Perfectly sweet vegan chai cupcakes topped with a spiced buttercream. These cupcakes are soft and fluffy and infused with chai spices. Perfect for the holidays or any fall and winter occasion!
When my husband and I got married in September 2019, I planned and prepared our entire wedding menu with the help of a few family members. I made my own wedding cake and served a variety of cupcakes to go with it. These cupcakes were all recipes from Sally’s Baking Addiction, including her chai latte cupcakes, which were my favorites. Shortly after our wedding, I made the switch from vegetarianism to veganism and I knew that I wanted to create a vegan version of our favorite wedding cupcakes. And so today, I share with you these vegan chai cupcakes.
How to Make Vegan Chai Cupcakes:
These cupcakes are made with a few steps:
Prepare the Ingredients
Start by prepping your ingredients. Make the chai spice mix, let your ingredients come to room temperature (think vegan butter and yogurt), make your flax eggs and prepare your chai milk (oat milk infused with chai tea).
Combine the Dry Ingredients
Once you’ve prepared these ingredients, you can start! Mix the dry ingredients, including flour, chai spices, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Combine the Wet Ingredients
Beat your butter and sugar together, then add all your wet ingredients, including yogurt, flax egg, chai milk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat together until just combined.
Bake
Bake your cupcakes for 22 minutes, then let them cool completely.
Prepare the Frosting
Make your buttercream frosting by mixing vegan butter, confectioner’s sugar, oat milk, chai spices, vanilla and salt.
Decorate
Decorate your cupcakes and you’re done!
How to Decorate Chai Cupcakes:
I love to decorate them with cinnamon sticks and a dusting of chai spice mix. You can of course leave them plain. Just make sure not to try and eat the cinnamon sticks… Yes, someone actually tried this at our wedding!
Tips to Make the Best Cupcakes:
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. It does make a difference!
Bake only one batch at a time in the middle rack to ensure even baking.
Let them cool completely before decorating or you’ll end up with a mess.
Don’t over or under mix! Over-mixing will lead to tough and dense cupcakes. Mix until just combined. You don’t want any pockets of flour.
Once cooled completely, store the cupcakes at room temperature in an airtight container to keep them moist and fluffy. If you don’t decorate them immediately, you can keep them at room temperature for several days. If they’re frosted, place them in the refrigerator after 1 day.
Avoid scooping the flour directly with the measuring cup to measure the flour or you’ll end up using too much. You’ll also want to avoid shaking the measuring cup for the same reason. To measure the flour in this recipe, use the spoon and level method (see recipe notes for details).
Vegan Chai Cupcakes FAQ:
Can You Freeze the Cupcakes?
Yes! You can freeze the cupcakes, but I would recommend not frosting them until you’re ready to serve them. Let them cool completely and store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let them thaw overnight in the fridge, then make the frosting and decorate them when ready.
What is the Best Flour to Make Cupcakes?
I made this recipe with both white cake flour and white all-purpose flour. Both resulted in soft and fluffy cupcakes. Use the one that you prefer.
Can I Use Other Plant-Based Milks?
I made this recipe with oat milk, but other plain and unsweetened plant-based milks should work. Avoid using flavored milks.
What Vegan Butter Should I Use?
This recipe was tested with vegan Becel (soft tub margarine). I recommend using this vegan butter for the best results. Using hard block margarine will likely affect the results.
Perfectly sweet vegan chai cupcakes topped with a spiced buttercream. These cupcakes are soft and fluffy and infused with chai spices. Perfect for the holidays or any fall and winter occasion!
Course Dessert
Cuisine vegan
Prep Time 40 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Servings 12
Ingredients
1bagchai tea
1/2cup oat milk,plain and unsweetened
3tablespoonsground flax seeds
1 3/4cupwhite cake flour,spoon and leveled
3 1/2teaspoonschai spice mix
3/4teaspoonbaking powder
1/4teaspoonbaking soda
1/4teaspoonsalt
1/2cupvegan butter,room temperature
1cupgranulated sugar
1/2cupplain vegan yogurt,room temperature (see notes)
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
Chai Spice Mix
2 1/2teaspoonsground cinnamon
1 1/4teaspoonground ginger
1 1/4teaspoonground cardamom
1/2teaspoonallspice
Vegan Chai Buttercream
1 1/2cupvegan butter,room temperature
5cupsconfectioner's sugar,plus more as needed
2teaspoonschai spice mix
1/4cupoat milk,plain and unsweetened, plus more as needed
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Instructions
Start by making your flax egg. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons of ground flax seeds with 6 tablespoons of room temperature water. Set aside to let it thicken.
Heat 1/2 cup of oat milk. I heat it in the microwave for 1 minute in a glass measuring cup. Add the chai tea bag to the warm milk and let it steep for 20 minutes or until it gets to room temperature.
Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, mix all the chai spices together.
Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix your flour, 3 1/2 teaspoons of chai spice mix, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer of hand mixer, beat the sugar and 1/2 cup of vegan butter together until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flax egg, vegan yogurt, chai milk and vanilla extract. Whisk together until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides as needed.
With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Don't over or under mix.
Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake liners. It should make 12 cupcakes, filling each liner *almost* to the top (see photos).
Bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let them cool completely before frosting.
Prepare the Vegan Chai Buttercream
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the icing sugar, chai spice mix, oat milk, vanilla and salt. Beat on high speed for about 2 minutes. Add more icing sugar if the frosting is too thin or more milk if too thick.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag. I used the Wilton 6B piping tip. Frost the cupcakes. Decorate with a cinnamon stick and a dusting of chai spice mix if desired.
Notes
This recipe is adapted from the Chai Latte Cupcakes from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I adjusted the recipe to make them vegan, but the credit for the original recipe goes to Sally!It’s very important that your ingredients are all at room temperature before making the cupcakes or it will affect the final result. I recommend getting the vegan butter and yogurt out of the fridge approximately 1 hour before you start making the cupcakes. Don’t leave the yogurt at room temperature much longer than that.I made this recipe with both white cake flour and white all-purpose flour. Both resulted in soft and fluffy cupcakes. I don’t have a gluten-free option at this time.Use the spoon and level method to measure the flour. To do this, scoop the flour with a spoon and transfer it to the measuring cup. Level the flour at the top of the measuring cup using the back of a butter knife. Avoid scooping the flour directly with the measuring cup or you’ll end up with too much flour. You’ll also want to avoid shaking the measuring cup for the same reason.I made this recipe with oat milk, but other plain and unsweetened plant-based milks should work.I used Maison Riviera’s Oat based plain yogurt. Other plain vegan yogurts should work.I used Becel’s vegan butter.
If you make these chai cupcakes, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love to hear from you guys. And of course, if you try this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram!
* Be sure to add the Chai infused oat milk to the mix at step 6!! It's not written in the steps, but it was written in the text above so I added it at the right time!
Soooo soo good cupcakes! I made half the quantity in buttercream and it was highly enough :)
Thank you so much Sarah! I'm happy you love the recipe. And thank you for the note on the chai milk - that's definitely a mistake on my part and I just added the step to the recipe. Enjoy! :)
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Delicious and flavourful!!!
* Be sure to add the Chai infused oat milk to the mix at step 6!! It's not written in the steps, but it was written in the text above so I added it at the right time!
Soooo soo good cupcakes! I made half the quantity in buttercream and it was highly enough :)
Thank you so much Sarah! I'm happy you love the recipe. And thank you for the note on the chai milk - that's definitely a mistake on my part and I just added the step to the recipe. Enjoy! :)