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Learn how to make the best vanilla cupcake recipe from scratch! This is my go-to recipe for moist and fluffy cupcakes – you never need to use a box mix again. These cupcakes are going to amaze you with how good they taste – tons of vanilla flavor with ultra buttery flavor. These are the BEST!
Why You’ll Love My Recipe
I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count, and they always come out amazing. You know how a box mix always produces consistent results? This cupcake recipe is just like that, except it’s homemade and tastes so much better – you don’t have to worry about the cupcakes being too dry, too delicate, or tough. They have the most wonderful texture.
Why is my recipe so special? The vanilla bean paste in the batter. It’s easier than scraping seeds out of a pod but has an amazing flavor that’s better than vanilla extract. Plus, you get the little flecks of vanilla in the cupcakes. You can also use a good quality vanilla extract for a similar result.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour – use the spoon and level method to measure it accurately. You do not need to use cake flour – regular grocery store brand all-purpose is totally fine.
- Baking powder – keeps the cupcakes nice and fluffy
- Unsalted butter – I start with it melted to keep the cupcakes moist – kind of like how you make cake mix with oil? Same goes with the melted butter in this recipe. If you use salted butter, reduce added salt in the recipe.
- Sugar – granulated sugar to keep the cupcakes light in color and delicate in flavor.
- Whole Eggs – always buy large eggs – it’s also best if they’re room temperature.
- Vanilla bean paste – I love the flavor of the paste, but you can substitute a good quality pure vanilla extract
- Buttermilk – Learn how to make your own buttermilk or use ¾ cup of milk combined with one teaspoon white vinegar. Let it sit for five minutes, and you get DIY buttermilk. The buttermilk is more for flavor, the acid is not needed for function, which makes it easy to substitute.
Variations
- Make gluten free vanilla cupcakes by using 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- Make dairy free cupcakes using any nondairy milk and vegetable oil.
- Substitute brown sugar for granulated sugar to make brown sugar cupcakes.
How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes
1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside and mix melted butter with sugar in a large bowl. I like using an electric mixer – either a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
2. Mix in eggs, one at a time on low speed, then mix in vanilla bean paste or extract.
3. Add the flour and buttermilk to the butter mixture in batches alternating each. So start with flour, followed by the milk, and end with the flour. The key is not to overmix the batter. Mix only until the flour is absorbed.
4. Once you have your vanilla cake batter, it’s a blank canvas. You can add sprinkles to make funfetti cupcakes or use mini muffin pans to make mini cupcakes.
5. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill liners 2/3 full. Bake them at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean.
Optional Filling
If you want to fill your baked and cooled cupcakes you can do so – these are fantastic filled with lemon curd or homemade whipped cream, or even caramel sauce.
It’s easy to fill cupcakes by adding the filling to a piping bag with a skinny round tip – just press it into the top of the cupcake and press to fill.
If you want to fill the cupcake with something more solid, like making piñata cupcakes or strawberry shortcake cupcakes, just cut a small round out of the top and fill as desired, topping the hole with some of what you removed.
Expert Tips
- Make sure your eggs are room temperature for a moist and fluffy crumb.
- Do not over mix the cupcakes – as soon as the flour is incorporated stop mixing.
- You know cupcakes are done baking when a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Know that every oven bakes differently – so keep an eye on them towards the end of baking so they don’t be come dry and over baked.
- To keep your cupcakes light and fluffy, be sure to measure your flour properly – using the spoon and level method (or weigh it using grams). Too much flour will make them tough and dense.
Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter , melted
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- ¾ cup (178ml) buttermilk (or combine 3/4 cup milk + 1 teaspoon white vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes)
For the frosting:
- 1 cup (113g) unsalted butter , softened
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups (452g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake tins with liners (makes 12-15).
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
- Add melted butter to a large bowl and mix in sugar with a hand mixer for 30 seconds until thick and yellow. Add eggs one at at time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
- Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Don’t over mix!
- Divide batter among liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. (Mine took less than 20, so check at 15!) Cool completely before frosting!
- To make the frosting: Beat butter until creamy. Beat in salt and 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time until crumbly. Beat in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. Add more cream as needed for desired consistency.
- Frost cupcakes by placing frosting in a pastry bag. I like the 1M tip, it gives pretty swirls. Add sprinkles for fun!
- Note: you can make the frosting the day before, but let it come to room temperature before using.
Recipe Notes
- No need to fill the cupcakes, I just wanted a little extra. These cupcakes would be great with chocolate frosting, and the vanilla buttercream would be good with any flavor cupcake!
- If you make the frosting alone, without the cupcakes, you can use salted butter if that’s what you have on hand. Just leave out the salt!
- You can substitute any kind of milk (or nondairy milk) for the buttermilk.
- You can substitute gluten-free 1:1 AP flour
- You can substitute oil or melted vegan butter sticks for a dairy-free cupcake.
- Optional Filling: Use lemon curd or caramel sauce or homemade whipped cream for filling the cupcakes if desired. The original recipe included whipped cream filling – to make that beat 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream with 2 tablespoons powdered or granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
I can’t wait to make these for my son’s first birthday! I do have a quick question for you…if I were to make this into a cake (rather than cupcakes), would I have to change anything in the recipe? I imagine I would have to adjust the cooking time, but I was wondering if I would need to change anything else.
I think it would work okay, with adjusted baking time. But it only makes about 12-14 cupcakes, so it’s not a full 9×13 cake. It’s probably more of one 9″ round (possibly would fit good in a 9″ round by 3″ high or a 9″ square). Let me know how it turns out!
I made these last sunday and they were terrific! They were gone by the next day. My family loved them. I had never heard of vanilla bean paste and it was my first time using it. I loved it. Definitely going to be using it more.
It totally makes the cupcake! Glad you enjoyed them!! Thanks for reading!
I made these twice within a week. The first time I tried to do everything exactly as noted and the cupcakes came out beautifully! My family loved them. Then I made a second batch because I had extra frosting but unfortunately, those didn’t come out as great. They took longer to bake than the recommended time and even then didn’t seem completely done in the middle. I cut the recipe in half so as to not have too many; do you think that was the issue? I have a scale and was able to weigh the ingredients but I’m wondering if the amount of egg was the issue. At any rate I’ll be making them again today for New Years!
That could be it Vanessa – cutting 3 eggs in half can change the outcome. I’ve never halved the recipe, so I’m not sure how that would turn out. If you make a full batch, they do freeze well! 🙂 I’m glad the first batch turned out good!
Hi Dorothy, thanks for your response. I made another full batch and they turned out great, so I’m sure the problem had something to do with halving the recipe (maybe I overbeat the batter since there was less of it?)I did freeze a couple this time around; thank you for the tip and for posting this great recipe.
I stumbled across this recipe whilst trying to occupy my boredom and satisfy my sweet tooth simotaneously. Now I’m no baking genious, and I didn’t have butter on hand. But, I did have a tub of margarine, so I used that. Needless to say, the cupcakes did not turn out how they should have. But, they came out sort of pancake-like, so I topped them with rasberry jam and served them hot, and they’re delicious! Just thought I’d share my happy accident with all you guys out there! Can’t wait to try this recipe the way it was intended, but nonetheless, thank you for posting this!
Sorry about that Lauren! I’ve never used margarine in recipes, I guess it does change the texture!
Just found your recipe this morning and wanted to give it a try, but found I was short of eggs (decided to double the recipe). Many claim to have the “perfect Vanilla Cupcake” recipe and I am unhappy with the results from my oven. Not with yours! I wish I had the ingredients to make it exactly as you developed, but I did need to omit the filling and substituted 1/4 cup vegetable oil for missing egg. This is a very good recipe. I would encourge others to give it a try and post any substitutions or changes made and the results.
Thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂
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