Hello friends, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, happy New Year and a lovely Pongal! I know that I went missing again but back with a decadent vegan red velvet cake recipe! As I have mentioned before I'm trying to cut back on baking to get back on a healthy lifestyle. I have to do this because I completely lack self-control when it comes to sweets. So I have decided to cut it at the source itself!
During Christmastime I got an order to bake some cupcakes. Initially, I was requested to make egg free red velvet cupcakes but I told them that I haven't tried it so far and will stick to vanilla and chocolate itself. Actually, I have been avoiding the red velvet cupcakes all these days because I'm not comfortable using food colors and that too this particular recipe uses so much of it.
Also, it is quite difficult to find a vegetarian red food color. But being the baking enthusiast that I am, I did not want to miss the opportunity to try something new. So I started searching the web for a vegan red velvet cupcake recipe and found this in Food.com.
The recipe is all over the internet and supposedly has featured in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World too. This recipe is quite similar to the vegan chocolate cake recipe I have posted earlier, except that it does not use as much cocoa powder. These vegan red velvet cupcakes were crimson in color instead of bright red and looked more like beet cupcakes. When I try this recipe the next time for my family I'm going to use pureed beets instead of the food color.
This red velvet vegan cupcake recipe can also be used to make vegan red velvet cake. You can bake two layered cake. The recipe should be good enough to bake two 8 or 9 inch round cakes. What special way than to celebrate your special occasion with a vegan red velvet cake with vegan cream cheese frosting! Another interesting idea is to bake them in a mini muffin tin to make cute little red velvet vegan cupcakes. This size will be perfect if you are baking it for small children especially.
Recipe
Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup Almond Milk (Non Dairy milk)
- 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ cup Oil
- 2 tablespoons Red Food Coloring (make sure that it's vegan)
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Almond Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and grease it lightly.
- In a medium size bowl, mix together the milk and vinegar allowing it to curdle. This will take about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile in a large bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar too.
- Once the milk has curdled, stir in the oil, food color and the extracts. Whisk it well to combine.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly add the wet ingredients to it, stirring it until all the ingredients come together. Small lumps are okay. Take care to see that you do not over mix it otherwise you will not get fluffy cupcakes.
- Fill each muffin tin ¾ths full of the batter.
- Bake it for about 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean or with very little crumbs is okay too. Mine were done after 17 minutes.
- Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it remain there for 5 minutes. After that remove the cupcakes from the pan and let it cool completely before you can frost it.
My Notes
Taste & Texture
Nutrition
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Karuna Nair says
If I were to make this recipe in an 8 in cake tin how long should I bake it for?
Madhuram says
I'm thinking 23-25 minutes.
T. Hill says
Can you make the recipe without almond extract?
Madhuram says
Yes, of course.
Archana Pradeep says
Hi Madhu,
Earlier while i stayed in Germany, i was trying all ur recipes and enjoyed eating them. also posted comments too. now that we have moved to india, my baking has come down alot.. also noticed that my email id has not listed in ur website. however now wish to again retry this red velvet cake. could u please let me know the amount of beets to be substituted and in what form to be added?
thank you.
Madhuram says
Yes, your name sounds familiar Archana. Thank you very much. Maybe you can try this vegan beet chocolate cake instead.
Subasri says
Can I use butter instead of oil?
Madhuram says
Yes, you can.
Lauren says
This recipe looks wonderful but what oil is best to use?
Madhuram says
Any neutral flavor oil of your choice, Lauren. Vegetable oil, sunflower oil, canola oil or avocado oil which is my choice.
Shanah says
Was the all purpose flour bleached or unbleached and will it make a difference?
Madhuram says
It won't make any difference Shanah.
manu says
Can I substitute flour with whole wheat flour? Also how much will it take 2 bake it as a cake?
Madhuram says
You can try it with whole wheat pastry flour instead. Use the same quantity as the cupcakes but you will have to bake it as two 8/9 inch cakes or one 9x13 inch cake.
Janhavi Deshpande says
I tried your recipe. I used regular milk though. It didn't curdle, so I whisked yogurt and half of milk+vinegar mix. Still it came out pretty good. Thank you so much for wonderful recipe.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Janhavi 🙂
Ashley says
I make this recipe over and over! My friends and family love it!
Madhuram says
Thanks Ashley.
Allison K says
What kind of food colouring did you use? Gel or the drop stuff? (yes I know, vegan/vegetarian)
Madhuram says
The drop one Allison.
Ami says
How big a cake pan do you need to use the exact same recipe and get no left over or no need to make more?
PS, I tried beet juice, but it didn't work. How do you juice a beet to get the juice?
Madhuram says
A 9x13 inch pan or two 8-inch pans should work if my guess is correct. I once tried buying canned beets and blended it and used the puree. It doesn't get red though. More like a dark violet cake.
Monica says
You have to purée it in a magic bullet or a juicer. If you juice it you'll need to watch the liquid you add to the batter and trade out some of the water for it.
Kiran says
Used the exact measurements and they came out perfect, thanks for the recipe !
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Kiran.
Ina Shah says
Can I use cow milk? If yes, with fat or without fat? And can I bake cupcakes in air fryer in silicon cups?
Madhuram says
Yes you can use dairy milk, fat or non-fat. What is air fryer? I have only baked in an electric oven. So not sure how it will turn out.
Sheetal says
It's been 10min my milk did not curdle so I added one more teaspoon apple cider vinegar still it did not curdle...
Madhuram says
Weren't you able to see a different texture in the milk? It's quite strange then.
Spela says
My milk never curdled either, and I have used this recipe a few times already (I tried cow milk, lactose-free milk and soy milk, one at a time of course). I asked my grandma what could be wrong and she told me that you have to heat up the milk and then add vinegar. I tried and it worked (with lactose-free milk), I just had to cool it to a room temperature after.
Off topic: I LOVE THIS RECIPE, I just leave the red colouring out and make delicious brownies/cupcakes.
Madhuram says
That's great to know Spela. Thanks for the tip too. But either way it should work because of the vinegar. 🙂
Sheetal Totloorker says
Yes you are right Spela, that is exactly what I did and it worked. Thanks
Sheetal says
Can I use white distilled vinegar instead of Apple cider vinegar?
Madhuram says
Yes you may Sheetal.
Jaya says
I have rice vinegar. Can I use it instead of apple cider?? Also can you suggest a replacement for Egg replacer powder. It's not available here.
Madhuram says
I haven't used rice vinegar before so not able to guess. The replacement depends upon the recipe and will vary accordingly.
jacqueline bobcombe says
Awesome it comes out light and fluffy I did not believe there were no eggs, I tried one with eggs and this came out lighter, thanks
Madhuram says
Thanks Jacqueline.
Marta says
Can I use normal dairy milk in the recipe? I only need it egg free for birthday party. The rest is fine.
Madhuram says
Yes you can Marta.
gayathri says
As a cake what will be the baking timings?
Madhuram says
I'm thinking about 25-35 minutes. Test it as you go.
Prachi says
Hi, I am planning to make this red velvet cake (not vegan though). I usually use King Arthurs cake flour to make cakes. Should I replace it with the same quantity or should i decrease it ?
Or making it with all purpose flour is a better idea rather than the cake flour ?
Madhuram says
I think it's better that you use all-purpose flour itself. Recently I baked the eggless plain vanilla cake with cake flour instead of all-purpose flour, which has vinegar too in the recipe like these cupcakes and the cake was too fluffy/crumbly. If you are planning to cut/decorate make it into fancy cake it might not hold it's shape. It should be ok for straight forward filling and frosting.
Bharat Jadav says
Hii Ma'am!
I love these cupcakes! I make them quite frequently and all my friends at office loves it 🙂
I am following your blog for 2-3 months and simply love it ...Thanks a lot.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Bharat.
Linda Nicholas says
This cupcake was the bomb - came out fantastic and tasted great
Madhuram says
Thanks Linda 🙂
Kbuch says
My milk would not curdle, is this because I was using 2% milk?
Madhuram says
Probably. Maybe it needs more vinegar to curdle it.
Tasanee jordan says
can you use agave nectar insteand of refined white sugar?
Madhuram says
You could but you will have to adjust the quantity of other liquid ingredients that you are using.
fizz says
u could tell well for me it was yummy
Madhuram says
Thanks Fizz.
Renuka says
Hi Madhuram,
I tried the Red Velvet Vegan cupcakes and it turned out amazingly well. I substituted the Almond with Soya milk and reduced the sugar by about 1 tabsp.
Thank you so much.
Regards,
Renuka
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Renuka.
Renuka Muthaiah says
Hi Maam,
Can soya milk be substituted instead of almond milk for the red velvet cupcake recipe.
Thank you,
Your recipes are really great.
Regards,
Renuka
alice says
I have made this beautiful red velvet cup cakes they were just so awesome and all loved it. I now want to try with eggs, please help
Madhuram says
There are so many good recipes out there with eggs Alice. Just Google for it and try the one with the highest rating.
Sarah says
Hey, this recipe is from Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero's VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD
diva says
Thanks for sharing this recipe is awesome!!! Thank you thank you thank you
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Diva.
Briannen holyoak says
OMG I AM ALLERGIC TO EGG AND THIS WEB SITE HAS SAVED ME !!!!!!!! THANK YOU
Madhuram says
Thank you very much Briannen.
dipti bandekar says
Hi,
What would be the measure for beet if we decide to use it for red velvate cup cakes and how to use it.
Madhuram says
Check this out: http://alimentageuse.com/home/2013/06/14/natural-red-velvet-cupcakes-made-with-beets/ I too am going to try this recipe shortly.
shruti says
it was a really nice recipe can we try this on already made muffins.
Sangeeta says
Hi, first of all I would like to say that this recipe is awesome! My entire family and kids loved it! I would like to find out if this can be made into 1 whole cake itself? Would it still turn out the same and moist?
Thanks
Madhuram says
Thanks Sangeeta. Yes you can make it into one 13x9 inch cake or two 8/9inch cakes.
Seema says
Hi Madhuram, thanks for the recipe. Tried it. Mine turned out to be a bit - just a tinge bit- bitter! Not sure if it's the Cocoa or white vinegar and also while making an eggless cake is it necessary to add vinegar or lemon? Cheers.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Seema. I'm not able to guess the reason for the bitterness if you followed the recipe exactly. Sometimes using white vinegar does give a "vinegary" after taste that's why I prefer using apple cider vinegar. Vinegar or lemon juice gives fluffiness to egg less cakes. But you should be careful about the quantity you use.
Seema says
Hi Madhuram,
Thanx for the recipe....tried it...mine turned out to be a bit - just a tinge bit- bitter!..not sure if its the Cocoa or white vinegar...also while making an eggless cake is it necessary to add vinegar or lemon?..would highly appreciate your take on this..cheers
Madhuram says
Sorry for the late reply Seema. I think the bitterness could have been because of the baking soda (do you think it's too old) or could be the white vinegar too. I feel that white vinegar has an after taste that's why I prefer using apple cider vinegar. Adding vinegar or lemon juice gives cakes and cupcakes fluffiness. So adding a little might be helpful.
nizha says
Hi,
Can I use dairy milk (fresh milk) replacing the non dairy milk? And can I also omit the almond extract?
Thanks
Madhuram says
Yes Nisha.
Payal says
Lovely recipe this one! I used buttermilk instead of the the milk and vinegar.. Turned out just great!!
Madhuram says
Thanks Payal.
Subasri says
If using buttermilk what is the measurement
Madhuram says
It will be 1 cup of buttermilk.
Archana says
I made these and they turned out perfect ! I also used the recipe and made chocolate cake by adding more cocoa and melted chocolate , they also were perfect . Now I wanted to know can I use this recipe for plain vanilla cake by omitting color and cocoa ? Please reply soon , I wanna make it tomorrow for a bday !
Madhuram says
It won't work Archana. Please check out my eggless vanilla cupcake/cake recipes.
Nikki says
These are HEAVENLY
So light and fluffy. Can't get enough of them.
Used some plain buttercream frosting with black food dye. Just beautiful <3
Madhuram says
Thanks Nikki.
Viju says
Hi Madhuram
I would like to try adding pureed fresh beets. Can you recommend how much I should add? Also do you think the color will be the nice red that red velvet cakes usually have? Thanks
Madhuram says
I have not tried it yet Viju. It's been on my pending list forever. Maybe you can try this one: http://alimentageuse.com/home/2013/06/14/natural-red-velvet-cupcakes-made-with-beets/
radha says
Hi
Where do you buy vegan friendly red color?
Thanks
Madhuram says
These days most of the red color does not use any animal product, or at least that's what I read. But you can be sure by writing to the company to ascertain that it's vegan. That's what I did.
VR says
Hi Madhuram
I would like to substitute the red food coloring with pureed beets as you suggested. How much pureed beets should I use?
Also will the color be red if I used only pureed beets? Thanks
Madhuram says
Try this one: http://alimentageuse.com/home/2013/06/14/natural-red-velvet-cupcakes-made-with-beets/ I'm going to try it myself pretty soon.
Priyanka says
I don't have apple cider vinegar. What can I substitute it with?
I really wanna make these!
Thanks!
Madhuram says
Try white vinegar or double the quantity of lemon juice.
Priyanka says
Great! Thanks!
Sanchi says
can i use normal vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar
Madhuram says
Yes, Sanchi. Personally I prefer apple cider vinegar because I feel that white vinegar leaves an after taste/smell.
deepali says
can you use normal milk for just an eggless recipe and do you need the almond extract?
Madhuram says
Yes any milk is fine, Deepali. You can use vanilla extract instead.
shalani says
I tried this recipe and it came out excellent. Thank you.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Shalani.
Vanessa says
WHAT IS BAKING SODA, IS IT THE SAME AS BICARBONATE SODA ?????
Madhuram says
It's the same.