Vanilla Cupcakes

Made with buttermilk and topped with cream cheese frosting, these are the most luscious vanilla cupcakes.

When my kids were little, I started a baking business specializing in cakes and cupcakes, mostly for children’s parties. Before I began, I spent weeks testing every type of cake recipe under the sun, often baking into the middle of the night. Michael would wake up in the morning to find the kitchen overflowing with all flavors of cakes and cupcakes. He thought I’d lost my mind—little did he know I was just discovering my passion for developing recipes, which was the motivation for starting my blog. These are the vanilla cupcakes that won me over. They have a fluffy, downy texture and rich vanilla flavor. Top them with swirls of cream cheese frosting or rich chocolate buttercream. If you’d like to make the recipe as a layer cake, it works beautifully; simply divide the batter into two 8-inch cake pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The recipe also works in a 9×13-in cake pan, baked for 30 minutes.

What you’ll need to make vanilla Cupcakes

Step-by-Step Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.

Whisk well and set aside. The mixture will start to look curdled as it sits; that’s okay.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to combine.

Add the soft butter and half of the buttermilk mixture.

Mix on low speed until moistened but still a little crumbly, about 1 minute.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the remaining buttermilk mixture,

Increase the speed to medium and mix for three minutes, stopping once to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter should look pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl again, making sure the batter is evenly mixed.

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans, filling the cups almost full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom and back to front midway through. Remove from the oven when the cupcakes are set, lightly golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean (note that one pan may finish cooking before the other). Cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with icing and store in an airtight container until ready to serve.