Dessertscarlsbadcravings5.0
Best Vanilla Cupcakes
These vanilla cupcakes are the gold standard of cupcakes—ultra-soft, incredibly moist, and bursting with rich, bakery-style buttery vanilla flavor. After extensive testing of every possible ingredient and ratio, this perfected recipe had my friend raving for her birthday, "Literally never had a better cupcake. 43 years, today was the best one."
👥 12 Servings⏱️ Prep & Cook: 48 min⏳ Prep: 30 min🔥 Cook: 18 min👤 Jen📖 carlsbadcravings
🥘 Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you prepare them:
🍳 Cookware
- pan
- oven
- bowl
- whisk
- mixing bowl
📝 Preparation Steps
1
Prep: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
2
Dry Ingredients: Whisk the cake flour (measure correctly! See Notes), baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
baking powder1 tsp
3
Cream Butter and Sugar: Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer), beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for ⏱️ 3-5 minutes, until very creamy and fluffy, scraping down the bowl occasionally.
4
Add Wet Ingredients: Scrape down the bowl. Add the egg whites, oil, and vanilla extract, and beat on medium-high for ⏱️ 1 minute, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the sour cream and beat on medium-high speed until combined, about ⏱️ 30 seconds.
large egg whites, (room temperature (See Notes))3
5
Alternate Ingredients: With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk (begin and end with dry ingredients). Stop mixing when a few steaks of flour remain, then stir the rest by hand. There should be some small lumps—do not overmix.
6
Fill liners: Divide the batter among the 12 liners, filling each about 2/3-3/4 full (a 1/4-cup large cookie scoop is perfect) to achieve a bakery-style domed top. There should be just a little batter left over; do not scrape the mixing bowl clean, otherwise you can overfill the liners.
7
Bake: Bake for 17–⏱️ 22 minutes (closer to 17 if your oven runs hot), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out barely clean.
8
Cool: Let the pan rest for ⏱️ 5 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
9
Frost: Frost the cooled cupcakes with the desired frosting. I love them with Cream Cheese Frosting (pictured)!
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