These Vanilla Cupcakes will easily become your go-to cupcake recipe! These soft, buttery cupcakes are completely from scratch using the reverse creaming method. It’s the best vanilla cupcake you will ever taste!
Top these with my Perfect Buttercream for the perfect birthday cupcake!
Everyone Needs a Vanilla Cupcake Recipe That Always Turns Out Perfect!
Today we’re taking it back to basics! This vanilla cupcake recipe is one I shared many years ago, back in 2013 but I thought needed an update. The recipe remains the same, but I wanted to include some more tips and tricks for ultimate cupcake success. PLUS, I felt like they needed some pretty new pictures!
A classic vanilla cupcake might seem like a basic or no-brainer type of recipe to bake, but I will tell you that it took me many years to perfect! There was a lot of trial and error that went into this recipe to get the texture moist, light, and soft! So many recipes I have tried in the past have been too dense, or too dry, or too too oily. But this one is soft, buttery, and light in texture with the perfect dome.
How To Make The Best Vanilla Cupcakes
The trick I use in this vanilla cake recipe is the Reverse Creaming Method. I have used this in a few other recipes on my site, like my Confetti Cupcakes and LOVE how they turn out. Reverse creaming produces an ultra-fine crumb, which makes these cupcakes super tender!
What Is Reverse Creaming?
Reverse Creaming is when you mix the butter into the dry ingredients before mixing in the remaining ingredients and liquids. Generally when you bake a cake you cream the butter and sugar together to start and then add the dry ingredients in alternating additions with the wet.
Reverse creaming evenly combines the butter into the dry ingredients creating a coarse sand texture, coating all the dry ingredients with fat, and then add in the remaining ingredients. We’re always told when making cake batter NOT TO OVER MIX! because over-mixing batter can cause more gluten to form, creating a denser, less light and airy cake. BUT reverse creaming coats the flour in fat which minimizes gluten formation. This also creates smaller air particles being formed in the mixing, producing a finer crumb, and a perfect dome.
Ingredients:
- Cake flour
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Baking powder
- Kosher salt
- Room temperature butter
- Large eggs
- Milk
- Vanilla extract. I like to use pure vanilla to impart the most vanilla flavor. Adding vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste will really amp this up too!
Let’s get started, the process is super easy, but just make sure to follow a few quick steps to ensure perfection!
- Prepare oven and muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the cake flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir together using paddle attachment for 1 minute on low speed.
- Add butter and eggs. With mixer still on low, drop in butter, a few cubes at a time, continuing until all butter is in and mixer resembles coarse sand. The add in the eggs one at a time until combined.
- Add milk and vanilla. With mixer still on low slowly pour in milk and vanilla. Turn the mixer to medium and beat for 2 minutes until batter is smooth, scraping sides of bowl as necessary, making sure batter is well combined.
- Add batter to cupcake tin and bake. Fill liners 2/3 full (about 1/4 cup batter) and bake for 15-20 minutes until centers are set and toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool and decorate! Allow to cool completely before frosting.
What Frosting Recipe Should I Use On Vanilla Cupcakes?
- Buttercream. Of course this is my go-to on vanilla cupcakes! It’s a traditional American Buttercream made with butter and powdered sugar/confectioners sugar and it’s what I have frosted on the cupcakes in the pictures featured here!
- Chocolate Frosting. A vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting is a classic, and my Creamy Chocolate Frosting Recipe is the BEST!
- Perfect Party Frosting. This recipe is a marshmallow buttercream with sprinkles INSIDE! It’s a fantastic recipe!
- Pumpkin Butter Frosting. This is a great recipe to give your cupcakes a fall twist!
- 2 Ingredient White Chocolate Buttercream. Creamy, decadent, with the perfect amount of sweetness, this recipe is silky and rich!
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Feel free to get creative with your frosting. I used a Wilton 1M tip for the swirls in these photos, and it’s my go-to piping tip! And of course don’t forget the sprinkles!
Print
My Favorite Vanilla Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 24 cupcakes 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This vanilla cupcake recipe is easy, soft, and moist! The perfect birthday cupcake topped with a tall swirl of frosting!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare oven and muffin tin. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
- Combine dry ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the cake flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and stir together using paddle attachment for 1 minute on low speed.
- Add butter and eggs. With mixer still on low, drop in butter, a few cubes at a time, continuing until all butter is in and mixer resembles coarse sand. The add in the eggs one at a time until combined.
- Add milk and vanilla. With mixer still on low slowly pour in milk and vanilla. Turn the mixer to medium and beat for 2 minutes until batter is smooth, scraping sides of bowl as necessary, making sure batter is well combined.
- Add batter to cupcake tin and bake. Fill liners 2/3 full (about 1/4 cup batter) and bake for 15-20 minutes until centers are set and toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool and decorate! Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Notes
Store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 168
- Sugar: 15.2 g
- Sodium: 90.9 mg
- Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 28.5 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 31.2 mg
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Hey Shelly! I am wanting to make this as a 9″ cake and wondering what do I change the bake time to? Thank you!!
Made these today and my family LOVED them, I paired them with your Salted Caramel Butter cream and sauce, all combined a little too sweet for me, but no problem for everyone else. Once these are baked the “fluffy, but not airy” quote makes complete sense! These are very delicious even without a frosting on them! Thanks a ton for the recipe~!
I’m new to cupcake baking and wondered why some recipes call for the “sugar and butter” creaming method, while others like yours mix ingredients differently? Seems to me this is a major difference. I end up with dense cupcakes most of the time so I’m highly interested in finding out the secret to light and airy cupcakes baked from scratch. Should the batter be “pourable”? How critical is it to have a mixer with a “paddle” attachment, as I only have regular beaters. Also, when the recipe calls for cake flour, does that actually mean buy a box of cake mix? Thanks for your recipe and for all the tips to help this newbie.
The batter for these isn’t necessarily pourable. I use a chocolate cake recipe that the batter is SO thin, but they turn out great! This batter is a little thicker, but nothing like some vanilla cake recipes I’ve used in the past. Yes, use a paddle attachment for cakes.. it will definitely help with the texture, as you don’t want to over beat.. they’re definitely worth getting. And cake flour is not cake mix. It’s a special flour that they sell by the box down the flour aisle. It’s a little silkier. You could make it yourself if you can’t find it.. here’s a link.. http://joythebaker.com/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/
So happy to have found your recipe! I’ve tried a ton and this was my absolute favorite. Easy to make, and great result. The texture is perfect and the flavor is divine. Thanks so much for sharing!
I just made these cupcakes and they are awesome! I’ve added this to my Pepperplate as my new go-to cupcake recipe.
I have been using variations on Martha Stewart and Billy’s cupcake recipes, but they always come out with that slightly cornbread-y texture that you mentioned. Actually, until I tried this recipe, I didn’t realize how inferior my previous recipes were.
Also, we tend to like our baked goods not-too-sweet (and add sweetness with frosting). I reduced the sugar by about 1/4-1/2 cup, leaving the other ingredients the same. It came out perfect. Thanks!
I have been searching for the perfect vanilla cupcake and thanks to you I have found it! Thank you!!!
I just made these and they’re delicious! I’d been looking for a vanilla cupcake that was light but not too dry…and I usually cop out and make chocolate instead. I could only squeeze 21 cupcakes out of my batter, which is too bad because they are SO yummy and I want as many as possible : ). Thanks for the great recipe!
Just wanted to let you know I made these cupcakes and they are absolutely wonderful! So great in fact that I’ll be using them for a wedding reception I’m baking for at the end of this month. I blogged about your recipe also, thanks so very much!
http://lifessimplemeasures.blogspot.com/2013/06/better-than-classic-vanilla-cupcakes.html
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I love seeing food bloggers post basics! I made these with your recommended buttercream yesterday for my daughters 6th birthday– (Rock Star slumber party!- so cute) They were a HUGE hit!
These look like perfect vanilla cupcakes! I love your photos too!