This classic, easy Vanilla Cupcake Recipe is soft, springy, and can be prepped and baked in under 30 minutes! My vanilla cupcakes are moist with a soft crumb and are made with all butter and no oil for the best buttery flavor. Sweet but light and crowned with a decadent, whipped chocolate buttercream frosting, I think you’ll love these!
My Favorite Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
My typical reaction to being offered a vanilla cupcake is to not-so-subtly glance over the dessert table to check if there are any chocolate cupcakes available before accepting. If there aren’t, I’ll graciously (and totally gracefully, I’m sure) devour one. I’m not exactly the kind of person to turn down sugar, after all, but vanilla has never been my go-to flavor.
But every good baker needs a good vanilla cupcake recipe, and this space was lacking one. Yeah, I have a vanilla cake that many people have successfully converted into cupcakes, but I wanted something a little different to share. But it needed to be good. Really, really, really good.
After months of working to perfect this recipe, about 8 Google Doc pages full of notes, and multiple test runs past my taste-testers, this is it. With its light, moist crumb, its buttery, vanilla-infused flavor, this vanilla cupcake recipe is my new go-to. Like, I would actually pass up a chocolate cupcake for one of these.
Ingredients for Vanilla Cupcakes
My vanilla cupcake recipe uses all basic ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry:
- Butter. Often when making cupcakes I like to use oil for the best texture and a moist cake. This cupcake recipe, however, was carefully crafted to be made with all butter and still be perfectly soft and moist with a light, flavorful crumb!
- Sugar.
- Brown Sugar. We’re using both granulated and brown sugar. The brown sugar will make the cupcakes slightly heavier and it enriches the flavor and makes them more moist. I love the addition but if you don’t have brown sugar handy this vanilla cupcake recipe will also work if you substitute more granulated sugar for the brown sugar.
- Eggs. Just one is all you need, actually.
- Vanilla Extract. We’re using a generous 1 ½ teaspoons for 12 cupcakes. These cupcakes have a great vanilla flavor (but it’s not overpowering).
- Flour. I use all-purpose flour, cake flour can be substituted.
- Baking Powder.
- Baking Soda.
- Salt.
- Buttermilk. Another key ingredient that helpsmakes these vanilla cupcakes soft and moist. If you don’t have buttermilk handy, you can make my easy buttermilk substitute instead.
That’s literally all you need for these perfect vanilla cupcakes. They results are delicate and light but still sturdy enough to hold a heavy crown of chocolate frosting. They’re moist and sweet without being over-sweet, they’re just all around perfect, honestly.
How to Make The Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
My vanilla cupcakes are easy to make, and practically fool-proof.
- Cream together butter and sugars. These ingredients should be beaten together until well-combined and light and fluffy.
- Stir in egg and vanilla extract. Make sure these are well incorporated.
- Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Alternate adding dry ingredients and buttermilk to butter mixture, stirring by hand after each addition. Do this part by hand! Well, with a spatula, you know what I mean. Everything should be well-combined, but avoid over-mixing
- Portion into 12-count muffin tin and bake.
While you’ll need to stir the ingredients by hand for the second half of the recipe, you will need a a stand mixer or electric hand mixer for the first half. Creaming together the butter and sugars is critical for the best light and fluffy texture, and it’s not easy (possible?) to properly do this by hand.
What Makes a Cupcake Moist and Fluffy?
There are actually quite a few things that go into this, but I wanted to share the top three things that help make your vanilla cupcakes moist and fluffy.
Using Room Temperature Ingredients
This helps your ingredients to combine properly when mixing. Ingredients of different temperatures will still combine, but they may not end up as well incorporated as you hope, leaving you with an unevenly mixed batter and a cupcake that’s dense.
Mixing, but not over-mixing
When we cream together our butter and sugar and beat in our egg, we’re creating air bubbles in our batter. These are key for a light moist cupcake. When we add in our flour and buttermilk, we start bursting those air bubbles. If you over-mix at this point and too many of your air bubbles collapse, your cupcakes will be dense and dry.
Don’t under-mix either, though! This is just as bad and could leave you with cupcakes that fall apart or flour clumps in the middle of your vanilla cupcakes because the ingredients aren’t properly distributed
Baking for the right amount of time (and not a minute longer).
Vanilla cupcakes will take 17-18 minutes to bake completely. The top should spring back if lightly touched and a toothpick in the center should ideally come out with a few moist crumbs or clean. If you leave them in the oven for too long, a toothpick will still come out clean but the cupcakes will be dry and crumbly when you bite into them.
Another thing worth noting: make sure your oven is actually at the right temperature. Many ovens are actually not calibrated correctly and run hotter or cooler than they indicate, and this is why I keep several inexpensive thermometers in my oven, to make sure the temperature is correct at all times. If your oven is too hot, it will bake your vanilla cupcakes too fast and dry them out!
Whew, are you sick of hearing about vanilla cupcakes yet? Thanks for sticking with me through all that. If you try out this recipe I’d love to know what you think!
More of My Favorite Cupcake Recipes
- Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Funfetti Cupcakes
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
- Piñata Cupcakes
Easy Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened (85g)
- ¾ cup sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup light brown sugar (50g)
- 1 large egg room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (150g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk room temperature preferred (175ml)
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting¹
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (170g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (320g)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream (30ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- 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.
- Add egg and vanilla extract and beat well.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Remove butter/sugar mixture from stand mixer and use a spatula to gradually fold in about ¼ of the flour mixture until just combined.
- Add about ¼ cup of the buttermilk and use spatula to fold in until just combined.
- Continue to alternate until flour mixture and buttermilk are completely combined -- mix thoroughly but be sure not to over-mix or your cupcakes could end up dense and dry.
- Fill cupcake liners ⅔-¾ of the way full with batter (do not over-fill, if you have any leftover batter discard it) and bake on 350F (175C) for 17-18 minutes or until tops spring back when gently touched (the tops will be fairly flat, these do not puff up in the oven like muffins) and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely in pans before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 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).
- Cream room temperature butter with an electric mixer. Stir in slightly cooled chocolate and beat well.
- Gradually add sugar, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl occasionally.
- Sprinkle in salt and vanilla extract, stir well.
- Gradually add heavy cream, increase speed to high and beat for 1 minute, pausing halfway through to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Spoon frosting into a piping bag fitted with tip of choice (I used a large French tip) and pipe on cooled cupcakes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
I originally shared this Vanilla Cupcake Recipe 05/15/2017. Post has been updated and a video added 03/25/2019. The recipe remains the same; even though I tried to improve upon it I found it was pretty much perfect as written!
Nicole
Can I double the ingredients in this recipe to make 24 cupcakes or should I make two batches, separately? I know baking is a science, so I want the best outcome. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Nicole! This recipe doubles well, so you would be fine to double the ingredients. Enjoy! 🙂
Amy Wonder
How much cake flour do you add if using?
Blair
These are amazing!! The only substitute I made was I used King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour. I made your Cream Cheese Frosting to go on top. Delicious!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Blair! 🙂
Nyaziah
Did it change the texture. I only bake for other people (I hate cake) and one of my new coworkers can only have gluten free things. I’ve never had gluten free cake so I don’t know how it’s supposed to taste.
Blair
I am in no way very knowledgeable in GF and this was my first time ever baking with the flour. I have heard that each GF flour brand will be different. If you use the exact same one that I did, King Arthur Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, mine came out very soft and did have a very slight grainy-ness to it. However, both of my kids LOVED them (they are very picky!) and didn’t notice a difference between regular flour. I did not use cupcake liners, I just greased the cupcake pan and they did want to stick in the pan, so be very gentle when getting them out or they will fall apart. Also, definitely follow Sam by letting them cool completely before icing! When I checked them halfway between baking, they had puffed into a very odd shape but by the time they were done they looked normal. Checking for doneness was tricky since they were softer than normal cupcakes, just follow Sam with inserting a toothpick and look for no crumbs or a few dry crumbs. I hope that helps!
Tasrina
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. I just had a leftover cupcake that I baked 1 week ago and it is still as moist as the first day! I tried with both AP flour and cake flour and I personally think cake flour gives a more delicate crumb.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tasrina! 🙂
kita
Hi, Tasrina: I prefer Cake Flour as well. Did you add a tablespoon more or so of cake flour to sub for the AP flour in this recipe? I usually have to add more to compensate for structure when subbing. Thank you! :)))
Colette
Hi Sam,
Is it possible to make mini cupcakes with this recipe? If so what would be a good starting point for the time and temperature? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Colette! While I haven’t tried them myself, others have reported bake times from 10-12 minutes. The temperature remains the same. 🙂
Rosalie
Sam I measured 1 1/3 c of flour,then I used my scale( same scale you recommend) I had to remove1/3c to get 150g and they did not turn out batter was extra fluffy,made them again without scale measured 11/3c of flour and they were great.Anyway wondering about the grams of flour…
Sam
Hi Rosalie! I’m not sure what happened here. The weight measurement is correct. I’m wondering if maybe the scale wasn’t tared properly somehow?
Madhurima basu
Hi tried these cupcakes for my pare nts anniversary and they turned out simply awesome.. Soft and moist. I filled these with strawberry preserve and frosted them with whipped cream. Love all your recipies.. Thanks for sharing. I also wanted to know if I can make a single layer cake with this batter in an 8 ” tin
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! For a better cake option I would recommend cutting my vanilla cake recipe in half to make just one layer. 🙂
Anna
Hello!
Can I add some sprinkles to make this confetti cupcakes?
Sam
Sure thing! I would just avoid nonpareils as they have a tendency to bleed. 🙂
Anna
Oh yes I learned that the hard way! I was going to use quin’s.
Sam
They’ll work great. 🙂
Farah Khan
Hi Sam. I love these cuppies. Just want to know if it’s possible to freeze this batter? As I need to make a few doz and it would help to prep it early. I don’t have space to freeze already baked cupcakes safely.
Sam
Honestly I have never tried freezing the batter. I’m not sure how the cupcakes would bake after being frozen. You can freeze the cupcakes after they are baked. If you do try freezing the batter let me know how it goes. 🙂
Jen
Yummy yummy!! Had to make cupcakes for a co-workers birthday recently so I came right to Sugar Spun Run, knowing your recipes have always been a hit! Paired this cupcake with your simple vanilla and chocolate butter creams and they were a hit! And super easy recipe to follow for my first time doing cupcakes from scratch!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for coming to my site first, Jen. That means so much to me. I am so glad that the cupcakes were a hit! 🙂
Dabirichi
These are NO DOUBT the BEST vanilla cupcakes I have ever made. I have been baking for almost 11 years and no other vanilla cupcake recipe tops this one. At first I was skeptical about the brown sugar but it is such an amazing additive to this recipe!!! They taste delicious 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Lily
Do you have a vannila cupcake resipy without buttermilk?
Sam
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, I would recommend making my buttermilk substitute. The buttermilk really helps make the best cupcakes. 🙂
Taylor
Sam, I want to thank you so so much for this recipe! I recently started my own online bakery and after a few harsh reviews that my vanilla cupcakes were dense and gummy, I decided I needed to search for a new vanilla cupcake recipe. After trying yours and adding a few minor tweaks, I know they are perfect!! SO fluffy and moist, but definitely not too moist. One thing I will say is absolutely make sure you fill your liners only about halfway. I had to make several batches because I kept overfilling mine. Halfway is all you need for these. Thanks again Sam!
Sam
That is so awesome to hear! I am so glad they work so well for you and everyone enjoys them. 🙂
Rachel
Hi, Sam! I need to make these without eggs (for religious reasons) but I have only ever made this recipe with eggs. I read that apple sauce or sour cream can be substituted for eggs in cake? Do you have any recommendations for this? Thank you so much! Your recipes have always been so amazing!!
Sam
Hi Rachel! Unfortunately I haven’t tried it with either of these substitutions, but if you try it I would love to know how it goes. 🙂
Aran VH
Excellent!! Made these for my daughter’s birthday party huge hit!!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Aran! 🙂
Jasmine
Can I make this as a cake with 6 inch pans?
Sam
Hi Jasmine! I would recommend using my vanilla cake recipe. It will make enough batter for 3 6 inch pans. 🙂
Lyn
This is a excellent recipe. The cupcakes were moist and tender. I did use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract as it was what I on hand. My daughter’s boyfriend declared these cupcakes the best he has ever had. Trust me if he thought the cupcakes were lacking he would have told me. Thank you for another great yummy recipe.
Sam
I am so, so happy to hear this, Lyn! Thank you so much for letting me know how they turned out and how everyone enjoyed them, this really means a lot to me <3
Joselyne
Can I have replace the butter for oil? Or would it mess up the batter.
Sam
Hi Joselyne! You can use oil instead of the butter but you will lose a little bit of flavor.