Lemon Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting (Vegan)

I love desserts that incorporate lemons in the summer — something about sweet mixed with sour is just so delicious on a hot day. So I recently came up with this super tasty recipe for lemon cupcakes and they are amazingly good. They taste equally great warm out of the oven or chilled. Also, they are vegan so no eggs or butter are used but they are still incredibly moist. So try this recipe out on one of the hot summer days coming up and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Cupcakes
1 ¾ cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup vegan butter (I like Earth Balance)
¾ cup sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup almond milk
¼ cup lemon juice

Frosting
16 oz confectioners sugar
½ tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup vegan butter (room temperature)
Finely grated lemon zest (for topping)

Method

Preheat oven to 350. Using an electric mixer beat butter with sugar until thoroughly blended. Next mix apple cider vinegar with baking soda and mix into the butter/sugar. Add lemon juice. Now stir together salt, baking soda, and flour in a separate bowl. Alternate adding milk and flour mixture to sugar/butter mixture until completely blended. Bake at 350 for approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

While cupcakes are baking, cream butter for frosting. Add butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice and blend until creamy. Add almond milk in increments of 1 tbsp at a time until it reaches desired consistency. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting and lemon zest.