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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 this recipe so much
Can the flour, salt and baking powder be substituted with self-raising flour?
Self raising flour may have a different amount of leavening, so you likely wouldn’t get the same results.
Can I add pudding to this recipe?
I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure.
This is the best recipe. Although quick and easy, to save even more time, I did mix all the dry ingredients and allowed them to sit overnight. Combining everything next day was simple. I also only added about 1/4 cup of water, not the 1 cup. The cup cakes sprung up and were absolutely delicious. I will never buy another box
cake again. With these changes definitely five stars.
it seemed more like a thin pancake batter with gummy and awful results. Was very hopeful but honestly was very disappointed.
I was so hopeful, but the cupcakes came out kinda gummy (they were fully cooked, but felt gooey and raw when chewed) and tasted kinda floury :/ my ingredients were all fresh and good and I’ve made many cupcakes so not sure what went wrong. Followed the recipe to a T
There’s a note just above the recipe that some people seem to get this result for unexplained reasons. I truly cannot re-create it. But I have several other vanilla cupcake recipes that you could try that are more consistent for people.
Same batch of cupcakes.
I thought they were gummy and doughy. They didn’t seem to have risen enough.
This same batch, my wife thought were fantastic. She much preferred these to another recipe that I thought was better.
Maybe this explains the bad results for some people: A matter of perception.
Planning to make these tomorrow but before I do just want to check what kind of sugar to use. Is Castor sugar okay?
I use regular granulated sugar. I haven’t tried castor sugar, but I assume it would be fine.
I’m a patisserie chef here in Adelaide, Australia, this recipe ticks all the boxes for ease of reading and making with very little mess. But the best part is the product itself, very good recipe. I made a massive batch on Friday just gone for my daughter’s school sports day and topped them with Italian buttercream and sprinkles. WOW what a delicious combination and the taste is on point!!! P.S.: Both the kids and parents loved them! 🙂
Today I made a batch just for home and made half of the 1x quantity. Perfect amount if you only want a few cupcakes for the week. I saw another’s question of freezing the cupcakes in (no frosting of course). I couldn’t imagine it would damage the integrity of this product so I will give this a go and see how they turn out. Thanks for the recipe Lindsay 🙂
freezing definitely works with these–I made them for a baby shower and froze them for about a week beforehand.
What can I substitute for shortening
Additional butter.
I’ve used this recipe so many times that I feel like I owe a review XD.
PERFECTO.
Glad you’ve enjoyed them!
I’m always looking for easy and these are so easy that anyone can make and not mess up. SUPER MOIST for sure and my daughter loved them.
Wondering if the can freeze well as for unfrosted leftovers on another day?
Thank goodness my new go to recipe for vanilla cupcakes. I almost always have these simple ingredients on hand.
Pure yum! Much appreciated
So glad you enjoyed them! I haven’t personally froze them, but I think they would be fine.
I’ve made several batches and have frozen most of them for use later. I leave out on the bench for a few hours before decorating and they have been absolutely perfect! Great recipe, thanks heaps!! 👍🏻
So glad to hear that!
While this recipe was nice and easy to make with the kids, we found the taste to be far too salty. I’d probably only had half a tsp (or less) next time.
This recipe helped me so much. I was able to make my cousin’s sweet 16 in lockdown special! Thanks so much
This cake was certainly very easy to make, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. They are really moist, which is great, but the flavor resembles more like that of a pancake. My sister said it wasn’t sweet like a cupcake usually is, but we still ate them.
Definitely different, and I’m sure they won’t go to waste, but I don’t think I’ll be using the recepie again.
This is my go to vanilla cupcake recipe and it always gets rave reviews. I’ve tried others and while the flavor is good they dry out so quickly. Not an issue with these. I added sprinkles and made them into funfetti cupcakes as well. Just out of curiosity would buttermilk be able to be used instead of regular milk? That’s what I use in my vanilla cake so I was curious if it would negatively affect them?
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure. I think it would be fine.