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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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The recipe for both the frosting and cupcakes/cake are great. I’ve made this twice now, using half the cake batter to make a three small 6 inch cake layers and twelve cupcakes. The cake is moist and texture is on-point. The frosting is the perfect compliment to the cake and super easy to make. Rave reviews from everyone that has tasted this cake! I’ve been looking for a great go-to vanilla cake recipe for a while and this is a winner. 🙂 Thank you!
Wonderful! So glad it’s been a hit!
My campers and I baked these cupcakes and they were delicious! We scooped the frosting into five different sandwich sized ziplock bags and added food coloring to four of them. We ended up with red, yellow, blue, green and the original colored frosting to decorate our cupcakes. They had a great time! Thank you for sharing.
That sounds so fun! I’m glad you enjoyed them!
These tasted very good! They were soft, a bit dense, but overall delicious. I had to increase the bake time by quite a few minutes. Any idea why they would be sticking to the wrapper?
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Not sure about the sticking. It could be the brand of cupcake wrapper.
This is my favourite cupcake recipe to use, love it so much
Wonderful! So glad to hear that!
We made these cupcakes and they turned out horrible don’t know where we went wrong, looked over the recipe Many times and they still turned out bad…. very disappointing
Hello from Malaysia????????
I’ve tried your moist choc cupcake before this and it turns out very good..my family and friends love it so much…
And today I tried this moist vanilla cupcake for the 2nd time..but unfortunately..its not moist as your cupcake..????????bake for 20minutes..but the inside is still like dough and heavy.. i dont know what happened as I follow the recipe one by one..please help me????????
Hmmm, strange. I know some people have had trouble with this one and I really don’t know why. They are so similar it doesn’t quite make sense. I can’t recreate it to test it either. One thing that I might try (if you’d like to try again), is reducing the baking powder to maybe 2 1/2 teaspoons and see what that does. If you try it, I’d be very curious to hear the result.
These turned out perfectly! Thanks for the great recipe!
Wonderful! Glad to hear you enjoyed them!
Just wanted to say I made these with cashew milk for my son’s first birthday (he is allergic to dairy) and the substitution worked well! I followed all other directions as written and used weights for the dry ingredients.
Great recipe, thank you!
So glad to hear they worked well for you! Thanks Vanessa!
Overall I give this recipe 4 stars! The consistency is perfect, not too dense and heavy like some other recipes I’ve tried. My only complaint is that there is a slight lack of flavor for my personal preference. I think a little more vanilla or vanilla bean would amp it up just a notch.
I was so excited to bake these cupcakes for a pre-wedding celebration but it totally flopped! I baked them for more than double the recommended time but they were still raw inside. I had to go back to my trusty Hummingbird recipe at the last minute. What a disappointment.
I’m about to make these today, I’m from Australia, with regards to the sugar, is that caster sugar? or normal sugar?
Thanks.
It’s regular granulated sugar in the cupcakes.
We just made these for my daughter’s 8th birthday – delicious! Thank you for a great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Hi
This is my go to vanilla cupcake recipe. We adore it! I’ve been asked to make these for an event and would like to freeze them for a couple days. Do you think that would be alright? A friend told me it would make them dense and sticky
So glad to hear you enjoy them! As for freezing, you might want to try it beforehand to see. I don’t tend to freeze things much. It can affect texture a bit sometimes and sticky tops are probably from condensation as they defrost. But I usually recommend defrosting in the fridge, which helps.
How many cupcakes do you get out of this batter?
24-26, found underneath the recipe title in the pink recipe card.
Have made these cupcakes and they are spot on delicious. Was wondering if it is possible to make them into chocolate cupcakes? And if so how would I go about doing it?
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! This would be my chocolate cupcake version of them.
I just made these great cupcakes today and they turned out so well. Delicious, fluffy and so easy to make. Thank you xoxo