These vegan red velvet cupcakes are sweet, vibrant, and topped with a rose blood orange cream cheese frosting. They make the perfect Valentine's Day dessert, birthday cupcake, or treat any time of the year.
Red velvet cake sometimes gets a bad rap for delivering more showiness than flavor, which I can understand. But there are some subtleties make it something more than vanilla adjacent.
Okay, but isn't red velvet cake just chocolate cake dyed red?
Nope! While red velvet does rely on red food coloring to get its signature color, the main flavor is not chocolate. The base of a red velvet cake is vanilla cake with buttermilk with just a hint of cocoa powder. The cake also traditionally includes vinegar, which makes it extra tender, and also helps the cake rise more. This vegan version calls for non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar to replace the buttermilk.
Still, I decided to add a little twist to the traditional red velvet cupcake in this recipe by infusing the cream cheese frosting with blood orange juice and zest, and a bit of rose extract. It's citrusy, romantic, and tasty.
🧁 Ingredients
There are more details about the bolded ingredients below the list.
- Vegan butter
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Non-dairy milk
- Apple cider vinegar
- Red food coloring
- Flour
- Cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Vegetable shortening
- Vegan cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Blood orange (zest and juice)
- Rose extract
Vegan Butter
I'm partial to Earth Balance, but use any kind you like! While most cupcake recipes call for vegetable oil, I like to use vegan butter when I can. The batter can be a bit more finicky and you have to be very careful so the cupcakes don't collapse when you check on them in the oven. However, the texture comes out softer and pillowy instead of the slightly gummy texture cupcakes can sometimes have when made with oil.
Vegan Food Coloring
Food coloring and red food coloring in particular is often shunned in the vegan community because it's "unhealthy" or "artificial", and erroneously labeled not vegan. It's true that some food coloring is animal derived, but most colors are synthetic nowadays. Like anything else, it's okay to use in moderation (unless you're allergic). If you still prefer to use natural food coloring, that's okay too.
FD&C Red 4 vs FD&C Red 40
These two red dyes are often mixed up. FD&C Red 4 is carmine or cochineal, which is derived from insects, and is therefore not vegan. It's used in cosmetics and as a colorant in food, and is typically listed as carmine on the ingredients. FD&C Red 40 is derived from petroleum and is vegan.
Vegan red food coloring
My absolute favorite vegan-friendly food coloring is Wilton gel coloring. Their no-taste red food coloring is the one I'd recommend for these red velvet cupcakes. Red food coloring can sometimes taste bad (hence the name of the food coloring), so definitely use a no-taste red for this recipe since it calls for a full tablespoon.
You can also get a 12-pack of Wilton gel food coloring on Amazon for $13 (at the time of publishing this post), which contains a small jar of no-taste red and 11 other colors you can use for all of your baking and decorating. Each color usually retails for $2-3 in store, so getting a multipack saves some dough if you do a lot of baking. You can also mix the colors like paint to create custom colors.
Now can someone please share this info with Karen from Facebook so I don't get another comment about how food coloring is not vegan and I'm a bad vegan?
Vegan Cream Cheese
Cream cheese frosting really sets red velvet cupcakes apart from regular old cupcakes with buttercream frosting. You can use any type of vegan cream cheese you prefer, but I'd recommend using cashew cream cheese. You can learn how to make your own cashew cream cheese here.
The frosting recipe also calls for blood orange juice and zest. You might think that the blood orange frosting would be pink, but the blood orange juice will only color the frosting slightly, if at all. If you'd like your cupcakes to have pink frosting, you can add a bit of your no-taste red or some pink food coloring.
Rose Extract
You'll want to zhuzh up these cupacakes even more if you're making them for Valentine's Day, so the frosting recipe calls for a bit of rose extract. Rose-flavored desserts scream romance.
Make sure you get rose extract instead of rose water. Rose extract made for baking is a concentrated mixture of rose oil, alcohol, and maybe glycerin and other fillers. Rose water is water infused with rose petals and is less concentrated. To make matters more confusing, many brands, including the one I recommend, Nielsen-Massey, will label their rose extract "rose water" even though it's extract. COME ON. Just follow the cardinal rule of veganism and you'll get the right stuff: check the ingredients.
If you're not a fan of floral flavors in dessert, you can leave it out. But it's less romantic.
🔪 Instructions
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake tray with 12 liners.
Cream together the vegan butter, sugar, and vanilla in a stand mixer, or with handheld beaters or by hand in a large bowl.
Pour the apple cider vinegar into the non-dairy milk, and let sit for a minute. Gradually add the milk and vinegar mixture to the creamed butter and sugar until fully combined.
Add the red food coloring and mix until evenly distributed.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling each one halfway full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are firm and a toothpick comes out clean.
For the frosting:
Cream together the shortening and vegan butter in a stand mixer or in a bowl with handheld beaters until fluffy. Add the vegan cream cheese and beat until smooth.
Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing after each addition. Add the blood orange zest and juice, vanilla extract, and rose extract.
Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, 5-6 minutes.
Pipe or spread the frosting on the cupcakes. Garnish with orange peel and chocolate shavings or your favorite toppings.
💭 Tips
- Red food coloring can have a bitter taste, but it's an important ingredient in red velvet cake. My favorite "no taste" red food coloring is this one from Wilton, which is a gel food color.
- Although the blood orange juice is a vibrant red color, it's not concentrated enough to tint the frosting. If you'd like pink frosting, you can add a bit of red or pink food coloring.
💘 More Vegan Valentine's Day Recipes
In addition to these vegan red velvet cupcakes, you might enjoy some of these other treats for Valentine's Day!
These vegan anise cookies, or Italian anisette cookies, are a classic Italian cookie. They are tender, flavored with anise extract, and topped with nonpareils.
Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers
This vegan tiramisu is made with homemade vegan ladyfingers, vegan cultured cashew mascarpone, and aquafaba and coconut cream custard.
Sugar Cookies with Vegan Royal Icing
Break out the heart-shaped cookie cutters! These vegan sugar cookies are egg-free and dairy-free and so easy to whip up for decorating with royal icing.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes with Blood Orange Frosting
These vegan red velvet cupcakes are topped with a delectable blood orange cream cheese frosting infused with rose extract. They make a gorgeous Valentine's Day treat.
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- ⅓ cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup non-dairy milk, plus 2 tablespoons
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon "no taste" red gel food coloring, see note
- 1 ¼ cup flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Frosting:
- 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter
- ⅓ cup vegan cream cheese
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon blood orange zest
- 2 tablespoons blood orange juice, about 1 orange
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon rose extract, optional
- Blood orange peel and white chocolate shavings for garnish, optional
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a cupcake tray with 12 liners.
- Cream together the vegan butter, sugar, and vanilla in a stand mixer, or with handheld beaters or by hand in a large bowl.
- Pour the apple cider vinegar into the non-dairy milk, and let sit for a minute.
- Gradually add the milk and vinegar mixture to the creamed butter and sugar until fully combined.
- Add the red food coloring and mix until evenly distributed.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling each one halfway full.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are firm and a toothpick comes out clean.
For the frosting:
- Cream together the shortening and vegan butter in a stand mixer or in a bowl with handheld beaters until fluffy.
- Add the vegan cream cheese and beat until smooth.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing after each addition.
- Add the blood orange zest and juice, vanilla extract, and rose extract.
- Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, 5-6 minutes.
- Pipe or spread the frosting on the cupcakes.
- Garnish with orange peel and chocolate shavings or your favorite toppings.
Notes
- Red food coloring can have a bitter taste, but it's an important ingredient in red velvet cake. My favorite "no taste" red food coloring is this one from Wilton, which is a gel food color.
- Although the blood orange juice is a vibrant red color, it's not concentrated enough to tint the frosting. If you'd like pink frosting, you can add a bit of red or pink food coloring.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 366Total Fat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 244mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 1gSugar: 42gProtein: 3g
All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on seitanbeatsyourmeat.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimates.
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