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.
I have to make 6 dozen cupcakes. Can I double or triple recipe when preparing or do I have to make each batch separately?
Hi glory, I tired this recipe today, just the most perfect, moist cupcakes I have ever baked, thank u so much.
Just a concern though, for an 8 inch pan u said I need to double the recipe, would that really mean 1 CUP OF OIL?
Hey thanks for the recipe, it was perfect! I used milk+vinegar instead of the buttermilk and added another 5 minutes to the cooking time (must be my oven).
Measured out 3 tbsp per cupcake and made 12, and binned the few tbsp left
I used my food processor with the egg beater attachment and mixed it like you said.
I also used AP Flour as I cant seem to find cake flour here in NZ
Thank you very much for sharing this recipe… they were really really good!
I am sooo glad I found this recipe.
Cheers! happy baking… :):):)
Hi…I tried this vanilla cupcake…n im really speechless…its too good. Its so perfect n I personally feel that everyone should try this. Thanks a ton n keep up the good thought of sharing. 🙂
@Lyn: your batter was too thin – too much oil or oven too hot. I would lower the temperature of your oven by 10-20 deg celcius and try using sour cream or yogurt in place of the buttermilk next time.
@Mike Thomas: If your cupcakes fell, you either didn’t add enough flour and/or added too much liquid (did you use milk?) or rising agents. (I’m going to assume you baked them for long enough)
Hi,
I just made these. I followed the recipe exactly (using buttermilk instead of milk + vinegar) and I can attest that they are fluffy and moist. I think substituting yogurt for buttermilk would also work well. Thanks!
I love this recipe……I actually hated cupcakes and was looking for a recipe that make cupCAKES not just a stodge cake like cup…. and the I found your recipe and it is absoluteley fantastic and foolproof. It makes the best cupcake ever!!
Hi there… thank you so much for sharing this beautiful recipe… I tried my hands on this morning… did every precise steps according to your recipe… everything went well until they were popped into the oven… by 10mins, lavas starts oozing out of the cupcakes non-stop till 14mins that I panicked and quickly took them out. I am sure the linen was 2/3 filled… would you happen to know where the problem lies?
Hi Lyn, Sometimes it’s very difficult for me to know for sure what the problem may be, without being in the kitchen with you. I might suggest reducing your oven temperature just a bit (to 325*F).
Thank you for all of your time and effort in finding the perfect “vanilla” cake/cupcake recipe. I doubled this recipe to make an 8 inch cake for my nephew’s birthday. The cake is extremely moist and has the texture of a box mix cake that many people are used to. I baked the cake at 350°F for about 36 minutes and I didn’t like the way that the cake formed bubbles on top so I cut the tops off…That was my only complaint. This will be my go to vanilla cake recipe from now on.