Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
This Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe makes perfectly moist, completely irresistible cupcakes! These light and fluffy cupcakes are topped with creamy vanilla buttercream and topped with sprinkles for the ultimate sweet treat.
Cupcake Ingredients
No need to make a stop at the grocery store for these cupcakes. They use basic ingredients that you most likely have in your pantry!
For the Vanilla Cupcakes
Here’s what you’ll need to make the vanilla cupcakes:
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- unsalted butter
- sugar
- vegetable oil
- vanilla extract
- eggs
- milk
For the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Here’s what you’ll need to make the creamy vanilla buttercream frosting:
- unsalted butter
- powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
- water or milk
- salt
How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat Oven & Prepare Dry Ingredients: To start, preheat your oven to 350°F and insert liners into your cupcake pan. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder & salt and set aside.
- Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, add your butter, sugar, oil and vanilla extract, beating together until the mixture is light and fluffy. This will take no less than 3-4 minutes. You’ll want to add your eggs next, one at a time, mixing after each until mostly combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Combine Wet & Dry Ingredients: Add half of your dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix until it’s mostly combined. Before you add the next half, slowly add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter might look a little curdled, but don’t worry! It’s supposed to look like that at this stage.
- Combine Next Half of Dry Ingredients: Add the rest of your dry ingredients, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix until smooth and combined, but make sure you don’t over-mix the batter.
- Bake Your Cupcakes: Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool on a cooling rack.
Vanilla Buttercream for Cupcakes
This creamy vanilla buttercream frosting is super easy to make in one bowl. You may have noticed that these cupcakes are loaded with frosting. That’s because I made one and a half times the frosting called for in the recipe. It’s my personal opinion that you can never have too much frosting, especially when it comes to this particular vanilla buttercream. If you follow the recipe for these cupcakes, you’ll end up with a more normal amount of frosting than what’s pictured.
- Cream the Butter and Sugar: Add butter to a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix until it’s smooth and well combined.
- Add Milk or Water: Add the salt and 1-2 tbsp of the milk or water, mixing again until well combined. Then, add in your remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. You can add more milk or water to alter the consistency if you’d like.
- Pipe the Frosting: Pipe or spread your frosting onto your cupcakes, decorate to your liking and enjoy!
Tips for the Best Vanilla Cupcakes
- Make sure you cream the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla completely. This will ensure that your cupcakes turn out perfect and that they’re not too dense.
- It’s a good idea to add a bit more milk or water if your frosting comes out too thick. Do this a little at a time to avoid thinning it out too much.
- Let your cupcakes cool completely before you frost them. If you don’t, the buttercream will melt and all your pretty piping will be ruined. You want the frosting to stay smooth and velvety.
Simple Decorating Ideas
It’s not hard to make these cupcakes picture-perfect. But there are tons of easy ways to dress them up and make them even prettier!
- Sprinkles: Add your favorite festive sprinkles to make these cupcakes a beautiful party treat.
- Fruit: Top them with a slice of strawberry, a few blueberries or any other fruit of your choice.
- Oreos: Garnish these cupcakes with an Oreo cookie or sprinkle them with crushed Oreos!
- Candy: Make these cupcakes even sweeter by adding your favorite pieces of candy.
- Pretzels: Turn these cupcakes into a sweet and salty treat by adding crushed pretzels or mini pretzel.
if you’re sprinkling a topping on the cupcakes, make sure to do it right after you pipe your frosting. This way, your sprinkles or crushed Oreos will stick perfectly!
RECIPE
Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 1 1/4 cups (163g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp (84g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (155g) sugar
- 2 tbsp (30ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (150ml) milk
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2–3 tbsp (30-45ml) water or milk
- Pinch or two of salt
Instructions
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
- Now it’s time to add the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
- Slowly add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter will look curdled, but that’s ok.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Carefully pour in about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add the vanilla extract and 1-2 tablespoons of the water or milk and the salt to the frosting and mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional milk or water as needed to get the right consistency.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I used Ateco tip 844.
- Cupcakes are best when stored well covered for 2-3 days.
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Vanilla Cupcakes