Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes

This recipe for homemade Vanilla Cupcakes is the only vanilla cupcake recipe you will ever need.  They are fluffy, buttery, and perfect.  

Every baker needs a really great recipe for vanilla cake recipe in their repertoire.  It is the base of so many other flavors and possibilities.  These are the best vanilla cupcakes I've ever had and I use the recipe as my go-to base for building other cupcake recipes - such as my Strawberry Cupcakes.  It also works really well baked as a layer cake, like in my French Vanilla Cake.  

This easy vanilla cupcake recipe uses the reverse creaming method which makes for a really beautiful texture that is light and soft while still being substantial.  The flavor is buttery and not too sweet, really showcasing that wonderful vanilla flavor.   You can pair them with so many different frostings and fillings and decorate them in fun ways, making them great for birthday parties, holidays or events.  

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Make the Vanilla Cupcakes
• Frosting for Vanilla Cupcakes
• Filling for Vanilla Cupcakes
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Recipe

Ingredients

This classic vanilla cupcake recipe has super simple ingredients - the magic is in how we put them together!

• Flour - For the absolute best results, use cake flour.  This helps to create a nice soft crumb.  If you can't get cake flour though, all-purpose flour will also work perfectly well.  

• Butter - Try to use good quality butter with a high fat percentage.  I like to use Kerrygold.  Make sure to use room temperature butter or it won't incorporate properly.  

• Sugar - Use white superfine sugar (also known as caster sugar).  

• Milk - Adding milk makes these nice and fluffy vanilla cupcakes.  I use whole milk but you can use whatever milk you have on hand. 

• Vegetable Oil - This recipe makes nice moist cupcakes because of the oil.  Even though butter is our main fat for the best flavor, a bit of oil just keeps them super moist.  The recipe calls for vegetable oil but you can use any flavorless oil. 

• Eggs - Use large eggs and always free-range if you can. 

• Vanilla - We want the vanilla flavor to really shine!  Use a pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.  You could also scrape your own vanilla beans if you prefer.

See recipe card for quantities. 

Make the Vanilla Cupcakes

This vanilla cupcake recipe uses the reverse creaming method.  It may look complicated at first but I promise it's not!  Just follow the step-by-step instructions and you'll soon have the best, moist vanilla cupcakes to enjoy.

1. Preheat the oven to 335°F / 170°C and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Make sure the butter, eggs, and milk are at room temperature before beginning. 
2. First, let's prepare the wet ingredients. Divide the milk into two bowls, one with ½ cup of milk (118g) and one with ¾ cup of milk (177g).
3. Mix the ½ cup of milk with the vegetable oil.  Mix the ¾ cup of milk with the eggs and vanilla and whisk together lightly.  Set both bowls aside.  

4. Sift the dry ingredients, including the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer and turn on low with your paddle attachment.  You can also make this recipe in a large bowl with an electric mixer if you like, but it's a little more challenging. 
5. Slowly add the softened butter to the flour mixture, one small chunk at a time, allowing it to mix a little before adding in each chunk. Once all the butter is in the mixture should look like chunky breadcrumbs.

6. Add the milk/oil mixture and turn your mixer up to medium-high speed. Beat for exactly two minutes.

7. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure there are no lumps of flour, then turn the mixer back on low speed and slowly pour in the milk/egg mixture. Let it mix on low until just combined.

8. Divide the cupcake batter into 24 cupcake liners  - I find the easiest way to do this is with a large cookie scoop to measure out my batter and make sure each cupcake is the same size. 
9. Bake the vanilla cupcakes in the preheated oven for 18 minutes or until the tops are springy and a skewer comes out clean. 
10. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. This helps to stop the paper liners from peeling away from the cupcakes once they have cooled.  

Tip: While it is possible to measure your ingredients with a measuring cup, I strongly recommend weighing them ou ton a kitchen scale instead.  It allows for a much more accurate measurement and better baking results.  I always list all my recipes in both cups and grams so you can choose what is best for you. 

Frosting for Vanilla Cupcakes

While unfrosted cupcakes are delicious, adding a beautiful swirl of frosting on top will finish off your perfect vanilla cupcake.  There are so many different types of frosting to choose from that pair really well with these cupcakes.  Here are a few suggestions:

Italian or Swiss Meringue Buttercream - Smooth and elegant frostings made from whipping up egg whites and sugar into a meringue before mixing with butter.  These are wonderful frostings but they are a little time-consuming. If you have the time though it's totally worth the effort! 

Chocolate Frosting - Transform these into chocolate cupcakes with a delicious chocolate frosting.  This is the frosting I use on my delicious chocolate cupcakes.

Russian Buttercream - Quick and easy, but with the same glossy results as the meringue buttercreams - Russian buttercream is a great all-rounder and a super simple recipe.

French Buttercream - For a super rich vanilla buttercream frosting, try my French Buttercream.  It's made similar to the swiss buttercream but with egg yolks instead of egg whites.  It's delicious and super smooth.  The cupcakes photographed in this post have French Buttercream on them!

Whichever base frosting recipe you choose, you can also mix them with other things to create even more flavors.  For example, in my Raspberry Cupcakes, I mixed Russian Buttercream with raspberry coulis to make a delicious raspberry frosting.  I used the exact same method to make Pistachio Cupcakes, Coffee Cupcakes, Strawberry Cupcakes, and Mango Cupcakes!  

Filling for Vanilla Cupcakes

For an extra special touch, you can add a filling to your cupcakes.  Use a cupcake corer to scoop out the middle of the cupcakes and fill it with whatever you fancy.  Here are some ideas:

• Strawberry Coulis
• Nutella
• Pistachio Cream
• Chocolate Ganache
• Peanut Butter
• Pastry Cream
• Caramel Sauce
• Pumpkin Curd

Substitutions

Flour - You can substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour.  I haven't tested the recipe with other flour alternatives.  They would likely make for a much more dense cupcake. 

Milk - If you don't want to use whole milk you can use whatever kind of milk you have on hand.

Oil - You can substitute vegetable oil for other flavorless oils such as canola oil or sunflower oil. 

Variations

One of the reasons this is the best vanilla cupcake recipe is that it can be mixed so well with other things to create a multitude of different kinds of cupcakes. 

Different flavors - Try mixing the base vanilla cupcake batter with other flavorings such as strawberry puree or pistachio butter to create new flavors of cupcakes.  You could also simply add extracts or emulsions for an easy way to get more flavors.  

Filling - Add a filling to your cupcakes (see the section above for inspiration)

Different Frostings - You can try various kinds of frosting on your cupcakes to make lots of different flavor combinations (see the frosting section for ideas).  

Colors - Add a few drops of food coloring to your batter or frosting to create a new look, like in my Valentine's Cupcakes. 

Equipment

• Cupcake Pan
• Cupcake Liners
• Stand Mixer

Storage

Store your vanilla cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature.  Line the base of the container with paper towels to absorb any moisture, as excess moisture can cause your cupcake liners to peel.  Never store cake in the fridge (unless the frosting or filling contains something that needs to be refrigerated) as it will dry them out.  The cupcakes will be good for 3 days like this.  

Recipe