Dairy Free Vanilla Cupcakes
These dairy free vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting are a classic birthday treat complete with rainbow sprinkles. Just add candles and wish away. Makes 24 cupcakes.
What we love about these dairy free vanilla cupcakes
Today is a big day here at Simply Whisked. We’re celebrating my 5th blog anniversary with these dairy free vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. 5 years, people. That’s a long time.
Back then we were living in France. I had just finished my bachelor’s degree and I couldn’t find an English speaking job. I had been sitting at our table debating blog names and website addresses.
I eventually settled on one and published my very first recipe. Since then, I’ve moved 4 times, given up dairy (mostly), had a baby, bought a house, and published 386 more recipes (including this one).
Not only are we celebrating a big day in my blogging life, we have another big reason to celebrate. We’re having another baby! We’ve been keeping it a secret for a long time now – only in the internet world, our family and friends have known for a while – but Ellie’s little brother is due to arrive on October 31st.
If you like this recipe, you have to try this strawberry lemonade cupcakes, and these dairy free coconut cupcakes and this banana cupcakes with banana frosting.
Searching for more cupcake recipes? Dairy free chocolate espresso cupcakes / baked Alaska cupcakes / s’mores brownie cupcakes / cookies and cream cupcakes
Ingredients & substitutions
- Dairy free milk – I swapped almond milk for dairy milk. You could easily substitute a different dairy free milk, like cashew milk or coconut milk. Make sure to opt for unsweetened, dairy free milk whatever kind you choose.
- Vegetable shortening – To make these cupcakes dairy free, I used vegetable shortening in place of butter. I also used butter-flavored vegetable shortening in the frosting. You could easily use regular vegetable shortening, but I prefer the flavor. I also think you could use softened coconut oil or vegan buttery sticks, but I haven’t tried them myself.
If you want to learn more about substituting butter, I wrote an in-depth post about it. Butter and milk are some of the easiest ingredients to change when going dairy free, so it makes baking fairly easy. If you want to make these vegan, simply use a vegan egg replacement product or a flax “egg”.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
How to make these dairy free cupcakes
Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients together to incorporate well and set aside.
Cream the shortening. Using an electric mixer at a medium speed, cream shortening with the sugar for 2 minutes. When this is light and fluffy, add the eggs – 1 at a time – until incorporated.
Add flour and milk. Start to combine the flour mixture, in 4 increments, into the mixing bowl. When the flour is incorporated, add the milk and beat until smooth.
Fill and bake. Scoop batter into a lined cupcake pan, filling each cupcake line with about 3 tablespoons of batter – they should be about ⅔ full. Bake in a 350˚F, preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. To check if the cupcakes are done – insert a toothpick into the center and remove – if the toothpick comes out clean then the cupcakes are done. Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack after about 5-10 minutes.
Make the frosting. While the cupcakes are cooling, add frosting ingredients to a clean electric mixer. Beat the ingredients until smooth and set aside until the cupcakes have fully cooled. When the cupcakes are cooled, you can frost the cupcakes with a rubber spatula and top with sprinkles.
A note about the frosting: I only made enough to frost the cupcakes like a normal person. I know piping swirls and peeks is a lot prettier in pictures, but I just wasn’t feeling it this time. I frosted them with a spatula and mixed up some rainbow sprinkles and nonpareils for a festive birthday look. If you want to make them a little fancier, you’ll probably want to double the frosting, or at least make a half portion more.
Looking for a classic cake recipe instead? Try this one layer cake with chocolate frosting. It’s perfect if you want to have a secondary dairy free option at a party, or if you’re going to a party and want to make sure there’s something safe.
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups butter-flavored shortening (or butter, room temperature)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup dairy free milk (or milk)
- 1 cup butter-flavored shortening (or butter, room temperature)
- 4 – 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- Rainbow sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350˚F and line a 24-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream shortening and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated.
- Add flour mixture in 4 installments, beating until incorporated and scraping sides of bowl as needed.
- Add milk and beat until smooth.
- Fill cupcake liners with about 3 tablespoons batter each, or until 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and allow cupcakes to rest for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
For the frosting:
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together frosting ingredients until smooth.
- Frost completely cooled cupcakes with a spatula or spoon. Top with sprinkles immediately after frosting each cupcake.
