I’ve been baking for many years, and probably baked more Cupcakes than I can count! In both my life as an amateur baker and a professional baker, I’ve seen, tried and tested dozens of Cupcake recipes. This is still the best Vanilla Cupcake recipe I’ve ever used, and it’s real easy!
I actually adapted this recipe from my Chocolate Cake recipe. That recipe is super moist, and I wanted to replicate it in the form of vanilla (for both a cake & cupcake recipe).
It was a Godsend, because when I started baking professionally, it formed the backbone for all my recipes – which were always foolproof and never flopped! So, if you’re looking for a Vanilla Cupcake recipe that’s tops, here’s my best Vanilla Cupcake recipe.
Bake Along With Me
Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe & Piping Tutorial
A quick 15 minute video with recipe instruction and piping tutorial to take your cupcakes next level!
Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Copyright © 2018 – This original recipe & photos are by Taryn Bloem – thesupermomsclub.com
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 12-15 minutes
Oven Temp: 180° C or 360° F
Yield: 15 (7cm cupcake tray)
Ingredients:
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
pinch salt
½ cup sunflower oil
½ cup milk with ½ tsp vinegar added to it (once stirred, it will curdle slightly)
1 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda (bicarb)
Method:
Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until they become fluffy (roughly 45 seconds to a minute).
Add the sugar and beat until it’s well combined (roughly 45 seconds to a minute+). The mixture will become slightly paler in color.
Add the vanilla essence, salt, oil and *milk & vinegar to the mixture, and beat until combined (about 30 seconds). *Place the vinegar into the milk, give it a stir for roughly 30 seconds, and then place it into the mixture. You’ll notice that the milk slightly curdles, that’s perfect and how it should be!
Sift in the flour, and beat until the mixture is smooth and lump free.
Add the baking powder and baking soda (bicarb) by folding it in with a spatula (don’t over-mix it, otherwise they won’t rise nicely).
The mixture should be slightly runnier than toothpaste, not too thick or not too thin!
My Baking Tips
The most important aspect of a good bake is to get your cupcake casings perfectly centered in the cupcake tray. If they aren’t centered, the cupcakes will rise more on one side while baking, and won’t have a perfect form.
Once you’ve perfectly lined the cupcake tray (7cm cup size) with standard sized cupcake casings, scoop +/-45ml’s of the mixture into each casing using a ¼ cup measuring spoon. This helps in avoiding any spillage onto your cupcake tray, and gives you equal sized cupcakes for an even more perfect bake!
Pop any air bubbles using a toothpick.
Place the cupcake tray in the center of your oven, and bake at 180° C or 360° F for 12 – 15 minutes (until just golden on top).
Leave the cupcakes to cool for about 10-15 minutes, and remove them from the cupcake trays. Now, for my best kept baking secret of all time, which makes the best vanilla cupcake recipe even better…
Place the cupcakes (un-iced) in a sealed plastic container overnight and ice them the following day. The cupcakes will be super moist the next day – I’m not sure how it happens – but it definitely does the trick! Keeping your kids hands off them will be another story, but I’ll leave that up to you – I’m sure you can come up with an ingenious plan!
Vanilla Icing Recipe (For This Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe)
The best vanilla cupcake recipe needs the best vanilla icing recipe, and this one is sure that! Again, I’ve tried many recipes, but this recipe is super smooth and not too sweet. All my clients always raved about my icing, so hopefully you will too!
Ingredients:
80g butter
80g white margarine
80g cream cheese
1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
480g icing sugar
a splash of milk (if required) *see note below
Beat the butter, white margarine, cream cheese and vanilla essence together until combined and smooth & creamy. Add the sifted icing sugar, and beat until smooth. Adjust the thickness of the icing with milk (*ONLY ONCE YOU’VE THOROUGHLY MIXED IT), otherwise you may make it too runny. If you’re going to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes, it should be as thick as toothpaste. If you make it too runny, it won’t keep it’s shape!
Place the icing into a piping bag, and ice the cupcakes… enjoy!
This recipe was first published in 2018, and was updated in 2022 with some new photos.
Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe That’s Real Easy!
Equipment
- 7cm round cupcake pans
Ingredients
Ingredients (Cupcakes):
- 2 Eggs
- ¾ cup Sugar White
- 2 tsp Vanilla Essence
- Pinch Salt
- ½ cup Sunflower Oil
- ½ cup Milk
- ½ tsp Spirit Vinegar White
- 1 ¼ cups Cake Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda (Bicarb)
Ingredients (Icing):
- 80 grams Butter
- 80 grams White Margarine
- 80 grams Cream Cheese
- 1½ tsp Vanilla Essence
- 480 grams Icing Sugar/Confectioners Sugar
- Splash Milk (if required)
Instructions
Oven Temperature:
- 180 degrees Celsius or 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
Method For Cupcakes
- Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until they become foamy (roughly 45 seconds to a minute).
- Add the sugar and beat until it's well combined (roughly 45 seconds to a minute+). The mixture will become slightly paler in color.
- Add the vanilla essence, salt, oil and *milk & vinegar to the mixture, and beat until combined (about 30 seconds).*Place the vinegar into the milk, give it a stir for roughly 30 seconds, and then place it into the mixture. You'll notice that the milk slightly curdles, that's perfect and how it should be!
- Sift in the flour, and beat until there aren't any lumps (lumps are bad)!
- Add the baking powder and baking soda (bicarb) by stirring it in (don't over-mix it, otherwise it won't rise nicely).
- The mixture should be slightly runnier than toothpaste, not too thick or not too thin!
My Baking Tips
- The most important aspect of a good bake is to get your cupcake casings perfectly centered in the cupcake tray. If they aren't centered, the cupcakes will rise more on one side while baking, and won't have a perfect form.
- Once you've perfectly lined the cupcake tray (7cm cup size) with standard sized cupcake casings, scoop +/-45ml's of the mixture into each casing using a ¼ cup measuring spoon. This helps in avoiding any spillage onto your cupcake tray, and gives you equal sized cupcakes for an even more perfect bake!
- Place the cupcake tray in the center of your oven, and bake at 180° C or 360° F for 12 – 15 minutes (until just golden on top).
- Leave the cupcakes to cool for about 10-15 minutes, and remove them from the cupcake trays. Now, for my best kept baking secret of all time, which makes the best vanilla cupcake recipe even better…
- Place the cupcakes (un-iced) in a sealed plastic container overnight and ice them the following day. The cupcakes will be super moist the next day – I'm not sure how it happens – but it definitely does the trick! Keeping your kids hands off them will be another story, but I'll leave that up to you – I'm sure you can come up with an ingenious plan!
Method For Icing:
- Beat the butter, white margarine, cream cheese and vanilla essence together until combined and smooth & creamy. Add the sifted icing sugar, and beat until smooth. Adjust the thickness of the icing with milk (*ONLY ONCE YOU'VE THOROUGHLY MIXED IT), otherwise you may make it too runny. If you're going to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes, it should be as thick as toothpaste. If you make it too runny, it won't keep it's shape!
- Place the icing into a piping bag, and ice the cupcakes… enjoy!
Video
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I tried these cupcakes out and they were delicious! Thank you for the video as well, it was fun to “bake along” with you.
Thanks so much Sasha, I really appreciate that and the 5 star rating. I’m so glad you enjoyed them!