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.
Dj says
I have a question has anyone tried adding this as a base cupcake ??what measurements and what ingredients were used ?
Glory says
Hi DJ, Do you mean using this as a base to add other ingredients, and create other flavors? Yes, please feel free! Certainly adding some citrus zest (lemon, orange, lime) would be a great start. If you are interested in a chocolate cupcake, then I’d suggest you go right to this recipe –> https://www.glorioustreats.com/recipe-perfectly-chocolate-cupcakes/ Happy baking!
Deandra says
Made these for my daughter’s birthday this weekend and they came out amazing! I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you so much!!!
Glory says
Thanks for the lovely comment! So glad you enjoyed them!
Rauni R. Gott says
Hi Glory, I found this recipe on Pinterest and after reading All reviews, I cannot wait to make them for my daughter’s Gender Reveal Party is this Saturday. My question is, how would adding food color to the batter affect the consistency? I’m wanting to make different colored cupcakes. Any suggestions? Has any tried that yet?
Thank you and looking forward to trying these cupcakes… they look yummy 😉
Glory says
Hi! You should be able to add food coloring with no other changes to the recipe at all. Now, the batter is very thin, so if you are planning to add several colors of batter to a single cupcake, they will blend quite a bit. Feel free to experiment. Happy baking!
Rusty says
First, let me say this recipe is *delicious*, and I deeply appreciate the time and effort the author has put into this website and this recipe. However, maybe there is an error in the ingredients? – 1 1/4 cup cake flour to the equivalent of ~1 1/2 cup liquids (2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1/3c milk, 1/3c sour cream) seems too wet. I made this three times in a row, all with cake flour – once exactly as listed, 2nd with firm packed 1 1/4cup flour. Both spread/sunk terribly (2nd less so). 3rd try I used 3/4 cup sugar, 1 full tsp baking powder, with 1 3/4 cup flour & baked for ~18min. Texture/dimensions turned out beautifully, although will do 1c sugar next time as they weren’t very sweet. This will definitely be my go-to for vanilla cupcakes going forward!!
Aurora Goldstein says
These were Super! As I was making mini cupcakes for our family of 3, I halved the recipe and although I didn’t have cake flour (all purpose non bleached) they came out perfect! Great recipe that I’ve bookmarked
Belinda says
I tried this cupcake recipeand did NOT have the same success. My cupcakes looked like the 2nd picture/batch. The texture resembled spongy, cornbread muffins, tho the cake did have a good flavor.
Glory says
I’m so sorry to hear you did not have success! Without being with you in the kitchen it’s very hard to know what to suggest. The cakes will be spongy… versus a more dense style butter cake, so it might just come down to personal preference.
Kesh says
Just made these cupcakes, they are so amazing. I filled the cup slightly over half way and got perfectly smooth domes (I prefer a small dome as opposed to a flattish cupcake) Next time will have to play around with baking times and oven temperature so I don’t get a crust. I love the soft texture and the fact that they not overly sweet, means I can go crazy with the frosting thanks Glory!
M says
PS. For all those concerned about cake flour, I didn’t have it either so I measured out the flour, then removed two tablespoons and one teaspoon worth and replaced it with the same amount of cornflour. Then I sieved the flour and cornflour and voila, cake flour!
M says
‘Perfect’ vanilla cupcakes is not an exaggeration by any means. They are perfect in every way. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe, made them and loved them!
Tara Marie Hales says
Is there a print friendly button? I couldn’t seem to find one. If not- may be try to add an add on? Thanks for the recipe!