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).
Check out all of my cupcake recipes here!
Make sure to follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
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 truly are the best vanilla cupcakes! Thank you sooo much for sharing!!
Hi Glory! Stumbled across your amazing blog and cannot wait to try these! Do you think I can sub the buttermilk/milk for soy milk and vinegar to make a non-dairy version of this cake?
ty!
Hi Rachel, I have never experimented with making a non-dairy version, but I do think it would likely work well. It’s worth giving a try! Happy Baking!
Hi!
by any chance, do you have any tips for high altitud baking, because i’ve made this recipe step by step and the result a yummy delicios taste but look like cupcake crater. please help!!
love your blog!!
thanks!!
Hi Nina, I don’t have any way to experiment with this recipe at high altitude (since I don’t live that high), but I’m sure if you google “baking adjustments for high altitude” you could find a few ideas for adjustments. Happy experimenting!
WOW – these are divine, my whole family love them. This is going to be my go-to cupcake recipe for easy peasy, light a fluffy cupcakes next time.
WOW! Mine turned out PERFECTLY! Here I was worried adding food color and having to sub buttermilk for 1% milk and heavy cream adding the vinegar, and nope not an issue! The batter tasted good! They are cooling literally right now.. but look how much they puffed up? I have never had such perfectly raised cupcakes! https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1391679_10152346982738135_147005943_n.jpg I added orange for halloween. Gel food coloring so it did not add water.
This is nearly a LIVE in action post of my experience. Thank you.
I cannot wait to try this recipe out! I love Vanilla cupcakes so much, this is going to complete my life – if what everyone says is true about these cupcakes!
My little sister showed me this blog and I am forever grateful. I think that you are a cooking God.
I was so excited to make these cupcakes, I even used my brand new Kitchen Aide mixer to make these . Unfortunately, they came out horrible. My daughter said they tasted like corn bread. All the cupcakes came out lopsided also. I followed the directions and I don’t know if it was the pan I used or what. Oh well! My search continues for a good cupcake recipe .
I just made these and they turned out great! My first batch I didn’t test with a toothpick to make sure they were done and pulled them out at 13 minutes. They looked perfect until I went back to take them out of the pan and all the centers sunk down! Grrr … my fault, they were not done. The second batch baked 15 minutes and they were perfect, I also used 1/8 teaspoon more baking powder in the second batch. These will be my go-to cupcake from now on! Thank you!
I came across your recipe the other night. I have been on a search for a good vanilla cake recipe that wasn’t dry! This is it! Altho I found them a tad oily my hubby loved them. I did however add some vanilla bean paste to it and a bit of butter extract. I will be making a 2 tier cake tomorrow for my inlaws 50th Anniversary party and I cannot wait! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Oh dear Goddess!
I found a recipe I truly wanted to try called “Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.” It was a vanilla cupcake with a dollop of lemon curd and topped with a browned meringue, just like the pie. The cupcake recipe struck me as a little screwy and I did end up having to throw out the entire batch.
*le sigh*
But the rest of it – the lemon curd and the meringue – I still wanted to do. I just needed to replace the cupcakes. So I went on a search and I found yours…. They sounded perfect. I made them and holy hannah are they ever perfect. They baked up light and fluffy (and I used gluten-free flour). I soured the milk with lemon juice, dumped in the last of my vanilla, threw them in the oven (18) and chewed my thumbnail until they came out. They’re beautiful and they taste fabulous.
I am so glad you posted this! And put that oven through 42 hours of work. 😉