These vanilla cupcakes are, by far, one of the most-loved recipes on this website. Using creamed butter, plus cake flour, sour cream, and egg whites (no yolks!), guarantees a soft, fluffy, and cake-like crumb. Pure vanilla extract plus the optional addition of vanilla beans seals in a classic vanilla flavor. Use a piping tip or knife to garnish each with vanilla buttercream.
Originally published in 2016, this vanilla cupcakes recipe has soared to the top of my Essential Baking Recipes list. This list includes recipes that are in regular rotation in my kitchen including banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookies. (So many favorites!) In fact, today’s cupcakes have been so popular around here that I’ve used the base recipe to create several other varieties.
Here’s Exactly Why This Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe Works:
Baking is a science and that’s proved over and over again in base recipes like this. Like when making white cake and vanilla cake, it’s not only the measurements you use, but the specific type of ingredient. Using cake flour instead of all-purpose produces a fluffy, soft crumb. Skipping the egg yolks keeps the cupcakes light. Sour cream helps supply a tight, yet moist crumb. My team and I have done the testing and we are confident in the results. These homemade vanilla cupcakes are simply perfect.
Reader Kristin commented: “This recipe was delicious and will definitely be a go to! I frosted with your Homemade Rainbow Chip Frosting and had rave reviews… several asked for the recipes!”
Use These Carefully Selected Ingredients
This cupcake batter calls for 11 ingredients, including the handful mentioned below, as well as basics like baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Let me explain why the following ingredients are “power ingredients” in this recipe:
- Cake flour: Cake flour is much lighter than all-purpose flour and helps to produce the softest, lightest cakes and cupcakes you’ll ever eat. It’s sold next to the regular flour in the baking aisle and I promise that you’ll use up the entire box in no time after you taste these! Note that you do not need cake flour for chocolate cupcakes because cocoa powder is already very light.
- Softened butter: A base of creamed butter and sugar (instead of using melted butter or oil) often helps achieve a soft, cake-like structure. Make sure it’s proper room temperature butter.
- Egg whites: While egg yolks are rich in fat and moisture, they can weigh down your baked goods. Skip the egg yolks and use the whites purely for giving structure to the cupcakes. Since we are losing a little fat from the missing egg yolks, we add it back in with sour cream and whole milk.
- Sour cream: This is a power ingredient because it lightens and moistens the crumb. Though plain yogurt could be used in its place, I find that cupcakes made with sour cream are lighter.
- Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Bean: For the most well-rounded vanilla flavor, use both vanilla bean and vanilla extract in the cupcakes, just like we do in strawberry shortcake cupcakes. You can usually find vanilla beans in the baking aisle, but if you’re looking to purchase them online, I recommend these vanilla beans. See recipe Note if you’re skipping the vanilla bean or if you want to use vanilla bean paste.
- Whole Milk: Milk with fat such as whole milk or 2% milk is your best choice here. Nondairy milk is great in a pinch. I use buttermilk in this vanilla cake recipe, which is typically a fine substitution for both sour cream and regular milk in baked goods. For these cupcakes, however, the crumb stays a little tighter when using sour cream + whole milk.
Tip: Make sure ALL cold ingredients are room temperature before beginning, otherwise your batter could split and the results aren’t pleasant. Read more about why room temperature ingredients are important in baking.
Want to kick the vanilla flavor up a notch? Replace store-bought vanilla extract with homemade vanilla extract and regular granulated sugar with vanilla sugar.
Success Tip: Filling Your Cupcake Pan
The batter comes together with a mixer. Give it a quick whisk by hand to make sure there are no more lumps at the bottom of the bowl.
When filling your lined cupcake pan, fill the liners only 2/3 full, which is about 3 heaping Tablespoons of batter each. Filling them only 2/3 full gives you about 14 cupcakes from this batch. Using more batter per cupcake leads to overflowing or even sinking.
This Is a Multipurpose Batter
Since the results are so crowd-pleasing, this vanilla cupcake batter has become a go-to standard for many other cupcake recipes on this website. Using this recipe as the starting point, I’ve created all of the following cupcake flavors:
- Mimosa Cupcakes
- Chai Latte Cupcakes
- White Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes
- Sprinkle Cupcakes
- Pistachio Cupcakes
- Caramel Coconut Cupcakes
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
- Wedding Cupcakes with Champagne Frosting
Can I Turn These Cupcakes Into a Cake?
Yes, instead of cupcakes, you can use this exact batter for making a vanilla 6-inch cake. For a 1-layer vanilla cake, I recommend my similar recipe for 1-layer sprinkle cake. You can skip the sprinkles. See recipe Notes for larger layer cake options.
Frosting for Vanilla Cupcakes
This vanilla buttercream is a top choice for garnishing your vanilla cupcakes. But your frosting options are pretty much endless, including Swiss meringue buttercream, white chocolate buttercream frosting, strawberry buttercream frosting, chocolate buttercream, lemon buttercream, or cream cheese frosting. For a lighter, less sweet option, I love pairing these cupcakes with whipped frosting. You can even fill them with raspberry cake filling before frosting.
You can swipe the frosting on with an icing knife (pictured below) or with a piping bag + tip such as Wilton 1M (images in the post above). If you’re just learning how to use piping tips, my piping tips guide is a helpful resource.
And finally, here’s just one photo of our multiple test variations. The left cupcake had way too much liquid and produced a wet, squat cupcake. The right cupcake was from our final batch, simply perfect!
Printable recipe & video tutorial below.
Recommended Tools
- 12-count muffin pan. I use and love this muffin pan and this muffin pan. Both are excellent quality and you can’t go wrong with either.
- Cupcake liners
- Handheld mixer or stand mixer
- Vanilla beans
- Icing knife or Wilton 1M piping tip + piping bag
Simply Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 14 cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my favorite recipe for homemade vanilla cupcakes. Using creamed butter, cake flour, sour cream, and egg whites, these cupcakes are soft, sweet, fluffy, and infinitely buttery.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (207g) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- seeds scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean (optional)
- 1/2 cup (120g) full-fat sour cream at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk at room temperature
- vanilla buttercream and sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second pan with 2 liners—this recipe makes about 14 cupcakes. Set aside.
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamed together. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the egg whites, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and combined, at least 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed and then beat in the sour cream. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients until just incorporated. With the mixer still running on low, slowly pour in the milk until combined. Do not over-mix. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Pour/spoon the batter into the liners—fill only 2/3 full to avoid spilling over the sides. Bake for 19–22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For around 30–36 mini cupcakes, bake for about 11–13 minutes, same oven temperature. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost cooled cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. You can swipe the frosting on with an icing knife or use a piping tip such as Wilton 1M. Leftover cupcakes keep well covered tightly in the refrigerator for 3 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cupcakes can be made ahead 1 day in advance, covered, and stored at room temperature. Frosted or unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): USA Pan 12-cup Muffin Pan or Calphalon 12-cup Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Icing Knife | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 1M
- Amount of Batter: This recipe yields between 3-4 cups of batter which is helpful if you’re reviewing the Cake Pan Sizes & Conversions page.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour is the only ideal flour for this recipe. In a pinch, you can make your own homemade cake flour but the cupcakes won’t taste as light. You can find cake flour in the baking aisle near the all-purpose flour.
- Leftover Egg Yolks? I have some recipe ideas for you!
- Vanilla: For best flavor, pure vanilla extract is strongly recommended. If using imitation, increase to 1 Tablespoon (3 teaspoons). If you can’t get your hands on vanilla bean, simply leave it out or replace with an extra 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. If you want to use vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract and vanilla bean, use 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste.
- Whole Milk & Sour Cream: Whole milk and sour cream are strongly recommended for the best taste and texture. A full fat plain yogurt would work instead, though the cupcakes may not be as light. Same goes with a lower fat milk. Nondairy milk works in a pinch. You can replace both the whole milk and sour cream with buttermilk (1 cup; 240ml) if needed.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
- Vanilla Cake: I suggest following my white cake recipe as the base, which is almost double this cupcake recipe. I also have a taller 3 layer vanilla cake recipe as well. For a 1 layer cake, I recommend this 1-layer sprinkle cake and you can skip the sprinkles in the batter.
- Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking the BEST cupcakes before you begin.
I made these for my son’s Birthday and they were a huge hit!
Hi! I’d like to use this recipe for a 3 layer 6inch cake (since the other cake recipes are for 9inches). I noticed that for the white cake, it used both whole eggs and additional egg whites. Since I’m making this recipe into a cake, should I still stick with 3 egg whites? Also, just whole milk and not buttermilk? Thank you so much! Excited to make this for my son’s birthday 🙂
Hello! Great questions, Sally answers all of them in this great post on 6 inch cakes. Happy baking!
Sally, you have two recipes for vanilla cupcakes and I’m just wondering what the compare/contrast Is. It seems with the cake flour and higher fat content of these it seems as though it’s just tenderness and structure. Is this one the winning version? Lol
Hi Gino, This recipe is softer and fluffier than the older recipe for Very Vanilla Cupcakes. We think you will love this one!
Hi Sally,
Would this batter be thick enough to hold up white chocolate chips?
Thanks!
Yes, you can add chocolate chips to the vanilla cupcakes. I’d add about 1 cup.
These are perfect! Made them for my daughter’s birthday. I’ve made tons of vanilla recipes and this is by far may favorite
Hi Sally,
I was wondering if this recipe could be cut in half? I would like to make a half a batch of your vanilla cupcakes as well as your chocolate cupcakes. Will halving the recipe have any effects on the baking overall and how it turns out? I have made these vanilla ones before and they’re absolutely delicious and I would like to try and make the chocolate ones. I don’t need that many cupcakes so that’s why I’m asking if it could be halved.
Thanks 🙂
Hi April, You can cut the recipe in half. Happy baking!
Hi Hailey, You can add 1 cup of frozen berries to this vanilla cupcake batter. We recommend tossing the frozen berries (do not thaw) in 1 Tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter. We haven’t tested this, but it is what we would do. Or you can use the recipe for these Strawberry Cupcakes for the batter but swap raspberries for strawberries. Reducing fresh raspberries on the stove may take longer since they have a higher water content and the freeze dried raspberries for the frosting should work beautifully. Let us know if you try it!
Hi Sally-I’ve made these cupcakes several times and they always come out amazing! Is it okay to add a cup of dried cranberries? Have some dried cranberries on hand and want to use them. By the way, I just made your banana cream pie and its out of this world delicious!
Thanks for all your amazing recipes!
Hi Martha, We are so glad you enjoy these! We haven’t tested these with cranberries but you can try adding up to 1 cup of chopped dried cranberries. Let us know if you try it!
Hi Stephanie-I made them with a cup of dried cranberries and they turned out perfect. Can’t wait to try this months recipe, that cinnamon swirl quick bread looks so yummy. Again, thanks for all the amazing recipes!
Made these delicious cupcakes today and I’m not usually a big cupcake fan but seriously amazing!!!! So incredibly easy and simple yet absolutely yummy
this is the best cupcake i ever had!
its so delicious, fluffy, moist, light and airy
Evreyone go for this recipe!
I made these last night to see if I should try to make cupcakes for our party or buy. My husband REALLY loved them. I didn’t get to the frosting yet. I would highly recommend this recipe. Thank You!
Hi, I’m really hoping someone can help me. I am new at baking from scratch and I can’t seem to get a decent vanilla cupcake/cake. I’ve made amazing chocolate cake and amazing banana bread but I can’t figure out why my vanilla cupcakes are awful! Ive tried different recipes and methods they rise fine are moist but don’t taste great and are very dense. I would really like to try this recipe I only have 2%milk can I use that instead of whole milk or is there a substitute? I’d really appreciate any tips. Thanks!
Hi Kristy, Sticking with whole milk will yield a softer cupcake, but 2% will work in a pinch. Here’s a helpful post about preventing dense cake as well!
Hi Sally,
I’m making these cupcakes for a baby shower and was asked to add a filling. I’ve never made this recipe before. Would these cupcakes turn soggy with a filling or should they be ok?
Hi Jen, Yes you can fill these cupcakes! You can see how to fill them in the post for Sugar Plum Fairy Cupcakes, and scroll down to the video. Enjoy!
Hi Sally,
I would like to make your chocolate cupcakes, and these delicious looking vanilla cupcakes, tomorrow. I was just wondering why there are a few differences between the 2 recipes (i would have thought the only difference would be adding cocoa/vanilla)? For ex: oil for chocolate, only egg whites for vanilla, sour cream and whole milk for vanilla, buttermilk for chocolate.
Thank you for the amazing recipes, can’t wait to try them ! =)
Hi Debbie, Wouldn’t it be easier if you could just swap in come cocoa powder?! 🙂 Baking is all about science and the chemistry of how ingredients react to each other. For example, the cocoa reacts to the acid in the buttermilk, and for vanilla cupcakes the yolks weigh down the batter so we take them out but add the fat and moisture back in with sour cream. If you are interested in learning more, Sally recommends Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book if you want to purchase it. It’s the best cookbook for teaching!
ABSOLUTELY LOVED THESE! Light, not too sweet….but still sweet enough for my two fussy boys and all their friends!!!! 🙂
Hi Sally,
Can I replace the butter with vegetable oil?
Thanks!!!
Hi Casey, it’s not possible to cream oil. The creaming step is crucial to this cupcake’s texture. You’ll also lose a lot of flavor. You could try solid coconut oil instead, but I fear the texture will be greasy (and, of course, lacking butter flavor).
I love this recipe! I just made it, it came out beautiful and very fluffy. I was wondering if it’s possible to use egg whites from a carton, rather than egg whites that I separated from egg yolks? Do you think that this will affect the cupcake? Thank you! 🙂
Hi Annabelle, so glad you enjoy these cupcakes! You can use carton egg whites in this recipe if needed.
Hi Sally,
I love all the recipes I tried from your website ! I’m ready to make the Vanilla Cupcakes with egg whites and wanted to make sure if the whites are unbeatened before adding to the mix .
Thanks, Paula
Hi Paula, No need to beat them separately first. They just get added into the mix in step 3. Enjoy!
So I’ve made these cupcakes a couple of times, and didn’t have the vanilla bean, so just adjust with the extract. They were super tasty. However, today I made them again, this time with The vanilla bean, and oh my gosh… amazing! Such a beautiful full flavor of vanille. Really excellent.
I enjoy baking your recipes! They are great.
Just made these for the first time and they were great! Didn’t have all the right ingredients (quarantine baking struggles) so had to sub plain yogurt in for the sour cream. As it was so much lower in fat (3%), I used cream (10%) in place of the milk to try and even it out. Don’t have the original to compare it to, but they seemed to turn out well and were nice and fluffy! I also had to replace about half of the butter with coconut oil. Just thought I’d share in case anyone else was low on ingredients!
This cupcake recipe is sooooo good!! Its the best! They came out super soft and tasty. Also i used sallys cake flour substitute, it worked i guess!
Easy 5 stars.
Made them with the vanilla buttercream icing.
So light and fluffy!
These are the first cupcakes I have ever made from scratch and they turned out absolutely perfect.
I used the cornstarch / flour sub and baked them for 19 mins and they are moist and delicious.
Thank you!
So I just made these today, and the flavor was awesome! I did not let my ingredients come to room temperature and now know (after reading your post of the issue), that is why they had a denser texture.
However, one question. What if I used two eggs instead of three egg whites? I know it would turn my cake yellow, but would it do anything else? Would it affect the texture (I assume so since baking is science after all). I would love your feedback.
Hi Mary Jo! For best taste and texture, I recommend sticking with 3 egg whites. Two eggs will make these a bit too heavy and taste eggy. (Trust me, I’ve tested many times with this recipe and all of its flavor variations!)
Hi, Sally! Your recipes sound so easy and wonderful. Can’t wait to try them! I just have a quick question though. Is an electric mixer absolutely necessary to cream the butter? Or can I use a normal whisk?
Hi Aishwarya, It’s not impossible to cream butter by hand but it is very difficult. It takes a lot of arm muscle!
Thanks. I actually found that chart myself, made the cupcakes with the changes it recommended, and they came out perfect! Plus my granddaughters spent hours decorating them!
These cupcakes are to die for! I followed the recipe to a tee and they came out perfectly. I paired with a lemon curd buttercream and the combination is sensational. This will be my go to vanilla cupcake from now on!
These are the best vanilla cupcakes I have ever eaten! My ten yr. old granddaughter made them for Valentine’s Day while I supervised. Absolutely perfect texture and taste. I will be making these again. I would like to know if I can freeze them with the icing on or should I freeze separately and combine when thawed? Thanks, KC
Hi Kathryn! For absolute best taste and texture, I recommend making the cupcakes and freezing those, then making the frosting fresh and decorating the thawed cupcakes. If that’s not possible, you can freeze the decorated cupcakes with the frosting already on.
Hi Sally,
I’ve made your Very Vanilla cupcakes before and love them! Just wondering what the difference is between those and your Simply Perfect vanilla cupcakes. Thanks!
These are much lighter and fluffier with the cake flour, egg whites, and creamed butter. 🙂 Both have great flavor!
Hi Sally,
how can I convert this recipe into an 8 inch cake? i’m looking for a soft fluffy vanilla cake recipe.
Please and thanks
Sandra
Hi Sandra! You can make the recipe as written, fill your lined and greased 8 inch cake pan halfway with batter, and use any extra batter for cupcakes on the side. I’m unsure of the exact bake time for the cake. Enjoy!
These cupcakes were absolutely amazing. I made them fore my college age son and friends and there were none left. They were all raving how good they were. This recipe is definitely a keeper!!