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These Moist Vanilla Cupcakes are super easy to make and so moist – for days! They are my new favorite vanilla cupcake!
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Moist Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I’d be bringing you some new basic favorites and I started with my easy moist chocolate cake. Today, we are talking about these moist vanilla cupcakes and I’m pumped! One of the things that I’m always messing with is vanilla cake/cupcakes. It’s the never ending quest for all the best versions. I’m a believer that if you don’t have a good vanilla cake, you have NOTHING! 🙂 Ok, dramatic, but it’s like the “tell”. If you don’t have a good vanilla, can anything else really be that good? There are so many ways to vary a vanilla cake and I want the best of all of them! I’m greedy like that. Plus, I know not every has the same idea of the perfect cupcake, so I like to have options.
You may or may not have tried my original vanilla cupcakes. They are loved by many and were my favorite for some time. I still remember the batches upon batches of cupcakes I made while testing those and the fabulous friends that lined them up and tasted tested them all to help me find the best one. If you haven’t tried them, they are worth checking out. But while I still love them, these are my new fave. Sorry “OG cupcake”, there’s a new star in town. 😉
So let’s talk a bit about these cupcake. There’s no need for creaming to get involved, which is kind of a plus. Creaming butter and sugar together makes quite a fabulous cupcake, but sometimes you just want quick and easy and to barely even need to use a mixer. I mean, basically like a box mix but not, you know? These are those cupcakes. The “OG cupcake” was that way too, but used butter and were a little denser. These cupcakes use oil and are lighter.
We’ve got the usual suspects in this cupcake, starting with the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Easy, common ingredients that you should totally have in your pantry already. Mix ’em all together and set ’em aside.
Next are the wet ingredients: milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs. The oil is the fat component instead of butter and in my opinion, tends to make a more moist cake that stays moist for longer. Totally true for these cupcakes. The milk (I typically use 2%) adds to the structure of the cake, in addition to adding moisture. Milk adds fluff and I love some fluff. 🙂 I used a full tablespoon of vanilla extract to make sure there’s plenty of delicious vanilla flavor. Then the eggs add more moisture, structure and flavor. I switched it up in these and went with whole eggs instead of egg whites. No more egg yolks getting wasted here!
Once the wet and dry ingredients are combined, the water is added.
There’s so much moisture in these cupcakes! I love them! I’m a big, big fan of their ease of making, their flavor and moisture. They use such simple ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry too – score! When topped with my favorite vanilla buttercream, these vanilla cupcakes really are a dream! They were a big hit in our house and I hope you love them as much as we did!
Watch How To Make These
Read Transcript
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Moist Vanilla Cake
Moist and Fluffy Vanilla Cake
Perfect Moist and Fluffy Vanilla Cupcakes
Easy Moist Chocolate Cake
NOTE: Some people have reported having trouble with this recipe, while others love it. I have no idea why some people have trouble. There could be any number of factors – improper measuring of ingredients, oven type, altitude, etc. I have never had an issue with these and cannot troubleshoot a problem that I cannot recreate. If you’d prefer a more traditional vanilla cupcake that uses butter and a little bit of oil, as well as the creaming method, and seems to be less finicky for people, try out these Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes. They are currently my favorite vanilla cupcake.
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Moist Vanilla Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 24-26 Cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made with oil instead of butter, this Moist Vanilla Cupcake Recipe makes cupcakes with a light, tender crumb that’s super moist without being dense or heavy. The batter comes together in just a few minutes, making these an easy dessert to whip up anytime.
Ingredients
VANILLA CUPCAKES
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 cups (414g) sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder (NOT baking soda)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) water*
VANILLA FROSTING
- 1 cup (224g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (460g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2–3 tbsp (30-45ml) water or milk
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixer bowl and combine. Set aside.
- Add the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs to a medium sized bowl and combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined.
- Slowly add the water to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined. Please note that the batter will be very thin.
- Fill the cupcake liners about half way and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- To make the frosting, beat the butter in a large mixer bowl until smooth.
- Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add the vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of water or milk and mix until smooth.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add remaining water or milk, as needed, and salt and mix until smooth.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I used Ateco tip 844.
Notes
If you’d prefer a more traditional vanilla cupcake that uses butter instead of oil, and the creaming method, try out these Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes.
*Some people report having issues with these cupcakes. If that happens to you, could try leaving out the water entirely.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 285
- Sugar: 31 g
- Sodium: 129.2 mg
- Fat: 12.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 41 g
- Protein: 2.7 g
- Cholesterol: 25.1 mg
Enjoy!
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I love these cupcakes however I’d like a recipe that I can make ahead and freeze. Do you think they will freeze well? How do I prevent the tops from getting sticky?
They should freeze fine. It’s hard to say about the sticky tops. I believe that comes from the condensation after thawing them and it’d be hard to avoid.
These are sooooooo awesome ???????? Thanks a million!
Glad you enjoyed them!
Oh my goodness! These were amazing. Best cupcakes i have ever made and because the batter was so thin, cleanup was so much easier. Thanks for the recipe. This blows the OG out of the water.
So glad you enjoyed them!
I made these cupcakes and was very disappointed., I will never make them again! they were terrible spongy like and I followed the recipe to the T. I don’t think the water is necessary and they were to sweet for my liking.
2 1/2 cups of flour is 300 grams? It says right in the flour bag, 1/4 cup is 30g, making 1 cup 120g and 2.5 cups 300g. I can’t help but wonder if that is one of the issues people are having? I always weigh my ingredients so I’m hoping I don’t have any problems but it’s just a thought.
You could look at many different sources and they’d all have slightly different measurements for what ingredients weight, unfortunately. That said, I use weight measurements when baking, so the amounts listed are exactly what I use.
Just tried your recipe for mother’s day. Added a few more ingredients as I can’t help myself ???? yummy results. Nice and soft and moist. Hmmm! Thanks for the help making my partners mother’s day breakfast great ????
So glad you enjoyed them!
Hi thank you for this recipe but please can i have recipe for 40 cupcakes using butter pls.
Thank you
Hi, This recipe looks amazing, am going to use it for a science fair project thanks so much!!! Also, if I am going to replace the oil with butter (for my project), do you know the ratios? xxx Thanks!
I don’t believe it will work with butter. I hope the science fair goes well!
Can I add sprinkles to the batter to make these funfetti vanilla cupcakes?
Sprinkles would fall right to the bottom of these cupcakes since the batter is so thin. You could do it with these cupcakes though.
hi lindsay
do i have to add the water?
and is it ok if i reduce the sugar are the cupcakes very sweet?
THANKS
I haven’t tried it without the water or with reduced sugar, so I can’t say how that’d turn out.
Made these tonight for Strawberry shortcake cupcakes. The only change I made was no water and 1 1/2 cups of milk. They came out super moist and delicious and were able to hold up to the strawberry filling.
Great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Turned out moist and light. Texture is really good, but I find the taste is lacking. I halved the recipe. Maybe add more vanilla or use vanilla paste for stronger flavor? I have used other recipe that has called for sour cream and that seems to give good flavor. Can I use sour cream here? Thank you!
I agree that sour cream is a nice addition. I haven’t tried it in these cupcakes, but use in this recipe.
Hi, I’m about to try this recipe for the first time 🙂 For the frosting, is it best to use and electric mixer? Thank you!
Yes, either a stand or hand mixer is best.
Hi, love your recipe! Ive been searching for an exceptional vanilla cupcake/cake recipe. Where the cupcakes are concerned I have definitly found it here. On the other hand I tried this as a cake recently and it was the strangest cake I’ve ever made. Ive been trying to figure out just what the heck happened but i cant even begin to understand what would produce those results.
The reaction started while they were baking in the oven, about halfway through their cook time. It’s hard to even describe it accurately but it was almost like the edges of the cake started to pull into the middle in lines eventually forming a sort of raised cake island in the middle that browned a lot faster than the rest of the cake. It also had the loosest crumb I’ve ever seen in a cake, the crumbs themselves were huge, you could literally taste every single one when you took a bite. It fell apart terribly too when i tried to trim and stack the layers, i had to piece it together.
Very strange and interesting results. I am a very experienced baker and although i usually tweak recipes like crazy when i make them, I followed yours to a T because I have a lot of respect for your recipes.
I thought i would let you know my results because i was thinking that maybe your a bit like me in the way that your fascinated by baking experiments and also like to know how the recipes you’ve created work out for other people.
I also want you to know that i mean no disrespect. Your recipes are genius and you are super talented. No matter how great a recipe is its not going to work the same way for everyone who tries it.
Thank you for your time and for reading this overly long comment!!! Let me know your thoughts.
So glad to hear you enjoy the recipes! This sounds like a very strange result! I’m always interested in how things turn out for people, I just wish I could solve everyone’s problem when things don’t turn out. In this case though, it’s quite strange that you were successful with the cupcakes, but not the cake. I know plenty of people have made it both ways with success and I used it in this cake here. I know some people have had issues with the recipe, but mostly it’s that both ways either work or don’t. Even with plenty of experience I sometimes get distracted and forget or mis-measure something. Could that have happened?
Hmmm I guess thats always a possibility, I’m not going to say that it couldn’t have happened ???? but if I had to guess I would say I did it correctly. I suppose I will have to try it again to be sure.
I wonder which ingredient, measured incorrectly could produce that result. It’s such a nice recipe I would love to use it for my cakes as well so hopefully I can figure out why that happened.
Thanks for the reply!! I appreciate you taking the time.❤️
Your recipe calls for water, is it HOT or COLD, specifics please. I made it with tepid water.
Cupcakes were stodgy and tough. Awful.
The temperature doesn’t really seem to make a difference. I’m not sure what happened with the cupcakes, but it shouldn’t have been the water temperature.
These cupcakes are very moist but are dense and lack flavor. You would be better off using a mix.