Can’t decide between vanilla and chocolate cupcakes? Enjoy the best of both worlds with this recipe for dairy-free white chocolate cupcakes. They make the perfect all-season treat for birthdays, snow days, sunny days, and holidays. Each tender little cake is infused with allergy-friendly white chocolate for richness, and finished with a decadent white chocolate frosting. No one will guess they’re completely dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free (with a gluten-free option!).
This post is sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods, but we only share honest opinions and experiences. This is THE brand of dairy-free white chocolate that I buy myself and use for baking. The photos and video were created by Hannah Kaminsky.
Dairy-Free White Chocolate Cupcakes for Any Occasion
Since this recipe focuses on white chocolate, I’ve included more details about the Enjoy Life White Baking Chips that we use in the common questions and answers below. That information is followed by a few more tips, recommendations, and options for this allergy-friendly recipe!
Dairy-Free White Chocolate Chip FAQs
- How Do They Taste? Honestly, Enjoy Life White Baking Chips are the best dairy-free white chocolate chips that I’ve tasted. I’ve used them in dozens of recipes. They’re sweet, creamy, and have that perfect hint of vanilla.
- Where Can I Buy Them? See the Enjoy Life store locator or Instacart to find their white baking chips in your area. You can also order them online from Amazon, Thrive Market, Walmart, Swanson, and Vitacost.
- Do They Melt Well? Enjoy Life White Baking Chips melt extremely well. In fact, they melt much faster than their semisweet chocolate chips. If using the microwave, start with just 20 seconds, then whisk. If not melted, heat in 10 second intervals, whisking vigorously in between, until just melted. How fast the white baking chips melt really depends on the heat transfer of your bowl. If you overheat them, they will clump.
- Do They Hold Up in Baking? I was astonished by how well Enjoy Life White Baking Chips hold up in baking. They aren’t overly firm when you bite into them, but in things like cookies, they hold their shape. You can see a good example in the photos for my Dairy-Free Triple Chocolate Cookies Recipe. Since the white chocolate chips are melted and then added to the batter in this recipe, they do set up and act as a tasty binder when the cupcakes are cooled.
- Are They Allergen Safe? It’s one of the reasons I love Enjoy Life! Their entire product line is free from 14 allergens, including milk, soy, and nuts. The baking chips are even made in a nut-free and gluten-free facility on a dedicated line. And Enjoy Life is very transparent about their allergen protocols.
More Recipe FAQs
- Can I Add (Whole) White Baking Chips to the Batter? Cake batter is a little thinner than muffin batter, so chocolate chips tend to sink to the bottom. That’s why we infuse the vegan batter with melted white chocolate instead. But we do like to sprinkle some whole dairy-free white chocolate chips on top of the cupcakes!
- What Gluten-Free Flour do you Recommend? We use King Arthur Measure for Measure Gluten-Free Flour. You can use your favorite grain-based, gluten-free blend for baking. But do not substitute grain-free flours, like coconut flour. They will not perform well when substituted one to one for regular flour or a flour blend.
- What Type of Oil Should I Use? Your favorite baking oil should work great. That said, I would use a neutral-tasting oil to avoid competing with the white chocolate flavor. If you opt to use coconut oil, make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. If any ingredients are cold, it can cause the coconut oil to solidify into little shards. I would also use a refined coconut oil, since it doesn’t have a pronounced coconut taste like unrefined coconut oil.
- Can I Bake this Recipe as a White Chocolate Cake? It will make one generous 9-inch round cake layer. You’ll need to bake it for about 25 to 30 minutes (until a tester comes out clean) at the same temperature. Double all of the ingredients if you want to make two 9-inch cake layers. The dairy-free white chocolate frosting recipe includes instructions adjusting the frosting quantity for white chocolate cake.
- Do I Need to Make Any Adjustments for High Altitude? Top allergen free cupcakes are a bit more finicky with climate differences since they lack some common binding ingredients. So you might need to test a little if baking in a very dry and/or high altitude climate. To start, I would reduce the leaveners to 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon baking powder if baking at over 3000 feet. If the cupcakes rise but then collapse at all (are indented on top when you take them out), reduce the leavener a bit more. If they don’t rise up enough while baking, you can increase the baking powder back to the full 1 1/2 teaspoons.
Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free White Chocolate Cake
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, and top food allergy-friendly. Just be sure to choose the flour, milk alternative, and yogurt alternative that suit your dietary needs.
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca starch
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup plain dairy-free milk alternative
- ½ cup Enjoy Life White Baking Mini Chips, plus additional for garnish
- ½ cup dairy-free vanilla yogurt alternative
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 batch Dairy-Free White Chocolate Frosting
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line 14 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Place the milk alternative and white baking chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 20 seconds on high in the microwave. Stir vigorously. If not fully melted, heat in 10 second intervals just until the dairy-free white chocolate is just melted and smooth.
- Add the yogurt alternative, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla to the dairy-free white chocolate mixture, and stir until incorporated.
- Pour the wet ingredients into flour mixture. Use a wide spatula to bring the batter together, being careful not to overmix. A few remaining lumps are just fine.
- Divide the batter between your prepared cupcake tins, filling each one about ¾ of the way to the top.
- Bake the cupcakes in the center of your oven for 14 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes pulls out clean.
- Carefully transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Once the cupcakes are cool, transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Swirl the white chocolate frosting onto your cupcakes.
- Garnish each cupcake with additional white mini baking chips if desired.
- The finished cupcakes and any leftover frosting can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Decorating Note: The frosting provides a creamy white base that can be colored with allergy-friendly food dye to suit a birthday party, holiday, or event (team colors!). Or you can simply garnish these dairy-free white chocolate cupcakes with edible decorations for Easter, Christmas, or other themes.