An easy recipe for vanilla cupcakes topped with a simple vanilla buttercream frosting. These cupcakes are perfect for any occasion!
I can’t even begin to tell you how many cupcakes I’ve baked in the last few weeks. I’m talking dozens upon dozens of cupcakes trying to find the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe. I know there are a million vanilla cupcake recipes out there, but I was on a mission to create a recipe that was easy to make and tasted good.
Vanilla cupcakes may seem a little boring, but I think it’s good to have one in your recipe collection that you can use over and over again. This recipe is the one I will be using all of the time from now on!
The base of the recipe is simple ingredients, most of which you probably have at home right now. You’ll start with some all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. When you’re measuring your flour don’t pack it into the cup. Be sure to stir the flour around first, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level if off with the back of a knife.
I always measure my flour with the spoon and level method to ensure that I’m measuring it correctly. Too much flour and you’ll end up with dense cupcakes, or muffins. I use a food scale when measuring ingredients too, which isn’t necessary, but it helps to know that I’m getting the exact measurements I need for a recipe.
Then come the wet ingredients, softened butter, granulated sugar, two large eggs, two teaspoons of vanilla, and sour cream. Yes. Sour cream!
I’ve tried milk, buttermilk, a mixture of different things and I love using sour cream. Not only does it add moisture to these cupcakes, but they’re sturdy enough to hold up to a nice pile of frosting yet light like a cupcake should be. I always use full fat sour cream when baking these cupcakes too.
And of course you have the vanilla frosting to go on top too. I like a lot of frosting on my cupcakes, so I use two full sticks of softened butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and just a bit of heavy cream. If you want just a little frosting, you can easily cut the recipe in half to make less.
One last thing when making these cupcakes is to only fill the liners just a little over halfway full. It may not seem like much batter, but they rise quite a bit in the oven and you end up with perfect cupcakes that aren’t overflowing the liners. I always get exactly 14 cupcakes with this recipe.
Ok, I think I’ve talked about cupcakes enough. Let’s get to baking!
Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes:
- 1 and 1/3 cup (165 grams) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (120 grams) full fat sour cream
Vanilla Frosting:
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 cups (360 grams) confectioner's sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream
Instructions
To make the vanilla cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second muffin pan with 2 liners (this recipe will make 14 cupcakes). Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Add in the sour cream and mix until fully combined.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined, making sure not to over mix the batter.
- Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them a little over half way full. You should end up with exactly 14 cupcakes.
- Bake in separate batches at 350F for 18-22 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. Remove all of the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl using a hand-held mixer) beat the butter on medium speed until smooth.
- Add in the confectioner's sugar and vanilla and mix on low until well combined. Slowly add in the heavy cream, increase the speed to medium-high, and mix for a few more minutes until the frosting is smooth and well combined.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired.
Notes
Thank you Danielle, I’ve made most of your recipes and love them all. I also love that I don’t have to scroll for hours to find your recipes also the recipes are written in very easy ways for reading
Thank you
Yvette
Danielle, this recipe – and the fabulous reviews! – have turned me from dreading making vanilla cupcakes to fully anticipating the finished product! I prefer… flavors…(!) but was tasked with vanilla cake/vanilla frosting for a friend’s birthday next week. I may be overthinking things: I am concerned about the frosting holding up in hot and humid summer temps, as we are forecast to be in the high 80’s with high humidity. We will be celebrating in a city park, and between traveling there and whatever eating and festivities take place prior to cake, it likely will be a few hours from my fridge ’til presentation and consumption. Any suggestions you may have are most welcome! (Should I adjust this frosting recipe? Use a different one? Simply keep them over cooler packs for the duration? I’m a confident cake baker, but absolutely the opposite when it comes to buttery frostings – and ones like swiss buttercream that require temp checks scare the heck out of me!)
I’d recommend keeping them over some ice packs in a cooler until right before you plan to serve them and they should be fine. Shortening has a higher melting point than butter, so you could swap out half of the butter with an equal amount of shortening too.
Massive success!!! I made this frosting with half shortening, half butter and it worked like a dream. I did wimp out on piped swirls and simply spread using a knife. It was 94 degrees F and crazy humidity yesterday afternoon; the cupcakes were probably 2 hours over ice packs in a cooler, and not a sprinkle or subtle swirl were out of place when they finally were served. Or should I say gobbled up? Rave reviews from all! Thank you SO much Danielle for your recipes, your timely reply, and the confidence boost!
So happy to hear that they turned out great and everyone loved them!
Can you substitute gluten free flour for regular flour?
And can I substitute regular milk in the frosting recipe if I don’t have heavy whipping cream?
If it’s one that substitutes 1:1 for all-purpose flour, I think it would be okay. Yes, you can use milk in the frosting.
I’d give this recipe 10 stars if I could! It has changed my mind about “plain old” vanilla, and also received rave reviews from the vanilla lovers it was baked for. Fluffy, moist cake with a light sweetness and nice vanilla scent. The cakes domed beautifully, too, though they weren’t all that tall – I probably could have filled the tins a little more for an even dozen. Instead, I made the “extra” into a slightly larger cake in a ramekin for the birthday guy, which also baked great. I made 2 separate batches, first with only 3/4 cup sugar – but those seemed more muffin-like in flavor and texture, so I made the 2nd batch according to the recipe and they were great. Frosting sure is sweet! But I spread it instead of piling high and the partygoers all thought it was perfect – and they weren’t even sugar-hungry kids! Thanks Danielle!!
For this recipie and your chocolate cupcake recipe I got heavy whipping cream is that ok because it just says heavy cream?
Yes, they’re pretty much the same thing!
Hi Danielle made these and they werw truly amazing but will this recipe change if I use 1 egg instead of 2
It will likely change the texture of the cupcakes, I’d recommend sticking with 2 eggs in this recipe.
Hi, i am wondering if I could make this cupcake recipe into a cake? It tasted so good and I want my cake to taste the same. What do you suggest for time and temp?
Yes, that would be fine. It’s enough for one 8 or 9-inch cake. I’m not sure on the baking time but I would guess 25 to 35 minutes at 350°F.
I did your red velvet it was amazing. I followed the recipe and it came out perfect. I am now going to try the cupcakes. I know it will also be amazing. Thank you Danielle.
I have made your white chocolate chip cranberry cookies and added almond extract and a little bit of lemon juice in the batter and they came out amazing, then I made your chocolate chip cookies and did 1 tblsp of vanilla and 1 tblsp of almond extract and everyone loved them. Instead of regular flour can I use cake flour instead, and can I use almond extract instead of vanilla in the batter instead?
You can use cake flour in this recipe, but I’d recommend increasing it to 1 and 1/2 cups. You can also add some almond extract, but I would only use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.
Hi,
Looking forward to trying this recipe but can would want to make it dairy free. What do you suggest as a substitute for the sour cream? thanks
Heavy cream**
You could use almond milk in place of the heavy cream.
Can you use medium size eggs instead of of large eggs?
I recommend using 2 large eggs. You probably can use the medium eggs, but you would need to use the equivalent of two large eggs which is 100 grams total (without the shell). If you have a scale, you could lightly beat 3 medium eggs and weigh out 100 grams.
I made this for this weekend but needed to cancel. Can I freeze these? If yes, is in a ziplock bag sufficient and for how long would they last? Thank you.
Yes, you can freeze the cupcakes for up to 3 months. A freezer bag would be fine, I would just press as much air out of the bag as you can.