Popular Recipe

Vegan Vanilla Butterfly Cupcakes

By Sara Kidd July 16, 2021 4 Comments

Vegan cupcakes can be tricky. How do we get them so white and with a perfect dome top? I’ve finally mastered this recipe and you can now bake the perfect vegan cupcakes.

These vegan butterfly cupcakes are simply the cutest. This recipe is very easy to bake and you can use the cupcake recipe as a stand alone bake too. These cupcakes are my best recipe yet (I have another 2 my my site but this is the best so far). The cupcake crumb is perfectly white, soft, fluffy and has that great dome effect we are all chasing when we bake cupcakes – especially vegan ones. This recipe is part of my Vegan High Tea Special and I will be releasing very easy vegan recipes that you can bake to create your own High Tea experience.

Here are a few quick tips for making the perfect vegan cupcakes

Make sure your oven is heated to the correct temperature before your cupcakes go into the oven
Bake on the top rack of your oven, this will help create that dome effect
Use high quality vanilla, this will have a big impact on the flavour
Remove cupcakes from pan after 5 mins (it will be hot so be careful) this will stop the bottoms from becoming soggy
Don’t over mix your batter otherwise your cupcakes will be chewy

Vegan Butterfly Cupcakes

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Author: Sara Kidd
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 18 cupcakes 1x

Print Recipe

Description

These cupcakes are light and fluffy with the perfect dome on top to create little butterflies.

Ingredients

Units Scale

CUPCAKES

200 mls neutral vegetable oil (3/4 cup + 2 teaspoons)
200 g caster sugar (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons)
250 mls plain soy milk (1 cup)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
60 mls water (1/4 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
310 g plain all purpose flour (2 cups + 2 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

STRAWBERRY JAM

150 g fresh or frozen strawberries (thawed and drained, chopped, almost 1 cup)
80 g caster sugar (1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

BUTTERCREAM

160 g vegan butter or margarine (2/3 cup)
155 g icing or confectioners sugar (1 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1–2 tablespoon boiling water (if needed)
Pinch of sea salt

Instructions

MAKE CUPCAKES

Preheat your convection oven to 180°C/350°F and line 12 holes cupcake tin with cupcake papers.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together oil and sugar.
In a separate small bowl, mix together soy milk and vinegar to make a thick buttermilk substitute. Add water and vanilla, stirring to combine. Pour into oil and sugar mix and mix together well.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together all your dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and pour in the liquid ingredients. Mix together gently with a whisk until just combined.
Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter equally between the cupcake tins, filling each ¾ of the way to the top.
Bake on the top rack of your oven for 12-15 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean with almost no cake crumbs.
Allow to cool in pan for 5 mins before turning onto a cooling rack.

MAKE STRAWBERRY JAM

Place the strawberries in a large saucepan along with the sugar and lemon juice. Cook gently over a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.
Bring to a vigorous boil and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Mash the fruit with the back of your spatula if you want the texture a bit smoother and less chunky. Watch carefully, stirring often,to make sure it doesn’t burn or overcook. The bubbling will start to slow as it thickens.
To check it’s ready, place a spoon in the freezer for a few minutes. Remove and add a small amount of jam. Run your finger through the middle (be careful; it’s hot!) and if the jam doesn’t flood to fill the hole, it’s ready. Remove from heat and set aside.

MAKE BUTTERCREAM FILLING

Warm butter in the microwave until softened but not melted. Place in a large mixing bowl and using a hand mixer, beat on a low speed until completely smooth and lump free.
If there are still lumps, add 1-2 tablespoons of boiling water and beat. If there are still lumps after that, remove 2 tbsp of the mixture and melt completely before adding back into the bowl. Beating vigorously until smooth.
Sift icing sugar and add a cup at a time into the bowl whilst beating on low speed. Add vanilla, flavours and salt and beat until combined.
Place the bowl in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set. It should be firm enough to spread without running or dripping.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE YOUR CUPCAKES

Once your cupcakes and jam have completely cooled, use a sharp paring knife and cut a 2cm-deep x 3cm-wide piece from top of each cupcake.
Cut each of the cupcake tops in half.
Pipe your buttercream into each hole and then swirl over the top to make a small dome.
Spoon your jam down the middle of your buttercream.
Arrange the cut cake tops on each side of the jam to form wings.

Notes

Cup measures are in Australian / New Zealand sizing.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Category: Cupcakes
Cuisine: Dessert

Keywords: cupcake

Recipe Card powered by

See my other recipe for one bowl vegan vanilla cupcakes

This recipe was published in Nourish Magazine

Vegan Pumpkin Scones

By Sara Kidd November 15, 2020 Leave a Comment

We all love a good old pumpkin scone. Veganising this classic recipe was easy to do as scones usually consist of flour, butter and sugar. These vegan pumpkin scones quick to make and I recommend eating them straight out of the oven with some vegan butter and hot tea. Here are my top tips for making great scones

Don’t use a food processor to make your scones, it will make them really tough and dry. Always use your hands or a pastry cutter to mix the ingredients together.
Use cold butter. It will help your scones rise.
Pre-heat your oven to the correct temperature before you put your scones in.
Pop your vegan scones in the fridge for 10 minutes before you put them into the oven. This also helps with making your scones rise.
You can make your scones ahead of time and freeze your dough. But allow defrosting naturally. Don’t microwave.
Vegan buttermilk works wonders in plain scones. You can make your own by mixing 1 cup of soy milk with 1 tbs white vinegar.
You will know that your scones are ready to come out of the oven when you tap the top and it makes a hollow sound.

This recipe was also featured in Tenderly Mag.

I also have a recipe for Chocolate Chip Scones here

Vegan Pumpkin Scones

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

Total Time: 27 minutes
Yield: 12 scones 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale

3 + 1/3 cups plain all purpose flour (plus extra)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup vegan white sugar
2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup vegan butter or margarine (cubed and cold)
1 + 3/4 cups butternut pumpkin (cooked & pureed)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, spices, together with a whisk
Add the cold cubed butter to the flour and use either a pastry cutter or your hands to rub the butter into the flour until its flaky and crumbly. Try and do this step quickly, so the butter doesn’t heat up.
Add pumpkin and vanilla to the flour and gently mix together with hands until it becomes a dough. Don’t over knead it, only until it just comes together and they should still be dregs of flour around the edges.
Flour a clean surface and tip dough out onto the surface.
Gently push the dough into a flat circle around one inch thick.
Using a 6CM cookie cutter, cut out scones and place on a greased baking tray. You can bake them separately for a crispy outside or together to retain more moisture.
Place scones in the fridge for 10 mins to chill. This will help the scones rise.
Preheat oven to 410F/210C and bake scones for 15–17 mins until the centres are light and fluffy.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 17 minutes

Keywords: pumpkin, scone, vegan

Recipe Card powered by

Vegan Coconut Cake

By Sara Kidd February 19, 2020 18 Comments

I’m so happy with how this vegan coconut cake recipe came out. Beautiful buttery moist texture with a sweet coconut flavour. The cake crumb is tight yet fluffy which makes it a great vegan cake for stacking. It keeps for 5 days in an airtight container out of the fridge. If you keep it in the fridge you need to add sugar syrup in between the layers to help keep the moisture in.

I used 3 x 6-inch cake tins for this recipe, however, you can also use two 6-inch cake tins too. Here are a few tips for this recipe:

For perfectly flat layers use baking strips. Here is a quick video on how to make them. Just remember that if you do use baking strips you may need to bake for an extra 5-7 minutes.
Bake your cake on the middle oven rack and make sure your oven has preheated to the correct temperature.
Use sugar syrup between the layers if you’re not eating the cake straight away or storing in the fridge.
Use unsweetened coconut milk for this recipe.
To get perfect equal-sized layers, weigh each tin when it’s filled with batter.
Dust your cake pans with flour after greasing. This will stop them from going really dark on the outside.
This cake pairs well with my lemon curd recipe as a filling.

I have photographed some of the steps so you can follow along.

Make sure your flaxseed egg has thicked before you add it to your other liquids.

To achieve those perfectly even cake layers I weighed each cake tin with batter to approximately 380 grams.

Vegan Coconut Cake

★★★★★

5 from 10 reviews

Total Time: 1 hour
Yield: 1 3 layered 6 inch cake 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale

Vegan Egg Replacer

2 tbsp flaxseed
5 tbsp boiling water

Dry Ingredients

220 g vegan butter or margarine room temperature
200 g caster sugar
350 g plain all-purpose flour
2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
90 g desiccated coconut

Wet Ingredients

175 mls unsweetened coconut milk (carton kind)
100 mls water
2 tsp vanilla bean extract

Instructions

Preheat oven 150°C/302°F and line 3 x 6IN / 15.24CM cake tins with baking paper, grease with oil and dust with flour.  
Mix ground flaxseed with boiling water and mix together with a fork. Set aside so it can thicken.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until creamy with no lumps.  
Sieve flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl.   Stir through the desiccated coconut.
In a small jug mix coconut milk, water and vanilla together. Add thickened egg replacer and mix well.
Add one-third of the flour mix very slowly and mix on lowest speed to the creamed butter, then add one-third of the liquid. Repeat until all ingredients are just combined. It will be a very thick batter.  
Pause mixer and scrape down sides and mix for a few seconds.  
Divide between tins, tap tins on the bench to release air bubbles, bake 36 to 39 mins, check with a skewer through the centre, if it comes out clean it’s ready.   If you want perfect layers, weigh the cake tins with batter in them. It should weigh approximately 380 grams in each cake tin.
Let cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then flip on a cake rake. Decorate with your favourite buttercream. You can also use my lemon curd recipe for the cake filling.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Keywords: cake, coconut, vegan, vegan cake

Recipe Card powered by

Did you make this vegan coconut cake? Tag @veganbakesbysarakidd on Instagram and hashtag it #veganbakesbysarakidd ….

Vegan Lemon Cake

By Sara Kidd January 25, 2020 16 Comments

Vegan lemon cake has to be one of the most requested cakes in my Facebook vegan baking group. I put a lot of time into developing this vegan lemon cake recipe. I wanted to create a cake that had a buttery cake crumb that melts in your mouth. This recipe has big notes of lemon rounded off with the gentle sweetness of sugar. It’s a very easy recipe to master and no-one will ever know it’s a dairy-free and egg-free cake. This cake keeps for around 4-5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

I wanted to make this cake crumb very white so I used white chia seed as my egg replacer. The trick with this ingredient is you need to beat it so there are no lumps. You can use ground Flaxseed but your cake will have small flecks of seeds in it.

Once you have mixed all your ingredients, the vegan lemon cake batter will be very thick and light. Don’t overbeat your batter as it will cause your cake to become dense.

Vegan Lemon Cake Dairy-Free and Egg-Free

This recipe paired great with my vegan lemon curd. It’s a simple recipe that you can whip up in 10 minutes.

EXTRA TIPS FOR THIS VEGAN LEMON CAKE RECIPE

Preheat your oven to the exact temperature
If your oven heats unevenly, add a heatproof bowl of water to the bottom of the oven
Make sure your chia seed egg replacer has no lumps in it otherwise you will have lumpy bits in your cake
Use a high-quality lemon essence and vanilla bean paste
Use an organic lemon for the rind because commercial ones have no flavour

Vegan Lemon Cake

★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

Total Time: 52 minutes
Yield: 2 6 inch cake layers 1x

Print Recipe

Description

Easy vegan lemon cake recipe that no-one will ever know is vegan

Ingredients

Units Scale

2 tbsp golden flaxseed, ground
5 tbsp boiling water
220 g vegan butter or margarine (room temperature)
200 g caster sugar
350 g plain all purpose flour
2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
125 mls plain soy milk
1 tbsp white vinegar
100 mls lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla bean extract
2–3 tsp lemon essense ((depending on how strong you want the lemon flavour))
zest from one whole large unwaxed lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven 160°C/320°F and line 2 x 6IN / 15.24CM cake tins with baking paper, grease with oil and dust with flour.
Mix ground flaxseed with boiling water and stir to remove any lumps, set aside.
In a small jug mix soy milk with vinegar to thicken then add lemon juice, vanilla, lemon essence and egg replacer. Beat or blend together until completely smooth. Stir through lemon zest.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar for a few minutes until creamy with no lumps.
Sieve flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl.
Add haft of the flour mix very slowly and mix on lowest speed to the creamed butter, then add half the liquid. Repeat until all ingredients are just combined. It will be a very thick batter (see image).
Pause mixer and scrape down sides and mix for a few seconds.
Divide between tins, tap tins on the bench to release air bubbles, bake 35-37 mins, check with a skewer through the centre, if it comes out clean it’s ready.
Let cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then flip on a cake rake.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 37 minutes
Category: Cake, Citrus

Keywords: lemon, vegan, vegan baking, vegan cake

Recipe Card powered by

Discover recipe ideas, get advice and join in on vegan baking conversations with 22,000 keen bakers on Facebook.

Join Facebook Group

Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Cake

By Sara Kidd January 7, 2020 49 Comments

I promise this is truly my BEST cake recipe ever. This gluten-free vegan vanilla cake will not fail you. It’s a no-fail, no sink, no weird flavours, one bowl, gluten-free vegan vanilla cake that is insanely easy to bake. It tastes like a normal vanilla cake. You won’t be able to tell the difference. It’s also a go-to recipe if you’re looking for a Gluten-free vegan sponge cake as it’s really light in texture.

Gluten-free baking can sometimes be a baker’s worst nightmare. We all remember back in the day when gluten-free meant we were about to embark on eating something with the texture and taste of a brick covered in a layer of cinnamon dust – early gluten-free bread gave me nightmares. Thankfully, that good old G-F has come along way and we now have the knowledge and power to create godlike goodness of everyone to enjoy. Here are my top tips to get you started.

GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN BAKING TIPS

Use extra vanilla when baking. It will help balance out those nutty flavours that appear in gluten-free baking.
The smaller the better. I always recommend making cakes no larger than 6 to 7 inches or smaller. I find that the smaller the cake, the better the bake.
Don’t be afraid to under-bake your cake slightly. You want to retain extra moisture in your cake as GF cakes can be a little dry. I usually bake it for 5 minutes less and test it with a skewer. If the skewer still has a few crumbs and a tiny bit of moisture on it, it’s ready to come out of the oven.
Use 25 percent more raising agents (baking soda or baking powder) if you’re converting a recipe to gluten free.
Do worry about over-mixing your batter even though there is no gluten to overdevelop. It still affects the outcome of your cake. Just mix until just combined.
If you’re finding your GF cake is coming out dry, try using a vegetable shortening as your main fat source, this can add extra moisture.
If you’re converting a recipe to gluten free, experiment with adjusting the temperature of your oven 10C/50F lower.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GLUTEN-FREE BAKING? CHECK OUT MY LATEST GLUTEN-FREE WORKSHOP.

You can bake this cake along with me and I also show you how to decorate this cake in a naked cake style.

Never Fail Gluten Free Vegan Vanilla Cake

★★★★★

4.7 from 15 reviews

Author: Sara Kidd
Total Time: 42 minutes
Yield: 1 3 layered 6 inch cake 1x

Print Recipe

Description

This gluten-free vegan vanilla cake will not fail you. It’s a no-fail, no sink, no weird flavours, one bowl, gluten-free vegan vanilla cake that is insanely easy to bake. It tastes like a normal vanilla cake. You won’t be able to tell the difference. It’s also a go-to recipe if you’re looking for a Gluten-free vegan sponge cake as it’s really light in texture.

Ingredients

Units Scale

DRY

1 1/2 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup almond meal ((almond flour is even better))
1/2 cup potato starch
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

WET

1 1/2 cup soy milk
1 1/2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp pure vanilla or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

EGG REPLACER

3 tbsp ground flaxseed meal
7 1/2 tbsp hot water

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 160C/320F.
Grease and line three 6-inch cake tins with vegetable oil and baking paper and then dust with a tiny amount of gluten-free flour to coat the cake tin.
Make your flaxseed egg by mixing flaxseed and water together and set aside to thicken.
In a large mixing bowl sieve flours, starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together and give it a quick whisk to combine ingredients.
In a large jug, mix vinegar with soy milk until it becomes thick. Then add oil and vanilla and mix together. Add thickened flax egg and stir.
Pour liquid into flour bowl and gently fold ingredients together with a whisk until just combined.
Pour batter into each cake tin making sure they both have the same amount of batter and tap on the bench to release air bubbles.
Place tins into the middle of your oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out almost clean.
Allow to sit in the cake tin for 10 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. Run a knife around the outside of the cake before flipping it onto your cooling rack.
Let it completely cool down and ice with your favourite vegan buttercream.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 27 minutes
Category: Cake
Cuisine: Dessert

Keywords: vegan cake

Recipe Card powered by

If you’re after more gluten recipes go here go here

Discover recipe ideas, get advice and join in on vegan baking conversations with 22,000 keen bakers on Facebook.

Join Facebook Group

Vegan Shortbread Cookies

By Sara Kidd June 7, 2019 8 Comments

Now this vegan shortbread cookies are the bomb! You only need four ingredients to bake them and it’s a very simple recipe to follow. The shortbread tastes exactly the same as non-vegan shortbread cookies, it’s a brilliant cookie recipe and you can easily add variations such as rosewater or vegan melted chocolate.

It’s a great vegan cookie recipe if you’re just starting out and wanting to learn how to bake vegan. These shortbread cookies can be cut into any shape and decorated with chocolate or royal icing. These shortbread cookies keep for a few weeks in an airtight container and can be frozen for a few months.

Watch my youtube video for more shortbread tips and tricks for this recipe.

Easy Vegan Shortbread Cookies using 4 Ingredients

★★★★

3.7 from 9 reviews

Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 24 small cookies 1x

Pin Recipe

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Units

Scale

250 grams vegan butter or margarine (1 cup at room temp)
80 grams icing or powdered sugar (a little more than 1/2 cup)
300 grams plain all purpose flour (2 1/3 cups + 1 tbs / plus extra)
1 tsp almond extract / flavouring

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 175C / 350F and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Using a mix master with a paddle attachment, beat butter on low to soften it for minute. Then add sifted powdered sugar and cream together for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrap down the sides half way through.
Add almond extract and beat on low for 30 seconds.
Add sifted flour and beat on low. The mixture will start to come together as crumbs and then will form a soft delicate dough. If needed, add 1-2 tbs of water if it’s not coming together.
Using your hands bring dough together into a ball. If it's super sticky and sticking to your fingers (see my video example) add a little extra flour. Place in the fridge for 30 mins to a few hours to help it firm up. I even leave mine over night sometimes.
Roll dough out on bench about 5 mms or 1/2 cm thick and cut with cookie cutter.
Place cookies on tray and bake for 23-25 minutes on the top rack of your oven. Check them at the 20 min mark. They will remain pale but go slightly brown on the bottom and around the edges.

Notes

See my super quick YouTube video for all my tips, tricks and variations with this recipe and how to get the perfect dough.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Category: Cookies, High Tea

Keywords: shortbread, vegan, vegan baking, vegan cookie

Recipe Card powered by

Discover recipe ideas, get advice and join in on vegan baking conversations with 22,000 keen bakers on Facebook.

Join Facebook Group

Popular Recipe

Here are a few quick tips for making the perfect vegan cupcakes

Description

Ingredients

CUPCAKES

STRAWBERRY JAM

BUTTERCREAM

Instructions

MAKE CUPCAKES

MAKE STRAWBERRY JAM

MAKE BUTTERCREAM FILLING

HOW TO ASSEMBLE YOUR CUPCAKES

Notes

Ingredients

Instructions

Ingredients

Vegan Egg Replacer

Dry Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

Instructions

Description

Ingredients

Instructions

GLUTEN-FREE VEGAN BAKING TIPS

Description

Ingredients

DRY

WET

EGG REPLACER

Instructions

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Join Our Vegan Baking Facebook Group

Copyright © 2021 Sara Kidd