allergens: gluten
These flavorful Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Icing mix tea and lemon for a great afternoon treat.
I’m not much of a baker. Those of you who read this site regularly might notice that the Baked Goods section is a little lighter than most of the others. I don’t know if it’s that I just don’t have a knack for it, or if it’s my old oven. But my wife seems to do very well with it, so I guess it’s just me. Maybe it’s the precision that baking requires; other kinds recipes don’t have as much science involved, and work a little better when I wing it. But you know what? I still blame my oven a little bit 🙂
Despite my baking aversion I decided to give it another try with these Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Icing. I’d been thinking about cupcakes for a while. And after visiting England in October we’re all about the tea in our house. So I thought it’d be fun to incorporate it into things that we’re just a cup with water, lemon and agave.
It seems like you can put just about any flavor combination into a cupcake and it’ll work (See: these Bloody Mary cupcakes). Tea and lemon aren’t anything outrageous, but I hadn’t thought if it before (a quick internet search showed me that many others had though . . .) so I wanted to give it a try.
These cupcakes are really rich and moist (the tea in addition to the other liquids makes them runny when mixed together, but they thicken as the baking goes on and remain quite moist at the end), and the lemon adds some really great zing to the subtle tea flavor. I love their simplicity and full flavor, and I think you will too.
Tell Me What You Think
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this recipe if you make it. So drop me a comment below, and be sure to tag @nutfreevegan on social media if you’re posting photos. It’s always super fun to see these dishes out in the wild!
Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
- 3 tea bags earl grey tea about 3 tbsp loose leaf tea
- 4 tsp. water
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 flax egg
- For the buttercream icing:
- 1/2 cup vegan butter softened
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bring water just to a boil and put in a bowl. Add teabags and steep for at least 20 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl beat together the milk, oil, tea, vanilla and egg. Pour into bowl with dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
- Add cupcake lines to 1 or 2 muffin pans.* Divide cupcake batter evenly into the cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes and check with a toothpick in the center to make sure it comes out cleanly. Allow to cool completely before icing.
For the buttecream icing:
- Add butter, sugar and lemon juie to a large mixing bowl. Mix until completely smooth.
- When cupcakes are cooled, add icing via a piping bag or butter knife/spatula.
- (Optional) Grate lemon zest over top of finished cupcakes.
Notes
Nutrition
It’s awesome to see a vegan version of my recipe! Thank you, I am happy I inspired someone <3. These look absolutely delicious and I’ll be sure to recommend it to my vegan pals!
Thanks, Vanessa! I didn’t have to change very much because the recipe was SO GOOD to begin with 🙂
Where’s the step to include tea?? These look yummy 😋
Thanks!
Thanks for catching that, Erin! The tea goes in with the liquid ingredients—I’ve updated the procedure.
Thanks! And is it really just 4 teaspoons of water to 3 tea bags?
It is. I know that seems like very little water, but I didn’t want too much in the because the cupcakes are a little on the moist side anyway, and the three teabags really make the small amount of water very potent.
The recipe calls for “milk” – what type of vegan milk?
Hi, Pandalene. Oat or soy work well, but anything that doesn’t have a thin consistency like rice milk should be fine.