprinkles, add them in at the end of Step 3 instead to prevent the colours from leaking into the batter.

Step 3: Mix the wet ingredients and batter

In a jug, mix the melted vegan butter, melted cacao butter, and vegan buttermilk together with a whisk until smooth. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix gently with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula until they are just combined.

Don’t over mix! Overmixing causes the gluten in the flour to form too much in the batter, and this can result in a tough and rubbery texture in the cupcakes. 

Step 4: Bake

Using an ice cream spoon, scoop the batter and fill the cupcake tin lined with cupcake cups halfway. I find filling the cups halfway is perfect for getting the cupcakes to rise just to the edge of the cups. Bake for about 22 mins in the preheated oven until the top is slightly browned and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. If it comes out with batter, bake a few minutes longer.

Step 5: Make buttercream frosting

In a large mixing bowl, beat the room temperature vegan butter until it’s fluffy and light in colour. Add the soy whipping/single cream and beat further until it’s creamy and fluffy for about 3-4 mins. Add in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time and beat until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar sprinkles then beat lightly until just combined. 

Step 6: Assembly

Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, let’s frost them with the buttercream! Put the buttercream in a piping bag with a star tip and hold the end of it to prevent the buttercream from leaking.

Frost the cupcakes starting from the centre then around the side and to the top. I find starting from the centre makes the perfect frosting shape! Sprinkle more sugar sprinkles and enjoy.

Tips and tricks

Mix the batter gently

Always, always, mix the batter gently. When you mix the batter too much or too vigorously, you are also forming too much gluten in the batter. Too much gluten can cause the final product to be dense, tough, and rubbery in texture which is not nice at all! So to prevent this from happening, mix the batter gently until the dry and wet ingredients are just combined, always.

How to store these funfetti vanilla cupcakes

If you have leftovers, you can place them in a tall airtight container and keep them at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. If you live in a hot area or it’s summer when you make them, it’s best to store them in the fridge. Just leave them at room temperature for about 30 mins before eating so that the cupcake and frosting are soft again!

If you want to store them for a longer period, place the cupcakes unfrosted in a freezer-friendly airtight container and store them in a freezer for up to 2-3 months. Thaw and assemble the cupcakes as instructed in the recipe card. You can store the buttercream the same way too. Beat the buttercream with an electric mixer until fluffy again before frosting!

Q and A

Can I make a round cake with this recipe instead of cupcakes?

I haven’t tried making this recipe into a round cake but I’m guessing it should work! I would use 2 of the biggest tin I own which is about 18cm(about 7 inches). I think bigger tins might work too but can’t confirm as I don’t have any bigger cake tins than 18cm. Please let me know if you make this recipe a round cake! I’m working on vegan funfetti cake at the moment too so hopefully I can share that with you soon.

The colour of my cupcakes is weird because of the sprinkles?

I used sugar colour sprinkles so the colour didn’t leak into the batter but if using chocolate colour sprinkles, there’s a possibility of them melting in the batter if you add them at the dry ingredient mixing stage. If you are using chocolate sprinkles, add them into the batter and fold in gently rather than mixing them with other dry ingredients like I did, this should solve the problem!

Can I make the buttercream frosting ahead of time?

Sure! You can make the buttercream in advance. Make it, place it in an airtight container, and then store it in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. 

Is funfetti vegan?

Some are and some aren’t depending on the ingredients they use in the funfetti. They can contain dairy and colours that are made with insects called carmine (cochineal), which is not vegan. So when you are purchasing funfetti sprinkles, check the ingredients and make sure it’s free from dairy and animal-derived colouring! 

Want to master the basics of vegan baking?
Check out Vegan Baking 101 – the beginner’s guide to vegan baking for you to become an excellent vegan baker and familiar with the basics of vegan baking, ingredients, and techniques with useful tips!

You will LOVE these vegan funfetti vanilla cupcakes because they are:

• soft, moist, and fluffy
• with perfectly rich and creamy buttercream frosting
• vegan
• great for parties
• easy to make
• can be made in 1-bowl

Want more recipes like this?

Try my other delicious dessert/cupcake recipes you might enjoy!

• Strawberry cupcakes
• Matcha cupcakes
• Biscoff cupcakes
• Chocolate cupcakes with biscoff frosting

Visit the cakes and cupcakes page and recipe page for more delicious recipes!

Please leave a comment and rate this recipe in the comment section below if you like this recipe! Let me know and tag me @thechestnutbakery on Instagram too. Thank you for making my recipe, friends!

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