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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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This recipe was a disaster
I made these cupcakes for the second time and they were amazing once again. What is the best way to store these as they will be eaten tomorrow?
I would store them in an airtight container on the counter.
Thank you!! this is my new control recipe!
Hi Lindsay,
I want to use this recipe for a 14x14x2 square cake pan. It calls for 13 5/8 cups of batter. Do you know how many cups this recipe yields?
Thank you
Bridget
I don’t, I’m sorry.
I love this recipe so much it was so easy to do and to make and my family loved it
Hi! I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe. I was just wondering if I could lower the sugar to 1 cup, or would that affect the texture? I’m just not a super big fan of super sweet things, so I just wanted to ask. Thank you!
Sugar adds moisture in addition to sweetness, so lowering it can affect the texture.
Question *
I made this cupcakes and everyone loved them. I am curious if i can use this recipe for a cake.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, it works as a cake.
Big big hit with my family.
Can I use this to make a cake? If so do I need to double the recipe?
Glad you enjoyed it! No, you don’t need to double it for a cake. It’s fine as it is.
I made these with half of the sugar. I also filled the liners 3/4 full, and ended up with 20 cakes. The texture was still light and fluffy. An absolute winner.
This recipe is very disappointing. The icing was watery and the cupcakes came out flat. To top it off they do not even taste good. My son was supposed to bring these to his soccer freinds… so extremely disappointed. Thank god we tried them before sending them out! I do NOT recommend this recipe.
I’m sorry you were disappointed. It sounds like something was off with how you did the frosting. I’ve never heard someone complain that it was watery. Did you reduce the amount of powdered sugar? As for the cupcakes, there’s a note right above the recipe about how this cupcake is hit or miss for people. I leave it up because there are so many people that love it, however my newer vanilla cupcake is far better and more reliable.
My name is Katelyn, and we used this recipe for my Baking and Pastry class at my school. It worked out pretty well! We doubled the recipe, and the only thing that went wrong, was that some of us overfilled the cupcake tins, but that’s okay because we’re still learning! the cupcakes were baked then frosted the next day, and they still tasted fresh! Very wonderful job, and it was a joy to create with a recipe like this. 🙂
This recipe was really good and fun to make but we had some trouble making it taste right and we ended up adding to much flour and then the overall taste of it was weird.
the cupcakes didn’t turn out well but maybe that was a mistake on my part. the frosting was perfect!
This recipe was really good but when we doubled it, it made the cupcakes taste weird. I don’t know if it was just something we did wrong or the recipe but overall the cupcakes were good.
how many cupcakes per serving?
One cupcake is a serving.
Thank you for this recipe however as they baked they overflowed and became a hot mess!
It sounds like the cupcakes were over filled.
Im thinking the same! I will try again, thanks for replying💖