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.
Perfect outcome. Love how moist and fluffy they are, and of course yummy! Thanks Natasha 🤗❤️
So glad to hear that, Bee!
The cupcakes were dense and not what I expected the “perfect” vanilla cupcake to be. The flavor was great though and the swiss meringue buttercream is to die for!
Hi Ann! Dense cupcakes are a results of using too much flour. Be sure to measure correctly. I have a tutorial on How to measure ingredients Here. I hope that helps.
The cupcakes are delicious but this recipe didn’t make 12 cupcakes for me! I filled them 2/3 full and only got 9! I used a regular sized muffin tin and I felt I would be underfilling them if I stretched to 12.
Can sprinkles be added to make them funfetti??? I love the vanilla cake recipe (perfect) and wanted to do funfetti cupcakes…
I think that will be fine. Hope you’ll love the cupcakes!
Tasted more buttery than vanilla but still a good texture crumb.
I am not sure what I did wrong as I followed the directions and made 4 times the recipe since I was making 48 cupcakes. Unfortunately they were not soft and light. They felt a bit dense. Any suggestions? By the way, I LOVED the vanilla frosting recipe though. Hopefully I can figure out how to make the cupcakes better.
Hi Rachel! Please watch my tutorial on How to measure ingredients to ensure you’re measuring your flour correctly. Too much flour can cause them to be dense. Also- be careful not to over-mix the batter. Sometimes when making a large batch like that, it’s hard to incorporate all of the ingredients well without over mixing. I hope that helps.
This seems like a good recipe, but the way it is written made it very hard to double. For example even when I double the recipe using the slider on the website, the way it is written still says “Add 2 tsp vanilla and beat to combine.” when I should have added four. Very confusing, I’m going to try to remake these
I have tried many recipes and this will be my go-to going forward. Seriously delicious, moist, & fluffy. Yum!!
love these ! can you make the batter, cover and store in fridge and then make the cupcakes the next day ?
Hi Katie, they are best made as soon as the batter is mixed, they may lose volume if baked later. You can bake them ahead though, they are best within the first few days but can be frozen too for longer storage.
Hi! I love your recipes and I’ve been using them for years! Congrats on your cookbook, it’s fabulous!
Quick question – Do you have a link to share for the cupcake liners you use? Thank you!
Hi Jen, I’m so happy you got my cookbook! Thank you! You can find our favorite kitchen tools in our Amazon Affiliate Shop HERE.
These are my go to vanilla cupcakes. Everyone always raves about them
Used less sugar, substituted half the butter for coconut oil, used milk with fresh lemon mixed in instead of buttermilk. Made a simple butter frosting with a bit of fresh squeezed orange. Light and delicious tropical summer cupcake!
I made these yesterday hoping for a perfect yellow cupcake. I followed the instructions perfectly with NO deviations. About half way through the baking something started to bubble up in some of the cupcakes. Looked like a sugary type of thing. I had to toss all of the cupcakes. This has happened with other vanilla cupcake/cake recipes so I’d really like to know what I did wrong.
Hi Sue. I’m sorry to hear that. That is not normal and I have not experienced that. It’s hard to say what went wrong without being there. I would recommend looking over the recipe again to make sure you didn’t miss anything and watch my video tutorial to see my process and to see where things looked different for you. Make sure to measure your baking powder correctly, and it sounds like you may need to sift your dry ingredients to get any lumps out. Also be sure to use softened butter, room temperature eggs, and buttermilk to ensure proper emulsion and mixing of the ingredients. I hope that helps.
Typically this is the result of adding a colder ingredient like eggs or milk to the creamed butter/sugar mix that is already at room temperature. It makes the sugar mix form lumps that do not mix in smoothly.
Hi there ! Would it be possible if I changed the sugar to truvia sugar ? Love this recipe so much ! Thanks !
HI Christin, I haven’t tried that substitution so I can’t advise on that. Let me know if you test it out.
Loved them! Curious how long they’ll last if refrigerated, as there’s only 3 of us 😁
Vi! They are best within the first few days but can be frozen too for longer storage.
Did this recipe at one time call for 1/2 tsp. baking soda too – in addition to 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder? I have two exact recipes in a different format but I noticed one calls for baking powder AND baking soda. I made these once and my son LOVED them, so I wanted to make again but don’t know which one I would have made with or without the baking soda 🫤 He liked that they seemed more dense than most cupcakes – if that helps any with figuring out if soda was used. Thanks for your help!
These cup cakes were so moist & delish, really lovely👌🏼. Best recipe, will be my go to recipe from now on. Definitely 5 stars 🙌
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Valerie!
Hi, can I substitute butter with oil? If I do so do I have to reduce the quantity of the oil or use the same as butter? Thank you
Hi Iram! This recipe was first published in June 2012. Since then it has been updated. After testing countless batches, I improved the recipe by swapping out oil for softened butter and took out the baking soda to create a super soft crumb. If you would like to look at the old recipe, the best way to do that is to
to go this site HERE and paste the url of the recipe in the search bar. I hope that helps!
I am very new to baking (cooking in general, tbh) and didn’t want to just use a box mix. I live in Colorado and wasn’t sure if the recipe would work well for me since I live at a higher elevation. They truly turned out great from following the exact steps, and I was surprised I didn’t have to tweak anything such as oven temp and bake time! Give this easy recipe a try
That’s wonderful to know, Connor! Thank you for sharing.
Love this recipe! I have made it twice already for 2 different baby showers and it was a hit. Want to try making mini cupcakes with this recipe, what are your recommendations for the amount of time in the oven with a tin that holds 24 mini cupcakes?
Hi Melissa. I have not tested this recipe in a mini cupcake pan to know how many it will make. I would check them between 8-12 mins.
Loved this recipe!! Soooo good and fit perfectly into 12 cupcake tins! Thank you <3