These classic, easy vanilla cupcakes are made extra soft and irresistibly with the addition of buttermilk (don’t worry, I have an easy substitute if you don’t have buttermilk on hand) and are made with butter, not oil, for a rich buttery flavor. They’re soft, moist, and springy, sweet but light, and crowned with a lusciously rich whipped chocolate buttercream frosting.
My typical reaction to being offered a vanilla cupcake is to not-so-subtly glance over the dessert table to see whether or not there are any other (perhaps more chocolaty) options available before accepting. If there aren’t, I’ll graciously devour one (because you won’t find me turning down sugar), but vanilla has never been my go-to flavor.
Perhaps that’s most evident in my website’s glaring lack of vanilla desserts, crafting recipes that don’t use chocolate always seems to be a struggle. If I was going to share a vanilla cupcake recipe, it had to be really, really good.
This one is, I promise. It’s certainly worth the mere minutes that it takes to whip up the batter and is actually worth your attention even if there’s a chocolate alternative available.
I have high standards for my cupcakes, and this vanilla cupcake recipe especially took me a long time to get just right (I started working on the recipe over Christmas break, to give you an idea of how obsessive I’ve been about it).
These are up to standard. They’re buttery soft — while oil is usually my preference when making chocolate cakes, for a good vanilla cupcake you really need that genuine butter flavor. They’re also delicate and light, but still sturdy enough to hold a heavy crown of frosting. They’re moist and sweet without being over-sweet, they’re just all around perfect, honestly.
I had the thought in my head that it was absolutely imperative that these vanilla cupcakes have puffy, slightly rounded domed tops. Once I got the flavor and texture of them to be perfect, I was still obsessed with getting the tops to be rounded rather than flat.
I was successful with achieving the domes, but over and over again the cost was too great — the cupcakes came out just slightly too dry, slightly crumbly. I couldn’t sacrifice taste for appearance, so the recipe stayed the same, flat tops, but perfect texture (they do have the slightest hint of a dome and they’re definitely not concave).
Besides, we’re covering the tops with an amazing sky-high pile of chocolate frosting, anyway, right? 
Right.
Enjoy!
Easy Vanilla Cupcakes
Sweet, buttery, easy vanilla cupcakes with a rich chocolate buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened (85g)
- 3/4 cup sugar (150g)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (50g)
- 1 large egg room temperature preferred
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (150g)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup buttermilk room temperature referred (175ml)
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting*
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (170g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (320g)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream (30ml)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
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Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl -- and use an electric hand mixer) and beat on medium speed until well combined and light and fluffy.
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Add egg, beat well.
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Stir in vanilla extract.
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In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
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Remove butter/sugar mixture from stand mixer and use a spatula to gradually fold in about 1/4 of the flour mixture until just combined.
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Add about 1/4 cup of the buttermilk and use spatula to fold in until just combined.
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Continue to alternate until flour mixture and buttermilk are completely combined -- be sure not to over-mix.
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Fill cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 of the way full with batter and bake on 350F (175C) for 18 minutes or until tops spring back when gently touched.
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Allow cupcakes to cool completely in pans before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
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In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips at 15 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until chips are completely melted. Set aside and allow to cool slightly (about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally).
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Cream room temperature butter with an electric mixer. Stir in slightly cooled chocolate and beat well.
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Gradually add sugar, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl occasionally.
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Sprinkle in salt and vanilla extract, stir well.
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Gradually add heavy cream, increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute, pausing halfway through to scrape down sides of bowl.
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Spoon frosting into a piping bag fitted with tip of choice (I used a large French tip) and pipe on cooled cupcakes.
Recipe Notes
*The chocolate frosting makes enough to put quite a bit of frosting on each cupcake -- as much as you see in the pictures. If you plan on using less frosting, you can certainly half the recipe!
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Sues says
Yesss! I used to only like chocolate desserts, but now I’m SO into vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting. These ones look perfect!
Sam says
Thank you so much, Sues! It was so nice meeting you at the conference!!
Mikaru86 says
Those look very delicious. Would the recipe also work as a larger cake? I’m looking for a light, fluffy vanilla cake recipe for my cake this weekend. And how would this scale to a 37×24.5cm (14.57×9.64″) pan?
Sam says
Thanks! I hate saying this but I’m not 100% sure because I haven’t tried it that way, I would definitely recommend doubling the recipe for that size pan and I definitely *think* that it would work for a cake but since I haven’t tried it that way I can’t really say for sure, I’m sorry! If you do try it that way please let me know, and if I have some spare time this weekend/next week I will try it that way myself.
Mikaru86 says
Well, they seem firm enough that the recipe could be adapted to a cake, but I’m planning on baking the cake in one layer and then cutting it in half horizontally (like I did with the chocolate birthday cake: http://imgur.com/a/SxBJQ ), so I’m not entirely sure either.
Do you have any other light and fluffy vanilla cake recipes you would recommend? I’ve tried both the coconut cake (with and without the coconuts) and the Funfetti cake in the past and they were great, but not entirely what I’m looking for with this one.
Sam says
Hmm I do think it would work if it were allowed to cool completely and maybe placed in the freezer before cutting/assembling. I’m sorry I don’t have a definite answer. :-/
I don’t have another vanilla cake that I’ve tried that I can recommend (sorry, that goes back to me pretty much exclusively seeking out chocolate recipes!), but my instinct is to refer you to Sally’s Baking Addiction: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2015/05/27/funfetti-layer-cake/, her recipes are phenomenal and here is a yellow cake that looks like it would suit your needs, I think? Does that help at all?
Mikaru86 says
Thanks!
I think I’ll give it a try with this recipe. I usually bake my cake layer(s) a day in advance and let them sit in the fridge over night anyway (and I plan to do so this time again). So I’m pretty confident that it should work. I might split the batter into two portions and bake the layers one at a time instead of baking one larger layer and cutting it in half, depending on how much time I have (I only have one of the large rectangular pans, so I would have to wait for the first layer to cool enough to take it out of the pan without breaking and then bake the second).
I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Dana F says
I made them as soon as I got the email! I put cream cheese frosting on instead and they were devoured!
Karly says
These are actual perfection. I mean come on, that cake is what heaven is made of an the frosting looks absolutely DIVINE. I need these in my life and soon!
Sam says
You are so sweet, Karly, thank you!!
Brittany Miller says
Forgive me if this gets posted twice.
I am making these on Thursday and wanted to know if they would dry out before Saturday. It doesn’t sound like they would, but wanted to double check.
Thanks!
Sam says
Brittany I’m so sorry I didn’t see this sooner! I think they would be fine, did you happen to try them? I’d love to know how they worked for you.
Jessica says
My 9 year old daughter and I just made these cupcakes and frosting. We do A LOT of baking and I have to say that there wasn’t one thing I would change about these. The cupcakes we moist and springy and the frosting was out of this world! I love how it tastes just like semi-sweet chocolate chips. We will be coming back to your recipe for years to come!
Sam says
So thrilled to hear this!! Thank you for coming back and letting me know how you both enjoyed them, Jessica!! <3
mymbee says
hey, I just tried this recipe and my cupcakes have become concave. what did i do wrong?
Sam says
The batter may have been undermixed or they may have not cooked enough.
Alyssa says
Hi! I was wondering if you could help me figure out what I’m doing wrong. I made the recipe the first time and they came out really odd and grainy and shrunk into themselves. I thought maybe I undermixed the batter so I tried the recipe a second time and made sure to mix it longer. Weirdly, I got the same result. I’m going by the grams measurements and measured everything exactly. I even tested my baking soda and powder to make sure they were still active and they are. I’m at a total loss. I’ve never had issues like this and bake all the time. Hopefully, you’ll have an idea! I love your recipes and really want this one to work!
Sam says
Huh, that is really odd! I definitely have not had this happen with these cupcakes and if you’re using grams it’s obviously not an issue of over/under measured ingredients… I’m going to have to do some testing/troubleshooting to see what the problem is and I’m sorry you’re having this problem!
In the meantime, I know a few people have made my vanilla cake recipe as cupcakes with success (I haven’t made them as cupcakes myself) if you wanted to try that out.
Alyssa says
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I was just so confused! I have used the vanilla cake recipe for cupcakes several times and really enjoy it. I just wanted to give these a try too 😉 Let me know if you are able to figure anything out! Maybe I’ll try them again measuring regularly (without the grams).