Hey everyone!
So today, I thought I’d switch things up a bit. I’m introducing a new series called “Back to Basics” which I hope will give you a set of good base recipes which will inspire you to get creative and write your own recipes!
I’m still fairly new to writing recipes, but what I have learnt is that it’s important to get your bases right. You can’t just pluck ingredients from thin air and hope they work, as much as I sometimes wish we could haha!
After much developing, and many cupcakes not pretty or perfect enough to blog, I’ve written my perfect vanilla cupcake base. (I also have my base chocolate recipe – coming in a few weeks!)
I know there are loads of cupcake recipes out there labelled as perfect and this could be seen as “just another cupcake recipe” but for me, these really are perfect!
This recipe gives you the perfect crumb (which I’m obsessed with), moist, light and fluffy cupcakes, perfectly flavoured with vanilla and finished off with light as air vanilla frosting.
They really are heavenly!
I made these for my OH to take to work on his birthday and he came home with none left saying everyone had said they were amazing, I should sell them and some even said they were the best vanilla cupcakes they’d ever had! High praise indeed!
I was very flattered and quite shocked! Also kinda embarrassed, I’m really awkward about compliments… Usually I give my baked goods to friends and family and I’m always told stuff is good, but because it’s friends, I sometimes worry they only say stuff is nice so as not to hurt my feelings! :/ So it was nice to be told my cupcakes were good by some strangers!!
So how do we make the perfect Vanilla Cupcake?
First you take room temperature margarine or butter and some caster sugar. Usually I would advocate the use of real butter, but for cupcakes I always use margarine as it gives a softer, more moist cupcake.
Beat them up reallllllllly good so they’re as light as air!
Add in the eggs and good vanilla, mix them up a bit, add in the flour and milk, mix until smooth et voilà! The perfect cupcake batter.
Baking time and temperature are important too. I bake my cupcakes at 180C/350F and I do not open the oven until they have been in there for 20 minutes. Before then you risk ending up with sunken cupcakes and that’s not cool 🙁
And my biggest tip: remove the cupcakes from the cupcake tin pretty much as soon as they come out of the oven, yes they’re are bloody hot, but I always find, if I leave my cupcakes in the tin, the grease makes the liners soggy and then they peel away from the cupcakes, major sad face 🙁
Finish them off with my light and fluffy vanilla buttercream and a few sprinkles and you’re good to go!
Hope you love these as much as we do! 😀
Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- For the cupcakes:
- 1 stick (113g) butter/marg*
- 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk, I use Skim
- For the frosting:
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (300g) icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tbsp milk
- Sprinkles to decorate, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a 12 hole cupcake tin.
- Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer an beat until light and fluffy, about 2 mins on med-high speed.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, scraping sides as necessary and mix until well combined, smooth and light, around 1 min on med-high speed.
- Add in the flour, baking powder and milk and mix until well incorporated and smooth.
- Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full - for me this is a heaping 2tbsp cookie scoops worth.
- Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes (mine took 22) until risen, golden and an inserted skewer into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the tin as soon as possible and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely*.
- Once cooled, it's time to make the frosting! Place the icing sugar and butter into a large bowl and beat until light and really fluffy, 2-3 mins on high speed.
- Add in the vanilla and beat until incorporated, then add the milk 1tbsp at a time, if required. I only needed 1tbsp of milk.
- Either spoon the frosting onto the cupcakes, or half fill a piping bag and pipe a swirl on each. Finish off with some sprinkles if you want.
- Cupcakes will keep in an airtight container, in the fridge, for 4 days.
Recipe Notes
*This is the one time I would advocate using margarine instead of butter. Margarine makes the cupcakes more moist. *If you don't remove the cupcakes from the tin quickly, I always find the liners peel as the grease from the tin makes them wet and soggy. Recipe by Annie of Annie's Noms
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer. When not in the kitchen, she can be found with her head in a book or jotting down recipe ideas! 
Hi Annie…can you explain caster sugar and icing sugar? Are you referring to granulated and powdered?
Hi there, yes I am, we just call them something different here! 😀
Thank you for posting! I look forward to seeing more of your back to basics recipes!!
You’re so welcome! I look forward to sharing more soon 🙂
I have a great yellow cupcake recipe but definitely need a vanilla one. Thanks! http://talenttoplay.blogspot.com
You’re welcome 😀
Loved those vanilla cupcakes. Just dropping by from the Wake Up Wednesday Link Party! Thanks for posting there. Deb @ Kneaded Creations
Definitely going to have to try these out. Always in the need of good vanilla cupcake recipe!
Hope you enjoy them! I know right? I sometimes get so carried away with a myriad of flavours I forget about the basics! So good to have a decent base recipe now 🙂
These look amazing! I love getting back to the basics of baking. 🙂
Thank you for sharing at Marvelous Mondays this week!
Thank you 🙂
Can I use water instead of milk?
I think water is fine. But I suggest to use milk instead of water.
Annie, These really do look heavenly! We would love to have you link up at our weekly Super Saturday Link Party at MadeFromPinterest.net. We feature our most viewed and favorites the following Sunday. We would so love to have you on board!
Sherri (the Baby of the Family)
Oh goodness, these sound soooo good and look even better. I can absolutely see why you call them perfect. I am making these asap. Thanks for sharing the recipe and linking up to Thrifty Thursday.
Gorgeous! I would eat about 27 of these!! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Hi Annie,
These are beautiful cupcakes! Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope you are having a great weekend!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
Those look delicious! Will definitely have to try these! 🙂
Stopped by from Nifty Thrifty Sunday!
Woot! You have been featured this week at Recipe Sharing Monday! The new link party is up and I’d love to see you back. Have a great week. 🙂
Fabulous Annie! Thanks for sharing at my Pin Me Party!
hello. do you think it would be nice using chai syrup instead of vanilla for flavour?
Hi Annie, would love to try this recipe but I’m not sure of your measurements. You say ‘caster sugar’ so I’m assuming its Australian cups but one should not just assume when it comes to cupcakes 🙂
If it’s american cups and spoons I’ll just have to make minor adjustments.
Thank you 🙂
Hi, no I don’t mean Australian cups, I’m in the UK so we use caster sugar, but I use American cups for recipes as my biggest readership is in the US! 🙂
That makes sense, it would be easier if we all used the same terms and units. In a perfect world maybe 🙂 Maybe it’s time I invest in American cups. It’s so hard finding recipes in Australian measurements or all in weight.
Caster sugar is in between America’s granulated & powdered. Not as grainy but not as fine either. I just put a couple tablespoons more of the desired amount of granulated sugar than what I needed into a food processor to make it finer. Once processed I re-measure and add to recipe!
Hi, thank you so much for this recipe. Just made this with my daughter. And came out so well. I made half the quantity, AND somehow made 8 large cupcakes. They are fluffy and I can see what you mean by perfect crumbs! Do you think I can use the same recipe for a normal cake? Or do you have another recipe for it? My little girl loves it! Thank you… AGAIN! 🙂
Hi, thank you so much for your comment! I’m so glad you loved these 🙂 I’m not really sure if this would work as a cake, my Strawberry Shortcake recipe uses just a plain vanilla cake and that’s the one I normally use! This is the URL: http://anniesnoms.com/2013/05/24/strawberry-shortcake/ hope this helps!
Thank you… I will try that recipe out! I’m sure it will be as delicious as the cup cakes 🙂
hi there,i’ve tried urs using marg as reconmmended.it taste perfect and love the tender crumbs texture that i was looking for.however there’s a slight problem, the cupcake shrinks.first it was overflowing(i put 2/3 full) then when i took it out it shrinked and cracked on the side.:/ what have i done wrong? and one more qn, should i use both heating element or just one heating element for baking in the electrical oven?
Hi,
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had problems, I’ve never had any problems with this recipe or any others I have made based on the same recipe. My recipes do tend to result in moist cakes and there can be an issue between the cake batter and the liners you use, depending on if they are made from parchment or any other products. I use commercial grade cupcake liners which are thick and high quality. Sometimes the liners and mixture don’t agree, causing them to shrink away, your oven could also have been too hot meaning they crack and shrink. I don’t have to choose between one or 2 elements on my oven, so I’m sorry but I don’t know if you should be using one or two. I would check with the manufacturer to see what they say, Logically I would think that 2 elements mean it’s hotter, but I wouldn’t want to say that is 100% correct as I don’t know. I would personally try one element and different liners and see how they turn out, I fill my liners 3/4 full and I guess I have one element in my oven as I don’t have the choice, but again if you used 2 elements and that made it hotter then 2/3 full would overflow and then sink, so that could be your problem! Hope this helps, Annie.
WOOOW!! These are the best cupcakes I’ve ever made hehe:) Thank you Annie!
Please can you help. I’m new to baking and would love to try this recipe. I’m trying to get my measurements and weights correct. What size cup are you using and or do you have the weights of the sugar and flour I need.
Thank you
do you use all purpose flour or cake flour?
Hi,
I use all purpose flour, we call it plain in the UK 🙂
there is no salt in this cupcake recipe?
Yes, in the margarine – I explain my reason for using this in the notes section of the recipe. I made a batch with the addition of salt and I found it too much.
Hi Annie,
I’ve featured this recipe on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.
Was searching for a vanilla cupcake recipe for my sons class at school and came across yours. It was excellent. Love it!
btw I found it thru Cupcakes Garden. I am totally addicted to their site!
This makes 12 cupcakes do you know what size pan that would be if I wanted to make a cake? Would this work for a cake instead?
Hi thank you for sharing your recipe 🙂 they’re gorgeous. is it possible to freeze them? I am making quite a lot for my neice’s first birthday and I am planning to do them ahead of time and little by little over the week.
Yes it is 🙂 The un-frosted cupcakes can be frozen for up to a month. I wrap them all individually in plastic wrap and then place the cupcakes into a Ziploc bag and squeeze all the air out, I’ve found they stay nice and soft this way! 🙂
Hello Annie ! I intend to use topping cream instead of the frosting. Topping cream include sugar. So can you tell me sugar in your cupcake method how to change? If I don’t change sugar in method I think my cakes will so sweat. Thanks. Hope you answer my question ^^
Hi Annie!
I want to use margarine for vanilla cupcakes too because it’s cheaper than using butter, but some say that margarine is only good for strong flavoured cakes and cupcakes like the chocolate flavoured etc. Any tips?
Hi Charity,
I always use margarine in these vanilla cupcakes and have never noticed a strong margarine flavour. Or if I can taste it, I like it! I use this as my base recipe for pretty much every cupcake recipe and I’ve always used margarine. I much prefer the texture! Even in my newest Gingerbread Cupcake recipe I used marg and they were delicious! Hope this helps! 🙂
*crying* I don’t know what I did wrong, it came out horrible. Seems my margarine don’t work well for me. It’s cheaper here in my country.
Oh no, I’m so sorry these didn’t turn out great. Would you mind telling my what you did; perhaps I’ll be able to help you troubleshoot? 🙂
can i use buttermilk instead of milk ???