Easy Vanilla Cupcakes!
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more details!*
A staple for any household – delicious, moist & light vanilla cupcakes with a creamy vanilla buttercream frosting!
Easy vanilla cupcakes
I love cupcakes and I love all different sorts of flavours and decorations, but I realised that I had never posted my easy vanilla cupcake recipe with pictures and method! Shock and horror!! This obviously had to change very rapidly, so here it is!
Cupcake sponges
A sponge like this is super basic, but it’s classic. It’s meant to have few ingredients, yet work together to create a beautifully light sponge that can be used for so many other cupcakes. The basic ingredient rules of a vanilla cupcake are:
- Butter – For a cupcake sponge, you can use either a baking spread, or unsalted butter. People have different preferences, but for a simple sponge like this I tend to use a baking spread
- Sugar – For a vanilla cupcake, I would always use caster sugar. You want a white sugar so it doesn’t impact the colour, fluffiness or flavour of the sponge.
- Flour – I always use self raising flour, but you can make your own by adding 2 level tsps of baking powder to 150g of plain flour, and whisking in before using in the recipe
- Eggs – when making a simple sponge like this the amount of eggs can vary. I tend to stick to 3 medium eggs for 150g of other ingredients, but its best to weigh the eggs in shells before using, and then match the weights of the butter, sugar and flour to that weight.
- Flavour – obviously, vanilla. I use pods, paste or extract – I will never touch essence.
Frosting
When it comes to the frosting on a cupcake like this, I often go for the American buttercream style frosting as it really is so easy to make.
- Butter – In my opinion, you must ALWAYS use block butter when making buttercream. A spread is not butter, and often results in an unpleasant frosting. Let it come to room temperature and then beat like crazy
- Sugar – icing sugar is always what you need in a buttercream, beat it into the butter like crazy again and you will have a basic buttercream
- Vanilla – obviously, as these are vanilla flavoured, I added some vanilla to the buttercream as well.
If you want a frosting that is slightly different however, you can do cream cheese frosting, or a Swiss meringue buttercream – both work well when vanilla flavoured, and they all bring different elements.
Adaptable recipe
These cupcakes are always a hit with anybody who eats them, doesn’t matter what age or gender, normal vanilla cupcakes absolutely rule all! You can keep them as simple as you like or you can jazz them up with pretty colourful sprinkles or some beautiful baking cups like my photos!
Along with my chocolate cupcakes recipe, I have used these for years and have never changed them – they’re absolutely failproof in my eyes! (And they’re super addictive – I always want vanilla cupcakes when im hungry). I even have a vegan version, and a gluten free version of these too!
Other cupcake recipes
I love basic baking, and these are definitely perfect for that. Delicious moist cupcakes with a hint of vanilla, dolloped and piped with a tonne of delicious creamy vanilla frosting… heaven.
I have tonnes of cupcake recipes on my blog, some of my favourites being my red velvet cupcakes, Biscoff cupcakes, lemon drizzle cupcakes, and my Oreo cupcakes… so I hope these make a great addition! Enjoy!
Easy Vanilla Cupcakes!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 150 g unsalted butter (or baking spread)
- 150 g caster sugar
- 3 medium eggs
- 150 g self raising flour
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp whole milk (optional)
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 150 g unsalted butter (room temp)
- 350 g icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-4 tbsp whole milk (optional)
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 170ºC/160ºC fan and line a 12 hole muffin tray with large cupcake cases/muffin cases.
- Cream together the unsalted butter and caster sugar with an electric beater until smooth.
- Add in the eggs, self raising flour and vanilla extract and beat again for about about 20-30 seconds on a medium speed - it really doesn't take too long, you don't want to over beat it!
- Scoop the mixture evenly into your cases and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until cooked through! Leave to cool fully on a wire rack.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Beat the softened unsalted butter until smooth - this can take a couple of minutes.
- Add in the icing sugar 1/3 at a time, making sure the sugar is fully incorporated until moving on!
- Once all of the icing sugar is in the frosting mix, keep on beating the frosting and add the vanilla extract whilst doing so.
- Once combined, add your frosting to a large piping bag with a piping tip of your choice.
- Decorate your cupcakes however you like (I use lots and lots of sprinkles!) and enjoy!
Notes
- These cupcakes are delicious as they are but you can jazz them up a bit with some chocolate chips - adding 100g to your mix will do nicely!
- These cupcakes will last in an airtight container for 2-3 days, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months!
- I used this Muffin Tin
- I use this 5cm scoop to portion into my baking cups
- I get my baking cups from here - Iced Jems
- I get my sprinkles from here - Iced Jems
ENJOY!
Find my other Recipes on my Recipes Page!
You can find me on:
Instagram
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
Youtube
J x
© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.
These vanilla cupcakes look classic and delicious. I appreciate how clearly the steps are explained, making the recipe feel approachable even for bakers of all levels. The focus on simple ingredients and tried-and-true technique makes this a recipe worth returning to again and again. Thanks for sharing such a timeless and easy-to-follow guide.
My cupcakes taste very eggy – is there anything I did wrong I used the three medium eggs as instructed. Amazing recipe though easy and simple.
This might be the eggs as I have never experienced this – some eggs do vary in size so it might be that they were on the larger end of the ‘medium’ scale so it was slightly too eggy. x
Why is the milk optional – what difference does it make?
This recipe is amazing, I’ve had so much good feedback from them as I bake them all the time.
I need to make 24 soon; rather than making 2 batches and cooking separately, I’d like to make double the quantity and bake them at the same time. Can I do this, and if so, how much would you adjust the timing roughly? I usually bake at 150.
Thanks so much for consistent brilliant recipes ❤️
Absolutely Will take the same time if you have a fan assisted oven
Hi Jane. I followed your recipe exactly as it said but they were a bit greasy at the bottom when I took them out and they are all cooked cos I checked with a skewer, something doesn’t seem right with my cupcakes :(((
Why are they greasy at the bottom? Xx
Did you use a baking spread such as Stork? It’s changed its ingredients and it’s making many bakers cakes turn out greasy unfortunately. Also, it can be bad quality cases that cause this!
Hi Jane! What piping nozzles/ tips do you use for piping the buttercream? And where do you buy them from, IVE been baking for a while and it’s been hit or miss with piping nozzles for me as I’m never sure what ones to get. Thanks!!
I absolutely loved this vanilla cupcake recipe, The texture was so light and fluffy, and the flavor was perfectly sweet with just the right hint of vanilla. The recipe was easy to follow, and they baked up beautifully. I topped mine with a classic buttercream, and they were an instant hit! This will definitely be my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe from now on—thank you for sharing.
Hi, my recipe always comes out with them rising to high in the centre and I find I have to cut away the top to be able to decorate the cakes….. what am I doing wrong?
Hi if I wanted to make 36 what quantity of ingredients would I use please xx
Hi Jane,
I have used many of your recipes and have loved all of them. I am looking at making some mini vanilla cupcakes for a birthday party. What changes would I need to make to this recipe to make ‘mini’ cupcakes instead, would be the same ingredients just a different cooking time (what cooking time / temp?)? Or should I make any changes to the ingredients in this recipe ?
Thanks,
Rosie
hi Jane, i followed the buttercream recipe exactly but it’s just too liquidy and not whipping to buttercream texture, i’ve tried it 3 times now and the same has happened every time – any idea why? x
This will be the butter you are using – what exact butter is it? (Or, it’s the extreme heat at the minute if you’re in the UK)
hi for the sponge is it just a block of unsalted butter you use and is it the same type of butter for the buttercream? thanks
Hiya! Yes that’s right! Hope this helps! x
Has this recipe changed? I used your easy vanilla cupcakes recipe before for Birthday celebrations etc before but the images on the recipe and ingredients were slightly different ? In the one I used previously there was whole milk listed as an ingredient to loosen the mixture, when I used the old recipe the cupcakes turned out much fluffier and lighter. Never had an issue with this bake before. Is that recipe still available please as I can’t find it on your website. Thank you:)
Hiya! If needed, use 2 tbsp whole milk in the cupcake mix and 2-4 tbsp whole milk in the buttercream. Hope this helps! x
Hello! Wondering if you could help, every time I use this recipe the cakes come out smelling and tasting eggy. I use the correct amount, any ideas?
What size eggs are you using? This is likely the issue! x
Hi Jane
I baked these cupcakes for 18 mins skewer was clean but sponge wasn’t falling apart and nice and soft as before when I made the biscoff and lemon ones. They also felt greasy and when I push the sponge between my fingers I can hear it like soggy spongey if that makes sense? I made the others with my hand mixer but these with my stand mixer used same ingredients just not sure what I did wrong? Any ideas?
Hiya! This could be the bake based on being mixed differently. Hope this helps! x
Hi Jane,
Can I use vanilla paste instead? Hope to hear from you. Thanks
Yes absolutely you can! Enjoy! x
I love your recipes. I tried baking these vanilla cupcakes for our staff bun day. Each member of staff bakes once a week for the others. My sponge tasted a little eggy. They were fresh eggs from my hens. Any ideas why this would be? Thanks for any response 🙂
Hiya! This may be that they were too large (it’s best to weigh you eggs in their shells to match your other ingredients!) Hope this helps! x