This recipe for homemade Vanilla Cupcakes is the only vanilla cupcake recipe you will ever need. They are fluffy, buttery, and perfect.
I built my baking empire on cupcakes - literally. I ran two cupcake shops and a full commercial kitchen, all centered around baking and perfecting these little cakes. So when I tell you I've tested every variable to create the ultimate vanilla cupcake - light, fluffy, moist, and full of rich vanilla flavor - I mean it. The incredible texture comes from the reverse creaming method, which I also use in my French Vanilla Cake for its beautifully tender crumb.
Don't let her simplicity fool you: this vanilla cupcake isn't just a reliable classic - she's the foundation for so many of my favorite desserts. This is the base recipe I turn to again and again to mix and match different flavors, frostings, and fillings. It's endlessly versatile and consistently delicious.
Get ready to make the only cupcake recipe you'll ever need!
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Best Vanilla Cupcakes 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.
Equipment
- Cupcake Pan
- Cupcake Liners
- Stand Mixer
How to Make 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.
Divide the Milk
First 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).
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.
Dry Ingredients
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.
Add Butter
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.
Add Milk/Oil
Add the milk/oil mixture and turn your mixer up to medium-high speed. Beat for exactly two minutes.
This is just enough time to develop the right amount of gluten so the cakes will stay tender.
Add Milk/Eggs
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.
Bake
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.
Bake the vanilla cupcakes in the preheated oven for 18 minutes or until the tops are springy and a skewer comes out clean.
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: I strongly recommend weighing your ingredients with a kitchen scale. 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.
How to Frost 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!
Best 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.
How to Store Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes
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
Moist Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups Whole Milk 295g (room temperature)
- ⅓ cup Vegetable Oil 72g
- 3 Large Eggs (room temperature)
- 2 ¾ cups Cake Flour 315g
- 2 sticks Unsalted Butter 227g (room temperature)
- 1 ¾ cups Superfine Sugar 350g
- 1 ½ tablespoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 335°F / 170°C and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Make sure the butter, eggs, and milk are at room temperature before beginning.
- Split the milk into two containers, one with ½ cup of milk (118g) and one with ¾ cup of milk (177g).1 ¼ cups (295 g) Whole Milk
- Mix the ½ cup of milk with the vegetable oil and set aside.⅓ cup (72 g) Vegetable Oil
- Mix the ¾ cup of milk with the eggs and vanilla. Whisk together lightly and set aside.3 Large (3) Eggs, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of your mixer and turn on low with your paddle attachment.2 ¾ cups (315 g) Cake Flour, 1 ¾ cups (350 g) Superfine Sugar, 1 ½ tablespoon (1 ½ tbsp) Baking Powder, ½ teaspoon (½ tsp) Salt
- Slowly add the butter, one small chunk at a time, letting it mix for a few seconds in between additions. Once it's all in, it should look kind of like chunky breadcrumbs.2 sticks (227 g) Unsalted Butter
- Add the milk/oil mixture and turn your mixer up to medium speed. Beat for exactly two minutes.
- Scrape the sides of your bowl to make sure there are no lumps, then turn the mixer back on low.
- Add the milk/egg mixture slowly and mix on low until just combined.
- Divide the batter into 24 cupcake liners and bake for 18 minutes or until the tops are springy and a skewer comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Decorate with the frosting of your choosing, try my French Buttercream for a rich, smooth and creamy frosting. Or try Russian Buttercream for something quick and easy but still silky and delicious!
Rose
Hi! I’m vegan but really wanted to try this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly, but used Miyokos cashew butter, Chiobani extra creamy oat milk and Just Egg as replacements. They turned out perfect! Thank you so much!!
Jules Grasekamp
I'm so happy to hear this Rose! Thank you so much for letting me know 🙂
Jules
Fanny
Hi so I was reading the comments and talkimg about the quantity of eggs you commented 2 but in yoir recipe it says 3? So Im confused. Thanks.
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Fanny,
Sorry for the confusion - the comment you are referring to is from a few years ago. I have improved and updated the recipe since then - the 3 eggs listed in the recipe card is correct.
Hope that clears it up!
Jules
Ella
Is the recipe meant to have more than one egg in the standard 12 cupcake mix?
The ingredient list says 1x eggs however the instructions say to beat the eggs in one at a time.
Thank you.
Lori
Wondering the same thing. Did anyone try this or is there an update?
Jules
Hi Lori,
Sorry for not updating this sooner! It should be 2 eggs, which I will fix right now. However, I have actually lately been using a different recipe for all my vanilla cupcakes which I have absolutely fallen in love with. It’s the same recipe as for my French vanilla cake, but works the exact same for cupcakes (makes 25 cupcakes). It’s a much more recent recipe with more tips and info (this one is an oldie). I love this new one so much I may just get rid of this old one and change it to the new one, so I recommend you give that one a go instead! Here’s the link - https://bonnibakery.com/best-french-vanilla-cake/
Happy baking!
Jules
Lori
Thank you for replying so fast! I do have another question now that you say that. For one, I absolutely am in love with the French vanilla cake! I did try to use that for the cupcakes but they didn’t turn out quite as well. It could have been me rushing it and forgetting to double something but they were dry. Is the oven temp the same at 325 for the cupcakes?
Jules
Aw I’m so glad you like it! Yes it’s the same temperature but I find they only take about 18 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven of course).
Sorry to hear they turned out dry, can I ask if you used a scale or cups to measure your ingredients? It can be really hard to get an accurate measurement with cups so when someone is having trouble with a recipe that is very often the cause!
Jules
Also oops I meant to type that it makes 24 cupcakes, not 25 ♀️ ! That’s what happens when I type with flour on my hands!
Lori
I know the feeling! Lol. So I actually scaled last time bc it was a bigger batch. But I’m just wondering and did then also if I mistakenly didn’t double a wet ingredient. I’m giving another go as we speak! The cake reminds me of a recipe my grandmother would make and I haven’t found anything close to it yet except for this. Your recipes are lovely and I thank you for them all!