Look no further for your Vegan Peanut Butter Cupcakes Recipe!
Moist spongy cake topped with peanut butter cream cheese buttercream
Don’t forget the ganache swirl for that hint of chocolate!
Often times a Peanut Butter Cupcakes Recipe can be dry or on the other end~ gummy!
Not here! The addition of flax as the egg replacer makes this cake recipe super moist!
And the new 2-2-2 Cream Cheese Icing that is shelf stable is the perfect pairing!
This website may contain links as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, which means when you click a link and make a purchase through my website I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you
Notes for Success:
If flax meal is not something you use or have you can replace it with any egg replacer you prefer
Aquafaba would be a good alternative in the amount of 4 Tablespoons to replace the water and flax listed in the recipe
Tools Used for these Peanut Butter Cupcakes:
Yield: 18 cupcakes
Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
22 minutes
Total Time
42 minutes
Ingredients
For the Cupcake Batter:
- Vegetable Oil 8 Tablespoons (118ml)
- Granulated Sugar 1¼ cup (250g)
- Creamy Peanut Butter 2/3 cup (160g)
- Flax Meal 3 Tablespoons (24g)
- Warm Water ½ cup (118ml)
- Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoon (10ml)
- Soy Milk ¾ cup (177ml)
- Vinegar 1 Tablespoon (15ml)
- All Purpose Flour 2 cup (250g)
- Baking Powder 1 teaspoon
- Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
- *salt optional pinch
For the icing
- 1 Recipe Peanut Butter Buttercream
- Lactic Acid 1 teaspoon
- ¼ cup Vegan Ganache
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line your cupcake tin with papers
- Combine the flax meal with the warm water and set aside to thicken about 5 minutes.
- Add the vinegar to the soy milk and then add the vanilla extract
- Now place all the cake ingredients into the workbowl of a food process and whiz smooth, scrape the bottom & sides of the bowl and whiz again for 30 seconds
- Or this entire recipe can be mixed by hand in a large bowl with a whisk
- Portion into cupcake liners filling the batter slightly more than half full
- Bake at 350°F for 19-22 minutes or until they are springy to the touch when you gently press the centers.
- Cool completely while you make the peanut butter buttercream according to the recipe on that post
- You will add the lactic acid to give it a cheesecake tang at the last stage of mixing
- The ganache swirl is optional
Notes
Peanut butter cupcakes can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days
For longer storage keep refrigerated loosely covered to prevent drying
Just wondering what I can substitute for the flax meal (I don’t need to do vegan)
Can I also replace regular milk instead of soy milk?
They look delicious – I can’t wait to try them!!!
yes you can click here for a non vegan version for peanut butter cupcakes
But as I said in the video there is no comparison to this recipe from my non vegan version, I would love for you to try the flax, it’s not so much ” a need to do vegan” which I totally get it, but if the recipe is just better this way it’s more a fact that this recipe simply is BETTER this way. Vegan or not, better is just better 🙂
I’m not vegan, but I’m sure trying this. Flax seed is not expensive, I bought a large container just for Gretchen’s vegan recipes. i
I am confused regarding the Vegan Cream Cheese: Is it 1 8 oz container, or 113g? Thank you!
Hey thanks for pointing that out! It is 8 ounces which is 224g (not 113g- Ill correct that!)
Do you think a raspberry compote filling would work here for a PB&J cupcake?
yes totally!
Moist and delicious! My family gobbled them up!
I don’t like milk substitutes but want it vegan still, help??!!
Hmm, well you will have to replace the soy (or any milk alternative) with something. Water would fall flat- but would still work out.
It is baked, so you wouldn’t taste anything about the milk substitute, unless you mean just don’t like buying it for 1 cup to put in a recipe?
Hi. Why on earth are these cupcakes baked SO VERY LONG–and at a higher than typical temperature to start?!?! I’ve NEVER baked ANY home made cupcake–vegan or not–for nearly that long. Mine bake up in 19-22 minutes at 350°F. Please explain so I don’t waste time, money and ingredients. I want to make sure this isn’t an error. Thank you.
Hi Christine, I like to start cupcakes at a higher temperature because that helps them get a nice jump on the rise. (I find vegan cupcakes especially need a little boost in that area) Once you open the preheated oven to place the cupcakes (or cake) you lose almost 30°F temperature right off the bat.
But if you feel better about baking them at 350 the whole time, that is totally fine, I am sure by what you wrote you have quite alot of knowledge as to knowing when your cupcakes are done, so you can use the 20 minute mark as a time to check them and see if they need another couple minutes.
Could I sub organic shortening for the butter in the frosting? I feel like whenever I use Earth Balance my frosting melts! I can never get my vegan frosting to stiffen up without shortening. Thank you! These look delicious!`
yes definitely!
Hi,
I tried these cupcakes, but unfortunately the texture was terrible and they were falling apart :/ I think it was due to the flaxseed meal (Perhaps of different brand in Europe), as normally my cupcakes with soy flour turn out perfectly.
Nevertheless I will continue to try your recipes as they look great 🙂
Can I cut this recipe I half to make a smaller batch? Would any ingredients need to remain as is in terms of amount (I’m thinking of the vinegar, for example)?
yes all half would be fine
To make this Keto can I use Almond flour? TX Karen
Yes sure instead of graham crumbs! Absolutely!
I made these, and unfortunately they were a fail. They sunk in the middle, making them a bit gooey, brownie-like in texture. They still tasted great, actually, but I made them for a friend’s birthday and I couldn’t give them to her. So not only did I spend time and money making them, I had to make a different cupcake afterwards. I am an experienced (vegan and non-vegan, once upon a time) baker, and I’m not sure what went wrong here. It seemed to me that there wasn’t enough flour to prop up all the fat in these cupcakes.
I’ve made other recipes by Gretchen, and they’ve turned out great, but this one didn’t work for some reason. I’ll just console myself by eating the crunchy edges off these cupcakes and dreaming of how to make this flavor work in the future! (Once I opened the oven and saw they had fallen, I cooked them a bit longer to at least give me some crunchy tops to snack on 🙂 )
Hey thanks for commenting, I’m so sorry this happened to you!
The video and pictures here on my blog are exactly the recipe I used, meaning I don’t do camera tricks or anything like that, what I make goes directly to photo here on the recipe post. but I will have another look as sometimes I do make errors in the recipe when I type into the recipe app.
These looks delicious, and am going to make these for Halloween. Is the peanut butter you use in recipe for cake and frosting natural peanut butter? Meaning just roasted peanuts and salt or is it one like JIF or Skippy with added oil and sugar? I just want to make sure I’m using the correct one 🙂 thank you Gretchen!
Hey there! Good question (I should specify that) I use regular peanut butter like Jif, but I think it’s Skippy 😀
Thank you for your quick reply!
I can’t seem to get these to work. As someone else commented, mine also sunk in the middle. My first thought was maybe my butter was too soft and/or maybe I incorporated too much air that couldn’t be supported. So I tried again. Creamed butter and sugar just until fluffy and followed the video exactly for the pb and flax egg. The same scoop gave me a higher weight per cupcake. I was super hopeful as they were still slightly rounded at the end of the time. They had the right feel to the tops so I took them out and instantly deflated, again! I’m not sure what’s happening. Sadness, as the flavour is great, but texture is so gummy after sinking. I can see what they WANT to be in parts of the cupcake and there is fluff, but not enough structure to hold them up. Would more gluten formation help, maybe?
Hi Heather! I’m going to have to bake this recipe again to see that everything is OK with it, in order to answer & trouble shoot this with you! I will do that tomorrow & report back!
Id I’d like to make this into a later cake do I need to change anything ? Perhaps doubling the recipe ?
Yes double recipe will make 2 really thick 8″ cake layers
Hi have you tried making these gluten free? I want to try using bobs red mill or king Arthur’s 1:1 flour
I have not tried it with this recipe but I am sure it will work out! Although I am not an avid gluten free baker I have learned that by allowing the batter to sit for about 15 minutes before baking will help the final texture
As well as baking several minutes longer (even possibly up to 10 minutes longer for cupcakes!) than the recipe specifies
Hi Gretchen, love your recipes, i don’t do vegan, but i loved your peanut butter cupcakes recipe, from the non vegan days, i can’t find the recipe on the other site, but i was wondering how many eggs to substitute the flax seed, 3/4? And should i get them to the ribbon stage or is this a cream peanut butter add eggs, and alternate dry and wet kind of recipe? Thank you.