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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
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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 is a very successful recipe! I made them twice,so far,and they turned out perfect!!
This recipe is just amazing….love, love love it. Totally fool proof…follow the recipe and you will have success every time. Thank you so much ❤
I have made these twice and they are so delicious! Wondering if you’ve ever made them into a cake? Considering trying it in 8”-9” round cake pans for my daughters birthday this weekend but wanted to see if you’d tried this out before going for it. With my luck, they wouldn’t bake right or stack
I trialled this recipe tonight as a dry run for a morning tea I’m contributing to in a couple of weeks (loved the idea of longer lasting moisture) and won’t be using it for the event, unfortunately. I had some misgivings about the amount of sugar and the consistency of the batter, and I hadn’t read the comments. My first real concern was the really eggy smell coming from the oven, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and kept on with getting the icing ready (which turned out way too sweet, even with salted butter and some extra salt added to try and balance it a bit). After about 20min in oven (a variable cooking time is totally normal with an older oven like mine, and I always err towards more time with careful checks) I did the poke test and then pulled one out and cut it in half. So doughy! I left the rest in for at least another 10-15min, pulling one out to cut and check every couple of minutes. Even when the tops were approaching burnt and I had to pull them out the texture was only marginally better. There was too much sugar in the cake as well. A lot of people have had good results with this recipe, and I don’t know what happened here. This site looks like it has some lovely recipes. I was careful with sifting and quantities. If you don’t have time to test a recipe before baking for an occasion, I’d have to suggest going for a more conventional cream-the-butter-and-sugar vanilla batter. The recipe was clear and easy to understand though, which was nice.
I absolutely love this recipe. It’s my all time favourite, go-to recipe for cupcakes and cakes! It’s so moist and fluffy! I wanted to ask, if I bake in a 9 or 10 inch tin, do I need to lower the temperature and increase the time?
Isn’t the sugar too much? Won’t it make it super sweet?
That would be a personal preference. I clearly don’t think they are too sweet, but maybe you would.
This recipe is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I’ve been searching for something so light and fluffy. It’s like eating a cloud made of cupcake! I’m making this my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe!
Can you subtract some of the sugar if you didn’t want it to be too sweet?
You can but keep in mind that it’ll change the texture of the cupcakes as well. Sugar does more than just add sweetness.
It’s so perfect!!! Great recipe with ingredients we all have at home and it only took me about 30-40 minutes for light and fluffy bursting flavour cupcakes!!
THE BEST CUPCAKES EVER!
I live this recipe, the whip up quickly and are moist and delicious!!
My cupcakes never seemed to firm or actually cook, they were always a bit raw at the bottom and like jelly. We baked them for 15 minutes and they weren’t cooked so we put them in for another 10 minutes and they were better. I can’t tell if this is because I substitute milk and butter for vegan products or this recipe. But on the other hand they still tasted yum as so I got to eat them 🙂
Emzy,
What was your rising agent, binding agent? vegan recipes really need both. What kind of vegan milk and margarine did you use? Dairy milk and butter have certain fat/solid/water percentages, so the vegan substitutions need to have similar ratios. For milk, I recommend a mix of canned coconut, and soy. I’m not sure about margarine brands, but I have good luck using coconut oil or canola oil. Lastly, are the cupcakes overmixed? That can mess with the texture/bake.
I LOVED this recipe!!! I used the amounts you specified and with mini cupcake pans it ended up making a crazy 82 tiny cupcakes!! Thank you!! 🙂
So yummy! I thought that is would be dense and crumbly but it’s perfection. Will be making this a second time!😋
Loved it!!! i will say though the top was very like gooey. Had great flavor.
I tried this recipe out hoping for a good fluffy vanilla cupcake, but instead i get a gummy, doughy and flavourless cupcake. Absolutely disappointed. I was so excited to taste them but when they came out of the oven they completely deflated. I tried another batch because i still had high hopes and they came out worse. I wish I could give this a better rating but i would give it 0 stars if I could. Truly, disappointed. I’ve also seen that other people have had the same issue so it’s definitely not my fault. Do better.
Susannah, I know most people don’t like to read blog posts, but had you looked right above the recipe card you would’ve seen that there is a note that this recipe works beautifully for some people and terribly for others. I do not know why that is, but it is a fact. Then I link to a vanilla cupcake that does not give people problems and is consistently excellent. If you read that note or read through any of the comments, it is clear to see that you may be one of those people who has trouble. So if you make this recipe you should be very aware that that could happen. I highly recommend the other vanilla cupcake. I am very sorry that you were one of the people that this did not work out for. I wish I knew why that was happening.