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eggless lemon cupcakes

Eggless Lemon Cupcakes

Easy to make golden yellow cupcakes with fresh lemon juice and saffron, no artificial colors, no eggs, no butter and no beater needed. These so easy to make cupcakes will be your favorite treat to make for an instant dessert/snack gratification!
Course cake, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 12
Author Vanitha Bhat

Ingredients

DRY INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 ½ cups flour all-purpose flour/maida
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest

WET INGREDIENTS:

  • ½ cup room temperature milk
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • ½ cup oil
  • 1 cup fine granulated sugar
  • 1 cup plain unsweetened Greek yogurt (or hung yogurt)
  • 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract/essence
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

  1. First, prepare the baking muffin/cupcake pan. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake paper liners. This recipe makes approximately 12 cupcakes.
  2. Start preheating your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius.

  3. In a cup or mug, mix ½ cup room temperature milk with 1 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

  4. Using a mortar and pestle, crush a few strands of authentic saffron (a little goes a long way) and when slightly powdered, add to the milk-lemon juice mixture. Gently stir and set aside at least 5 minutes. This adds a natural golden yellow color to the cupcakes; no artificial color needed.

Next step is to make the batter.

  1. In a small bowl, mix the dry ingredients (except baking soda): 1 ½ cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon lemon zest (yellow portion of lemon skin, not white which is bitter). Whisk this or mix together.
  2. You can sift flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl and then gently whisk in the lemon zest if you feel like that is more comfortable.

To make the wet ingredients:

  1. In a larger bowl, add ½ cup oil (any odorless cooking oil) and 1 cup white, finely granulated sugar. Beat well with a whisk for a couple of minutes.
  2. Then, add the Greek yogurt (1 cup), 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 teaspoon lemon extract and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; whisk well!
  3. Add ½ teaspoon baking soda to this wet mixture along with the milk-saffron mixture and gently mix. You will notice that the mixture bubbles up; a good sign that the cake will rise well.
  4. Gently fold in the dry flour mixture using a whisk first to dissolve the lumps and then fold in just until you do not see any dry mixture. DO NOT OVERMIX or you will form gluten in the flour mixture and then the cake will be chewy or dense.

  5. Using a ladle, pour or spoon into the lined muffin tin, filling them 2/3rd full.

  6. Divide the batter evenly.

  7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until fully baked (a cake tester like a toothpick when inserted into cake should come out clean). Start checking only after 20 minutes.

  8. Remove the pan from oven and cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool directly on wire racks to cool completely!

  9. Enjoy your baking and Happy Eating!

Recipe Notes

  • Preferably, use plain flour/all-purpose flour/maida here for a tender and white/yellow crumb. But if you do not mind compromising on this, feel free to substitute with whole wheat flour. Just that, the cupcake will come out a bit denser than using plain flour and that golden yellow color is not that visible.
  • If you have more of a sweet tooth than my family has, you can increase the amount of sugar a bit to say 1 ¼ cups or up to 1 ½ cups. I feel using 1 cup is just right for us.
  • Try and use only freshly squeezed lemon juice if possible; no bottled lemon juice can replace that fresh tanginess and flavor! I have used Meyer lemons from my backyard here; these are the juiciest and best kind of lemons to use in baking, making lemonades, in pickles etc.
  • Do not over mix the batter for a tender and light crumb/texture.
  • Enjoy your baking and Happy Eating!