January is over, so we can finally start to indulge a bit more, yeah! You know New Year’s resolutions never last long anyway. So, are you up for some vegan rose water cupcakes?
These cupcakes are fluffy, extra soft, and melt in your mouth. They are flavored with rose water that adds a subtle floral note.
If you have never heard of or tasted rose water, it’s a natural flavoring made by letting rose petals steep in water. It has a refreshing smell, but it’s very powerful, so a little goes a long way. You can usually find rose water at Turkish or Arabian grocery stores or online here.
The gluten-free cupcake batter is easy to prepare. It’s a mix of white and brown rice flour. I also added some tapioca starch to help make these light and fluffy. They are naturally sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar and flavored with vanilla and rose water.
I do not recommend swapping the coconut sugar for more maple syrup or the opposite. The mix of liquid and dry sweeteners keeps the texture soft.
For the frosting, I went with a sweet cashew cream flavored with rose water and colored with natural beetroot powder. If you prefer traditional buttercream, I also added a recipe for it.
Buttercream is easier to make, though, and takes only 5 minutes, but it contains refined sugar and vegan butter, which is not everyone’s thing.
Either way, the rose water frosting really takes these cupcakes to the next level by adding that fresh and discreet floral note.
Don’t forget to top your cupcakes with sprinkles or chocolate chips, and let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Vegan Rose Water Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 3 tbsp tapioca flour
- 3 tbsp coconut sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 10 tbsp almond milk
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp rose water
Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1 and 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp beetroot powder
- 1/2 tsp rose water
Cashew Cream Frosting
- 2 cups raw cashews soaked overnight
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp rose water
- 1/2 tsp beetroot powder
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, coconut sugar, baking powder, baking soda and xanthan gum. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the almond milk, oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract and rose water.
- Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix until well incorporated. It will have the consistency of a pancake batter. Let batter rest for about 10 minutes.
- Fill muffin liners to about 3/4 full. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. I baked mine for 30 minutes. Let cool at room temperature in the pan before removing them.
- Using a piping bag fitted with a star tip, pipe the frosting (cashew cream OR buttercream) on each cupcake.
- Cupcakes are better served the same day but are still very soft on day 2. Store at room temperature in a airtight container and add frosting only if eaten the same day.
Buttercream Frosting
- Beat the butter with the powdered sugar, beetroot powder and rose water until fluffy and light. You can do it by hand or with a stand mixer.
Cashew Cream Frosting
- Drain the soaked cashews and place them with all the other ingredients in a blender. Blend on high speed until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time. Transfer to a large bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Notes
- I'm giving two different frosting options, one that is refined sugar-free, made with cashews and the other made with powdered sugar and vegan butter. The latter is definitely sweeter but takes only 5 minutes to prepare.
- If making the cashew cream frosting: you will have enough to decorate about 12 cupcakes so you will have leftovers since this recipe yields about 8 cupcakes. The cashew cream will keep in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.
- Rose water is very powerful, I do not recommend increasing the amount used.
- Nutritional information is for one cupcake without the frosting since it's difficult to calculate depending on how much you pipe on each cupcake.
Hi Thomas, these look delicious! Can you confirm how much baking soda to use? The recipe asks for baking powder twice!
¾ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp baking powder
I assume one is intended to be baking soda?
Thanks! Can’t wait to bake these this weekend.
Hi Tess,
Thanks for letting me know about the ingredients! You are right, it’s 1/8 tsp baking soda, I corrected the recipe.
So beautiful and graceful 🙂 Loved this recipe!
Thanks Lee! 😉
Hi are these cupcakes moist enough to fill and then put frosting over? if so what flavor cream would compliment? I was wondering if a bavarian, italian cream, or raspberry would work but I don’t want to overpower the rose water.
Hi Laura,
I’m not sure you could fill these like you would with Boston cream donuts for example. You can probably fill them by cutting the top and remove some of the inside. Yes, raspberry or lemon goes very well with rose water.
You make me cry happy tears! It’s so hard being a gf vegan and i’m so happy i’ve found your blog.Totally making these today.Tahnk you and keep on keepin’ on 🙂
Thanks Grace!
Hi Thomas,
is it possible to use coconut oil instead of vegan butter for frosting? 🙂
Thank u for amazing recipes!
A.
Hi Anna,
I’m afraid coconut oil won’t work for frosting.
You’re welcome 🙂
Instead of using different flours, can I just use the same amount of all purpose flour?
Hi, this looks very delicious! I was planning to bake it today but unfortunately cannot find much variety of flour where I live. Can I substitute them with all purpose flour?
Hi Harshita,
I think you can but you might have to adjust the ratio of dry to liquid ingredients.
So I can’t rate these yet because I didn’t read the part that says the recipe only makes 8! I wrongly assumed 12 and when they came out only half risen I wondered what I did wrong
I also spooned and leveled… are you suppose to pack and level the flours?
Currently cooking but I’m wondering if they will be tough and overcooked! Yikes!
Did you whisk the baking powder and baking soda well before adding the wet ingredients?
Yes, leveled is good, you don’t want to pack the flours.