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.
Hi Glory,
I wanted to say thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. As someone who started out, being new to cooking, being new to baking, I googled, how to make the best vanilla cupcakes – Google led me to your website. And I have made your recipe again and again and people cannot stop gushing on my new fangled baking skills!!! I have you to thank for… …
P.S. – I am not sure how many years back you posted this recipe, but I still use it in Jan, 2017 ☺
I’ve baked these three times and they never disappoint. When I baked them for my birthday, using homemade cake flour, people asked me where I bought them! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe. Definitely a keeper; I never look at any other vanilla cupcake recipe. With cream cheese frosting, divine. For birthdays, funfetti really dress them up!
I baked these several times now and they’re very moist. Do you think melted butter would work in place of the oil?
Hi Glory. I have been having issues with my cupcakes all this while. Seeing your recipe is just a dream come true, I really appreciate you for sharing your recipe some people won’t do that. Thanks a whole bunch, you are a darlyn and the best… muah!
I tried making a 6 inch cake with this recipe but I’m finding the cake remains raw inside! Any advice?
Hi Saheda, So sorry you didn’t have success. I have made various sized cakes with this recipe, so it is possible. I do not have the baking times listed for all cake sizes because that would be near impossible to made accommodations for all cake sizes, and how much batter is in each cake pan. For any pan size, the cake is done when the top is nicely domed and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no wet batter. Generally it’s best to bake larger cakes in layered pans, such as dividing the batter into 2 or 3 pans to make a layer cake, instead of baking all the batter in one pan (with plans to cut into layers). Best of luck!
I am making these for a Christmas party and they look AMAZING! I made 12 but there slightly larger and I cooked them a bit longer then yours but there still amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe!! keep doing what your good at!
Can you please tell me if I can substitute corn flour for corn starch. .. ?
If so, what’s the proportion.
Thanks in advance
There is no corn starch listed in the recipe, so I’m not sure which ingredient you’re trying to replace?
Do you have this recipe in a chocolate flavor cupcake recipe? If not, what ratio of cocoa and cake flour would you recommend.
Yes, I have a chocolate cupcake & cake recipe I love here, https://www.glorioustreats.com/recipe-perfectly-chocolate-cupcakes/
Hi Glory! I made these last night and they were absolutely perfect. I always cringed when someone would request vanilla cupcakes because I had yet to find a vanilla recipe that I was confident using – they just never seemed to live up to that ” cake mix” taste and texture. Such a relief to have found this recipe!
My question is: Is this considered to be a good “base recipe” that could be made into several other flavors? Eg. Used to create citrus cupcakes? Fruity cupcakes? Egg nog cupcakes? Spiced cupcakes? Etc. Or do you normally rely on different recipes all together and use this one simply for vanilla cupcakes?
Thanks!
Emily
I’ve had great success using this as a base recipe for fruity or lighter flavored kes im not too sure about spiced cupcakes but its a really great recipe
The thing that made me try this recipe before all others was the photo of all the trials. Seriously?! THANK YOU for putting time into finding this. I have tested so many recipes for various reasons, and I know it isn’t easy. Baking supplies aren’t cheap, so with baking I rarely experiment much.
THESE ARE FANTASTIC. I changed nothing! I think they also make a great base for flavored or injected cupcakes, but haven’t tried yet. I have pared these with the frosting recipe below and they were a huge hit!
Thank you again!
http://www.aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com/marshmallow-vanilla-buttercream-frosting/