These Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes are a cupcake-version of my popular Strawberry Cake recipe! They have a moist, fluffy, strawberry-infused sponge, covered with a creamy strawberry-infused frosting. They're full of fruity flavour, naturally coloured, come together in one bowl, and are refined sugar free too. Perfect for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, baby showers, bridal showers, and everything in between!
How can you make a cupcake batter that has a strong strawberry flavour without using an artificial strawberry flavouring or strawberry jam?
I decided to blend up fresh strawberries to create a gorgeous strawberry purée - it's fresh, packed full of natural strawberry flavour, and has the most incredible colour!
To create a pretty pink colour without artificial food colourings, I used beetroot powder.
You can buy beetroot powder in local health stores, as well as online.
If you can't get hold of beetroot powder, it's not a problem if you leave it out - you'll just end up with slightly differently coloured cupcakes, but the taste will be the same, and still delicious!
How to make the cupcakes
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Place the strawberries in a food processor, blender or hand-held stick blender.
- Blend until you get a completely smooth purée.
- Mix together with all the ingredients for the cupcake batter in a mixing bowl.
- Transfer the batter into cupcake cases in a muffin/cupcake tin.
- Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes.
- Once out the oven, transfer the cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool completely before applying the frosting.
Tips for making the strawberry frosting
- You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it's full-fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
- Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom, and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies).
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl.
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.
- I did think that adding fresh strawberry purée to the frosting would create too much excess liquid and a diluted flavour, so I decided to use strawberry jam for a more concentrated strawberry flavour.
- To make this frosting refined sugar free, use a refined sugar free strawberry jam such as this one.
How to make the strawberry frosting
- Use an electric whisk to make the coconut milk thick and fluffy.
- Add the strawberry jam (and colouring if using) and mix well.
- You can apply the frosting with a palette knife, spatula, or piping bag, depending on how fancy you want to be!
Tip: Make sure the cupcakes have cooled completely before applying the frosting.
How to decorate these cupcakes
- Fresh berries: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries etc.
- Freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries.
- Fresh mint.
How long do these strawberry cupcakes keep for?
They do taste best when fresh, but they keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
- For a refined sugar free version, use a refined sugar free strawberry jam.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds.
- You can use plain flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.
- You can replace the strawberries with blueberries, peaches or mango.
- You can use fresh or frozen strawberries - just make sure to defrost frozen ones and get rid of any excess water.
- You can replace the coconut whipped cream with a thick coconut yogurt.
More gluten-free vegan cupcake recipes
- Chocolate Cupcakes
- Coconut Cupcakes
- Banana Cupcakes
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Lemon Cupcakes
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Gluten-Free Vegan Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 300 g (10.5 oz) fresh strawberries , hulled
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ½ teaspoon beetroot powder (optional - to add red colour)
For the frosting**:
- 400 g (14 oz) tin of full-fat coconut milk ***
- 3 tablespoons strawberry jam (ensure refined sugar free if necessary)
- Pinch beetroot powder (optional - to add red colour)
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Use a food processor, blender or hand-held stick blender to whizz the strawberries until completely smooth - you should end up with around 250ml (1 cup) strawberry purée.
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the strawberry purée to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda (and beetroot powder if using).
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash of any plant-based milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer mixture between 12 cupcake cases in a cupcake tin.
- Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Once out the oven, transfer cupcakes onto a wire rack to cool completely before applying the frosting.
For the frosting:
- You'll need to keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom. Make sure it is full fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won't happen and you won't be able to make this cream!
- Open the tin upside down - the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid (save this for adding to soups or smoothies).
- Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl.
- Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the coconut cream until light and fluffy.
- Add the strawberry jam (and beetroot powder, if using) and carefully mix it in.
To frost and decorate the cupcakes:
- Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, use a knife, spatula or piping bag to apply an even amount of frosting to each of the cupcakes.
- Decorate with freeze-dried raspberries, if desired.
- Best when fresh, but keeps well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Notes
- You can replace the strawberries with blueberries or mango.
- You can use fresh or frozen strawberries - just make sure to defrost frozen ones and get rid of any excess water.
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Anonymous
So pretty!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!