Vegan Coconut Cupcakes

Published: May 8, 2025 Updated: Mar 31, 2025 by Nadine @ Loving It Vegan This post may contain affiliate links

These vegan coconut cupcakes are moist and bursting with coconut flavor, topped with the smoothest, silkiest coconut-lime buttercream for a bite of tropical bliss.

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes served on a white plate

If you’re a coconut lover, get ready to meet your new favorite treat! These vegan coconut cupcakes are moist, packed with rich coconut flavor, and have a delightful texture from the dessicated coconut, or finely shredded coconut, in every bite.

Topped with the smoothest, silkiest coconut-lime buttercream, they deliver a perfect balance of tropical sweetness and citrusy zing.

They are incredibly easy to make with simple ingredients, yet they yield a delicious vegan coconut cupcake so good that no one will even guess it’s vegan!

Whether you’re baking for a special occasion or just craving something irresistibly delicious, these cupcakes are guaranteed to impress. They are ideal for birthdays, summer gatherings, or whenever you need a sweet tropical treat.

And if you love coconut like we do, then you’ll also love our vegan coconut cake, vegan coconut pancakes and vegan coconut cookies!

Ingredients you’ll need for Vegan coconut cupcakes

Ingredients needed for vegan coconut cupcakes

Ingredients you’ll need for the Coconut-Lime Frosting:

Ingredients needed for coconut-lime frosting

Ingredients notes

Desiccated Coconut – is also called finely shredded coconut or finely shredded coconut flakes. It is dried coconut that is very finely shredded.
All purpose flour – Must be measured correctly. Either weigh your flour out on a food scale or use the spoon and level method to measure the flour. To spoon and level, simply spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with the back of a knife. Don’t scoop it or pack it into the cup.
White distilled vinegar – Can be replaced with apple cider vinegar.
Coconut milk – We used full fat, canned, unsweetened coconut milk, but any unsweetened coconut milk will work fine in this recipe.

How to make Vegan Coconut Cupcakes

You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.
Place all the desiccated coconut, for the batter and decorating, in a dry pan over medium heat. Cook the coconut, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until it’s a deep golden brown color and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool completely. Measure out 1 cup for the batter and set the rest aside for decorating.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda, salt and the toasted desiccated coconut and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix.

Then add the coconut milk, coconut oil, white vinegar and vanilla extract.
Using a spatula, mix into a thick batter until just mixed, getting rid of any big lumps. Don’t overmix, tiny lumps are fine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix.

Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Transfer batter to a lined cupcake tray and bake.

Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Place the coconut flakes in a dry pan over medium heat. Cook the coconut flakes, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until they are a deep golden brown color and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool completely.

Toast the coconut flakes for decoration.

Prepare the frosting by adding the vegan butter, powdered sugar, lime juice, lime zest and coconut milk to an electric mixer bowl. Begin mixing on low speed, gradually increasing speed until you have perfectly smooth frosting.

Add the frosting ingredients to the bowl of you stand mixer and mix until smooth.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and decorate with toasted coconut flakes and toasted dessicated coconut before serving (optional).

Recipe Tips

The batter is thick and seems dry. As you can see in the batter photo above, the batter is quite dry, and this is because there is one cup of dessicated coconut that goes into the batter, so it thickens the batter up a lot. Adding dessicated coconut to a batter is very similar to if you would add nuts or raisins or something to a recipe in the way that it thickens up the batter. But the end result isn’t dry at all. It’s just really coconutty and delicious.

They are not a super light and fluffy cupcakes. It’s not light and fluffy like you get with our vegan vanilla cupcakes, or our vegan lemon cupcakes because it’s weighed down a little by the added coconut. But what you lose in light and fluffy you gain in delicious coconut texture and flavor.

However, while it may not be super light and fluffy it’s definitely not overly dense either, we think you can see that from the photos. But it has more density than the other cupcakes mentioned above because of all the added coconut. So it’s sort of dense and fluffy, if that makes sense!

Recipe Q&A

Can you make these vegan coconut cupcakes gluten-free?

We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour. However, you should be able to make these cupcakes gluten-free by swapping the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend. It must be a blend though and not a single type flour like rice flour or coconut flour as that will NOT work. If you find the cupcake is a bit dry using a gluten-free blend (gluten-free flours can absorb more moisture) then increase the oil slightly.

Can you make this recipe into a cake?

This recipe was adapted from our vegan coconut cake recipe, which makes a delicious 2-layer 8 inch cake.

Vegan Coconut Cucakes served without a cupcake liner.

Storing and Freezing

Keep your vegan coconut cupcakes covered at room temperature and consume within 2-3 days. Or keep them covered in the fridge for up to a week. Let them come to room temperature before serving.

Frosted or unfrosted cupcakes can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw them overnight in the fridge and then let them come to room temperature on the counter before serving.

More delicious vegan cupcakes:

Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

These vegan coconut cupcakes are moist and bursting with coconut flavor, topped with the smoothest, silkiest coconut-lime buttercream for a bite of tropical bliss.

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Course: Cupcakes, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 12

Calories: 447kcal

Ingredients

For the Coconut Cupcakes:

For the Coconut Lime Frosting:

For Decorating (optional):

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.
Place all the desiccated coconut, for the batter and decorating, in a dry pan over medium heat. Cook the coconut, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until it’s a deep golden brown color and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool completely. Measure out 1 cup for the batter and set the rest aside for decorating.
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, baking soda, salt and the toasted desiccated coconut and mix until combined.
Then add the coconut milk, coconut oil, white vinegar and vanilla extract.
Using a spatula mix into a thick batter until just mixed, getting rid of any big lumps. Don’t overmix, tiny lumps are fine.
Divide the batter evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Let the cupcakes cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Place the coconut flakes in a dry pan over medium heat. Cook the coconut flakes, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until they are a deep golden brown color and fragrant, about 5 minutes???. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool completely.
Prepare the frosting by adding the vegan butter, powdered sugar, lime juice, lime zest and coconut milk to an electric mixer bowl. Begin mixing on low speed, gradually increasing speed until you have perfectly smooth frosting.
When the cupcakes are completely cool, pipe on the frosting and decorate with toasted coconut flakes and toasted dessicated coconut before serving (optional).

Notes

Desiccated Coconut –is also called finely shredded coconut or finely shredded coconut flakes. It is dried coconut that is very finely shredded.
All purpose flour – Must be measured correctly. Either weigh your flour out on a food scale or use the spoon and level method to measure the flour. To spoon and level, simply spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with the back of a knife. Don’t scoop it or pack it into the cup.
White distilled vinegar – Can be replaced with apple cider vinegar.
Coconut milk – We used full fat coconut milk for this recipe and have not tested it with any other non-dairy milk substitutes.
Make them gluten-free – We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour. However, you should be able to make these cupcakes gluten-free by swapping the all purpose flour for a gluten free all purpose flour blend. It must be a blend though and not a single type flour like rice flour or coconut flour as that will NOT work. If you find the cupcake is a bit dry using a gluten-free blend (gluten-free flours can absorb more moisture) then increase the oil slightly.
Can you make this recipe into a cake? This recipe was adapted from our vegan coconut cake recipe, which makes a delicious 2-layer 8 inch cake.
Storing – Keep your vegan coconut cupcakes covered at room temperature and consume within 2-3 days. Or keep them covered in the fridge for up to a week. Let them come to room temperature before serving.
Freezing – Frosted or unfrosted cupcakes can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw them overnight in the fridge and then let them come to room temperature on the counter before serving.