These Easy Vanilla Cupcakes are so delicious. A moist vanilla cupcake recipe that is simple to make. Top with any kind of frosting you like. These cupcakes will surely disappear quickly when served at birthday parties and baby showers.
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These Easy Vanilla Cupcakes can be made in less than 30 minutes with ingredients that you probably already have at home.
Top with whatever frosting you like for a birthday, baby shower or any occasion! This simple cupcake recipe can be served any time!
Vanilla cupcakes from scratch are so much better than anything you'll find at the store. They're fun to bake and to enjoy!
Why We Love This Easy Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
- Quick to make: You can make these cupcakes in under 30 minutes!
- Super moist: These cupcakes are honestly better than any store bought cupcake!
- Easy to customize:You can add whatever delicious frosting you like to this recipe
Ingredients for Vanilla Cupcakes from Scratch
To make easy vanilla cupcakes you'll need:
How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes
Making vanilla cupcakes from scratch is easy! Here's how to do it:
- Prep - Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Make cupcake batter - In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth. Once combined, add in the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.
- Incorporate dry ingredients - Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Be careful not to overmix the batter on this step.
- Add in milk - Once the flour mixture is completely incorporated, add the milk and slowly stir until the batter reaches a smooth consistency.
- Bake - Pour the batter into your cupcake liners and cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Storing Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes
Storing: You can store these vanilla cupcakes for up to 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature or up to a week in the refrigerator.
Freezing: We don't recommend freezing vanilla cupcakes after they have been frosted. It's fine to freeze the cupcakes plain without frosting. Wrap them individually in saran wrap before freezing and then store in an airtight container.
Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe Substitutions
Sugar: We don't recommend substituting white sugar unless you have to, but White sugar can be used interchangeably with brown sugar. You can add 1 teaspoon of molasses to white sugar to make brown sugar. Check out this post on Sugar Substitutes for Baking for other ideas.
Butter: Butter is essential to this recipe. We haven't tried it with dairy free butter but it might work!
Eggs: We don't recommend substituting eggs, but you can read this article on Egg Substitutions for Baking if you need to substitute. Try it at your own risk!
Vanilla Extract: Helps to add flavor, we don't recommend substituting.
All Purpose Flour: We don't recommend substituting the flour, but you can check out this article on Cake Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour or Substitutions for All-Purpose Flour
Baking Powder: Baking powder is essential for this recipe. Do NOT substitute with baking soda.
Milk: You can substitute milk with half and half, low fat milk or non dairy milk.
Why are my cupcakes spreading too much?
This can be caused by one of two things. The first is too much baking powder. As a leavening agent, too much baking powder will cause the cupcakes to rise too much.
Secondly, over mixing the batter can cause spreading to occur. Over mixing the batter will cause the cupcakes to rapidly rise and then deflate in the oven, creating a mess of overspreading and hollow cupcakes.
How do I make my cupcakes light and fluffy?
The key to achieving a light and fluffy cupcake is creating air bubbles within the batter. This is why it is so crucial to avoid overmixing your batter. Doing so will result in you destroying the air bubbles that form in the batter, creating a dense cupcake.
The best way to ensure you don’t over mix the batter is to slowly mix your ingredients. If you are using a stand mixer or hand mixer, make sure you keep it at a lower speed. If you mix your batter slowly, you will help form air bubbles that will give you light, fluffy, and delicious cupcakes.
Frosting Options for Vanilla Cupcakes
You can use any frosting you like on your cupcakes, but our favorite is chocolate ganache!
Chocolate water ganache makes a great frosting for vanilla cupcakes and it is so easy that anybody can do it! All you need is chocolate chips and a little bit of water.
- Start by melting your chocolate chips in the microwave at 10-second intervals.
- Once the chocolate is completely melted, add a teaspoon of water at a time, mixing the chocolate thoroughly, until your ganache reaches the desired consistency.
- This gives you the freedom to determine just how thick or runny you would like the ganache to be.
We also love these Strawberry Vanilla Cupcakes - the frosting is delicious!
FAQ About Vanilla Cupcakes
A moist cupcake comes from a combination of ingredients and preparation. Moist cupcakes have both butter and milk added to them. It's also important to not over mix your cupcakes which can make them much more dense!
Vanilla cupcakes might be dry if there isn't enough fat in the cupcakes. More oil or fat will help you have a moist cupcake.
More Cupcake Recipes You'll Love
If you love cupcakes, you have to try these other delicious cupcake recipes:
Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cup white flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and softened butter until smooth and no chunks of butter remain.
- Once combined, add in the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.
- Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Be careful not to overmix the batter on this step.
- Once the flour mixture is completely incorporated, add the milk and slowly stir until the batter reaches a smooth consistency.
- Pour the batter into your cupcake liners, filling ¾ the way and cook for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Allow cupcakes to cool before frosting and enjoy
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