Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cupcakes - Rhian's Recipes (2024)

These Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cupcakes are the perfect indulgent yet elegant dessert. Amoist and fluffy cupcake sponge topped withluxuriously creamy frosting and fragrant coconut!

Some readers have been asking whether my Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cake can be made into cupcakes, so I've decided to give Coconut Cupcakes a go!

Why you'll love these Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cupcakes:

• they're undetectably vegan and gluten-free
• they're refined sugar free
• they're amazingly tender and fluffy
• they're covered in a seriously rich coconut frosting
• they're simple to make
• they come together in just one bowl
• they take just 35 minutes to make
• you'll only need a handful of uncomplicated ingredients.

They work well for lots of different occasions like:

• birthdays
• baby showers
• Christmas
• and anything else!

Substitutions you can make to the recipe

The recipe for the cupcake batter isversatile, and it can be adapted to suit your preferences or dietary requirements:

• you can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
• you can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc
• you can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc
• you can substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts
• for a nut-free version: substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds
• make sure to use an all-purpose shop-bought gluten-free flour blend (or a homemade gluten-free flour blend), as opposed to just using any type of gluten-free flour you can find (such as almond flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour etc). If you’re not gluten-free, you can use plain flour,wholemeal (whole wheat) flouror spelt flourinstead of the gluten-free flour
• I decided to keep it easy with a simple vanilla sponge, but if you want extra coconut flavour you can add some coconut extract.Myproblem with coconut extract is that I don't use it much so wouldn't want to buy a whole bottle just to use a few drops in these cupcakes.

I decided to make a simple coconut frosting using coconut whipped cream sweetened with a little maple syrup.

How to make the coconut frosting:

• Keep your tin of coconut milk in the fridge overnight(or for at least 12 hours) for the rich creamy bit to separate from the watery bit at the bottom
• Make sure you use full-fat coconut milk, otherwise this separation won’t happen and you won’t be able to whip it up
• Open the tin upside down – the coconut cream will be at the bottom and you can just pour off the watery liquid
• Save the watery liquid you pour off for adding to soups or smoothies
• Place the thick, creamy part into a bowl along with the maple syrup and vanilla extract
• Use an electric whisk (or a manual one and a lot of elbow grease) to whip up the frosting until light and fluff
• Make sure the cupcakes have cooled completely before applying the frosting, otherwise it will melt

Tip: The recipe below yields a medium-sized amount of frosting per cupcake. However, if you do want to apply a generous amount of frosting (like in my photos), I’d recommend doubling the amount of frosting.

Then all you need to do is sprinkle over a heap of nutty, sweet, fragrant desiccated coconut. You can use toasted desiccated coconut (like for my Coconut Cream Pie), but I like to keep it easy and just use desiccated coconut straight from the packet!

Equipment you'll need to make these Coconut Cupcakes:

• glass mixing bowl – for mixing the cupcake sponge batter
• measuring jug – formeasuring out the plant-based milk
• muffin/cupcake tin – for baking the cupcakes
• cooling rack– to leave the cupcakes to cool on before applying the frosting
• electric whisk – for whipping up thecoconut cream to make the coconut frosting
• a knife, a spatula, or a piping bag- to apply the frosting, depending on how fancy you want to be

How long do these Gluten-Free Vegan Coconut Cupcakes keep for?

Although these cupcakes do taste best when fresh, they do keep well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.For super fluffy frosting, make the frosting fresh and top the cupcakes with it just before serving – the frosting does set well, however, and frosted cupcakes will keep their shape and texturefor up to a few days in the fridge.

More gluten-free vegan cupcake recipes:

• Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes
• Chocolate Cupcakes
• Red Velvet Cupcakes

If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog,I’d really love to hear anyfeedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes onInstagram! Thank you.

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