These vegan lemon blueberry cupcakes are soft, light and fluffy with fresh lemon flavor. The juicy blueberries and naturally-colored blueberry frosting perfectly complement the tartness of the lemon in the cupcakes!
Simple ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Blueberries. I’ve tested this recipe with fresh and frozen blueberries, and they work well. Frozen blueberries will just give these cupcakes a slightly longer bake time.
Fresh lemon zest adds the best lemon flavor to these cupcakes. The recipe contains the perfect amount of fresh lemon juice to make these cupcakes flavorful, but not too much that the cupcakes become dense (too much lemon juice can weigh down cake/cupcakes). We don’t need any lemon extract for this recipe!
Neutral-flavored oil or a light olive oil. I used olive oil as it complements the bright lemon flavor (just like my lemon olive oil cake).
Non-dairy milk for example soy milk, oat milk or almond milk (I prefer unsweetened soy milk). Please ensure your milk is at room temperature otherwise, your cupcakes will bake unevenly.
Even though this recipe doesn’t contain any eggs, the cupcakes rise beautifully without any special egg replacers or fancy ingredients!
How to make lemon blueberry cupcakes
First, we need to toss the blueberries in a little all purpose flour. The flour coating lets the blueberries grip onto the batter so they’re less likely to sink. I’ve tested this recipe without flouring the blueberries, and the blueberries sunk.
I recommend rubbing the lemon zest with the sugar. This releases the natural oils in the zest and furthers their flavor. It also gives the cupcakes a light yellow hue!
This is an easy batter to make! In a large bowl, stir the dry ingredients, then wet ingredients and then fold in the floured blueberries. And then we fold in the floured blueberries. Ensure the blueberries are evenly distributed in your batter otherwise some of your cupcakes may not have blueberries.
The batter for these lemon blueberry cupcakes will initially look thick. However, after a few minutes, the sugar will dissolve in the liquid ingredients and the batter will become a little more runny (Image 4).
Baking these cupcakes
This recipe yields around 13-16 lemon blueberry cupcakes, depending on the size of your muffin pan. With a USA Pan muffin pan, I got exactly 14 cupcakes.
To get slightly taller cupcakes, I suggest filling every other cup in your muffin pan (Images 5 & 6). This allows more oven heat to circulate each muffin so they rise more. If you have just a single 12-cup muffin pan, you’ll need to bake around 7 cupcakes at a time, in 2 lots.
Decorating these cupcakes
I topped my cupcakes with a blueberry buttercream frosting made of vegan butter, powdered sugar and fresh blueberries or freeze-dried blueberry powder.
Alternatively, you can top your cupcakes with:
You can also fill or top these cupcakes with blueberry sauce or lemon curd.
Customizing this recipe
Yes, these delicious homemade cupcakes will work well with raspberries, strawberries and blackberries!
I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. It may work with a good gluten-free flour such as King Arthur’s measure for measure, but I haven’t tested it.
More vegan cupcake recipes
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Vegan Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
These vegan lemon blueberry cupcakes are soft, light and fluffy with fresh lemon flavor. The whole blueberries and naturally-colored blueberry frosting perfectly complement the cupcakes!
Servings: 14 cupcakes
Ingredients
To Decorate (note 3 for alternatives)
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Instructions
Prepare the cupcakes
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In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the flour until the blueberries are evenly coated in flour. Set aside. If you used frozen blueberries, set them aside in the freezer.
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Add the sugar and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to rub them together until fragrant.
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Add the remaining dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk until the mixture is well combined and there are no lumps. Add the wet ingredients (except the blueberries) to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
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Add the floured blueberries and fold the batter until just combined.
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Use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to divide the batter between your cupcake liners. Each cupcake cavity should be three-quarters full.
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Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes. If you used frozen blueberries, you may need to bake them for a few extra minutes. They are ready when you insert a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and it comes out with no wet batter on it (a few crumbs are fine).
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Cool the cupcakes in the tray for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack.
Decorating the cupcakes
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When the cupcakes have fully cooled, use a spatula or piping bag to frost the cupcakes. Decorate with fresh blueberries, lemon segments or as desired.
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Serve the cupcakes within a few hours. Store the frosted or unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Allow the cupcakes to come to room temperature before serving. The cupcakes freeze well but I recommend storing them separately from the frosting.
Notes
- Make sure you accurately measure the flour, otherwise your cupcakes may be dry. Fluff up the flour in its container, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup, and level it off with a knife. Using your measuring cup to scoop flour out of the container will pack too much flour into the cup, and result in drier cupcakes. For the best results, use the grams measurements.
- Do not omit the lemon zest as most of the lemon flavor comes from this. You’ll need 3-4 medium lemons for the amount of zest and juice in the recipe. When you zest the lemons, try to avoid getting any of the white lemon rind otherwise your cupcakes may be slightly bitter.
- Alternatively, top your cupcakes with lemon buttercream from my lemon cupcakes recipe or cream cheese frosting from my red velvet cupcakes. I’ve listed more decoration alternatives in the post above.
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