If you’re looking for a vegan recipe to “Wow!” your non-vegan friends, this is it. Perfectly fluffy lemon cupcakes, filled with a smooth and zesty lemon curd and topped with a toasted meringue frosting you would never guess didn’t contain eggs. These will not fail to impress!
Don’t be put off assuming these involve hard-to-find ingredients, specialist equipment or are difficult/time-consuming to make. None of those things are the case. All ingredients can be found in your local supermarket and you can make the whole batch, from start to finish, in an hour!
I don’t own a culinary torch or a cupcake corer so I made do with my oven grill and an apple corer. Both of which worked perfectly. Eating the cake centres whilst you core the cupcakes is definitely a perk of the process :-)
So you may be wondering… “How does that meringue contain no eggs!?” Well, it’s all thanks to a new discovery called ‘Aquafaba‘ which is just the water from a can of chickpeas or other legume. Crazy, huh? But so effective, so delicious and so cheap to make! The cupcake recipe itself is inspired by a fantastic recipe I found on food.com. The fluffiest vegan cupcakes ever!
Vegan Lemon Meringue Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the lemon cupcakes
- 240 ml / 1 cup almond milk
- Juice and zest from 1 medium lemon
- 150 g / 1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 80 ml / 1/3 cup mild olive oil
- 150 g / 3/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the lemon curd
- Juice from 2 large lemons, to make about 120ml / 1/2 cup
- 120 ml / 1/2 cup almond milk
- 150 g / 3/4 cup caster sugar
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp dairy-free butter
For the meringue frosting
- Liquid from a 400g tin of chickpeas, or other white legumes
- 50 g / 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the lemon cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 170c and line a cupcake tray with liners.
- Mix the almond milk and lemon juice & zest together in a large bowl or jug and leave to "curdle" for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix the flour and corn starch together in a separate bowl.
- Add the oil, sugar and vanilla extract to the almond milk and then the flour mixture. Stir everything until just combined.
- Divide equally between 12 cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and spongey to the touch.
- Leave to cool completely before coring the centre of the cupcakes. I used an apple corer but you can also find cupcake corers.
To make the lemon curd
- Whilst the cupcakes are baking, make the curd by mixing the lemon juice, half of the almond milk, sugar, and corn starch together in a small saucepan.
- Continually whisk over medium heat until it starts to boil. The mixture should start thickening.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the rest of the almond milk and dairy-free butter.
- It should be a smooth, thick, runny consistency. Leave it to cool in the fridge where it will thicken some more.
- Once cooled, pour into the centre of the cupcakes until it reaches the brim.
To make the meringue frosting
- In a stand mixer, whisk the chickpea water on high for a few minutes, until it starts to turn frothy
- Slowly add in the icing sugar, a little at a time. Then add the cream of tartar.
- Keep whisking on high speed for approximately 10 minutes until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
- Add the vanilla and whisk again for another minute.
- Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe swirls on top of the cupcakes.
- To create the "toasted" look, you can either use a culinary blow torch or preheat your grill to it's hottest setting and place the cupcakes underneath for a few seconds.
- Serve and enjoy! These keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days.
How did you get your lemon curd yellow?
Using a small pinch of turmeric (for colour) or actual natural yellow food colouring, if you prefer.
Hi, will these hold up out of the fridge? I’m hoping to make the meringue, pipe it on and serve the following day. When would be the best time to torch them?
Many thanks,
Danielle
The aquafaba you use is without sodium?
I think it would perhaps have a very small amount of sodium in it but you don’t want it ultra salty/briney. It’s just an ordinary tin of chickpeas or legumes.
Thank you for the great recipe. Also, I love your apron! Where did you get it from? It’s beautiful.
Thanks Anna! It’s from Laura Ashley :-)
Thank you
Honestly these are incredible! What an amazing recipe and sooo delicious. The lemon curd… drool! Ready to wow my non-vegan friends muahaha
Haha! Thanks Rachel :D
I am a vegan so all my recipes are eggless though I find the texture dense. Can I add in the Aquafaba to make the texture light and fluffy even though the recipe does not require eggs?
You could try, I know that quite a few people have tried to use aquafaba for a more fluffy cake but not sure how well it’s worked. I would say though that these cupcakes are surprisingly light and fluffy! They’re certainly not dense or heavy. Let me know if you try them with or without added aquafaba :-)
Aimee, thank you so much for the shortbready treats yesterday. They were absolutely lovely and lasted about 17 minutes. I’m going to give these a try when I can! Lovely site and thanks again x
Absolutely delicious – can’t wait to have again.
These look delicious Aimee. I love cored cupcakes and lemon curd is such a delicious filling.
I am intrigued by the aquafaba. How does it work as an egg replacer in cakes and other bakes?
Another fab usage of aquafaba! That stuff is cray cray. These are so lovely <3
OMG this is like revolutionary haha I swear meringue and no eggs- so awesome and these just look incredible xx
Oooh I so need to find an occasion to bake these for! I can’t believe that meringue has no eggs in either – who’d have thought!
OHEMGEE – these are so adorable! LOVE the lemon curd filling and that meringue topping!
Thank you Shashi! I think these might be my favourite cupcakes yet :-)
Love your recipe! My dad loves lemon meringue so I think I will follow this and treat him on his birthday! Have voted for you – goo luck!
Thank you so much, Tracy! Good luck to you too :-)
You’re such an impressive lady–I was totally wowed by this post. Five thumbs up all around!!
Aw shucks! Thank you Ala you lovely lady you <3
I’m really intruiged by the meringue in this! They look gorgeous too
Thanks Sheila! Yes, the aquafaba meringue is amazing stuff. When I read about it, I didn’t believe it could create such an impressive result.. until I tried it for myself :-)
Any subs for castor sugar in any of the steps? Trying to lower sugar consumption
You could try Xylitol? But I haven’t tested any sugar free alternatives with this recipe.