A truly perfect Vanilla Cupcake recipe! These Vanilla Cupcakes are easy to make, moist, and bake up beautifully every time! Light, fluffy and flavorful! Got the baking bug? Try my Lemon Cupcakes and Chocolate Cupcakes too!
Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
This week I’ve made 6 batches of vanilla cupcakes and a vanilla cake. I feel like my oven has been on for 42 hours straight! =) What are all these cupcakes for, you might ask. Well, for me… and for science, and for you too. Confused yet? I’ll explain…
I have been on a search for a perfect vanilla cupcake recipe for several years. I have tried Martha’s, Magnolia’s, Billy’s and Amy Sedaris’. I’ve read the Cake Bible from cover to cover (really!). I’ve googled until I can’t google anymore! Some of the recipes were good, just not perfect. I’ve considered just giving up… maybe my expectations were to high. I wanted a vanilla cupcake recipe that was as light and fluffy as a box mix, but without all the funny chemicals. I wanted a cupcake that was flavorful and moist. And I wanted it to be almost as easy to make from scratch as from a box.
The BEST Vanilla Cupcakes
This week, I wasn’t going to stop until I found what I was looking for. So I baked and baked… then went to the store for more butter and sugar, and baked some more! I tried recipes with butter, oil, or some of both… recipes with milk, buttermilk, or sour cream… 1 egg, 2 eggs, 5 eggs… baking powder, baking soda… bake at 350*, bake at 325*…
I made cupcakes that were lopsided, over-flowing, over-baked, and just plain ugly…
And then I made these…
They looked beautiful and tasted perfect, so I double checked all my notes to make sure I could remember what I put in them… then I made another batch to make sure it was THE ONE.
They were just as perfect!! I think I heard angels singing….
I am SO happy to share the results of my many experiments! These cupcakes were absolutely delicious and I look forward to making them again and again. Now certainly, peoples tastes and preferences vary greatly. I love these, my husband (my #1 taste tester) loves them, and I hope many of you will too. As with any recipe, it is very important to use the best quality ingredients you can.
Ingredients Needed
You will notice the recipe calls for cake flour, which is a bit more expensive than all-purpose flour, but I have found it is essential to produce the light and fluffy texture I was looking for. Also, the recipe uses oil instead of butter. I realized most cupcake recipes (from scratch) call for butter, and yet box mixes (which have the texture I was looking for) are baked using oil.
I was concerned that using only oil would leave the cupcakes without adequate flavor, but I found that with good quality vanilla, these cupcakes are delicious and flavorful.
- 1 1/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil)
- 1/3 cup milk (whole or low fat, but avoid fat free)
- 1/3 cup sour cream (full fat or light, but avoid fat free)
How To Make Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with whisk, and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and oil, beat.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add the milk, then the rest of the flour and the sour cream. Beat until just combined. Scrap down the side of the bowl.
- The batter will be thin. Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full.
- Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes.
- Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Frost as desired when fully cool. I love to use my favorite Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.
- Feel free to use this recipe for a cake as well. The recipe above will work for a 6″ cake. Double the recipe for an 8″ or 9″ cake.
* A note about Cake Flour- Cake Flour has a lower protein content than traditional all-purpose flour, which results in a more tender, delicate crumb in the finished product. If you can not find or access cake flour, feel free to substitute as necessary, but your results will vary from the original recipe.
RECIPE UPDATES
I have made this recipe many times with success, but in an effort to always be improving (even great recipes) I’ve made a couple small updates to this recipe (which are now listed in the recipe card).
My original recipe included 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder (now reduced to 3/4), 3/4 cup sugar (now increased to 1 cup) and 1/2 cup buttermilk (now updated to 1/3 cup milk, 1/3 cup sour cream).
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Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup oil vegetable, canola or extra light olive oil
- 1/3 cup milk whole or low fat, but avoid fat free
- 1/3 cup sour cream full fat or light, but avoid fat free
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- In a medium bowl, add cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with whisk, and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat 10-20 seconds. Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30 seconds. Add vanilla and oil, beat.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add the milk, then the rest of the flour and the sour cream. Beat until just combined. Scrap down the side of the bowl.
- The batter will be thin. Pour batter into a muffin pan prepared with paper liners. Fill liners about 2/3 full.
- Bake cupcakes in pre-heated oven for 12-14 minutes.
- Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan (carefully) and finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Frost as desired when fully cool. I love to use my favorite cream cheese frosting or buttercream frosting with these cupcakes.
I thought they could use a bit more sugar and SURELY did not have enough vanilla in them. Thank you for the recipe though. My search continues! 🙂
These are delicious! I made them last night and brought them to work this morning. All dozen were gone by 10 a.m. Mine looked lumpy but tasted good…I guess I added the flour too quickly (?) but was afraid of overbeating. Thanks for your hard work!
@Jessica- Without being in the kitchen with you, sometimes it's hard to say what the problem may be. Are you putting the cupcakes in the oven before it's fully pre-heated? Maybe your pans are a dark finish, or too thin, that can sometimes cause extra browning.
@Sarah- No, I don't use a convection oven (or I would have noted that). I know the time seems on the low side, but I've made these several tims, and it seems to work out great! Of course you are welcome to test them with a toothpick for doneness.
I can't wait to try this recipe, but I have a question. Do you use a convection oven? 12-14 minutes for cupcakes doesn't seem like enough time. Just curious.
AHHH ! Thank you so much for this recipe. It's perfect. I did a tiny twist though..I made them into rainbow cupcakes ! They came out beautiful and oh-so yummy. 🙂
This IS the PERFECT cupcake recipe. I made your recipe for a birthday party last weekend.. They were a hit, they even shadowed the cake from a fancy bakery..and I didn't used the mixer..
THANK YOU THANK YOU.
Aimee B.
Dear Glory,
Thankyou again for your efforts here.
I have made these twice now, the first time subing the flour and buttermilk, the second time (last night) with Achor Cake Flour (from Australian Coles Supermarkets) and Buttermilk both times the cake was gorgeous, but when I peel back the wrapper the base of the cupcake is quite brown versus the actual body of the cupcake.
I thought this may be because I am overcooking these, but I am following the recipe to a t and had reduced the cooking time for each batch. Is this just me? Or is this normal?
Thanks so much,
Cheers,
Jessica
jessicabrownhussein@y7mail.com
YUM!!! i try almost all your recipes and they are absolutely perfect..do u happen to have a chocolate or white mud cake recipe you would like to share? tried plenty of recipes and they dont turn out as good as i want them to..thank u 🙂
Holy wow, perfect is right! I just made these, and oh my goodness they are delicious and beautiful! Fluffy, light, perfectly sweet, and perfectly shaped!
I love baking and decorating cupcakes, but seldom like eating them. I'm just not a cake person. I prefer pastries and cookies. But these? I am trying like heck not to eat all of them right now!!
I doubled the recipe AND I made them into rainbow cupcakes. Ambitious for my first try with this recipe, but I figured, why not? I thought the extra mixing and pouring of the different layers might have resulted in crappy cupcakes, regardless of how great the recipe seemed, but I was totally wrong. Even after all the mixing and pouring, they came out absolutely beautiful.
I can't thank you enough for this!
(Also, after almost two full years of unemployment, I FINALLY found a job and started this week. I'm making these cupcakes for my new co-workers, and they are going to be seriously impressed. If anyone asks for the recipe, I will be directing them here. Thank you thank you thank you!)
Not sure what I'm doing wrong but all the cupcakes sank in the middle…..They tasted good! Could you help me out when you get a chance as to why they sink in. Thanks!