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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
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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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Can the buttercream be left in the fridge overnight until needing to be pipped?
Absolutely! Just keep in mind that it’ll get very firm in the fridge while cold. You just want to bring it back to room temperature and give it a good stir before using it.
If I avoid adding the water for this recipe does it still make the same amount of cupcakes? Also would the cook time still be the same?
I’m not sure about the amount of cupcakes. It would likely make a few less. And the cook time was the same, I believe. You’ll still fill the cupcake liners the same.
My friend raved over these cupcakes. I was looking for a recipe that used baking powder because I need to make these as low sodium as possible and I have no sodium baking powder but not baking soda. She loved them and loved being able to eat more than 1/3 of a cupcake. She equally loved the frosting.
I’m so glad they were a hit!
Sooo fluffy and taste is just perfect!
I had a little mixture left over so added it to some of the cupcake cups just to test if filling the cups 3/4 full instead of 1/2 full would be an issue. It is, the 3/4 filled cups spilled over. Love that this whole recipe is true to word! Thank you
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Can I use this recipe to make a cake? If so, what size?
Yes, you can. I usually use it as an 8 inch, like in this Berry Mascarpone Cake.
TOO sweet and really dense. Followed recipe to the letter!
I found this to make a super dense cupcake and very pankcake tasting. Unfortunately it wasn’t light and fluffy for us.
I’ve never had a bad cupcake until I followed this recipe. What I got were small sticky cupcakes. I do not like this recipe
I’m sorry it didn’t work well for you. There’s a note above the recipe card about the fact that this recipe gives people trouble sometimes. It’s not a problem that I can re-create so it’s not some thing I can try to fix. That said, I have multiple vanilla cupcakes on my site. One of them is linked above, and it’s an excellent recipe that is very consistent, if you’d like to give it a try.
Is there a way to cut Dow the amount of sugar?
Reducing the sugar can affect the texture of the cupcakes, but reducing it just a bit would probably be fine.
These turned out terrible. I was thinking as I put the sugar in that it seemed too much, also consistency was too thin. Annoyed I wasted all these ingredients and should have stuck to my go to recipe but this looked interesting.
An i also wanted to know if just u make sweets or u do others , salads , pies , roast chicken etc
I do have some recipes that are not sweets. You can find them in the menu at the top of the site.
An not only that, for a while i was looking for vinalla cake without creaming method an with a moist light fluffy texture , finally i got
Hi i got 30 cupcakes in total other than that i wanted to know if the topping is required, as we enjoyed without the topping, the cake is pretty sweet enough for me or is it more yummy just with topping, other than that im glad i found vinalla cupcakes which is light and moist an fluffy
I’m glad you enjoyed the cupcakes! Cupcakes typically have frosting in my experience, but feel free to leave it off. My husband isn’t a big frosting person either.
I love this recipe and have made cupcakes mini cupcakes and large cakes with no problem.
Quick question I’ve just made a four layer cake using this recipe but now can’t deliver to next week – can I freeze it? I’ve put store bought buttercream in between the layers. Otherwise how long will it last in the fridge? Thank you 😊
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe! It should do fine in the freezer. Just wrap it well and thaw it in the fridge.
It’ll last in the fridge for about 4 days.
Hi how much cupcakes do i get from one lot ?
About 24 cupcakes
Can I use almond milk instead of regular milk?
I’ve never tried it, but I think they would be fine.