These vegan Eton Mess Cupcakes are a dreamy bake for spring or summer! With a light and fluffy vanilla sponge, filled with a strawberry jam secret centre, topped with a mountain of creamy vanilla buttercream and decorated with diced strawberry and crumbled vegan meringue.
Eton Mess is a classic British dessert traditionally made with whipped cream, crumbled meringue and fresh summer berries stirred together to form a mound of deliciousness. What better dessert to take inspiration from for a new cupcake flavour!
These cupcakes start off with a base of our classic vanilla cupcakes, which are quick and easy to make and are soft, light and fluffy when baked. The centre is cored out and filled with strawberry jam giving that delightful pop of flavour when you bite into them (and if you’ve got homemade strawberry jam all the better! ).
They’re decorated with a generous helping of silky smooth piped vanilla buttercream, diced fresh strawberries and crumbled vegan meringue. You can use left over homemade vegan meringue (usually made with aquafaba) or use store bought (London Apron vegan meringues are glorious).
These are the perfect dessert cupcakes to give as a gift to a loved one or take to a party or baked sale. They’ve got ‘Queen’s Jubilee’ written all over them!
What you’ll need to make these Eton Mess Cupcakes
Here’s what you’ll need:
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Refrigerated items: Dairy free milk (we used almond) and dairy free block butter (we used Stork) are the only two refrigerated ingredients needed for this recipe.
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Pantry items: Melted and cooled coconut oil is used in place of eggs in the sponge to make it beautifully soft. You’ll also need vanilla extract, self raising flour, baking powder, icing sugar, caster sugar and a good quality strawberry jam.
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Fresh/other ingredients: Fresh strawberries are needed for the topping. Vegan meringues are the only specialist ingredient required for this recipe – you can either make this using aquafaba or buy it ready made from a shop. In the UK shops such as Holland and Barrett, Planet Organic and The VeganKind Supermarket all stock vegan meringue as of writing this.
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Equipment: To bake the cupcakes you’ll need a cupcake or muffin tin lined with 9 cupcake cases. For silky smooth buttercream we recommend using a mixer (such as a Kenwood) with the balloon whisk attached.
Tips for making these Eton Mess Cupcakes
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Temperature of the cupcake ingredients: Bring the coconut oil and dairy free milk to room temperature before mixing together in the sponge part of the recipe (otherwise the cold milk could solidify the oil).
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Mixing together the sponge ingredients: Don’t overmix the sponge ingredients as this can affect the texture of the sponge. Mix just enough to bring the ingredients together.
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Buttercream 101:
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Use a block-style dairy free butter when making buttercream rather than a spreadable margarine as this will give a nice firm texture that holds its shape (like regular buttercream). Stork Original Baking Block, Flora Plant Butter Unsalted and Naturli Vegan Butter Block all work well.
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When making the buttercream give it a good 2-3 minutes of mixing on a medium-high speed in the mixer to get the best silky smooth, creamy texture.
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Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes straight away (it’ll be easiest to pipe when straight from the mixer rather than refrigerated) but then you can pop the cupcakes in the fridge afterwards to firm it up if need be.
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Storing: Once decorated these cupcakes are best enjoyed the same day whilst the toppings are fresh. You can store them at room temperature (for a softer buttercream) or in the refrigerator (for a firmer buttercream).
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More delicious vegan cakes to try
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Raspberry Trifle Cupcakes (loved by the IG fam!)
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Lemon and Raspberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream (one of the most popular recipes on the blog!)
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The Ultimate Vegan Chocolate Cake (a firm favourite amongst the AVV community!)
I hope you LOVE these Eton Mess Cupcakes! If you try them be sure to leave a comment and rating below and tag @aveganvisit on social media – I love to see your re-creations! Enjoy 🙂 x
The Video Recipe:
The Eton Mess Cupcakes Recipe:
Eton Mess Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 75 g coconut oil (melted and then cooled to room temperature)
- 200 g dairy free milk (at room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 g self raising flour
- 110 g caster sugar
- ½ tsp baking powder
For the buttercream:
- 140 g dairy free butter (the block kind, not spreadable*)
- 400 g icing sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp dairy free milk
To decorate:
- 9 fresh strawberries (approx 90g, finely diced)
- 9 tsp strawberry jam (approx 55g)
- 10 g vegan meringue (crumbled)
Instructions
To make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C conventional / 400°F / gas mark 6) and line a cupcake tin with 9 large cupcake cases.
- Melt the coconut oil and set it aside to cool to room temperature.75 g coconut oil
- In a large mixing bowl add the dairy free milk and vanilla.200 g dairy free milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Add the caster sugar, flour and baking powder.200 g self raising flour, 110 g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Add the coconut oil.
- Mix briefly with a whisk to combine. Don’t over-mix as this can affect the texture of the cake, just whisk enough to bring the mixture together.
- Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, so that the cases are around 3/4 full.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until a knife/skewer inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean.
Make the buttercream:
- Add the block butter, icing sugar, vanilla and dairy free milk to a mixing bowl fitted with the balloon whisk attachment.140 g dairy free butter, 400 g icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp dairy free milk
- Mix on a medium-high speed for a couple of minutes until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl as necessary to ensure everything is combined.
Decorate the cupcakes:
- Cut out the centre of each cupcake to leave a fillable core. See the recipe video for an example. Keep the ‘lid’ section of the core you have removed, you’ll need this later.
- Fill each core with strawberry jam and place the ‘lid’ back on to seal it in.9 tsp strawberry jam
- Pipe the buttercream on top.
- Decorate with diced fresh strawberry and crumbled vegan meringue.9 fresh strawberries, 10 g vegan meringue
Video
Notes
Prep time excludes any inactive time.
Nutrition
Emissions
Hi, I’m Tara! I’m taking you on a trip around the world in vegan cuisine and bringing the world’s most delicious dishes to your kitchen.
