Dairy Free Yellow Cake Cupcakes

Last Updated on August 15, 2020 by Annie

These delicious and easy dairy free yellow cake cupcakes make the best birthday treat! They are better than the box mix recipe with the added bonus of being dairy free!

Birthday cakes took many shapes in my early years of life. There were store bought cakes with edible spray-painted characters, many dance themed cakes, and one year, even a homemade cake in the shape of Winnie the Pooh. #bestmomever

My favorite kind of birthday cake is a good, moist yellow cake slathered with chocolate frosting and covered in sprinkles. Add a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream to the side and you have the dessert of my dreams. Unfortunately, when I began cutting the dairy out of my life, the go to box mix of yellow cake that “contains milk” had to go too.

Dairy Free Changes

Making these cupcakes dairy free involved replacing butter.
There are a few ways to replace butter in a cupcake recipe.
-Swap butter for vegan butter.
Replace the butter with oil– coconut oil and vegetable oil both work well in this recipe.
Replace the butter with banana. If you replace all of the butter with bananas the cupcakes might take on banana-y flavor.

To replace the butter in this recipe I used bananas mixed with vegetable oil. This swap minimized the amount of oil in the recipe and kept the cupcakes from tasting too much like banana. This resulted in a moist and fluffy cake that brought back all of the birthday cake warm-fuzzies of my youth.

Yellow cake cupcakes before they were frosted.

I have not successfully made my own chocolate frosting for these cupcakes, yet. There are a few brands that make their frostings dairy free. I will keep you posted as I try out different frosting recipes to find the right dairy free one! Until then, I hope you take some time to try these out. Please share any dairy free frostings you have tried below!

Pro Tips for Making Yellow Cake Cupcakes

-Make sure the eggs and non-dairy milk are at room temperature.
-Beat the banana and oil together just like it were butter.
-When you incorporate the last bit of the flour mixture, fold it in by hand.
-Use a cookie scoop, or the two-spoon method, to fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Do not over-fill the liners.

Did you make these deliciously addictive Yellow Cupcakes?!? Share your creation on Instagram by tagging @mylifeafterdairy so I can share your life after dairy!

Dairy Free Yellow Cake Cupcakes

Just like a box of yellow cake mix without the butter that might disagree with your digestive tract. These fluffy, moist cakes will take you back to some of your favorite birthday parties.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Dairy-Free
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 18 Cupcakes
Author Annie

Ingredients

  • 1 Banana mashed
  • ½ c. Vegetable Oil
  • 1½ c. Sugar
  • 3 Eggs large, room temperature
  • 2 tsp. Vanilla
  • 2¼ c. Flour All Purpose
  • 2½ tsp. Baking Powder
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • 1 c. Almond Milk Plain, unsweetened

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake tin with liners.

  2. Beat banana, vegetable oil, and the sugar together in the bowl of a standing mixer, with a paddle attachment, for about 2 minutes until all of the ingredients are combined.

  3. Next, add one egg at a time, mixing until combined. When you add the third egg, add the vanilla in and mix until combined.

  4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

  5. On a low setting, mix half of the flour mixture in. Then pour the almond milk in. Then finish with the remaining flour mixture. I recommend using a spatula and folding in the last bit of batter to make sure everything from the bottom of the bow has been incorporated completely.

  6. Using a spoon, or cookie scoop, fill the cupcake liners ¾ of the way full with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Helpful Kitchen Tools

Some of the links above contain affiliate links. These are products and brands I use in my kitchen daily. They pay me a small commission for the referral at no additional cost to you.