Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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Some people just do not like red velvet anything! But after they try my recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes, they change their minds!

One of the best sellers when I owned my bakery was these cupcakes!

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

A simple flax meal egg replacement does the trick to turn these beauties instantly vegan so everyone can enjoy them!

The recipe listed below is for cupcakes, duh that’s why you’re here! But the batter can be baked into round cake pans just the same.
Bake time may be slightly less than for the cupcakes, but it will be close, I like to always check “my stuff” at around 15-18 minutes because I have control issues

Watch how I make the full decorated cake here!

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

Kidding aside, this seems to be the half way mark for most baked things and the almost there mark for other baked things.

It’s better to err on the side of caution when baking anything and just check everything at 15 minutes!!

As I mentioned this is the original recipe from when I had my bakery, and yes we did add red food color to make them vibrant red.
But for those who want to avoid the red food color altogether and go 100% all natural

CLICK HERE FOR MY NO DYE RED VELVET CAKE RECIPE

No Dye Red Velvet Cake! Vegan

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL YOUTUBE VIDEO TUTORIAL FOR HOW TO MAKE THESE!

Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes

Notes for Success

Be sure to mix the cream cheese icing by hand with a spatula since vegan cream cheese for some reason, likes to turn to soup if you mix too vigorously which is why I no longer use an electric mixer
Or try my new Shelf Stable No Refrigeration Required Cream Cheese Icing! It’s all I use now!

Also be sure to use Natural and not Dutch Process Cocoa powder or the recipe will not work out!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE ABOUT COCOA POWDER IN YOUR RECIPES

 
5.0 from 4 reviews
Red Velvet Cupcakes
 
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Prep time
Bake time
Total time
 
The recipe makes 16 cupcakes or 2- 8" cake layers
Serves: 16
Ingredients
  • For the Cake Batter:
  • All Purpose Flour 2½ Cups (312g)
  • Granulated Sugar 1½ cups (300g)
  • Baking Soda 1 teaspoon (5g)
  • Salt ½ teaspoon (3g)
  • Natural Cocoa Powder 2 Tablespoons (12g)
  • Vegetable Oil ½ cup (120ml)
  • Plant Milk 1 Cup (237ml) * I like to use soy milk
  • Ground Flax Seeds 2 Tablespoons (16g)
  • Hot Water 6 Tablespoons (90ml)
  • Red Food Color 1 teaspoon
  • White Vinegar 1 teaspoon
  • Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon (5ml)
  • For the Cream Cheese Icing:
  • Vegan Cream Cheese 2 Tubs (2cups) (454g)
  • Vegan Butter 1 stick (½ cup) (112g)
  • Confectioner's Sugar 1½ cups (180g)
  • Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
  • Apple Cider Vinegar *optional 1 teaspoon - see note above
Instructions
  1. First prepare the cake batter by combining the ground flax seeds with hot water and whisk smooth
  2. Let stand for at least 5 minutes to thicken to a paste
  3. In a large bowl place the sifted flour, Baking Soda, Salt and Cocoa Powder together
  4. In another bowl combine all of the wet ingredients including the sugar and the red food color whisk smooth
  5. Add the flax paste and then the dry ingredients and whisk smooth
  6. Pour the batter into the paper lined cupcake molds filling ¾ way to the top.
  7. Bake immediately at 375° F for the first 10 minutes then lower the oven to 325°F and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until springy to the touch when gently pressed in the centers or a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs
  8. While the cupcakes cool, prepare the cream cheese icing by mixing the sifted confectioners sugar with the vegan butter until smooth, add the vanilla extract, optional apple cider vinegar and then add the vegan cream cheese last and mix on low speed just until combined.
  9. Be sure to mix by hand or you will get a soupy mixture, as vegan cream cheese has a tendency to break down very easily.
  10. Refrigerate the icing until you are ready to ice cooled cupcakes
Notes
Cream cheese iced cupcakes must be stored in the refrigerator and will stay fresh wrapped loosley to prevent drying for up to 5 days


Un-iced cupcakes can be frozen wrapped well for up to 2 months

 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. jacqueline hudson

    Hello Gretchen,
    Should the all purpose flour in this recipe be sifted before measuring the 2 1/2 cups? Or is the sifting all done after the 2 1/2 cups are measured? Hope the question is clear.

    Thanks! Jacqueline

    • Gretchen

      HI Jacqueline! Yes the question is clear, but the answer may not be! LOL I do not sift before measuring, but if you are using a scale for weight measure it makes things much more accurate for the best results everytime.
      That said- if you do not have a scale, I am a “fluffer and a scooper” when I measure in cups/volume measure. That’s the problem with cups measure, we all measure differently so the results can vary and recipe fails often come from inferior cups measuring system.
      CLICK HERE FOR MORE

  2. Bekki Enriquez

    I am very excited to try this would the new Plant Based egg work with this recipe?

  3. Belinda

    Hi Gretchen!

    I’m having a hard time sourcing an all natural, vegan, red food coloring that results in your vibrant red. What brand do you use?

    Thank you so much and looking forward to hearing from you!

  4. Dena

    Gretchen pls can you put up your old recipes. I am pretty heart broken to find that I can’t see the old non vegan ones. Pretty pls. Thanks so much for your inspiring work

  5. Avi

    Hi.. I was following your original page which was not vegan and tried a lot of recipes but I never saved the recipes thinking that I can always find it on your website but now it’s al vegan. Can I find your old recipes? If so where can I find it. Thanks!

    • Gretchen

      Hi Avi, my non vegan blog is shut down
      I couldn’t keep up the cost to host it on the internet and maintain it monthly anymore

      The cost to host such a huge database was close to $400 a month (with the maintenance cost, I needed to hire a tech guy to help keep it running smoothly)
      So that cost was severely outweighing any small profits I had been making though running ads on the videos & blogsite.

      I have not kept any of the non vegan recipes, since for over 4 years now I have been strictly vegan;
      so for me they are of no use. They were all housed in the database and that has shut down.

      ~Gretchen

  6. Stine Ditløvsen

    Hi,
    I’m pretty sure I used this recipe in January, but then it had some beet juice in it. Or do you have another one with the beet juice?
    Going to make a gluten free wedding cake with that recipe tomorrow, afraid to change it, in case it won’t be as good as the other one I made.

  7. Jennifer J Robinson

    Hi what does the flax seed paste do? And do we need that in the recipe? Not sure I can find that at a local food store. Thanks!

    • Gretchen

      That is the egg replacer in this recipe. It helps bind the ingredients, if you have another egg replcaer (like a dry blend like Bobs Red Mill for example) that will also work

  9. Isobelhughes

    Hi Gretchen I have been looking your non vegan red velvet cupcakes I used to have it written down can’t find it I found your recipe to b the best could you please send me a link ☘️

    • Gretchen

      Hi There, Since December my non vegan blog has shut down.I couldn’t keep up the cost to host it on the internet and maintain it monthly anymore
      The cost to host such a huge database online was close to $400 a month with tech support monthly to keep it clean & safe and smooth.
      I certainly do not (did not) make that much in adsense revenue through Youtube & Google.

      That became a pretty steep price to pay for a website that had been conflicting me financially & emotionally for so many years,
      so after 5 years of keeping it free & open to the public I finally decided to shut it down.
      I did not keep any of the recipes for myself when I shut down the database
      (which was the only place the recipes were stored)
      I just did (do) not feel comfortable anymore sharing recipes laden with animal ingredients promoting the very industry I loathe

      so it really didn’t make sense for me to keep them nor keep open and available such an expensive website.

      I do thank you so much for your support and encouragement through the ages,
      I have stunned NON Vegans with my vegan recipes, perhaps you could try to do the same?
      If not, I am sure there are tons of great (if not better than mine) recipes out there for you to use!

      Thanks again~ Best, Gretchen

  10. Maryum

    I made these just now and they turned out great! Perfect texture, not crumbly at all. I think mixing the flax with hot water is the key – in other recipes I’ve just mixed with cold/room temp water and it turns out different. I would add more food coloring (added 1.5 tsp) next time, as they turned out a brownish pink. 😀

  11. Alice

    Hey Gretchen! Thank you for all you do 🙂

    I only have Dutch-processed cocoa powder at home at the moment. Have found your resource on Natural vs Dutch-processed cocoa. Could I use Dutch-processed cocoa and 2 teaspoons of baking powder in this recipe?

    When making this recipe in layer cake form, should I turn down the oven part way through as with the cupcakes? Or keep the oven at 375f (around 180c for me here in New Zealand) ?

    • Gretchen

      Hi Yes, whenever you have dutch process cocoa you must change the leavener. I start the cupcakes at a higher temp to encourage a high “jump” for a dome, not to mention opening the oven to load the cupcakes often takes out 25% of the heat, for cake layers it’s not necessary- bake all the way through at 350F

        • Alice

          Thanks Gretchen, the cakes worked out well and were really tasty! It was a big hit at the potluck I took it to! Although I used paste colouring, the cakes didn’t turn out super red, is that another effect of the dutch processed cocoa? I’m keen to keep learning 🙂 I made a vanilla buttercream and added a good amount of lemon juice, it gave a cream cheese vibe without me needing to go out and buy vegan cream cheese.

  12. Raisa

    Hi!

    I’m looking to make this recipe and i was wondering how much of Bob’s red mill egg replacer would I need to use?

  13. Deepthi Janakiram

    Hi Gretchen,
    The red velvet cake looks so delicious. I have bobs egg replacer, can you suggest the appropriate amounts of bobs in place of the flax please? Thank you

  14. Savannah

    Hi there i’ve been watching your YouTube videos for many years already and I love everything you made you taught me so much One of my friends is having a party and they want me to make their wedding cake so I wanted to ask what would be the perfect amount of measurements for this recipe so I can make a wedding cake it is a two-tier cake 10 inch and 8 inch thank you I hope to hear from you soon

    • Gretchen

      Hi! Great thank you! Have you seen my tutorial for How to Make a Wedding Cake? It’s helpful!
      But as for THIS recipe~ 1X recipe for the 8? cake and then another recipe 1½X for the 10″ layers

      • Savannah

        Yes I have watched it so many times over the years and watched recently last night lol no I’ve been watching your videos before you became vegan and the recipe is basically similar to the non-vegan recipe? So I’m doing it non-vegan so with the method still stay the same or is there something different I have to change One more thing when you say 1x time what does that actually mean make the recipe twice or do I double the ingredients thank you so much I appreciate it Gretchen

  15. Christina

    I followed the recipe, only thing I changed was using 2 tbs of vegan egg replacement. My cupcakes sunk in the middle and after cooling they came out rock hard and completely stuck to the paper. 🙁
    I’m jealous of everyone’s turnout

    • Gretchen

      Hmm, So I’m not sure which egg replacer you used, so I m not quite sure how much they say = 1 egg? But Flax Meal is typically 1 Tb per egg
      So let’s say your egg replacer says 2 teaspoon per 1 egg and you used 6 teaspoons, this could likely cause a “tighter” crumb since egg replacers are usually just starches and binders
      Additionally a sunken middle usually reflects too much batter in the vessel, but I am not sure that is the case here.
      Another note on egg replacers (not knowing which you used) some of them have leaveners in them too- like EnerG egg which could sauce too much rise and then sinking