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.
could i use normal vanilla instead of pure vanilla extract?
Hi Sumayyah, are you referring to vanilla bean by chance? I have not tested this without using an extract.
Do you think I would be able to add sprinkles and make this a confetti cake?
Hi Emily, I haven’t tested that but I think it could work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hello Natasha,
I tried this recipe today with the frosting and it turned out delicious! But after i placed them in the fridge, the cupcake harden 😔 I read that I can place them there so I did. Did i do something wrong or missed something with the recipe?
Thank you!! Love watching your videos!!
Hi Bernice, the cupcakes will always be softest at room temperature but they shouldn’t really harden with refrigeration. If you are referring to the frosting and used buttercream frosting, that is normal for the buttercream to harden in the fridge and it will soften as it comes back to room temperature.
Hi,
I have tried your recipe today. The taste was good but the cup cakes didn’t come as fluffy and light weigth. It came as dense. I don’t have any mixer. I mixed everything with my spatula. Where did I go wrong??
Hi Sai, It is most likely due to changing the process of making the batter. It would be difficult to blend the butter and sugar the same way without an electric mixer.
Flavor was good and it was nice and spongy but it was also very dry
Hi Victoria, thanks for your feedback. Did you change anything about the recipe? Also, did you possibly over-bake? I’ve had them taste denser and almost cornbread-like once when I over-baked. Over-mixing could also cause this. I hope that helps!
These are great! Easy to make and simple recipe. I added purple food coloring to have purple cupcakes and I sifted my flour to make it lighter. Turned out great! Thanks for this recipe and will definitely use it again!
Oh wow, I can imagine how beautiful it would look if it’s colored purple. Thanks for sharing your great feedback with us!
No doubt it’s perfect recipe for super soft vanilla Cupcake ( with heavenly taste ). It was difficult to stop on it. Love it. Thanks dear Natasha for This awesome recipe. Stay blessed
You are most welcome! I am so happy to hear that you enjoyd the vanilla cupcakes!
Highly recommend this! Tastes soo good!
Thank you, Sam. So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Yum! I made this recipe yesterday, as a cake instead of cupcakes. I used one 8inch pan and baked it for about 30 minutes. I wanted it thick enough to cut in half as a small layer cake. It’s so good! Very light and airy and exactly what I’ve been looking for. I will definitely be making again!
I am so glad that worked well! I also have a Vanilla cake recipe if you want to check it out.
hi natasha, m a complete beginner in baking can u plz tell me if i were to make any flavour cupcakes would dis be the basic recipe for all flavours or how can i make flavoured cupcakes .
Hi Sana, I usually keep this recipe the same and would modify the frostings with different flavors. Check out our cupcake recipes for inspiration.
Hi! Do you have any alternatives for buttermilk?
Hi Angeline, check the post above where I mention how to make it yourself. You just need milk and lemon juice to make a quick buttermilk substitution.
Can I find the old recipe anywhere?
Hi Renee, the best way to look at old versions of a recipe is to go to this site https://archive.org/web/ and paste the URL of the recipe in the search bar. I hope that helps!
It is soo good they are so nice and smooth. I couldn’t make your frosting cause I didn’t have heavy cream. But still delicious.
Our most popular and favorite cupcakes! Thank you for this wonderful review, Isabella!
Hi Natasha!
We absolutely love your cupcake recipe. It turned out perfectly. We will be making them again for my daughter‘s seventh birthday this weekend. I just have two questions for you. First question: should the toothpick come out perfectly clean, meaning no crumbs when checking for doneness? I feel like I often overcook my cupcakes, mostly because it always comes out with little crumbs when I insert the toothpick so I place it back in the oven. Is crumbs, very little ones mean it’s not done? I would assume if it looks wet it isn’t ready, am I right?
Second question: could I add gel food colouring to the icing recipe or would this jeopardize the texture?
Thank you so much!
Hi Jissell, you might have some moist crumbs stick to the toothpick but should not have wet batter on your toothpick. Gel color should be fine. You could put a small amount in a separate dish to see if it is to your liking before applying it to the entire batch of frosting. Our Vanilla Buttercream takes on color really well also.
Hi there,
I have featherweight pipping tool you use. Do you use any connector at bottom? I feel like it doesn’t stay in place. I have it with out it. Once I place frosting it sorta stays lol. Let me know what you use. Thanks
Hi Samantha, sometimes I use the connector but most of the time I just push the tip into the end of the piping bag and it seems to work ok.
What size pipping bag do you use?
This is the piping bag that I used.
i am doing 30 cupcakes can you tell me the measurements for it.
Hi Alicia, at the recipe, you may click “Jump to recipe” and click on the number of servings to adjust the ingredients.
thank you
If I bake and frost the cupcakes the night before and refrigerate them, will they still be soft and moist or will the texture change and become hard and dense?
Hi Christine, they will still be moist and soft. If you want them to be soft, I recommend letting them come to room temperature before serving, but they are also really good right out of the refrigerator.
These cupcakes are delicious, moist, light and airy. There are delicious cupcakes and would diffidently make these again!!! my moms boss’s kid loved them. The only thing that I would note is that I could not find the frosting recipe except for on the video. But other than that it was excellent!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Elijah! We have the frosting recipe linked several times to the recipe blog post but you can also find it HERE.
These were THE BEST in the world. Super moist and fluffy, tastes like a GOOD store bought cupcake! Thank u!
Super! We love your comment and feedback, thank you so much!
Perfect recipe, thank you, the cupcakes were delicious. I used yoghurt as I didn’t have buttermilk.
Hi Roselle, thank you for sharing your wonderful review. It’s great to know that it works well with yogurt as well.
I know this has nothing to do with the actuall cupcake but when i went to print the recipe it printed 87 and thats because it was TOOO long
Hi Michaela, Oh no! Make sure to scroll down the page to the Print-friendly recipe card which is highlighted in yellow. Click Print on the print button there and then it will take you to the printing screen. This recipe is set to print on one page. It sounds like you printed the entire website page which would include a ton of comments since this is a very popular recipe.