Ahhhh summer... look at all the lovely fruits and veggies in season... so many that somehow it's easy to forget about some, (like a pint of blueberries), for a little too long, (about a week and a half maybe...two tops), that they start to get a little sad looking, (no fuzzy spots I swear)!
I'm not a fan of wasting food, even if the blueberries were a little too soft. This combined with my craving for something sweet, got me pulling out the 'ol cookbooks, and inspired by a recipe by Chloe Coscarelli, from "Chloe's Kitchen" for banana cupcakes, one of my most favourite vegan cookbooks. I didn't have bananas, and wanted to use my blueberries, so I did a little of this, and a little of that, and came up with this light, fluffy, and fuss free cupcake. Don't get me wrong, I love a good elegantly frosted cupcake, but sometimes, (most times), I am more excited by the eating of the cupcake than the decorating.
VEGAN BLUEBERRY LIME CUPCAKES
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Wet Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
½ cup grape seed or canola oil
2 teaspoons vinegar (apple cider or white)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
zest of one lime
1 overflowing cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Icing Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 teaspoons lime juice
1 tablespoon water
zest of one lime
Now upon reading this recipe you might be thinking three things. One, Yum! Two, vinegar!? And three, that's a lot of vanilla. Well I think you are right with one. The vinegar (and baking soda) is used kind of like an egg to help rise the cakes. Lastly, the large amount of vanilla is something I have discovered in vegan baking, both Chloe and the bakers at Babycakes bakery in NYC use lots of vanilla, and I say, why not! It is an awesome flavour enhancer.
Heat oven to 350F. In one bowl mix the all the dry ingredients. In a second bowl mix all the wet ingredients except for the blueberries.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and very lightly stir until almost combined. At this point add the blueberries and stir once or twice until just combined. Don't over mix.
Lightly grease a muffin pan, or use cupcake liners. Divide the batter into 12 cupcakes.
Bake for 18-20 minutes until they are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Rest for a few minutes, and then either cool them on a rack, or flip them on their side. I usually opt for the flipping on the side method so that I don't have to get more tools out. You want to do this so the cupcake bottoms don't steam and get soggy.
Once the cupcakes are completely cool, combine all the ingredients and whisk with a fork. Spread the icing on the cooled cupcakes with a knife or spatula.
Bon Appetegan!
Tiffany says
I just made these for breakfast (sans glaze) and they were absolutely delicious! One of the challenges with vegan baking can be that vegan desserts are often very dense and heavy and gooey (for lack of a better term). These cupcakes were light and the lime zest and vanilla really added wonderful flavors. I will tag you on IG once I post!
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing!
Mary L Bartko says
ooooh this one really needs a "print" button option!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha, a very old recipe so it's before I had those features. I will try to update it soon, but in the meantime, you can take a screenshot and print that. Enjoy!
Julia says
These look awesome! Love the look of the icing as well, that's exactly how I like my icing to be. I might try and bake these for my best friend as a little extra surprise for her birthday coming up 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful, I hope you enjoy them!
Lynn Hill says
Hi Sam: These look so delish! Going to try and give it a go. I'm wondering tho' for those of us who are trying to eliminate excess sugar for health reasons, do you have suggested alternatives for regular and powdered sugars for this and your other recipes?? Thanks.
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Lynn, I'm not an expert in low sugar recipes, so I recommend checking out articles such as this one which will help you replace sugar. Enjoy!
Selina says
Swerve - they have regular granulated, brown sugar, and confectioners is probably your best bet but I prefer to sweeten with ripe banana or applesauce.
Candace says
Yummmy, what a great flavor combo! Thanks for sharing (-: I am planning on baking these tonight or tomorrow, but I have one concern. Once I made a strawberry/lemon cupcake, but the cake turned out to be quite soggy. I know you mentioned that flipping them outside of the pan once they are cooked will help avoid sogginess; is there any thing else that will help? I'm thinking I may have just added too many pieces of strawberry in the cake batter..
Have a lovely day!
Sam Turnbull says
Hi Candace! Just follow the recipe as written and there will be no worry of soggy cupcakes 🙂
Shari says
I made these cupcakes at work (I'm a baker) and they were delicious! So light and fluffy and very flavourful. The only change I made was instead of using the glaze recipe, I made a vegan buttercream (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World) and put a bit of lime juice and zest in that for a nice fresh flavour. I'll definitely make these again!
Sam Turnbull says
Yum! So happy you loved them Shari! You might also be interested in my Gingerbread cupcakes for this time of year 🙂
Amanda says
These are really yummy muffins! I literally licked the batter bowl clean . . . I had lemons on hand so I subbed lemon zest for the lime and it worked pretty well.
Sam Turnbull says
Yay! So very happy you loved them Amanda 🙂
Shehanai says
This is by far the best recipe for vegans. I made these today for a family who just had a baby that is vegan and it tastes normal!
Samantha Turnbull says
Thanks Shehanai! I think if you make more of my recipes you will find that they all taste normal! You don't have sacrifice any flavour to be vegan 🙂
Melissa West says
Making these for my husband and daughter before they even get out of bed this Sunday morning! 🙂 Hopefully I will be their favourite person today! 🙂
Sam says
Amazing!! I am sure you will be! What a lovely way to wake up! 🙂
Arlene says
Sammie, I want one right now!!!
Sam says
Haha! They are pretty quick to make....except for the cooling part...I totally ate one while I was waiting for them to cool to put the icing on!