Vanilla Cupcakes
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These light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes are packed with rich vanilla flavor and topped with your choice of frosting.
When my kids were little, I started a baking business specializing in cakes and cupcakes, mostly for children’s birthday parties. Before I launched it, I spent weeks testing every type of cake recipe under the sun, often baking into the middle of the night. My husband, Michael, would wake up to find the kitchen overflowing with every flavor of cake and cupcake imaginable. He thought I’d lost my mind—little did he know I was discovering my passion for developing recipes, which eventually inspired me to start this website.
These are the vanilla cupcakes that won me over. They’re light, fluffy, and full of rich vanilla flavor. Top them cream cheese frosting, vanilla buttercream frosting, or rich chocolate buttercream.
“Amazingly light and moist. Got rave reviews! I was even told I had to make someone’s wedding cake after eating these!”
What You’ll Need To Make Vanilla Cupcakes
You’ll need cake flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking soda, buttermilk, vanilla extract, eggs, and unsalted butter.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Whisk the wet ingredients. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
Step 2: Combine the dry ingredients. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Step 3: Add the butter and part of the buttermilk mixture. Add the soft butter and half of the buttermilk mixture and mix on low speed until moistened but still a little crumbly, about 1 minute.
Step 4: Add remaining buttermilk. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining buttermilk mixture,
Step 5: Mix. Increase the speed to medium and mix for three minutes.
Step 6: Fill the pan. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans, filling the cups almost full.
Step 7: Bake and cool. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Step 8: Frost the cupcakes. Spread your icing of choice over the cupcakes and store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
More Cupcake Recipes You’ll Love
Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2¾ cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off (see note)
- 2 cups sugar
- Heaping ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pans
- Vanilla buttercream frosting, cream cheese frosting, or rich chocolate buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Lightly grease the top of the muffin pans with butter so the cupcake tops don't stick.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside. (Note that the mixture will start to look curdled as it sits; that's okay.)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine. Add the soft butter and half of the buttermilk mixture and mix on low speed until moistened but still a little crumbly, about 1 minute. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining buttermilk mixture, then increase the speed to medium and mix for three minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter should look pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again, making sure the batter is evenly mixed.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans, filling the cups almost full. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom and back to front midway through. Remove from the oven when the cupcakes are set, lightly golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean (note that one pan may finish cooking before the other). Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Frost the cupcakes and store in an airtight container until ready to serve. The cupcakes are best served fresh on the day they are made, but they will keep nicely for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Cake flour gives the cupcakes a fine texture. All-purpose flour can be substituted, but the cupcakes will be a bit heavier. In a pinch, you can make your own cake flour by whisking together 2½ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch.
- Freezing Instructions: The cupcakes can be frozen without the frosting for up to 3 months. Let them cool completely, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and then in foil. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving. (Wait until the cupcakes are defrosted to ice them.)
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I love your recipes! Thank you for offering your gift of baking insights and experience!
Can I add some fresh strawberry pieces to the batter of these cupcakes?
Hi Pam, thanks for your kind words – so glad you like the recipes! I’d be hesitant to add strawberries to the batter, as it may throw off the liquid-to-dry measurements and may require some tweaking of the sugar as well. You could make these strawberry muffins instead and top them with vanilla frosting.
Thank you for your quick response!
Hi! I’m planning to make these beautiful cupcakes for Easter. I would like to use decorative baking cups rather than standard cupcake liners. The baking cups measure approximately 2 1/2”W x 2” H and hold 5 oz. The rim of the baking cup is scalloped so I would like the cakes to rise to the rim level or slightly above the rim. Do you think I need to make any adjustments to your original recipe …Specifically, do you think I need to change the fill-line or bake time? Thanks so much!
Hi Lisa, You could either make 1.25 times the batter or reduce the number of cupcakes to 10 or 11 and add more batter to each well. (Please keep in mind that these are guesstimates.) Either way, the baking time will be a bit longer, but keep a close eye on them. I’d love to hear how they come out!
These were a miss for me which is surprising because this is my go to website for recipes. I did make my own cake flour and buttermilk per recipe note. They turned out dense and left a weird after taste. All in all with the frosting they just felt very heavy.
Hi Jenn,
Could this recipe be made in a mini muffin pan? Any alterations to the recipe?
Sure, and the only thing that will change is the baking time; I’d start checking them for doneness at 10 minutes. Enjoy~