Oh no, not another vanilla cupcake recipe! Yes, indeed.
This is for everyone who is frustrated by the fact that it’s so easy to make a good scratch chocolate cupcake, but not so easy to make a soft, tender, vanilla cupcake. This recipe changes the game. Not that I don’t also love these sour cream cupcakes, the vanilla bean cupcakes and this doctored cake mix/flour hybrid recipe, but I think this recipe is a notch above the others.
The Best Yellow Cupcakes
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
The best scratch yellow cupcakes.
Author: Cookie Madness
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 28
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk or regular milk mixed with lemon juice**
- 3 cups (12 ounces) cake flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line about 30 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Whisk the eggs, yolks, vanilla and ¼ cup of the milk together in a small bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and mix on low for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup of milk to the flour mixture and with the mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- With the mixer still on medium, add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the side of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the cups filling them about 2/3 of the way full. Make sure not to use too much or you’ll get big rims.
- Bake for 18-25 minutes or until cupcakes are brown around the edges and spring back when touched.
Notes
If using milk and lemon juice, use 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
Adapted from a three layer cake recipe in Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Anna, thanks for this recipe. I’ve been searching high and low for the best yellow cake recipe and I’m so excited to try this one. Your cupcake looks delicious!
Well if you’re calling them the best then this is being moved near the top of the list. I’ve been having a bit of a hankering for cupcakes lately. Though I do need to use up a bunch of chocolate first. I suppose I could just eat it
.
Wish I had a reason to make cupcakes this weekend! I need a new yellow cupcake recipe! They look great!
Wish I had a reason to make them right now. (Sometimes, I don’t even care about my family’s aversion to cake/frosting.)
If you don’t have an occasion for baking the cupcakes, try a quarter batch. I’ve done it and it works. Here are the measurements. You should be able to make 6, 7 or 8 cupcakes. I think 7 is the best size.
Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes
1 large egg
1/2 large egg yolk (crack egg and slice off half a yolk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons buttermilk or regular milk mixed with lemon juice
3/4 cups (3 ounces) cake flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 sticks (2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 7 muffin cups with paper liners.
Whisk the egg, yolk, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk together in a small bowl.
In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix with a spoon. Add the butter and mash it into the flour with the back of a scraper or a spoon. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of milk to the flour mixture and with a handheld mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until smooth.
With the mixer still on medium, add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the side of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the cups and bake on center rack for 22-25 minutes.
Gosh, I don’t think I’ve ever baked a cupcake for that long!
Amy, really? Do you usually bake them for 18 minutes? My first batch took a full 25 minutes and my second batch took closer to 22 minutes.
For a minute, I was worried I put “bake for 200 minutes” or something like that.
Anna, I agree, these are delicious. Must have to do with the strange mixing method. I’m actually making these tonight to go along a yard sale tomorrow.
Ghislaine, I think you are right. It’s called the Two Stage method and I learned about it through Cook’s Illustrated and Shirley Corriher. A lot of pastry chefs use it. I think the cake flour and extra yolks help, too.
Thanks for the small batch recipe–I don’t bake for a crowd, usually, and I also think cupcakes taste better very fresh. I love the elegant ‘plating’–it looks like it would be perfect for a tea party!
Thanks for doing all the work of finding the best one
!
These cupcakes look delicious, and they make me wonder what happened to your list of “Bests” that you used to compile a few times a year. Also, I’m a lover of frosting, did you also use a favorite recipe for this frosting?
I need to put a list together! Thanks for the reminder.
For the frosting, I was in a hurry so I used the recipe on the back of the powdered sugar box.
Yum! These look great- I can’t wait to try them!
Yeah, it was tough testing every single cupcake recipe in existence
. Glad I can finally stop.
I haven’t made many vanilla cupcakes but I remember making the vanilla cupcakes from the Small Batch baking book and I liked them a lot but I can’t wait to try these.
I tried this tonight and it’s a keeper! It’s moist, tender and with tight crumbs. I only tried the quarter batch, I got 7 cupcakes out of the recipe and they were ready in 18 minutes in my oven. This will be my go to recipe from now on. I frosted mine with strawberry frosting. Delicious! Thank you very much, Anna.
Ela, thanks for the review! I’m going to adjust the range of the bake time since yours took 18 minutes.
Up to now my favorite yellow cupcake was from The Cupcake Diaries. It just got replaced.
Since there are only two of us the small batch is the way to go,
Anna, we all know that you will not finally stop testing yellow cake recipes as the next one might be better yet. You won’t know unless you bake it.
So glad I found this blog….especially the cupcake recipes as I’m always on the lookout for some good ones (and kitchen-tested ones!).
Sounds great and I have all the ingredients on hand! Hmmmm.
I can’t decide between these, or the vanilla bean cupcakes for a friend’s birthday. I’m also torn because I know she LOVES chocolate and feel like I should make something chocolate instead of what I want to make.
Do you think these or the vanilla bean cupcakes would be overwhelmed by a chocolate frosting? That way I could satisfy my desire to bake vanilla cupcakes and her taste for chocolate.
Sue, go with these! These won’t be overwhelmed by the chocolate frosting, but the vanilla beans might. Plus I want to hear your opinion on this recipe.
Hi Anna, Have you tried this cupcake recipe for a cake yet? I’m looking for a fantastic yellow/vanilla/butter cake recipe for wedding cakes. Is the yellow sour cream cake still your favorite for a cake recipe?
Danielle, it’s a tie between the sour cream cake and this one. Both are good. This one has less sour cream flavor (obviously). I haven’t made this as a cake, but I adapted the cupcake recipe from a cake so I know it will be great. Give it a try!
Hi!!! would they taste good if i add chocolate chips?? thanks
I made these for my daughters birthday and they were delicious! Everyone raved. I made half with vanilla frosting and half with chocolate frosting. I agree they are the best!
Looking forward to making them again.
Hooray! Glad you liked them, Katherine. Scratch vanilla cupcakes can be tricky.