Vanilla Cupcakes from Scratch (Perfectly Moist!)

This is a basic recipe for super moist vanilla cupcakes from scratch. If you are new to baking and are looking for a good, homemade cupcake recipe, this is a perfect recipe for you. 

The ingredients are basic, the making method pretty easy too, so all in all, this is a fairly easy made from scratch vanilla cupcake recipe to master.

And the best part is, you get cupcakes that are so wonderfully moist and fluffy! 

If you are looking for a super moist vanilla cake recipe, check out this vanilla cake recipe.

Jump to:

• ❤️Why you will love this recipe
• 📋Ingredients
• 🧾Substitution and variations
• 👩🏻‍🍳How to make
• 🍽️Serving & storage
• 💡Expert tips
• 💭FAQs
• ❤️More recipes you will love ❤️
• 📖Recipe

❤️Why you will love this recipe

• The recipe makes fluffy cupcakes with delicious vanilla flavor. 
• It is an easy cupcake recipe with simple ingredients and yields deliciously moist cupcakes.
• These easy vanilla cupcakes make perfect treats for snacking as well as for special occasions like birthday parties.
• This is a bake from scratch recipe for easy homemade vanilla cupcakes.

📋Ingredients

Cupcakes

• Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt - mix these and sift them together.
• Butter - I use salted butter. Unsalted butter will also work for this recipe but you may need to adjust the amount of salt in the recipe.
• Granulated sugar (caster sugar) - cupcakes are best made with fine sugar. Coarse sugar will leave sugar specks on the surface after baking.
• Eggs - use large eggs (whole eggs).
• Milk - use whole milk.
• Vanilla extract - adds a lovely flavor to the cake. For best results, use pure vanilla extract.

Frosting

• Butter - I use salted butter. The salt enhances the taste of the buttercream.
• Powdered sugar (icing sugar) - make sure to sift the sugar first to break any lumps.
• Vanilla extract - to flavor the frosting.
• Milk (optional) - only need to use this if the buttercream is stiff and not of piping consistency.

Decoration

• Sprinkles
• Fondant flowers (white fondant tinted in Americolor Plum food color)
• Plunger flower cutter

*Refer to the recipe card below for exact quantities of the ingredients above. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*

🧾Substitution and variations

• Self raising flour can be substituted with all purpose flour and baking powder. For every 225g of all purpose flour, add one and half teaspoons of baking powder. Mix well and sift at least 3 times before using. To make 190g of self raising flour (as per the recipe card below), add two thirds of a teaspoon of baking powder to 190g of all purpose flour.
• Whole milk in the cupcakes can be substituted with skimmed milk. You can also use almond milk or oat milk.
• Milk in the buttercream frosting is optional. You can replace it with heavy cream if you wish.
• Vanilla extract in both the cupcake batter and vanilla frosting can be replaced with vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste. For one teaspoon of vanilla extract, you can replace with half a vanilla bean pod or 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. To use the vanilla bean pod, you need to cut it open and scrape the insides with a small knife. Use the scraping and discard the pod.
• Vanilla buttercream frosting can be replaced with any of your other favorite frosting that is of a pipeable consistency. Some good options are chocolate buttercream, strawberry buttercream (replace vanilla extract with strawberry extract), cream cheese frosting or chocolate ganache.

This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!

👩🏻‍🍳How to make

Mixing the batter from scratch

1. Cut butter into small pieces and put it into a medium bowl. Add sugar and cream both until light and fluffy for approximately 2 to 3 minutes (with an electric mixer). Scrape the sides of the bowl constantly.
2. Add in the eggs. Start with one egg, beat it well until you do not see any traces of egg before adding the next egg. Beat again until all traces of the eggs are no longer visible.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt into the creamed mixture (wet ingredients) in 4 batches.
4. Alternate the dry ingredients (flour mixture) with milk. Fold these in until well incorporated.
5. Finally, add in the vanilla essence and give the moist vanilla cupcakes batter a quick mix until it's all smooth.
6. Scoop or spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake liners, and fill each liner to about two thirds full. Arrange the liners in a muffin tin to hold the shape of the cupcakes as they bake. The vanilla cupcakes will rise quite substantially when baking so it is important not to overfill the paper liners. Bake the cupcakes in a preheated oven until well risen and golden brown in color. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

• As soon as the vanilla cupcakes turn just slightly warm, cover them in a container and let them continue to cool down, covered. 
• Make sure the cupcakes are completely cooled down before frosting them. I frosted mine with a simple swirl of buttercream and decorated them with a small fondant flower.

Decorating the cupcakes

1. Buttercream pairs really well with this made from scratch vanilla cupcakes. To make the frosting, cream butter until soft in a large bowl. Sift in the icing sugar and continue to beat until the frosting turns fluffy. Add the vanilla essence (and milk if the frosting is too stiff) and beat again until the buttercream turns light and fluffy. Fill the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star piping tip ( I used tip number 1G).
2. Pipe simple swirls on each cupcake.
3. After that, add some sprinkles on. You can use any sprinkles you like, and I used sprinkles from Fancy Sprinkles.
4. Next, tint some white fondant with Americolor Plum food color and roll it thin. Cut out simple 5-petal flowers using a flower cutter. I used the largest of my flower plunger cutter set.
5. And then set them in a flower former for a few minutes so that they set in a curved shape. You can use any other surface that is curved to form the fondant flowers.
6. Attach one flower onto each cupcake, right at the point where you lifted your piping nozzle off the cupcake when piping the buttercream swirl earlier. To attach the flower, simply press them lightly into the icing. The flowers are also an easy way to cover the frosting swirls joints.

🍽️Serving & storage

• As soon as the cupcakes have cooled down (ideally they should be just slightly warm) if you do not intend to use them immediately, keep the unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container and refrigerate them to retain their moist texture.
• These cupcakes can last at room temperature for a good 4 to 5 days (provided they are handled without any trace of water/moisture). If you wish to keep them longer, store them in the refrigerator and bring them to room temperature before serving.

💡Expert tips

Highest quality ingredients

• Make sure your ingredients are of good quality and fresh. Fresh self-raising flour and the baking powder will ensure your cupcakes rise well and a good quality vanilla essence will give you the best, aromatic cupcakes, so it is important that your ingredients are of the best quality.

Cream the butter and sugar well

• For the recipe measurement below, you would need to cream these for a good 3 minutes, constantly scraping the sides of the bowl.
• Also, make sure the butter is at room temperature, firm but soft enough to be cut into small cubes. If it is cold and hard, you would need to cream it for a longer time. Well creamed butter and sugar will produce soft and fluffy cupcakes so it is important not to cut this process short.

All ingredients should be at room temperature

• It is particularly important to use room temperature eggs and butter. Cold ingredients can cause your batter to curdle. If that happens, fold in the flour until the batter is no longer curdled before adding any milk to it. 

Add flour and milk in alternate order

• For the recipe amount above, add the flour in four batches and the milk in 3 batches, starting and ending with flour. That way, you will be able to mix the flour well into the batter and don’t end up with uneven batter. 

Do not overmix

• Flour and milk are best folded in by hand, and if you prefer to use a mixer, use a very low speed and avoid over mixing. Over mixing can cause the texture of your cupcakes to become hard. 

Do not overbake the cupcakes

• Overbaking could result in dry cupcakes. The best way to ensure the cupcakes are not overbaked is to check the cupcakes a few minutes before the baking time is up.
• Insert a skewer in the center of one cupcake. If there is no wet batter sticking to it, the cupcakes are done (ideally, there should be a few soft crumbs sticking to the skewer). 

💭FAQs

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📖Recipe