22 Quick and Easy Recipes in 30 Minutes (or less) + 5 Chef Secrets To Make You A Better Cook!

Home Recipes Dessert Cakes, Pies & Tarts

Vanilla Cupcakes

Jump to Recipe
By Jenn Segal
Save Recipe
Tested & Perfected Recipes

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.

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.

You may also like

Print

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.

See more recipes:

Comments

Load Previous

  • Hi,

    Will be making these cupcakes for a friend’s birthday tomorrow. However i will be using a 6 muffin pan and baking in batches. Do we need to refrigerate the batter between the batches?
    Please let me know

    Thanks!
    Sri

    • Hi Sri, If you’re making the batches back-to-back without much lag time in between, you don’t need to refrigerate the batter.

      • Thanks for the awesome recipe.Made a princess pullapart cupcake cake with these cupcakes and they were a hit!
        This recipe sure is a keeper. Thanks once again!

  • What is the substitute for liquid buttermilk? The only available ingredient in my place is powdered buttermilk. Thanks 🙂

    • Hi Sunshine, you can make your own buttermilk: Just add 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or white vinegar to regular milk and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.

  • These cupcakes are amazing! I baked 3 batches for my elementary club kids for our party tomorrow. Can’t wait to surprise them with these yummy treats. Thank you for sharing your recipe.

  • These cupcakes are excellent! Moist, flavorful and light. I diced up some strawberries and added to the batter before baking for some strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were out of this world amazing.

  • I made this but used lemon instead of vanilla flavoring and was very pleased with the results. Very moist cupcake and lovely frosting. Pinning it as my main cupcake base recipe to change it up and get creative.

  • These cupcakes were amazing!!

  • Absolutely hit it outta the park!! These were a huge hit in my house.
    I served this w/ chocolate cream cheese frosting. Thanks again for another AMAZING recipe 🙂

  • Can I use milk instead of buttermilk? Will it affect the outcome?

    • Hi Diana, Unfortunately, the cake won’t rise without the buttermilk. If you don’t have any, you could always make your own by adding lemon juice or vinegar to the milk. Here’s how.

      • Thanks Jen!

        I made the recipe exactly as you wrote it for my son’s first birthday. Everyone loved them!

        A few notes. I ended up with 20 cupcakes instead of 24. I also halved the amount of frosting and still had enough frosting for another batch of cupcakes. I also sprinkled coconut flakes on top of each cupcake.

        • Thanks for the feedback, Diana. So glad everyone enjoyed them!

  • Hi!
    can I use cake flour instead?
    Great site thanks! ,

    • I wouldn’t use cake flour with this recipe. Sorry!

  • These were absolutely delicious, made exactly as Jenn wrote.

    • Glad you enjoyed them, Sara!

Load More

Add a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.