These Vegan Cardamom Rose Cupcakes are truly my favorite new vegan cupcake flavor! Cardamom and vanilla cupcakes are topped with a sweet and floral rosewater frosting for the perfect dairy-free & eggless cupcake recipe!
This cardamom cupcake recipe is adapted from my Vegan Vanilla Berry Cupcake recipe which truly is the best easy vanilla cupcake. Add a little cardamom into the mix and you have these perfectly sweet and slightly spicy cupcakes.
If you’ve never had cardamom before, it is seriously such a unique flavor. It has notes of citrus, mint, and spicy goodness all in one. For this recipe, I used Simply Organic Cardamom which I can say is utterly delicious when paired with vanilla! It’s the same cardamom I use in my super popular Vegan Cardamom Orange Cookies.
In addition to cardamom, this recipe brings a basic vegan vanilla frosting to the next level by adding in rose water. This rose flavored frosting has just a hint of rose and I have to say the floral notes of this cupcake pair SO well with the spice of cardamom and sweetness of vanilla.
When served alongside my Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes, these pretty rose water cupcakes make the perfect vegan dessert for any occasion!
How to make cardamom vanilla cupcakes
What I love most about making vegan cupcakes is that they are easy enough to be made in one bowl and can be baked in under 30 minutes. Plus they’re seriously so moist, tender, and ridiculously fluffy without eggs or dairy. Doesn’t get much better than that- am I right?!
Cupcake Ingredients:
Here are the ingredients I used for these cardamom vanilla cupcakes, along with a few variations you can easily swap in and out!
- Vegan milk (Most plant-based milks work such as almond, oat, rice, soy, etc. I don’t recommend using canned coconut milk as it tends to be too heavy for fluffy cupcakes)
- Coconut 0il (melted, can be replaced 1:1 with any olive such as vegetable, olive oil, avocado oil)
- Vanilla bean paste (extract works as 1:1 substitute)
- Pastry flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill pastry flour and recommend it over all-purpose flour for cupcakes)
- Cardamom
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
Mix everything in one bowl:
I start off by adding the wet ingredients first. This includes the plant-based milk (I used almond milk), vegetable oil (I used melted coconut oil), sugar, and vanilla bean paste/extract. Then, gently whisk together.
For this recipe, I HIGHLY recommend using vanilla bean paste in place of extract to really let the vanilla shine through (and also to get those pretty vanilla specks in your vegan cupcakes!). It is pricier than extract, but the flavor is ten times better in my opinion.
After that, I use a flour sifter to add in the dry ingredients including the pastry flour, cardamom, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. If you don’t have a sifter, you can also mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl to avoid any clumps. Then, gently whisk together until a smooth cupcake batter forms.
Also, do keep in mind that you really don’t want to overmix cupcake batter so only mix until the batter just forms!
Add the cupcakes to a muffin tin:
For my cupcake recipes, I ALWAYS use If You Care cupcakes liners since they are unbleached and compostable. I bake them in a standard 12-cup muffin tin as this recipe makes 10-12 cupcakes.
Finally, bake the cardamom vanilla cupcakes:
These cupcakes just need 22-25 minutes of baking time at 350F (180C). After baking, remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool completely before frosting. (seriously, don’t frost warm cupcakes!)
How to make rose water frosting
One of the things that makes these fluffy vegan cupcakes so unique is the rose-flavored frosting on top. These cupcakes are adapted from the vanilla frosting recipe in my Vegan Lemon Cupcakes, but with a floral twist!
Ingredients:
- Vegan butter, cold (I love Miyokos brand)
- Vegan shortening cold (I used Spectrum organics which sustainably sources palm oil. If you don’t want to bake with palm oil, simply replace this 1:1 with more vegan butter. For reference, Miyokos butter contains no palm oil)
- Coconut cream (optional, but makes a fluffier frosting!)
- Vanilla bean paste/extract
- Rosewater
- Powdered sugar
- Dried rose petals (optional as a topping!)
Steps to make the frosting:
To make any vegan frosting recipe, I use my Kitchenaid Standing mixer, however, an electric mixer also works.
First, add the vegan butter & shortening to a bowl and whip together until creamed and fluffy. Then, add in the coconut cream, vanilla bean paste/extract, and rose water. Whip together about 30 more seconds to combine.
As a final step, turn down the speed and add in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. I used 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, but feel free to use as much or as little as you want to sweeten this rose frosting!
After that, it’s time to frost the cardamom cupcakes & top with dried rose petals!
Please note: If you don’t like or can’t find rosewater, these cupcakes are just as good with a vanilla-flavored frosting!
How to store vegan cupcakes
Cupcakes are truly best enjoyed within 48 hours of baking, however, I know it’s completely realistic that you’ll want to save and store extras for longer!
If you are just waiting a day or two to eat the baked cupcakes, they can be stored in a closed container at room temperature. However, if you are waiting longer than that I recommend wrapping in plastic wrap/ storing in a closed container in the freezer. Believe it or not, you can even store frosted cupcakes in the freezer for up to 1 month!
I always get asked if you can refrigerate vegan cupcakes. While you certainly can, I actually don’t recommend refrigerating cupcakes or cake as it tends to dry them out. No one wants a dried out cupcake! For this reason, I truly recommend the freezer for any storage over 48 hours.
I hope you love these Vegan Cardamom Rose Cupcakes! This year I’m making them for a Valentine’s party with a few friends.
I don’t know about you all, but as I’ve gotten older the idea of staying in, baking, and drinking wine with friends sounds SO much better than a fancy dinner out. Is that what it means to be entering your 30’s?! Either way, I’m SO excited to be eating cupcakes, drinking Grapefruit Rose Palomas, and playing catchphrase with my loved ones all night. Cheers!
-TSG
Looking for more vegan cupcake & cake recipes? Check out these SGTO favorites:
Earl Grey Cupcakes with Blueberry Frosting
Vegan Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
Vegan Cardamon Rose Cupcakes
Fluffy vanilla cardamom cupcakes topped with a rose flavored vegan frosting make the best cupcake for any occasion!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup nut milk
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste/extract
- 1 ¼ cup pastry/cake flour (*with all purpose flour use 1 cup+ 2 Tbsp all purpose flour and 1 Tbsp cornstarch for similar results)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cardamom
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup cold vegan butter- cold
- ⅓ cup cold shortening
- ½ tbsp coconut cream (optional, but makes the frosting fluffy)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste/extract
- ¼ tsp rose water
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (or more for sweeter cupcakes)
- 2 tbsp dried rose petals (optional, to top cupcakes)
Instructions
First, make the cardamom vanilla cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Fill a muffin tin with 10-12 cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the nut milk, sugar, vegetable oil, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Then, use a flour sifter to slowly add in the dry ingredients including the pastry flour, salt, cardamom, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together until a smooth batter forms.
- Next, fill each cupcake liner ¾ of the way full with batter. Place the tin of cupcakes into the oven and bake for 22-25 minutes until cooked through.
- Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool in the baking tray for 5 minutes before removing. Then, carefully remove the cupcakes and let cool completely before frosting.
Then, make the rose frosting:
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make your frosting. Add the vegan butter, shortening, and coconut cream to a mixing bowl and use a mixer to beat until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
- Once whipped, add in the rose water and vanilla and whip about 30 more seconds to combine. As a last step, turn down the speed and slowly add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until a smooth frosting forms.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag and frost your cupcakes. Top with the dried rose petals for decoration. Enjoy!
Notes
- If eating the cupcakes in 1-2 days, store in a closed container at room temperature and frost on the day you are ready to eat.
- In case you plan to eat the cupcakes more than 3 days after baking, wrap each cooled cupcake in plastic wrap and store it in a closed container in the freezer. It's possible to store in a closed container without plastic wrap as well, but make sure the cupcakes aren't touching or they might freeze and stick together.
- I don't recommend refrigerating cupcakes or cakes as this dries them out. Let the cupcakes defrost at room temperature for 1-2 hours and then frost as normal on the day you are ready to eat.
- If you have leftover frosted cupcakes, they can also be stored in a closed container in the freezer and defrosted at room temperature before eating!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 456Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 337mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 30gProtein: 5g
ShortGirlTallOrder occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although shortgirltallorder.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Micheline says
I made this recipe today for mother’s day and it was not only super easy and quick to put together but it was also delicious! I used way more rose water in my frosting because maybe what I had wasn’t that strong? Didn’t affect the texture at all adding the extra liquid though. I also used margarine instead of vegan butter and shortening as that’s what is most available here. Thanks for an awesome recipe.
ShortGirlTallOrder says
So glad you liked them! Interesting about the rose water too- it must vary by brand!