Originally published in 2018, this vanilla cupcake recipe has become my go-to (and many of yours)! I recently updated the photos to showcase how beautifully moist and fluffy they are. I love this recipe because it’s easy, consistent, and yields deliciously soft cupcakes that are packed with rich vanilla flavor. They’re also extremely versatile – top them with vanilla buttercream for the ultimate vanilla cupcake or frost them with just about any buttercream flavor and you’ll have an amazing dessert.
One Reader, Uchenna, Says: “Wow! This recipe is truly amazing. I have literally tried dozens of vanilla cupcake recipes and had given up. I read the ingredients and was excited to try this one and I am sure glad I did – this one is by far the best! It will definitely be my go to recipe!” ★★★★★
Why You’ll Love These Vanilla Cupcakes
- Wonderfully Soft and Moist. The soft texture of these cupcakes comes from a balance of incorporating cake flour and extra moisture. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, which means the batter is able to retain more moisture (the higher the protein content, the less ability to retain moisture, aka the drier the cake). That being said, the cake flour makes sure that none of the extra moisture from ingredients like sour cream, egg yolks, and whole milk go to waste.
- Perfect Vanilla Flavor. I use an entire tablespoon of vanilla in this recipe and the results are ideal!
- Super Dependable Recipe. Before writing my own recipes, I was very dependent on Betty Crocker box mixes for cupcakes (and cake!) because it’s just so trustworthy. Many of the from-scratch recipes I’d tried resulted in cupcakes that had sunken in the middle, had a weird cornbread-ish taste, were too dry, and just lacked luster. So I spent countless hours concocting the perfect ratio of moisture, fluffiness, flavor, and magic for this recipe. The result? A dreamy, melt-in-your mouth texture that’s soft as box mix, only without all the ingredients in a box mix you can’t pronounce.
- Always a crowd favorite. You can never go wrong with vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles, ever!
The Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes Ingredients & Substitutions
These vanilla cupcakes are soft, moist, and taste like a dream thanks to these key ingredients. If needed, I’ve also shared some ingredient substitutions that can be made in case you’re in a pinch:
- Cake Flour. To achieve the super soft texture in these cupcakes, I swear by cake flour. It produces a much fluffier texture than all-purpose (or plain) flour because of its lower protein content (the more protein in your flour the stiffer the dough and less ability to maintain moisture). You can find cake flour at most grocery stores, but if all you’ve got is all-purpose flour in your pantry, here are instructions for how to make your own cake flour. Keep in mind that if you do use the homemade version, the gram measurement will weigh more (295g instead of 265g) since all-purpose flour is heavier than cake flour.
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda. The leavening agents in this recipe. Using both gives the perfect amount of rise.
- Unsalted Butter. The main fat in this recipe, which adds lots of moisture, great structure, and rich flavor. If you only have salted butter on hand, you can substitute that but be sure to omit the salt in the recipe if you do.
- Granulated Sugar. This not only sweetens the cupcakes, it creates a tender crumb as well. You can substitute this with caster sugar if you wish and it will be even more soft.
- Large Eggs. I use three large eggs in this recipe, which add the perfect amount of structure and help bind the cupcake batter together.
- Sour Cream. Sour cream adds the perfect amount of moisture to these cupcakes. If you don’t have that locally you can substitute it for plain yogurt or Crème fraîche.
- Pure Vanilla Extract. I use an entire tablespoon of vanilla extract in these cupcakes, which takes the flavor beyond! I recommend using a quality vanilla extract here (not imitation). You can substitute the extract for vanilla bean paste if you wish.
- Whole Milk. Since it has the highest fat percentage of any milk (aside from buttermilk), the whole milk creates a rich crumb while binding the ingredients together. You can technically substitute this for another kind of milk, but whole milk is going to yield the best results.
Tips for the BEST Vanilla Cupcakes:
If you want these vanilla cupcakes to be the very best, I recommend the following:
- Use store bought cake flour. The homemade cake flour works in a pinch and is better than plain all purpose flour, but store bought cake flour is always going to yield the softest texture.
- Start with room temperature ingredients. Baking is a science, and when ingredients like eggs, butter, and dairy are at room temperature, they form an emulsion which traps air in the batter. Once you place that batter in the oven, the trapped air expands and gives your cupcakes a good rise and lovely, tender crumb. If you want your cupcakes to live up to their true potential, don’t skip this step.
- Use fresh baking powder and baking soda. Each of these leavening agents lose their power to make cupcakes rise after about 6 months, so be sure to keep fresh baking powder and baking soda on hand for best results.
- Be careful not to over or under mix. Under-mixing the batter will prevent important chemical reactions from happening in your cupcake batter, and over-mixing will lead to too much gluten development (aka dense cupcakes). In order to help you mix perfectly, I’ve listed all of the mixing times and speeds in the recipe below regardless of whether you’re using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Follow them exactly for best results!
- Know your oven. I’ve written this recipe (and all of my recipes) for a conventional oven. If you have a convection or fan-assisted oven, you’ll want to reduce the baking temperature to 325ºF (163ºC) and check for doneness a few minutes earlier than specified.
Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe Video
I whipped up a quick video showing you how to make these vanilla cupcakes from start to finish!
If you love recipe videos like this one, be sure to check out my YouTube channel! I’ve got a growing collection of cake recipes, decorating tutorials, and Cake Basics over there. Hit the subscribe button on my page so you never miss a new video.
The Ideal Vanilla Buttercream for Cupcakes
I love frosting these vanilla cupcakes with a swirl of this vanilla buttercream, which is my personal go-to. It’s an American buttercream that’s so silky smooth, bursting with vanilla flavor, perfectly pipeable, and I’ve customized it to be less sweet than average. If you prefer a more buttery vanilla frosting that’s even less sweet than American buttercream, I also have this vanilla swiss meringue buttercream recipe that takes a little more effort but is so delicious!
If you’re looking to switch up the frosting flavor, nearly any of my frosting recipes will be delicious paired with these vanilla cupcakes.
I hope you love these vanilla cupcakes as much as I do! Let me know if you make them in the comments below (don’t forget to rate the recipe!) and tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me if you post a photo. I love to see what you create with my recipes!
Perfect Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 2 1/2 cups (265g) sifted cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup (350g) granulated white sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, room temperature
Vanilla Buttercream
- 2 batches vanilla buttercream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177ºC) and line standard cupcake pan(s) with liners. This recipe makes about 32 cupcakes.
- Add the sifted cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with an electric mixer and large bowl), beat the butter on high for two minutes until creamy. Add the sugar and continue to mix on high for another two minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla and sour cream, then turn the mixer to high speed and mix for one minute. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients all at once and mix until just combined, then add the milk in a steady stream. Continue mixing for another 20-30 seconds, until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps (without over-mixing). The batter will be slightly thick.
- Spoon or pour the batter into the cupcake tins until they’re about ⅔ full, then bake for 14-18 minutes, until they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about five minutes before removing them from the pan and continuing to cool on a wire rack until room temperature. Make sure they are entirely room temperature before adding any frosting.
Assembly
- To create the look pictured, make the vanilla buttercream and add it into a piping bag fitted with Wilton Tip 1M. Pipe a swirl onto each cupcake with the buttercream and top with rainbow sprinkles.
Thank you for this recipe. I made a 120 and they were delicious. Tasted even better the next day.
Warm Regards
Stephanie
Wow, so many cupcakes!! Great job, Stephanie! I’m glad these were a hit 🙂
It was for all our volunteers at church. Thank you for your hard work that makes it so easy for us.
Hi
I would love to try this recipe. Please can you tell me if it is safe to double this recipe?
Thank you
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie! Yes, you can double this recipe 🙂
Hi there….I have gone through sooo many yellow cake from scratch recipes that it’s vile. The texture just never came out soft with a slight crumb, moist without being dense and had lots of vanilla flavor. I am beyond pleased that I came across your recipe. I made it today for my husband’s birthday and it is the CLOSEST and BEST vanilla cake from scratch to date! I will be making this on repeat. Accolades to you!! Keep baking! Going to try the vanilla cupcakes next.
Warm regards,
Karen Cyr/Connecticut
Thank you for sharing your recipe! I tried it for cupcakes and it worked very well. I actually made a half recipe and it still made 18 standard size cupcakes for me, filled about 2/3 full and they fuffed up to the top for a flat surface. Perfect for piping a rosette on top! The batter was easy and quick to make, not much fuss. The cupcakes were pretty sweet, maybe a tiny bit too sweet for me, but the flavor and texture overall was great! The cupcakes are also very moist and tender, so it’s definitely a keeper-recipe. Would it be okay to cut back on the sugar by maybe 20% or so? If not I’ll be happy to use this recipe again as-is. Definitely 5 stars regardless!
So happy you liked this recipe, Terese! You can certainly experiment with cutting back the sugar. I haven’t tried it personally, so I’m not sure if it will affect the texture of the cupcakes. Sugar adds softness in addition to sweetness in cake recipes. I don’t think 20% less sugar will make too much of a difference though. Hope that helps!
I noticed this has 50 more grams of sugar than your perfect vanilla cake (layered) recipe. Do cupcakes need more sugar?
Hi Desiree! The extra sugar makes the crumb of these cupcakes softer, which is why there’s a little more.
Hi Whitney! I absolutely love your recipes and cake designs! You’re my go-to when looking for new flavors and inspiration.
I have a question- if I used 1/2 tbsp of vanilla 1/2 tbsp of maple extract and folded in blueberries at the end, would that affect the batter at all? Thanks!
Yay, Stacey! So happy to hear you’ve been loving my recipes 🙂 The alterations you’d want to make to this cupcake recipe sound delightful. I think it would totally work! The only thing extra I’d do is coat the blueberries in a few tsp of flour so they stay suspended in the baking process. Hope that helps!
Tried this recipe for potluck event at work. They were a hit. Only made one change as suggest in another comment and used buttermilk instead. Super moist. Keeper recipe
Can I make this recipe eggless?
Hi there! I have never tested an eggless version of this recipe, so it would be an experiment. I would recommend finding a recipe that’s already made to be eggless if you’d rather not leave it up to trial and error!
Can we add sprinkles to this recipe to make them funfetti cupcakes? And if so how much do you recommend?
Hi Sarah! Yes, you can. I’d use about 1/3 Cup of rainbow sprinkles, coated in a few Tbsp of flour. Fold them in at the end before adding the batter into your cupcake liners.
Hi, whitney! thankyou for your amazing recipe. i have a question, can i replace sour cream with plain yoghurt? if it can, is it the same amount as sour cream?
Hi Lita! Yes, you can sub in an equal amount of plain yoghurt. Enjoy!
I was in the mood for baking and this recipe and I believe ita a good sign.
Let me just say that these are delicious!!! I made them tonight along with the vanilla buttercream and you did not disappoint!
Yay, Tamoshie! I’m so happy to hear that!
It’s the first recipe of cupcakes I make and I love it in the first try, now I’m making 120 for a wedding, thank you so much I love your recipes
Yay, Cendia! I’m so happy to hear that this recipe was a hit! I’m cheering you on with those wedding cupcakes!
These cupcakes are so good! The best vanilla ones I have made 🙂 I was also wondering how could I make half the batch chocolate for chocolate cupcakes? I know you have a recipe for those but I don’t want to make two separate batches and I would have a lot of cupcakes. And I’m not the best with math lol. I would like to start making split vanilla and chocolate for when I give them to people.
I had the same question. I’d love to bake half chocolate and half vanilla.
Hi Arlene! I’ve never converted this recipe to chocolate, so I’m not sure exactly how to do that without testing different options (adding cocoa powder or melted semi-sweet chocolate, etc). Instead, I’d usually make one batch (or a half batch) of these cupcakes + one batch of my chocolate cupcake recipe: https://sugarandsparrow.com/chocolate-cupcakes-chocolate-buttercream/
Are you sure the flour weight is correct?
Hi Lara! Yes, that is the weight of sifted cake flour. Other types of flours are heavier.
Hi Witney and congratulations on your baby news and your book!
Can you tell me the size of your cupcake cases please (depth and diameter)? Iwe seem to have all sorts of sizes in the Uk – all described as cupcake cases! Thank you.
Thank you so much, Anneliese! My cupcake tin cavities are 2 3/4″ (6.985cm) wide and 1 1/4″ (3.175cm) deep. Hope that helps!
Thank you Whitney. They turned out perfectly. I topped half with your vanilla buttercream and half with your chocolate buttercream recipe making a few mini cupcakes for the little ones . They looked so cute and someone told me they didn’t usually like cakes or buttercream but had really enjoyed them!