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 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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When I combined my ingredients it looked as if it was curdled. I did add some more flour and it tasted like really great cornbread
Hi Mo, would you say the flavor or texture was more like cornbread? If it was the texture, these cupcakes are a little more on the dense side and if you added more flour, that would’ve made them more dense.
So should it look curled??
It wasn’t thick like your pictures,
Do you weigh your ingredients??
but I will try again
Hi Mo, Some batters do look a bit curdled as your mixing them, but I haven’t found that to be the case with this one. While I do provide weights/metric conversions for my recipes, I generally prepare my recipes using measuring cups (but I definitely recommend weighing ingredients if that’s what you typically do – it’s definitely more precise). I hope you have better luck next time around!
This was my first time making this recipe and I also noted the curdling effect. I always weigh my ingredients (flour, sugar), and did not overbeat at any step. I did make my own “buttermilk” using lemon juice and whole milk. Making a cake of this and it is in the oven as I type..I expect it will be fabulous, as are all the recipes on this site. Am not expecting a little curdling to make a difference.
hi there. this looks amazing. what if we only want to make 12? just cut it in half?
thank you!!!
Yup!
what would you use on the flour amount? thank you so much!!! cant wait to try
Hi Annie, I just did a little math and it sounds like you’ll need 1 and 1/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp.
thank you!!!
I do not like the texture of the cupcakes- very heavy/dense.
Hi Jenn!
I made this cake recipe and it was delicious! The only difficulty I am having is with the frosting. I’m in Tanzania and I cannot find cream cheese. Is there another name for cream cheese (I googled to see if there was but was still unsure). Is paneer similar, or the same? I have seen this available but am not sure if it is indeed cream cheese and/or if this would be a good substitute. Cheese is really expensive here so I wanted check. Any advice would be appreciated!
Hi Jama, I don’t know of another name but mascarpone cheese would also work. If you can’t find that, just replace the cream cheese with more butter. Hope that helps!
Hi Jenn! I love all your recipes and I would like to try this one for a friend’s birthday, can you advise if I could add sprinkles to make them funfetti cupcakes and if I could replace the butter milk with sour cream instead? Thanks so much and looking forward to hearing back from you!
Hi Trish, so glad you like the recipes! Yes, I think you can add sprinkles to the batter and replace the buttermilk with sour cream. You’ll just need to thin the buttermilk out with a little bit of milk to get it to the right texture. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your quick response! How much sprinkles would you recommend I add to the batter? I am looking forward to trying this recipe!
Hi Trish, I suggested about 1/2 cup. 🙂
Hi Jenn, just wanted to let you know, I replaced the buttermilk with sour cream and added sprinkles to the recipe, it turned out super delicious so much so, I made it twice! Thanks so much again for your recipes, they are the BEST! (this will be my go to birthday funfetti cupcakes!!)
Hi Jenn! I would like to bake these for a friend who is allergic to eggs but is it possible to remove the eggs or an egg replacement suggestion? I have heard you can sub eggs out for baking soda/vinegar or yogurt or bananas, would any of these work in the recipe? Thanks so much!!
Hi Trish, A number of readers that avoid eggs have mentioned that they use flax eggs when baking. I would assume many baking recipes would also work with some kind of egg substitute. Hope that helps and that your friend enjoys!
Jenn – You are my idol! I don’t think that there is ONE recipe of yours that I have tried that has been nothing less than stellar! I made these gluten free and they’re amazing. Love Love Love!!!! Thank you for all the hard work you do to make this blog as amazing as it is!
You’re so welcome!! 💗
Hi Lilli and Jenn,
I agree with Lilli’s praise of Jenn and her recipes!!!!
Could you explain how you made these GF?
I need to bake for my daughter’s April wedding while traveling to multiple states, so we decided cupcakes topped by small cake would be easiest.
Hi Liz, I’d recommend using an all-purpose gluten-free flour. A lot of readers have commented that they have good luck with King Arthur brand. Hope that helps and congrats to your daughter!
Hi Jenn! Love your recipes. Everything I’ve made from this site has been delicious. I want to make these but don’t have any buttermilk. I’ve read that you can make your own by adding a tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar to a cup of milk. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks so much 🙂
Yes, Denise, it’s perfectly fine to make your own buttermilk. Hope you enjoy!
Delicious cupcakes, especially the frosting!
One comment: I will try using foil liners next time – I bought really cute printed paper liners (the cupcakes were for my friend’s birthday), but the amount of butter in the batter soaked through the paper and just about obliterated the nice printed design!!
I made this as a single layer cake, and it turned out so fluffy and light! The flavor was also very light and the cream cheese icing went perfect with it. Highly recommend.
Hi – do you use granulated white sugar, or caster sugar? thanks
Hi Alex, the cupcakes call for granulated white sugar and the frosting confectioners’ sugar. Hope you enjoy!