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.
The cupcakes turned out amazing! They were a little heavy, but they make great breakfast cupcakes! Thank you.
hi there..thank you so much for sharing this and for the recipe..excited to try your perfect vanilla recipe since i tried a lot and i didn’t like the outcome. any how what milk should i use in substitution for buttermilk since whole milk is not available in our place 🙁 thank you so much Natasha 🙂
I just made these…JUST made them! They are P E R F E C T! I’ve been searching for a cupcake recipe that made perfect fluffy (not too sweet) cupcakes that didn’t harden as soon as they cooled. This is it! I am so grateful that you went to trouble to bake and test and test and bake. Your efforts are appreciated! I’ll be making these again and again! THANK YOU!
I have been searching for the best vanilla cake possible I am gonna try this one soon, Thanks for the recipe, I have tried your chocolate cupcake recipe and I will now not use any other. Thanks again.
After 2 batches of cupcakes that crusted up and came away from the cases, I tried your recipe….and you got it right . They look perfect and taste great. Thank you for sharing.
I already found a good yellow cake recipe, but yours using oil instead of butter, which I like very much. I don’t have to use electric mixer, a whisk worked well, but I didn’t have to use too much muscle. I tried it yesterday, and it was lovely and moist.
I also have been looking for a savory cake recipe that is not muffin. Since this vanilla recipe is easy and using only 2 eggs (well, 1 egg, since I only made half of recipe), I went ahead and tried the savory version of it. I only add 1 teaspoon of sugar for taste, swap buttermilk with sour cream since I had some on the fridge, and replace vanilla extract with half a teaspoon of mustard, and add pepper to taste. I also used all purpose flour, not cake flour, I wanted the cake texture to bee less soft. That’s the base. I also add cheddar cheese and smoke beef, just to see if the cake holds up to the additional fillings. And it was!! It came out just as moist as the sweet one. The smoked beef didn’t sink to the bottom. Tasted reallllyy good when warm, with gooey stringy cheese coming out when pulled apart. The AP flour made it great texture as a savory cake. It still moist and soft when it’s cold too.
I’ve tried 2 savory cake recipe prior to this one, that is savory cake recipe, not just omitting sugar from it. They came out too cakey when warm, and just tough when cold. This tweaked savory cake was just perfect!
Lovely as sweet cake and savory cake. Definitely a keeper. Thank you for the recipe. It really is a Perfect Cupcakes Recipe.
I made your recipe as a cake and it was so moist and yummy! I wish I had found this recipe years ago. I only happened to stumble upon your blog because I was searching for a recipe without butter since I didnt have any in the house. I only changed the recipe a little. I added one tablespoon of vinegar and I increased the sugar to about 1 1/4 cups. It was so perfect. Thank you so much. I will save this recipe and use it for years to come!!
Thank you thank you thank you!!! I did a trial run of these on the weekend with just milk and they still turned out perfectly! I made two round cakes and 24 cupcakes using this recipe tonight and used the buttermilk this time and they are so perfect. The cupcakes mound just right and the cakes are so nice a moist. I can’t thank you enough for all the work you did to create these no fail cupcakes for us! Looking forward to trying the chocolate ones as well!
I just finished baking this. Perfect!!! It wasn’t dry and was very fluffy. The taste is just balance not too sweet, just enough for my palette. This is a glorious treat indeed! Thank you very much for sharing this.
Thank you so much!!! I love to bake and have tried so many recipes to try find that perfect cupcake. Yours is absolutely the best!!!! I love all the tips that you share. I made some great ones for a baby shower today and I never could have done them without you! Thanks for the awesome blog!!!