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! I have been using this amazing recipe as my ‘go to’ for about four years now!! I have always made it the day before or the day of. However, I’m looking to make it a week in advance of a birthday, and I have never frozen cakes before, what would be your advice for freezing this particular cake? (Three 8″ round layers, plus cupcakes) Thanks!
Id like to double the recipe. Can I do this without compromising the integrity of the recipe?
Hi! Thanks for your recipe. I also made a test batch of these cupcakes and had the same result as Deborah – above. Do you have any suggestions as to how to prevent the cupcakes from rising so much? I tried to fill them once 2/3 the way, and then filled them 1/2 way – but they still rose to tall peaks. What are your thoughts on using less baking soda/powder? I love the way they taste and would love to try again!
Will powdered buttermilk affect the texture versus liquid?
I printed this recipe, have baked about 5 batches and then lost the recipe. So happy I managed to stumble across it again
With over 40 years of baking experience, I still made a test batch of these cupcakes in anticipation of making them as a friend’s birthday treat. I couldn’t have been more disappointed with the results. Filling the muffin cups 2/3 full made them overflow onto the top of the muffin tin and make those awful “muffin tops” I don’t like. The cups I didn’t quite get 2/3 full were better, but not by much. Regardless of how full the cups were, several still sunk during baking, so weren’t “pretty”. Oh well, I thought, I can cover that up with frosting. While I didn’t expect the flavor to be as rich as my tried and true butter-based cupcake recipe, I found the overall flavor to be on the bland side, despite using the full amount listed in the above ingredient list and using Penzeys double strength vanilla, which always makes my baked goods taste richer. I love trying new recipes, but one sample of the finished cupcakes convinced me that this recipe is not for me.
I’m hoping you can offer some advice…I have made this recipe several times in the past and it came out perfect every time – just like in your photo. I tried making them today and ruined two batches before giving up.
The first batch I used melted butter because all I had was extra virgin olive oil (not lite tasting) and I didn’t want them to taste off. I forgot and put the sugar in with the flour mix. They came out with a sunken hole in the center and tasted awful. I thought perhaps because of my sugar mistake.
I threw them out and started again. This time I used the EVOO. This batch was worse than the first…sunken centers and spread everywhere.
I can’t figure out what I did wrong. I know it isn’t the recipe because the times I have used it in the past, they were great. I loved this recipe because it was quick, easy, tasted and looked awesome. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I’ve made many different cupcakes and used tons of different recipes, but this is the one that I always come back to! Love it! I also change up the flavor sometimes and replace the vanilla with almond.
Hi ..Can I use your recipe without eggs or can I substitute with some other ingredient ?
Thanks in advance.
So, I don’t have cake flour or buttermilk. Do you think it will taste okay if I make both of those ingredients?
I’ve made these cupcakes with home made cake flour and homemade buttermilk and they came out amazing! I’m making these into a cake for my sisters dirty thirty birthday!