Vanilla Cupcakes
Classic Vanilla Cupcakes
Scroll to find recipe and step by step instructions.
Vanilla Cupcake
Vanilla Frosting
Servings Size:
Around 12 cupcakes
Measurments:
Vanilla Cake:
170g salted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
125g buttermilk
120g water
90g egg whites
2 tbsp vanilla extract
200g all-purpose flour
200g granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Vanilla Buttercream:
3 sticks salted butter
Around 1/2 cup Crisco shortening
750g powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Add half n half (or your milk preference) until frosting gets to soft peak
Add a pinch of purple food coloring to correct the color (optional)
Why measure in grams?
If you ask any bakery how they measure, most will say they measure in grams. Measuring by weight is more reliable for desserts because some recipes don’t specify if you should pack your ingredients and do not take into account how different people measure their ingredients.
A common mistake people make in measuring ingredients is when measuring brown sugar. Brown sugar is clumpier than normal sugar because it is mixed with molasses. 100 grams of white sugar is equivalent to 100 grams of packed brown sugar—though most people don’t pack their brown sugar the same way, so you will most likely not get the same measurement unless using a scale.
Food scales are such an amazing and cheap investment to make for your kitchen because they will allow you to copy recipes perfectly because they are far more reliable and allow you to not use as many dishes! Click here to order a food scale!
Substitutes for milk?
There are several milk substitutes, but you it depends primarily on what you are trying to use the milk for. Some easy substitutes are equal amounts of heavy cream, light cream, half n half (half milk, half heavy cream), or 1 cup plant based milk (almond, coconut, oat, etc.) mixed with 2 tbsp butter (real or plant based).
Most recipes use heavy cream for the point of it whipping up—so using any of the other alternative substitutes won’t work. Light cream, half n half, most plant based milks, and whole milk won’t whip up to a whipped cream texture, so heavy cream is a must-have.
For chocolate ganache, most of the substitutes will work perfectly fine, though it is good to know that heavy cream will give the most light, airy, and stable final product and plant-based/whole milks will give the thinnest and denser product.
For this recipe specifically, buttermilk is an uncommon ingredient to be laying around your house, so a substitute is what I almost always go for. You can add 1 cup of any milk you have, I like to use half n half, just to give you a sort of rich heavy cream and regular milk mixture. Then add 1 teaspoon of white vinegar and let this sit for 10 minutes. Of course, there are many other ways to make buttermilk, but this is my favorite and most simple!
Buttercream Frosting
I will always recommend using buttercream frosting because it always has a perfect consistency and is the most simple to make (if you follow the recipe and instructions correctly). However, the texture and consistency of your buttercream frosting depends on your environment. Your frosting will not hold a design very well in warmer environments. It is necessary to keep desserts with buttercream frosting chilled while you are storing them to avoid the frosting melted off of your dessert or becoming too soft—losing the design.
A way to avoid losing the design in the heat, whipping the butter for a longer amount of time (maybe 8-10 minutes) before you add any other ingredient may help stabilize it. Adding more powdered sugar or lessening the amount of heavy cream/milk substitute you use will also aid in this issue. Some buttercream recipes require more milk substances such as heavy cream to give it a fluffier texture. If this is the case and you want to put this dessert in a warmer environment for whatever reason, do not use this recipe for your buttercream or remove most of the liquid and replace it with more butter and powdered sugar.
A key factor to getting stable and airy buttercream that is not too dense is whipping your butter before adding any other ingredients. I always allow my butter to reach a white color and double in size before I add anything. This will allow your buttercream to be more airy without creating unnecessary air pockets.
What is Color Correcting?
A very simple yet complicated concept is the idea of color correcting your buttercream. The butter, if not whipped enough, will give the frosting a yellow tint. Even if your butter is fully whipped, just adding vanilla will alter the color. But a very simple way to fix this is by balancing the yellow. Add a pinch of purple food coloring to your buttercream to correct the color. Color correcting is a very simple yet easy thing to mess up, make sure you do very little increments at a time because when done right it is a life changer!
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat oven to convection 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add all dry ingredients (flour, sugars, baking powder, and baking soda) into a big bowl and whisk till combined.
Step 2
In a separate bowl, add your egg whites, salted butter (melted & cooled), buttermilk, vanilla extract, and water.
Step 3
Add half of your wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk till combined. Then lightly whip.
Once mixture is a bit lighter, add the rest of your wet ingredients and fully combine.
Step 4
Once wet and dry ingredients are combined you can butter your pans.
Step 5
Add cupcake liners
Once pans are buttered, you can then evenly distribute your batter among them.
Step 6
Bake your cakes at 350 until toothpick comes out clean! (No exact time because it will vary depending on pan size and oven type).
Step 7
While your cakes are baking and cooling, add your butter and shortening into a stand mixer and mix on medium-high speed until it becomes white and fluffy.
Step 8
Once mixture is white, turn mixer on low speed and slowly add your powdered sugar. (If it gets thick, add little increments of your milk preference)
Add your milk preference and vanilla extract until mixture becomes a soft peak.
Step 9
If your buttercream is a bit yellow, add a pinch of purple food coloring until it becomes white. This is called color correcting.
Let it cool before you stack your cakes. (Could melt icing if it’s still hot when stacking)
Step 10
Once cupcakes are cooled, add icing into a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes.