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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More Cupcake Recipes
How To Make Vanilla Cupcakes
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.
These are yummy! I have been on a baking kick for about a month since I had my first baby. I have been determined to perfect some recipes that I want to be a part of our family for good.This will be one of them. NO MORE BOX STUFF! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I was so excited about how these turned out that I wanted to give one to my infant.
These are amazing!! I just ate them slightly warm-YUM- with my kids because we couldn’t wait. I made them exactly as listed and they turned out beautifully. I will say to those that said their cupcakes spread out- i used liners on half the cupcakes and no liners- with spray on the other half. The half with liners was perfect, the others spread a bit. Also, when you add the frosting, the cupcake is definitely sweet enough. If you’re used to box cake mix and frosting these will not be as sweet, which is a delight! Once you go homemade- you’ll never go back! Thank you for the easy recipe.
Hi Glory!
Would you mind telling me the weight of the 1 1/4 cups of cake flour in oz./gr.? I just want to make this cupcakes and I want them to be really perfect.
Thanks for sharing.
Did you use the buttermilk or the milk with acid?
I usally use milk with vinegar, or powdered buttermilk. You should have the same results with either option (including regular buttermilk).
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have made this recipe several times now and absolutely LOVE it!! I have also tried to find a perfect vanilla cake recipe but now the search is over!! Everyone else who said they didn’t like it must have screwed up somewhere..i make cupcakes professionally and this recipe is hands down the best!! I tried it for my spumoni cupcakes but since the batter is so light and thin, the cherries just sunk…but I will be making almond cupcakes with this recipe by using almond flavoring instead of the vanilla..many many thanks!
I tried this recipe today, and… they didn’t turn out so perfectly. I baked them for the amount of time that you provided in the recipe (12-14 minutes) but they were still really gooey, so I left them in the oven for another 5 minutes. When I pulled them out of the oven, they were conical shaped, with a large spot of goo at the top! I let them cool off, but their weird shape remained, and when I bit into one there was a small layer at the top that was still goo, and the rest of it was dry and bland. It was like the ingredients settled out while they were baking.
Hi Amy,
I will say that I did have similar results one time, although I’ve made this recipe many times with great results! I think I may have not mixed the ingredients well enough, and/or my oven was too hot. Try the recipe again, you might experiment with the oven at 325*F.
Happy Baking!
Have u tried to freeze these–I like to do things in advance –then make the icing that morning and frost…will give it a try and let you know… So happy to find this–I am using the powder buttermilk and adding water-will let u know how that works also…
Hello – do you have a photo of one of these cut in half so we can see the texture? That’d be great.
Rachel, No, I don’t have an image of the inside. The cake is light and fluffy, and will have some small air pockets inside. The cake is a light golden color. Happy Baking!
Indeed… angels were singing! I’ve tried more vanilla cupcake recipes than I can count on my fingers, and this one takes the prize! The ones with butter in them always have a thick batter (and I know the cupcakes will be good if I can lick the leftover batter clean from the bowl!) and there was always this buttery heaviness in the baked sponge. Butter goes great with other flavors, but this recipe for vanilla cupcakes.. OH LA LA!! Thank you. Glorious, you really are.
I´ve been browsing your page for some weeks now, and I´m starting to try your recipes…I´ve made cupcakes many times, and they never came out right… I thought it was me… I have to say I couldn´t believe my eyes when I opened the oven door!!! They were so perfect!! thanx so much to your science expperiments! hehe
I´m in Argentina, and unfortunately i can´t find many of the products you use, but I´m trying to do my best…. fortunately, I travelled to California lastmonth, and I bought the wilton 101 cookie cutters! so I can make all the cookies I want
Thankyou so much for being so generous and share your recipes with all of us! congratulations on your work!!