Vanilla Cupcakes
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Made with buttermilk and topped with cream cheese frosting, these are the most luscious vanilla cupcakes.
When my kids were little, I started a baking business specializing in cakes and cupcakes, mostly for children’s parties. Before I began, I spent weeks testing every type of cake recipe under the sun, often baking into the middle of the night. Michael would wake up in the morning to find the kitchen overflowing with all flavors of cakes and cupcakes. He thought I’d lost my mind—little did he know I was just discovering my passion for developing recipes, which was the motivation for starting my blog. These are the vanilla cupcakes that won me over. They have a fluffy, downy texture and rich vanilla flavor. Top them with swirls of cream cheese frosting or rich chocolate buttercream.
If you’d like to make the recipe as a layer cake, it works beautifully; simply divide the batter into two 8-inch cake pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The recipe also works in a 9×13-in cake pan, baked for 30 minutes.
What you’ll need to make vanilla Cupcakes
Step-by-Step Instructions
In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.
Whisk well and set aside. The mixture will start to look curdled as it sits; that’s okay.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine.
Add the soft butter and half of the buttermilk mixture.
Mix on low speed until moistened but still a little crumbly, about 1 minute.
With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining buttermilk mixture,
Increase the speed to medium and mix for three minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter should look pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again, making sure the batter is evenly mixed.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans, filling the cups almost full.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom and back to front midway through. Remove from the oven when the cupcakes are set, lightly golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean (note that one pan may finish cooking before the other). Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Frost the cooled cupcakes with icing and store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
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- Vanilla Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Vanilla Cupcakes
Made with buttermilk and topped with cream cheese frosting, these are the most luscious vanilla cupcakes.
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 cup buttermilk (see note)
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2¾ cups cake flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off (see note)
- 2 cups sugar
- Heaping ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pans
- Cream cheese frosting or rich chocolate buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and set an oven rack in the middle position. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Lightly grease the top of the muffin pans with butter so the cupcake tops don't stick.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside. (Note that the mixture will start to look curdled as it sits; that's okay.)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine. Add the soft butter and half of the buttermilk mixture and mix on low speed until moistened but still a little crumbly, about 1 minute. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining buttermilk mixture, then increase the speed to medium and mix for three minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter should look pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again, making sure the batter is evenly mixed.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans, filling the cups almost full. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom and back to front midway through. Remove from the oven when the cupcakes are set, lightly golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean (note that one pan may finish cooking before the other). Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Frost the cupcakes and store in an airtight container until ready to serve. The cupcakes are best served fresh on the day they are made, but they will keep nicely for up to 2 days.
- Note: If you’d like to make your own buttermilk, check out the easy method here.
- Note: Cake flour gives the cupcakes a fine texture. All-purpose flour can be substituted, but the cupcakes will be a bit heavier. To make your own cake flour, you can whisk together 2½ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cornstarch.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cupcakes can be frozen without the frosting for up to 3 months. Let them cool completely, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and then in foil. Thaw overnight on the countertop before serving. (Wait until the cupcakes are defrosted to ice them.)
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 379
- Fat: 19 g
- Saturated fat: 12 g
- Carbohydrates: 49 g
- Sugar: 37 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Sodium: 155 mg
- Cholesterol: 83 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Comments
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I made this in two 9 inch cake pans, as the recipe proposed. The cake was WONDERFUL (5 stars!) but the frosting was way too sweet (2 stars). I appreciated the alternative cake pan instructions will make the cake again, but look for a different vanilla frosting.
Thank you so much! These were a hit! Honestly, they taste so much like sugar cookies… and I love sugar cookies!
I made 3 different frostings with them. Whipped cream, buttercream and cream cheese. I’ve made them and taken them to the hospital staff and they were gone within 30 min!
I’ve tried other cupcake recipes and this is by far the best, got comments on how moist they are! Thanks again.
I baked these cupcakes with my siblings and they turned out perfectly! Thank you so much for the recipe. I loved it!
Hello,
If you have them, could you please give me the Nutrition facts on these cupcakes. My granddaughter is diabetic and i need the carb count.
Thanks so much!
Hi Jeannette, I just added the nutritional info. 🙂
Can I add chocolate chips to the recipe, and if so how many? I was thinking that if they were mixed in the flour first they wouldn’t sink to the bottom. Would love to hear what you think.
Hi Li, yes, you can add 1/2 – 1 cup of chocolate chips to the recipe. I’d toss them in a tiny bit of flour and fold them into the batter at the end. And I’d suggest mini chips as due to their lighter weight, they are less likely to sink. Please LMK how they turn out if you make them!
Hi there! Your recipes are fabulous. My son really wants a vanilla Costco sheet cake for his birthday next week and I am going to attempt to make this cake for him. Do you recommend I use this recipe with vanilla frosting or the vanilla birthday cake recipe? Just trying to mock a sheet cake with vanilla/vanilla flavor. Thanks so much!
Hi Mimi, So glad you like the recipes! I think I’d probably go with this recipe for a sheet cake. Happy early birthday to your son! 🙂
Thanks so much Jenn! I will use this recipe. Question about the frosting- wanted to make it less of a cream cheese flavor and more vanilla. Would you suggest I use less cream cheese and add an extra tsp of vanilla or more powdered sugar? I can play around with it for flavor, but a good base point will help!
Hi Mimi, Based on what you’re describing, you may want to use the frosting from the Vanilla Birthday Cake. Hope that helps!
Hi,
Is this a high altitude recipe?
I live at 7000 ft.
Thanks
Mad
Hi Mad, This was not designed as a high altitude recipe and I don’t have experience baking at high altitudes so, unfortunately, I don’t have any wisdom to share in terms of any necessary changes – I’m sorry! You may find these tips helpful though.
Hi Jenn👋
Can i use milk instead of buttermilk?
because we don’t have buttermilk where i’m from.
Hi Hasti, You really need buttermilk for this, but if you don’t have access to it, you can easily make your own. See how here. Hope that helps!
Thank you
Hi Jenn,
Recently made your banana nut muffins but substituted nuts for choc chip and they were amazing.
Now, I’d like to try these cupcakes but need some help;
1) is confectioners sugar the same as icing sugar?
2) as we don’t have buttermilk where I’m from, I’ve read some suggestions to use sour cream and thin it out; how much milk would need to be added to the sour cream? I have no idea what buttermilk consistency should be. Would it alter the taste/texture?
Hi Ash, Glad you liked the muffins! In answer to your questions:
1. Yes, confectioners’ sugar and icing sugar are the same thing.
2. To substitute sour cream for buttermilk, combine 3 to 4 tablespoons of milk plus enough sour cream to equal 1 cup and whisk to combine. You can also make your own buttermilk. See how here.
Hope that helps!
Jenn can I make a cake from this recipe instead of cupcakes? My mom’s 83 birthday is tomorrow and I think she would love this.
Definitely. Just divide the batter into two 9-inch cake pans (buttered and lined with buttered parchment paper). Bake time will be about 30 minutes. Happy birthday to your mom!
I made these cupcakes once before and they were divine, so I decided to use the recipe to make my son’s first birthday cake. I had never made a cake from scratch before. It was easy and turned out so well. He loved it, especially the frosting!