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Vanilla Cupcakes

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By Jenn Segal
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Made with buttermilk and topped with cream cheese frosting, these are the most luscious vanilla cupcakes. 

Vanilla cupcakes on and around a raised platter.

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

vanilla cupcake ingredients

Step-by-Step Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.

eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla ready to whisk

Whisk well and set aside. The mixture will start to look curdled as it sits; that’s okay.

whisked buttermilk mixture

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in electric mixer

Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine.

mixed dry ingredient mixture

Add the soft butter and half of the buttermilk mixture.

adding butter and half of buttermilk mixture

Mix on low speed until moistened but still a little crumbly, about 1 minute.

moistened vanilla cupcake batter

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining buttermilk mixture,

adding 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.

pale and creamy vanilla cupcake batter

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans, filling the cups almost full.

vanilla cupcakes ready to bake

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.

vanilla cupcakes cooling on rack

Frost the cooled cupcakes with icing and store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Vanilla cupcakes on and around a raised platter.

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Vanilla Cupcakes

Metric Cup Measures
By Jenn Segal, adapted from Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri

Made with buttermilk and topped with cream cheese frosting, these are the most luscious vanilla cupcakes. 

Servings: 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Total Time: 45 Minutes, plus time to cool the 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.)
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Note: If you’d like to make your own buttermilk, check out the easy method here.
  6. 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.
  7. 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

Powered by Edamam

  • 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
Nutritional Data Disclaimer

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’ve made this recipe a couple times before, and this time I was thinking of turning them into lemon cupcakes. How much lemon zest/juice would you recommend adding? I was also thinking of doing a blackberry frosting. Do you think adding strained and reduced blackberry to the cream cheese frosting would work, or better to stick with a buttercream? Thanks! (I love all your recipes, and cook from this site and your book all the time!)

    • Hi Ilana, I would not recommend adding lemon juice but you could add up to a tablespoon of lemon zest. And regarding the frosting, yes as long as the blackberries are reduced and puréed, I think you could add some to the cream cheese frosting. If you make them I’d love to see a picture of them! Feel free to send me one at jennifer@onceuponachef.com. 🙂

  • Perfect cupcakes!

  • Hello, Jenn! Could I add a strained strawberry purée to the frosting for a bit of color and flavor? Thanks in advance!

    • — Maggy Makowski
    • Reply

    • Hi Maggie, I wouldn’t recommend it as the extra liquid from the purée may make the frosting too thin. You could pulverize some dehydrated strawberries so that they are the texture of dust and incorporate them into the frosting. That will give it some strawberry flavor and pretty color. Hope that helps!

  • Cupcakes were a bit dry. I would suggest cutting the bake time a bit as well. Looked great and great flavor but dry.

    • These cupcakes were amazing! I only baked for 18 minutes and they were perfect and moist. Thanks for the awesome recipe.

      • Can I make frosting ahead of time?

        • — Michelle barnard
        • Reply

        • Sure, I would refrigerate it and let it come to room temperature before spreading.

  • Nice flavor, but these cupcakes are not moist. I’ve made this recipe 3 different times, using different types of flour(cake & all purpose). It is just not a great recipe.

  • Hi Jenn. Would these cupcakes pair well with your old fashion buttercream icing? Looking forward to trying this one!

  • I made these and they were great fresh… But I put them in the fridge to store them, and they went rock hard.

    • Hi Katrina, Did you store them in an airtight container? If so, once you bring them back to room temperature, they should soften up.

  • Hi Jen,

    I really enjoy your website and trying new recipes. I want to try your Vanilla Cupcake recipe but make a cake for my son’s birthday. I don’t have two 9″ baking pans and would like to make this in a Bundt pan. Would that work and what would the baking time and oven temp be?

    Thank you!

    • Hi Joanne, Glad you like the recipes! I wouldn’t recommend this recipe in a bundt pan as I’m concerned it would stick. While it’s a tiny bit different, I’d recommend this one instead (it’s delicious)!

  • Does it make 24 cupcakes in jumbo muffin tins or regular sized tins?

    • Regular-sized tins. 🙂

      • Hi, I made this as a layer cake with nutella frosting for my birthday and it was amazing! Thank you! Is it possible to half the recipe to get half the amount of cupcakes?

        Thanks

        Linda

        • Glad you enjoyed it (and happy birthday)! Yes, it would be fine to halve the recipe/number of cupcakes. 🙂

  • Hi! These look amazing and I can’t wait to try them out. One question: Can I use vanilla bean instead of extract? I was hoping to make these a little extra fancier for a close friend, but I wasn’t sure if it would change or make the flavor of the cupcakes strange.

    • Hi Madelyn, I haven’t made these with vanilla bean but I think it should work. Hope your friend enjoys!

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