Oh no, not another vanilla cupcake recipe! Yes, indeed. But this recipe is for "the best" yellow cupcakes. They are buttermilk cupcakes made not only with that key ingredient, but extra egg yolks and cake flour. Plus it's a two-stage method recipe, so if you like the flow of that type of cake recipe (I do) give this one a shot. These may be your ultimate moist vanilla cupcakes.
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Best Yellow Cupcakes?
Okay, "best" is subjective, but these seemed like the best at the time so I'm calling the recipe best yellow cupcakes and have posted it 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 cupcakes, the vanilla bean cupcakes and this doctored cake mix/flour hybrid recipe, but I think this recipe is a notch above the others.
Two-Stage Method Buttermilk Cupcakes
One thing to know about this recipe is that it calls for the two-stage method, which is where you mix the dry ingredients together, coat them with fat using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, add a little of the milk and blend, then add the eggs and liquid last. The batter, using the buttermilk and the two-stage method, should be satiny smooth.
Cupcake Competitors
If this recipe is not for you or you want a smaller batch of cupcakes, here are a few others I like. Going through these, I need to organize them better, but for now here are some recipes to consider.
By the way, this recipe is adapted from a three layer cake recipe in Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes
Recipe
The Best Yellow Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk or regular milk mixed with lemon juice** (280 grams)
- 3 cups cake flour (336 grams)
- 2 cups granulated sugar (390 grams)
- 4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks, softened (230 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line about 30 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Bring all your ingredients to room temperature.
- 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 ⅔ 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.
Anna says
Hi Olga,
I'd probably just go with 350. I sometimes reduce the heat to 325 if I'm baking something in a really dark Bundt pan or glass pan, but with a reliable oven 350 should be fine. If your oven runs hot, you could go with 325.
Olga says
If I want to make a layer cake with these, should I bake at 350 or 325?
Thank you!
Anna says
Hello Olga!
Thanks for your question about the cake flour measurements, and I apologize for any confusion. The measurements is 3 cups of cake flour which weighs 12 oz on a scale. Another way to measure it would be (again) 3 cups of cake flour with a weight of 336 grams.
When I switched recipe formatting software, it put the "weight ounce" measurements next to the cups, when it should be in parenthesis.
Thanks for pointing out the formatting issue, and good luck with the cupcakes! This is a really good recipe.
Olga says
What do you mean by 3 cups 12 oz cake flour? Is that 3 cups plus 12 oz? It might be easier to have the measurement as either cups or ounces. I want to try this recipe but am confused about how much flour. Thank you!
Craig says
I just want to say Thank You Thank You Thank You for this recipe!!! I have tried 5 other recipes, one with sour cream, yogurt, oil, all purpose flour, etc. But, this is by far the best yellow cupcake I have ever made and eaten in my life!!!! It’s so moist and fluffy and oh so so delicious!!!! Thank you!!!!
Anna says
Yup! Sorry, I should have been more clear. You can use milk mixed with a little lemon juice or vinegar.
dainty39gm says
Beautiful cupcakes! I wanna try baking these for my grandchildren, but I'm a little confused about the homemade buttermilk. Do you mean I cup of milk plus 3 tbsps. more milk and 1 tbsp. lemon juice? Thanx.
Anna says
Pam, thanks for the review! That's a good tip about helping cake dome by putting it in a hot oven. I do that sometimes with muffins.
Pam says
OMG!!!! You don't know how long I've been searching for the perfect vanilla cupcake....for sure 6 months now and within the last 2 weeks, every day I've tried at least 4 different recipes, all of them saying they are "the best." None of them even came close. They all shrunk when I took them out of the oven and none of them had domed tops. Some that looked good (hot milk sponge cake) were not that fluffy and moist and you could see the tunnels from the baking powder when you broke them open. Lots went wrong. I love how all of the website bloggers take pictures of their cupcakes when they are in the oven and have perfect domed tops. Then the after picture is a flat cupcake with a ton of frosting to make it look like it has a domed top still.
This cupcake recipe is PERFECT!!!! It's light and fluffy (something I was starting to think wasn't possible in a yellow cake), tastes great, the crumb couldn't be finer, it couldn't be moister, and the top is domed and completely smooth, like it was a chiffon cake with zero cracks!!!!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! Thank you soooooo much!!!!.....also I read that if you set your oven at 425 degrees, pop in your cupcakes, bake them for exactly 4 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350 degrees the rest of the way, they dome even better:) I did it and they turned out great! Thank you again, my search for the best vanilla cupcake is over!!!! XOXO
Anna says
Thanks for the review, Stephanie! Glad the cupcakes were a success.
Stephanie says
For the second time, I am impressed with this recipe! I just made the recipe a layer cake using this recipe. Thank you, thank you, thank you once again! 🙂
Anna says
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Joan! Happy Birthday to your granddaughter.
Joan says
Made these for my granddaughters 2nd birthday party- so far the lightest and fluffiest cupcakes I have made to date-
thank you!
Theresa says
Hi! I am fifteen and i love to bake! Bless your heart for making a recipe for a lot of people. I have to make 100-200 cupcakes for a friend's scout ceremony, and my family and friends rave about these cupcakes. Thanks!
I am making a batch on Thursday for un Celebración en la clase de Español Tres(:
Anna says
Vicky and Stephanie, I am SO happy to hear that you both liked the recipe. Since I put "The Best" in the title, they had a lot to live up to. Yellow cake seems to simple, but it's one of those recipes that can be made so many different ways and in so many textures. Glad this one made you happy :).
Stephanie says
Oh. My. Goodness. These cupcakes are SO good! I made them today for my daughter's fourth birthday party tomorrow. They are by far the best yellow cupcake recipe I have tried. Thank you!
Vicky says
I'm done! This is it for me. I've tried soooo many yellow/golden/butter cake-from-scratch recipes & this is the best...taste, texture, everything! Best. Ever.
A million thanks!
Anna says
Hi Amy,
I hope you think they live up to their name :).
But yes, you can definitely freeze them. I usually line cupcakes up on their sides, wrap them in plastic wrap (Press & Seal works well), then put the cupcakes in an airtight freezer bag.
Amy says
Hi Anna! These look perfect for my son's first birthday party!
I'm excited to make them. I was wondering if they will fare ok if I freeze them a week in advance so I can prep accordingly? I would prefer to make them the day of the party but that is not feasible. Thanks for your help in advance.
Anna says
Hooray! Glad you liked them.
Sarah Donley says
Great recipe. These are the moistest vanilla cupcakes I've made. 🙂
Anna says
Hooray! Glad you liked them, Katherine. Scratch vanilla cupcakes can be tricky.
Katherine says
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.
cristina says
Hi!!! would they taste good if i add chocolate chips?? thanks
Anna says
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!
Danielle says
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?
Anna says
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.
Sue says
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.
d says
Sounds great and I have all the ingredients on hand! Hmmmm.
Stephanie says
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!).
Carole Resnick says
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 says
Ela, thanks for the review! I'm going to adjust the range of the bake time since yours took 18 minutes.
Ela says
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.
Sue says
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.
Anna says
Yeah, it was tough testing every single cupcake recipe in existence ;). Glad I can finally stop.
xeyedmary says
Yum! These look great- I can't wait to try them!
Anna says
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.
Darlene says
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?
Mackenzie@The Caramel Cookie says
Thanks for doing all the work of finding the best one :)!
Chewthefat says
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!
Anna says
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.
Ghislaine says
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. 🙂
Anna says
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.
Amy says
Gosh, I don't think I've ever baked a cupcake for that long!
Anna says
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.
Katrina says
Wish I had a reason to make them right now. (Sometimes, I don't even care about my family's aversion to cake/frosting.) 😉
Lisa @ Snappy Gourmet says
Wish I had a reason to make cupcakes this weekend! I need a new yellow cupcake recipe! They look great!
Adam says
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 :).
Ela says
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!