Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes: When I posted the recipe for these egg free vanilla cupcakes, I never thought that any other cupcake recipe can even come closer to that one. I was so ecstatic that I have found the best eggless vanilla cupcake recipe. But the only drawback was that it used Ener-G egg replacer powder and it's not easily available in all parts of the world and many of the readers were asking me for a substitute for Ener-G.
Also, people who tried it with Ener-G gave mixed reviews. I have tried it a couple of times now, and I have gotten it right each time, but I understand that not everybody is able to get it perfect.
I was working on finding another recipe for vanilla cupcakes that use easily available ingredients. I tried a couple of recipes but was not satisfied with any of them. That is when I decided to try this eggless vanilla cake recipe. Another reason for deciding to use that recipe was that some of the readers wanted a substitute for condensed milk in that recipe.
So, I used the vanilla cake recipe as a base, made a couple of variations, and baked it twice to get the right combination. I have to say that I'm completely satisfied with the results. If you love orange-scented eggless vanilla cupcakes, I'm pretty sure that you would love these orange cookies, too! Do give it a try.
If you tried this Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
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Recipe
Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 and ½ cups Cake Flour
- ¾ cup White Sugar
- 1 and ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ tablespoon Orange Zest Zest of about 3 oranges
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 cup Milk See My Notes
- ¾ cup Orange Juice Freshly squeezed, See My Notes
- ½ cup Butter Melted
- 1 tablespoon Vinegar I used apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
Substitutions:
- Cake Flour = 2 and ⅔ cups of all purpose flour + 5 tablespoons of cornstarch
- Milk = Evaporated Whole or 2%; non-dairy for vegans
- Melted Butter = Oil or melted margarine
- Apple cider vinegar = White vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Prepare muffin tins either by lightly greasing it with cooking spray or line it with paper liners.
- In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients and make a well.
- Incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry mix one by one, stirring with a whisk simultaneously. Don't be bothered by some small lumps. Do not be tempted to dissolve the lumps by mixing the batter with an electric beater. (See My Notes)
- Fill each muffin cup ¾th full, which is about 3 tablespoons of batter for each cupcake. Bake for about 13-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Mine was done in 14 minutes. But note that my oven usually bakes quicker than the time mentioned in a recipe by at least 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the pan/s from the oven and allow it cool for about 5 minutes on a cooling rack. Then take out the cupcakes from the pan and let it cool on the rack completely before frosting, if you decide to.
My Notes
- I have tried this recipe using cake flour only. I have not tried it using the substitution I have mentioned. All purpose flour plus some cornstarch is the general substitution for cake flour. So I'm not sure about the texture of the cupcakes using this substitution.
- So far I have tested this recipe twice. The first time I used evaporated milk (unsweetened condensed milk) and the 2nd time I used 2% milk. I personally liked the cupcakes baked using evaporated milk. It was richer and lighter than the 2% milk cupcakes.
- I have mentioned it in many of my recipes and I'm mentioning it here again; use only freshly squeezed orange juice while baking. Store bought juice in cartons lends a bitter after taste in baked goods. That's my personal observation.
- Also the first time I just used ½ a cup of sugar and felt that the sweetness was very mild. It was okay for us who usually prefer mildly sweet treats. The 2nd time I increased the quantity to ¾th cup. ½ cup sugar is perfectly okay if you are going to frost/slather it with frosting.
- My personal experience has shown me that cake flour and electric beater are not compatible. I tried the Ener-G eggless vanilla cupcakes twice using cake flour and mixing the batter with a beater and ended up with cupcakes which sunk more than the Titanic. The cupcakes looked very pitiful. So please avoid the temptation to use an electric beater while preparing the batter in these recipes, especially with cake flour.
- Update: I tried a vegan version of this vanilla cupcake recipe for my son's birthday and it came out very well. I used 1 and ¾ cups of almond milk in place of the milk and orange juice. I also substituted ½ cup melted butter with coconut oil. I did use cake flour and the cakes turned out light, fluffy and tasted awesome. I got about 3 dozen mini cupcakes for this recipe.
1mummy says
The recipe is great. The cake turned out great. These are the first cupcakes we have made since I found out that my daughter cannot eat eggs. So thank you so much!
Madhuram says
You're welcome.
jas says
Excellent receipe!!! Thrilled with my baking and the results, definately looking forward to try all your receipe. Thanks for sharing and be great resource and motivate people like me.
Madhuram says
You're welome Jas.
Elizabeth says
Great texture. I noticed a slight chalkiness from the cornstarch, and I also found the flavour a bit on the bland side. But I figure kids won't notice either once I've iced them! 🙂 Next time, I'll know to dress the flavour up a bit more. This is a recipe that goes a long way. I made mine into small cupcakes, and got 28. Great for catering on the cheap. Thanks for all the notes - took a lot of guesswork out of the process. And thanks also for taking the time to get the recipe right.
Madhuram says
Thanks Elizabeth. Did you use cornstarch and all purpose flour combo to substitute for cake flour? Try it with orange juice and zest, the falvor is amazing. I tried it in this Easy Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes recipe.
sonal shekhawat says
Hey! I just stumbled upon your blog while searching for some eggless baking recipes and I must say I'm nt at all disappointed. I made this vanilla cupcakes and they turned out awesomeee. Just one thing, it was a little bitter. Maybe because I used vinegar which has a whole chilli inside the bottle or maybe my baking soda or vanilla essence was old. I used plain flour insted of cake flour and cornstarch. I did'nt have any orange juice so didn't add any but it turned out really soft and spongy! But why the bitter taste? Thanx a ton! I'll be trying more recipes soon.
Madhuram says
Thanks for the feedback Sonal. There should have been some problem with the baking soda you have used.
Janet says
Nope.. i just used a whisk and whisk with my hand. More like stiring it around only. And do you stir till the batter is smooth? I just leave the lumps as it is and did not stir more on the batter.
Madhuram says
I stirred the batter until it was smooth. I leave the lumps for muffin recipes though. I did leave the lumps in the other eggless cupcake recipe and it didn't disappear like how it does in muffins. Uncooked lumps did show up in the cupcakes. From then on I have been mixing the batter until smooth for cupcakes. I'm not able to guess where it went wrong in your case because I recently tried a vegan version of these cupcakes and it turned out great too. Actually the texture was light and fluffy just after 10 minutes out of the oven.
Janet says
Yes, the texture is still chewy the next day. It's kind of like chewy and texture is quite rough (not sure is it because of the lumps in the batter. Do you mix the batter till it's smooth? The texture in your picture looks perfect!
Madhuram says
I'm guessing that you over mixed the batter. Did you use an electric beater or did you just whisked it with your hand? From my experience cake flour and electric beaters don't work out as expected. I think I have mentioned this in my other eggless vanilla cupcake recipe using Ener-G. It messes up the taste and texture of the cupcakes.
Janet says
May i know how many grams are there in 2.5 cups of cake flour? I did it 2 times with 320gm and 340gms but the texture still feels wet n chewy after baking for 18 mins at 170 degrees as my oven is slightly hotter. Please advise.
Madhuram says
I guess it should be 320gms based on this conversion here: http://allrecipes.com/howto/cup-to-gram-conversions/. Was it still wet and chewy after it cooled down completely or only when it was warm?
Kate says
I made these cupcakes using vanilla soya milk, white vinegar, orange + pomegranate juice from the carton (sorry didn't have fresh oranges)and cornflour replacements. They taste fantastic, light and fluffy, way better than the eggy lot that I made for other children who are not allergic. Now I regret as should have done all of them eggless! Next time I will know better.
Thank you for the fantastic recipe.
Madhuram says
Kate, that's so kind of you to tell that these cakes were better than the ones with eggs. Thanks for the feedback.
DP says
Have you tried this recipe using water instead of orange juice and zest. I'm making this for a 1st birthday party where the birthday boy has a lot of allergies and his parents are not yet sure of his tolerance of orange juice.
Madhuram says
Eggless Vanilla Cake recipe is the cake version of this cupcake with plain water. It does taste good. You will have to increase the quantity of vanilla extract to 2 tablespoons instead of 1 tablespoon.
Nakita says
I'm not usually a good cook, but when I am, I bake these muffins.
Yes, they were absolutely fantastic! So glad I stumbled across this recipe due to lack of eggs and cocoa powder.
Will definitely bake again.
Slight variation:
- Only 2 oranges were used. Zest and juice.
- Added about 3/4 a cup of large chocolate chips.
Madhuram says
Thanks for the comment Nakita.
Miranda Insell says
I have tried this recipe as well as the energ recipe. Both times I had a problem with the cupcake liners sticking to the cupcakes. Any suggestions on how to prevent this?? I also added some orange juice to my cream cheese frosting and it was yummy!
Madhuram says
Did you try peeling the cupcakes off the liner as soon as it came out of the oven? You could do that but you will have to spray the insides of the liner with non stick cooking spray. If you don't grease the paper liners, you would have to wait for at least an hour or so (depending upon the recipe) to pull off the cupcakes without sticking to the liner.
Kesavan says
I tried this recipe using corn flour + self raising flour instead of cake flour and replacing orange zest+juice with lemon zest+juice and it came out soft and great.
I have a feeling that using orange would have made it tastier. Will try with that next time.
Thanks for the recipe.
Sandy says
Can this be made into a cake or will it not bake properly?
Madhuram says
As mentioned in this post, that's a cake recipe originally and I have baked it as cupcakes. So it will work either way. This is the original recipe for Eggless Vanilla Cake.
Jodie says
Hi Madhuram,
Could I use buttermilk, instead of the milk and vinegar?
If I test the recipe with All Purpose flour and corn flour I will let you know my results.
Thank you
Jodie
Madhuram says
I guess it will work Jodie.
Darrel Norris says
I love your site and use your recipies a lot! I'm trying to make a cake for my daughter's party. She has friends who can't have eggs. I tried just omitting the eggs and the cake crumbled as I tried to take it out of the pan. I want to try the vinegar and baking soda. I was wondering, is the amounts of vinegar and baking soda given a substitute for 1 egg? The recipe I'm using calls for 3 eggs.
Thank you for posting these great recipies!
Madhuram says
Thanks Darrel. Sometimes eggs take the role of a binder in recipes and that could be one of the reason why the cake crumbled when you omitted it. Vinegar and baking soda combination works only if you have to replace just 1 egg. The best substitute would be silken tofu. Actually a combination of silken tofu and yogurt will give you amazing results. You could try 1/2 cup pureed tofu and 1/4 cup plain yogurt in place or 3 eggs.
Ithaca says
Darrell and Madhuram,
Check out this list of other egg substitutes, depending on the purpose of use
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7678.0
Mina says
Do you have to add orange zest and juice? If you do not have fresh oranges handy, would you just add extra milk? Thanks.
Madhuram says
Yes both, Mina. It gives an amazing orange flavor to the cupcakes. You could use milk instead of the juice but increase the quantity of vanilla extract to 2 tablespoons.
Hema says
Its wonderful recipe. Let me try it out soon.
Hema's Adugemane
rani says
Thanks for this recipe. Wondering if it would work with 1/2 whole wheat flour as well?
Madhuram says
It would work, but I doubt if it would be as light and fluffy as the one with cake flour.
sridevi says
Is all purpose flour maida and is cornstarch the same as cornflour. I live in India.
thanx
Madhuram says
Yes it's the same Sridevi. I have written about all purpose flour in detail here: http://www.egglesscooking.com/recipes/all-purpose-flour/ Cornflour and cornstarch is the same too.
Hari Chandana says
Woww.. looks so delicious and tempting.. thanks for the wonderful recipe Madhu 🙂
Indian Cuisine