Everyone loves cupcakes! This is the only vanilla cupcake recipe you will need. They are super easy to make and the texture is light, fluffy, and melt-in-your-mouth good.
Watch the video tutorial below and you will be a pro in no time. We love these with our Cupcake Frosting because a cupcake isn’t a cupcake without frosting.
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Watch Vanilla Cupcakes Video Tutorial!
These cupcakes are perfect for birthday parties and baby showers and they always disappear fast which is why I always make a double batch for gatherings. They are quick and easy to make and homemade cupcakes taste way better than boxed cupcake mix.
Ingredients for Vanilla Cupcakes:
This recipe makes exactly 12 cupcakes and requires simple ingredients: all-purpose flour, butter, sugar, eggs, buttermilk, baking powder, salt and vanilla. The combination of softened butter and buttermilk creates an amazingly soft cupcake crumb that just melts in your mouth. Also, if you haven’t tried our (2-ingredient) Homemade Vanilla Extract, it will take your baked goods to the next level.
How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes:
These cupcakes are easy to master and you will be making bakery-quality cupcakes in no time.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a second bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer), beat together softened butter and sugar on medium-high speed 5 minutes until thick and fluffy.
- Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing to incorporate with each egg then blend in vanilla and scrape down the bowl.
- Reduce mixer to medium speed and add the flour in thirds, alternating with adding the 1/2 cup buttermilk and beating well between additions.
- Pour batter into 12 lined muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Bake in the center of the oven at 350˚F for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan then remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips for the BEST Cupcakes:
- Room Temperature Ingredients – eggs, buttermilk and butter must be at room temperature to keep your batter an even consistency.
- Alternate Adding Flour and Buttermilk – this keeps the mixture uniform and well blended. If you add in all of the flour or buttermilk at once, it can saturate the creamed butter and cause the mixture to separate. Mix well between each addition.
- Measure Correctly – be sure to use the proper measuring cups for wet and dry ingredients. Watch our video on measuring ingredients to ensure great results every time.
- Don’t Overfill – Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full or they will overflow and cause a muffin top. If you divide evenly between 12 cupcakes, you should have exactly enough batter. A trigger release Ice Cream Scoop makes portioning easier.
How to Decorate Cupcakes:
Once your cupcakes are cooled to room temperature, it’s time to decorate. This is a great vanilla cupcake base for just about any kind of frosting and toppings. We pipe frosting on with a pastry bag and our favorite Wilton 1M Tip. We have so many frosting options so pick your craving:
- Vanilla Cupcake Frosting – our go-to cupcake frosting
- Swiss Meringue Buttercream – well worth the extra effort
- Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting – whipped and decadent
- Blackberry Frosting – you’ll love the flavor and color
Common Questions:
Can I Make Cupcakes Ahead? Once cupcakes are at room temperature, cover and keep at room temperature overnight or refrigerate if storing for longer. After cupcakes are frosted, refrigerate until ready to serve. Cupcakes are great served chilled or at room temperature because they don’t harden with refrigeration.
Can I Use This Batter to Make a Cake? We’ve had great results turning it into a Vanilla Cake. You would need to double the recipe for two 9-inch cake layers.
Can I Substitute the Buttermilk? Plain kefir will also work well instead of buttermilk. You can also make your own buttermilk at a ratio of 1 cup whole milk to 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice. Combine and let it sit 10 minutes to curdle then stir and use.
How Long to Bake Cupcakes? Bake until the tops are springy and a toothpick inserted int the center comes out clean. These were perfectly baked at 350˚F for 22 minutes in a conventional oven.
More Cupcake Recipes:
Who can resist a cupcake? They’re just so cute and easy to love. We enjoy getting creative with cupcakes and they are one of the easiest desserts to make. These are our top-rated cupcake recipes:
- Moist Chocolate Cupcakes – this is a great base and so easy
- Pumpkin Cupcakes – with a marshmallow-soft frosting
- Honey Cupcakes – with a cherry filling
- Dark Chocolate Cupcakes – with white chocolate frosting
Perfect Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, or plain kefir, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Set flour mix aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed 5 minutes until thick and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition then scrape down the bowl. Add 2 tsp vanilla and beat to combine.
- Reduce mixer speed to medium and add the flour mixture in thirds alternating with the buttermilk, mixing to incorporate with each addition. Scrape down the bowl as needed and beat until just combined and smooth, and don't overmix. Divide the batter evenly into a 12-count lined muffin or cupcake pan, filling 2/3 full.
- Bake for 20-23 minutes at 350 °F, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before frosting.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This recipe was first published in June 2012 (below is the original photo). After testing countless batches, we improved the recipe, swapping out oil for softened butter and took out the baking soda to create a super soft crumb. Everyone agrees, these are the best cupcakes. Just read the reviews!
P.S. Thank you all for trying this recipe and sharing it with the people you love.
Hi Natasha,
My 6 year old sister’s birthday is tomorrow, and I was looking for a vanilla cupcake recipe (they’re her favorite) to take to her party and these look perfect! I was was wondering, I know you said instead of buttermilk you could use milk and lemon juice, but you also mentioned something about acid? What is that? Is that something additional you add into the milk and lemon juice? If so, where can I get it?
Just wondered how the cupcake wrappers turned out after baking. The recipe I currently use for vanilla cupcakes (using butter) leaves the baking wrapper quite oily after they are baked which is a shame when you buy the pretty cases! The wrappers you have pictured here look perfect, are they double cased or anything, or is this exactly how they turn out? Thanks, can’t wait to try them..
It was just a single layer of white cupcake wrappers.That part was not photoshopped 🙂 It’s jut the way they turned out. These don’t seem to be too oily so the wrapper stays nicer. Let me know what you think.
Amazing!!!!
Thanks!
I am looking at making these for my son’s birthday, however I need about 30 cupcakes. Can I just triple the recipe or should I make 3 separate batches?
You can triple the recipe. Are you baking them all at once? If so, you may need to bake them a few minutes longer. Just do the toothpick test 🙂
This is the first review I’ve ever left for anything online. I am allergic to wheat. I just made these cupcakes for the first time using a wheat free flour blend. They are very good! I got a little sweet crust on top of the cupcake which I love. The inside was moist and tender. Great flavor! I made chocolate buttercream frosting to put on them.
Thank you very much for leaving a comment Amy :). I’m glad that you enjoyed the recipe.
Did this gluten free flour. Still delicious
Ooh good to know! 🙂
Hey I was curious if can you make these cupcakes without baking soda or powder?
It works so well with them that I haven’t tried to omit them. i don’t think the cupcake would rise very well without them.
Just made these, iv been deprived of sweets for 3 weeks for the fast and couldnt wait to make them lol. They came out awesome! I did however used coconut oil instead of regular oil. (I melted it) and ran out of milk or buttermilk so desperate times calls for desperate measures and I used half and half. Lol they tasted amazing!! Thank you for posting love!
Sounds like you got creative 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed them!
hi there..thank you so much for sharing this and for the recipe..excited to try your perfect vanilla recipe since i tried a lot and i didn’t like the outcome. any how what milk should i use in substitution for buttermilk since whole milk is not available in our place 🙁 thank you so much Natasha 🙂
1/2 cup buttermilk or you can substitute the buttermilk with 1/2 cup milk plus 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice- add acid to the milk then set aside for 5 minutes before using
Natasha I made these on Saturday and they turned out not as hard as I thought they would be. I never made cupcakes before and was really scared making them. I loved this recipe. They turned out really really soft. Thank you for sharing these amazing recipies.
You are welcome Vera. I’m glad you love them 🙂
Thank you for the explicit instructions! They look yummy!! I definitely should give them a try!! I’ll try the milk-vinegar version!!
Let me know how it turns out 🙂
wow!!! these look delish!!! definatly making these when i come home tomorrow:) but instead of using the butter milk , would thw cupcakes taste different if you use the milk with the vinegar or lemon juice or does it taste amazing without using the butter milk?
The last time I made these cupcakes I didn’t have buttermilk so I used the alternative with vinegar that time and I couldn’t taste the difference! 🙂
I made these cupcakes with all-purpose flour and milk instead of buttermilk. I also made a hole in each cupcake with a cupcake corer and filled each hole with home-made chocolate pudding. Everyone loved them! Thanks for the recipe!
Mmm that sounds so good!
Thank you so very much for posting these!! I made them into Christmas cupcakes by sprinkling crushed candy cane flavored kisses on some and putting whole ones on others. Then I sprinkled red sugar on them. They were awesome & a great hit at a Christmas party! And them I made them again the next day!! Hehe 🙂 It’s just so exciting to make home made frosting for cupcakes, which I never did before!
Awesome :). Great way to incorporate candy cane.
Could you add coco to make them chocolate? I’m making them for my daughters kindergarten class some kids prefer choclate.
i dont have canola oil , can i replace it with corn oil?
Yes you can replace it with corn oil, just don’t use butter 🙂
just wondering what happens when you use butter?
I haven’t tested with butter. If you give it a try, let me know 🙂
They are so soft and yummy, we did not have any leftovers 🙂
I learned that a trick to these divinely tasty super fluffy cupcakes is not to overmix the batter. Made these for the 3rd time yesterday when we had our American neighbors for dinner. The cupcakes went fast! I also made your baked salmon which was a huge hit. So thank you for helping me put together a dinner that was super easy to make, looked amazing, and tasted just beyond awesome.
You are welcome Natasha. Every time I made cupcakes, they were gone very quick 🙂
Hi Natasha! So I made these cupcakes and was surprised at how EASY they were to make, and how YUMMY they were to eat!
Thank you for sharing your recipes, they have been a GREAT help (especially because russian measurements are different and I am super Americanized but still love Russian food over ANYTHING).
Anyway, Everything that I have made from your blog has turned out to be incredibly delicious!
I’ve been raving about your website to everyone who likes to cook 🙂
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for spreading the word Merika, your comment made me smile 😀