Vanilla Cupcakes
Ask any baker and they would tell you that their one constant search is to find the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe. Vanilla cupcakes are very difficult to get right as one wrong move could turn your hours of labor into dry and rubbery mini cakes. In this recipe, I will be sharing my recipe for the perfect moist vanilla cupcakes. This recipe is very easy and straightforward and yet yields the best vanilla cupcakes you have ever tasted. I will also be sharing tips on how to keep your vanilla cupcakes moist and fresh.
INGREDIENTS:
Makes 24 cupcakes
(1) 240 Grams Cake Flour (2 Cups) (See Note 1)
(2) 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
(3) 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
(4) 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
(5) 3 Large Eggs
(6) 225 Grams Granulated White Sugar (1 Cup + 2 Tablespoons)
(7) 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract (Or Vanilla Beans Paste)
(8) 3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil (See Note 2)
(9) 3/4 Cup Buttermilk (See Note 3)
For Simple Syrup:
Directions on how to make simple syrup can be found here.
For Frosting:
You have a choice of 3 types of vanilla frosting. The first is a regular Vanilla Buttercream Frosting which can be found here. The second is a Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting which can be found here. The third is a Swiss Meringue Buttercream which can be found here.
NOTES:
(1) Cake flour makes cakes light and fluffy. If you do not have access to cake flour in your locality, you can find a recipe for homemade cake flour here.
(2) Different types of vegetable oils can be used: Canola, Sunflower, Groundnut, Corn, etc. Do not use strong flavored oils like olive oil.
(3) Buttermilk gives cakes a soft crumb structure. You can buy buttermilk in your local grocery store or make yours at home using the instructions here.
PROCEDURE:
(1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
(2) Line your muffin pans with cupcake liners. To keep the color and designs on your cupcake liners after baking, see my tip in Baking Solution 107.
(3) In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set it aside.
(4) In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, place the eggs and whisk at medium speed for 30 seconds or until bubbles start to appear.
(5) Next, add the sugar and mix for another 30 seconds at medium speed.
(6) Next, add the vanilla and oil and mix at medium speed for 1 minute.
(7) Next, with the mixer running at low speed, add the flour mixture and buttermilk in 5 additions (flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour). Do not over mix the batter at this point or the cupcakes will be tough. Finish incorporating any leftover flour with a rubber spatula.
(8) Using an ice cream scoop or a measuring cup, pour about 1/4 cups of batter into each cupcake liner. As I stated in Baking Solution 106, the liners should not be filled more than 3/4 way up with batter.
(9) Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 13 – 15 minutes. When they are ready, they should spring back up when pressed lightly and a tester inserted into the middle should come out clean. Do not over bake the cupcakes or they will dry out.
(10) Allow the cupcakes to cool in the muffin pan for about 5 minutes before taking them out. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
(11) To make your cupcakes extra moist, spray them with a simple syrup before frosting. While the cupcakes are cooling, make your simple syrup. Using a wooden skewer, poke a few holes into the cupcakes and spray some of the warm sugar syrup over them. This can be done with a spoon or a spray bottle.
CLOSING NOTE: I almost always bake my cupcakes the day they are needed as I have come to realize that cupcakes dry out when left for long. This may be a practice you might want to imbibe to get the freshest and best tasting cupcakes.
For a moist Chocolate Cupcake recipe, click here
To see my cupcake designs, click here.
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
Seems to be a good recipe. Will try it out.
It is a great recipe. Do try it out.
Sir, what is the substitute of eggs ?? And what if i m using a microvave and nt an oven ?
Hi Yashika. Unfortunately I do not have answers to either of your questions.
Devine!!
Thanks Sarah.
nice!!!
Thanks Aisha.
awesome info. thanks sir. will try this and hope it works.
ps sir what quantity of ingredients will i need to make a 12” cake with this recipe.
Hi. I will use the whole recipe in a single pan and not divide it between 2 pans.
ps sir can this recipe be baked in a sandwich toaster?
Yinka, I have never tried baking with a sandwich toaster before.
Awesome recipe sir. Tried it out this morning and it came out lovely. It also baked well in the toaster.
Awesome Yinka. I saw the pictures elsewhere. Glad you loved them. I guess this answers the question of someone who wanted to now if they could be baked in toasters.
ps sir i noticed that my cupcakes came out flat after baking. ps is this normal or did i do something wrong?
Maybe that had something to do with the way you mixed the batter or your oven temperature.
I have cupcake orders for a lil get together tomorrow. Will bake these instead of my regular recipe. Keeping my fingers crossed. Will let you know how it goes.
Please let me know how they turned out Janet. Thanks.
Hi! Yesterday I tried your recipe for the vanilla cup cakes and they turned out superb. Thanks a lot for this recipe. Can you give me an eggless version of the same cupcake please.
Thanks Aisha. I do not have an eggless recipe yet.
ok sir will try it out this weekend and see how it comes out.
I see they came out great.
Can I mix dry powder milk in water for the butter milk. If yes, please what measurement should I use.
No you cannot. You can see how I make buttermilk at home here.
This is a lovely.just finishd making it and it taste great. Butbi hav a question, will it taste good with cream cheese frosting or would you advice i stick to the buttercream.im tempted to try the creamcheese but scared.
Thanks
Great to hear. I would generally stick to buttercream for vanilla cupcakes. You can however try creamcheese frosting. You might like it.
Hi, Terry, thanks for always sharing, will give it a trail please can I use your red velvet cake recipe for RVC cupcakes? And can I use fondant to decorate the cup cakes instead of butter cream ? TIA
Hi Funke. Yes you can. I would however substitute the butter with oil for moist cupcakes. I would advice that you first of all frost them with creamcheese frosting before placing fondant on them.
Hello TA!
You have been so helpful n selfless. Thanks so much n may God bless the works of your hands IJN!
Each time i do cupcakes, i always have the cupcakes liners come off the cake after cooling off. Have u experienced same and what do you think i can do about it pls? Stay blessed
Hi. No I have not experienced same. It’s caused mostly by under baking. If they are not properly baked, they would sink as they cool ans push on the wrapper.
Tank you so much sir God bless you very much for me especially,but sir wat about in a situation one does not have a stand mixer how do i go about make d cup cakes sir?tank u sir.
Hi. A hand mixer or wooden spoon and a bowl should work.
Thank u.will definitely give it a try. God bless u.
You are welcome Wumi.
Hi Terry. Always so excited when I visit your blog to whip something up. Want to try these today. But where do you get your reusable liners from? They are cute and look sturdy. Are they silicone liners? In the US, so please advise. Thank you. 🙂
Happy Easter
Hi. Thanks. I got them from a store here. They are paper liners. They are not reusable.
OK,thanks. The cupcakes are the best. Best everything. Made with the vanilla frosting. Started out with 24 and just a couple remaining BTW my husband and I now. =D
Thank you
You are welcome.
Thanks a lot for this tutorial. God bless you for taking time out to put thus up.
You are welcome Ozy.
Tried out this recipe… it was ĺucious….susbstituted part of the veg oil with melted butter…yum… thinking of how I can twist it to make it a little fluffy but still moist…
How bless you for sharing Terry..
You are welcome Neola. Folding in the egg whites in the end (after whisking into medium peaks) might help make it fluffier.
I mean God bless you for sharing…
You are welcome Noela.
Hi Terry, I’m new to your blog and you have amazing recipes. God bless you for sharing. Please my question is :the oven temperature of 350, is it in degrees or fahrenheit? Thanks for replying.
Hi. Its 350 degrees Fahrenheit which is 180 degrees Celsius.
Hi Terry, am new on your blog and am really enjoying what am seeing. Thumbs up. Please someone asked me to supply her with cupcakes for her shop, please what preservative can I use so it can last for at least 5 days. I bought powdered preservative not sure if I should use it. I reside in Nigeria. Thanks a lot.
Y
Hi. Unfortunately I know nothing about preservatives.
Hi Terry
I searched google for moist and fluffy cakes and found your website after a failed try of the 1234 method for vanilla cakes (which looked like cornbread). I read info about using oil, mixing beated egg whites at the end and how to make buttermilk and cake flour from scratch. My cake looks good and smells great as it is cooling now. Fingers crossed. Thanks for the insight. Your website is a God-send!
I am glad to hear that Ashleigh. How did they turn out? Did you like them? Where they moist?
Hi Terry,
I actually used your vanilla cupcake recipe for a two-layer vanilla cake. The cake was moist and delicious. By the time I added the strawberry cream cheese filling and vanilla butter cream frosting by piping rosettes, it was too sweet. It looked pretty, but it was loaded with sugar. So the next time I will probably cut back on the sugar in the batter and let the filling and icing be sweet.
Hello Terry.
I stumbled upon your website by mistake and it has been the best mistake ever. I thank God for you and the contents of this website.I am also a self taught baker, learning as I go and you have been so helpful.
For the vanilla cupcake recipe, you said to use the whisk attachment for the mixing. is the whisk attachment being used for the entire mixing process or can it be switched out with the paddle attachment?
Hi Chinelo. Glad to have you here. I used the whisk attachment throughout. It is a thin batter and so the whisk does the job.
Can I half this recipe for 12 cupcakes as 24 is just too much for trial if yes how many eggs
Yes you can half it. 1-1/2 eggs.
Hi Terry, can I use All purpose flour? I’ve looked for corn starch in my area but can’t find it. I really want to make this cupcake but I don’t know how it will turn out with all purpose flour
Yes. They just wont be as light.
Thank you, I’ll try it. Oh I tried your chocolate cupcake recipe yesterday cos I really wanted to bake yesterday while waiting for your reply on this, my oh my! The moistness was out of this world and it was very tasty. It finished immediately. Thank you Terry
You are welcome. I’m glad you loved it.
Hi Terry,I was eager to post this just tried the vanilla cupcakes and it was not only delicious but super fluffy and moist.my 3year old daughter couldn’t resist kept asking for more.lol.had to hide it from her.thanks so much.am confident my sons’ French vanilla cake would turn out great when I do try it out this weekend for his birthday.the only question I have is when making the butter milk with whole milk and lemon does it have to have lumps or should I say clusters on top when its settled or when adding the milk to the lemon I was supposed to stir?just want to be sure.I didn’t see anything wrong with the cakes though.they were just cute. I used pastry flour with same measurements didn’t change anything.am so thrilled. Thank you so so much.
The lumps are normal. That’s the reaction of the lemon juice with the milk. Pastry flour is the same as cake flour. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Sir pls what do u mean when you say see note1,note 2 didn’t get u well.thanks
Under the ingredients, you have a NOTES section which is numbered.
You are very good simply good
Thanks Soala.
Hi Terry, u are really doing a great job. Pls I will like to try the vanilla cup cake recipes but will like to bake it in 9inches square pan size, pls do I double the recipes or triple it? Waiting for your response.
I have no idea Grace. Why not bake a vanilla cake?
Pls I will like to frost with vanilla buttercream,do help with the measurment of the butter,shortening and icing sugar that will be enough to frost and pipe shells. Tnks
Hi. Please see this post.
Hi Terry. Thanks so much for this fabulous recipe. My cupcakes just came out of the oven and they taste so heavenly. This is definitely a keeper. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Iris. These cupcakes always turn out great.
Hi Terry, thanks for this recipe. I tried it today but put all the batter in a single 8″ pan and not cupcake pans. It was really great and fluffy but I noticed it had a slightly bitter after taste. Do you have any idea what may have gone wrong?
Hi Bunmi. Thanks for sharing your experience using this recipe to bake cakes. No it should not have any bitter taste. Unfortunately I cannot tell you why it did. Has to have something to do with one of your ingredients.
Can these cupcakes still maintain its taste for three to four days without refrigerating them? Thanks in advance.
I do not know. I have never kept cupcakes for that long.
Great recipe, God bless you.
Thanks Gede.
Great recipe, God bless you.
You are welcome.
Hi Terry!
Please can I omit the buttermilk in this recipe?.
Thanks.
Yes if replacing with milk.
Cool recipe – I’ll have to try it. Silly question, though: should the whisk be used throughout the mixing process or should a change to another beater be made at some point?
Its ok. No.
I tried it today. The cake turned out to be a winner! Bless you Terry
You are welcome Ijeoma. Glad to hear that.
How to substitute eggs for a eggless version?
I have no idea. Sorry.
I always love to read about your recipes because they are so easy to follow and detailed,i tried these cupcakes and they came out so well,thanks for sharing always,i follow you all the way,keep doing good,God bless
I am glad to hear that Debisi. Thanks.
God bless u…pls,can I use fullcream milk instead of buttermilk
Yes you can.
Hi Terry, can this recipe be double used to bake bigger cakes like 8 inch cake or is it only suitable for cupcakes?
Technically, yes the recipe can be multiplied for cakes.
Thanks Terry for your quick response.
If I wanted to bake this recipe as a cake, would it fit into 2, 8 inch round pans?
Two, no. Maybe 1.
Best seller recipe from back to back 😍👍
Glad to hear that Becky.
Hi Terry. Excellent blog you have here. Thanks for sharing selflessly. Please can you tell me why this recipe has more baking powder and soda than the vanilla cake even though the recipes are almost similar. Is it because of the oil? I’d like to understand the science. Also hope does it leave an acidic feel on the teeth since its higher on this recipe. Thank you
Hi Michelle. Thanks for your feedback. The extra leavening helps with the texture as cupcakes are lighter and more airy than regular cakes. No, the baking soda does not leave any acidic taste or feel.
Hi Terry, I didn’t see the oven temperature on your recipe. I left mine at 375 hope it is oka .