A delicious basic vanilla cupcake recipe with a light and fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting. No need for boxed mixes anymore!
I cannot believe it is already Thursday – this week has flown by! I have been talking to you all this week, but have been doing with some personal issues.
I really missed being in the kitchen as much and I missed you all.
I thought I would share my favorite basic vanilla cupcake recipe and my all-time favorite fluffy and delicious vanilla buttercream frosting. I always use this as my base cupcake recipe – has never failed me! I think you all will L-O-V-E it!
Did I mention that you can make this recipe without even breaking out the mixer? Oh yeah – my favorite.
I love how moist and fluffy these vanilla cupcakes are. I always add buttermilk into the recipe because it gives it the perfect moistness. Tastes almost like a light and fluffy pound cake. I love me some pound cake.
We do not usually carry vanilla beans around here, well because they can be a little pricey. If you have vanilla beans on hand, then you can always use them – check the note section of the recipe.
If you do not have vanilla beans, don’t worry, you can always just use vanilla extract – I did and they have a perfect vanilla taste!
All you really need to make these awesome vanilla cupcakes are sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, buttermilk, oil, flour, baking soda, and salt!
The vanilla buttercream frosting is also very simple as well and you only need butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and heavy cream.
- 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup milk + 1 teaspoon vinegar
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup oil I used vegetable oil, but you can use canola oil
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcakes liners. Set aside.
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In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the buttermilk, egg, and oil. Add in the vanilla extract. If you are using milk and vinegar for buttermilk, then allow it to set for 5 minutes, then add it into the recipe.
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Stir in the sugar.
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Slowly mix in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda.
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Pour the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners and fill ¾ of the way. Bake for 20 minutes.
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Allow the cupcakes to completely cool.
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While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream frosting by mixing the butter on high for 2-3 minutes.
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Add in the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time and mix on medium speed. Mix until all of the powdered sugar has been added.
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Add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.
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Frosting the cool cupcakes. There might be leftover frosting depending on how much you used on each cupcake.
If you have vanilla beans on hand, add in ½ split vanilla bean with seeds scraped.
Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days and in the refrigerator for one week.
So pretty! I love vanilla cupcakes -- and buttermilk makes cake AMAZING.
Thanks, Heather! Oh yeah, it does! 🙂
Hi Chelsea, thanks for sharing with us tonight at Marvelous Monday! Pinning to my MM board! I really just love a vanilla cupcake.
Thanks for pinning, Deb!
Gorgeous cupcakes! The frosting looks so light and airy, just how I love it!
Thank you so much, Ashley! 🙂
They great, very light and fluffy. I co-host Sweet and Savoury Sunday and would love you to link up this week 🙂
Thank you, Laura!
Your buttercream looks delish. I really love vanilla.
Thank you, Madonna! I am a vanilla lovin' gal as well. 🙂
I love a good old vanilla cupcake. Perfect. Found this on Pin Junkie linky party. looks delicious
You and me both, Rach! Thanks for coming by. 🙂
Hi Chelsea! I love this post and this looks absolutely delicious! I've featured it as one of my Favorite Finds this week on my newsletter! Subscribe here to see!
Thank you so much, Stephanie! <3
Those look delicious and super cute! Thank you for sharing.
Vanilla is my favorite. Looks delicious. Thanks for linking up to BOTW party!!
Gorgeous cupcakes! Thanks for linking up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!
Thanks, Karly!
These look delicious. Pinning this asap. 🙂
Thank you so much for pinning, Megan!
These cupcakes look beautiful and I' excited to try the frosting ! Pinned!
If I don't have buttermilk, is that what I use-- 1 cup milk and 1 teaspoon vinegar? Is it okay to put vinegar in there? Should I use apple cider vinegar??
I'm also planning to cut down on the sugar a little bit. So is vinegar a good idea?
Hi BB - to make homemade buttermilk I use 1 cup of milk with 1 teaspoon of white vinegar.
Do you have to use a large mixer or can a simple handheld suffice?
A handheld mixer would work, as well!
Pretty nice cupcakes, but they seemed a little oily to me. However, the flavor was nice. Very easy and quick to make. I added a few bittersweet chocolate chips into each cupcake. The chips sunk but they added a nice touch of dark chocolate flavor.
Love this recipe!I ended up using it to make my daughters 6 layer Rainbow Unicorn birthday cake. I was a big hit. Thank you.
Made these and they were delicious. Excellent texture and vanilla flavor. At first I thought 2tbs. Vanilla was a misprint-it wasn't. My oven didn't require as long a cooking time, but other than that no changes necessary.
I stopped using vegetable (and canola) oils years ago, but I just made this with melted coconut oil instead. Can't wait to taste them! They are for my sweet little grandson's 2nd birthday today. Thanks for sharing!