I love coming up with creative new cupcake flavors. And I love being served creative new cupcake flavors. But at the end of the day, if given a choice between, well, pretty much any kind of cupcake and a vanilla cupcake, that delicious little white cupcake almost always wins.
I don’t know what it is about it, but I love a good vanilla cupcake. Always have. Always will.
But I feel like I need to make a confession. When it came to homemade, I was a closet “box mix” girl for years. Yep. Would show up to a party with “homemade “vanilla cupcakes, and everyone would oooh and ahhh and think that they were from some fancy homemade recipe. But the reality was that I had just never been able to find a recipe that rivaled the taste, texture and (admittedly) the ease of a box mix…until now.
I think I have finally figured out my favorite homemade vanilla cupcake!! And I kind of wanna shout it from the rooftops, because this recipe is amazing!!! It has all of the wonderful vanilla flavor and the light texture of a box mix. But it happens to be made from scratch with all normal everyday ingredients, plus a vanilla bean and some Greek yogurt. Easy peasy. And to stay pure, I topped these with a classic vanilla buttercream.
It doesn’t get any more “vanilla” than that, people! But if you’re like me, you will love it too. Enjoy!
Favorite Vanilla Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 16-18 cupcakes 1x
Description
My favorite vanilla cupcake recipe with a classic vanilla buttercream!
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes Ingredients:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream (avoid non-fat versions of either)
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 2/3 cup whole milk
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 1 vanilla bean (optional)
- 3-4 Tbsp. milk or heavy cream
Instructions
To Make The Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
- Add granulated sugar and vanilla bean to the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds until blended. Add in the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and beat for an additional 1 minutes until well-mixed. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for about 2 minutes until well combined and a little crumbly.
- In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, Greek yogurt (or sour cream), and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
- Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be very thin and liquid.
- Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. Remove and let cool on a cooling rack. Once the cupcakes have reached room temperature, frost with the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (recipe below).
To Make The Buttercream Frosting:
- Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, salt, vanilla extract, the seeds of a vanilla bean and about 2 Tbsp. milk and reduce speed to low. Beat for a minute or so until the sugar no longer sprays. Then increase speed to medium high and beat for an additional minute until smooth. Add an extra tablespoon or two of the milk if you need a thinner frosting.
I have made these twice they were the best vanilla cupcakes i have ever made! I used sour cream instead of Greek yogurt, and used plain vanilla yogurt instead of milk. They had rich butter flavor were moist and were totally gone in a couple minutes!!!
I made these cupcakes after trying several other recipes and they were, by far, the best. I would like to make a three layered 8 inch cake out of this. How much would I need to increase the recipe?
I really made sure that I will always have a room for dessert
How could I convert this to make a half sheet cake? Or a 13×9 in cake pan?
This was just what I was looking for! I used vanilla paste (instead of the bean) and used buttermilk instead of milk. The cupcakes were moist and light. I also tried chocolate cupcakes by adding 6T cocoa powder instead of the vanilla paste, it was also YUMMY! I made cupcakes and sheet cake (9×13 pan 350 degrees, 25-28 minutes) today. We love the butterlane recipes but we donʻt have the right oven so it seems like its hit or miss when we bake, but these came out no matter what. I made four recipes today, all baked up just right. SO HAPPY I FOUND YOU ON PINTEREST :)
These are my go-to cupcakes. Do you have any suggestions on using add ins with this cupcake? Sprinkles, Oreos, Pineapple, Berries, Etc.?
I love this recipe so much, but want to be able to make numerous flavors. I would love any suggestions you may have! Thank you. :)
Vanessa
We’re so glad you enjoy these, Vanessa! We haven’t experimented with add-ins in these, but you certainly could! You could stick a few berries in there or chocolate chips. We actually bet some of the toppings you mentioned would be great on top of the cupcakes! :)
Can I make these in mini cup cake liners? I would like to fill them with passion fruit, is that possible?
Sure, you can do mini cupcakes for this recipe, it’ll just make a ton! And you can fill them with passion fruit as well, if you like. We hope you enjoy!
I have a question, how would you make this cupcake recipe into a cake recipe that won’t make it taste dry?
Hi Kendra! We think you could probably bake a 9-inch cake with this recipe. It shouldn’t be dry, just make sure you don’t over-mix the batter or over-bake! :)
Do you need to alter anything about this recipe if you want to make a cake?
Hi Kellie! Yes, this will make 1 8 or 9-inch cake (so we would double it if you want to make a two-layer cake). Also, it will take longer to bake (we’d suggest setting the timer for 25 minutes and then checking from that point on) — it could take longer. We hope this helps and that you enjoy!