How to make vanilla cupcakes
Enjoy the simple things in life. Like the perfect vanilla cupcake. Make Silver Spoon’s easy vanilla cupcake recipe, your go-to cupcake of choice. With the lightest, fluffy vanilla sponge topped with the smoothest, vanilla buttercream, courtesy of Silver Spoon Icing Sugar, you are on to a winner.
Light and moreish, this is just what you are looking for in a fluffy vanilla cupcake recipe. You are definitely going to want to snuffle more than one of these vanilla cupcakes, for research purposes obviously…
Sneak a peek at our ‘how to make vanilla cupcakes’ video for extra tips and find out below how you can make our delicious vanilla cupcakes from scratch!
If you are looking for a quick shortcut for your buttercream with maximum flavour, try Silver Spoon's new Creamy Vanilla Flavour icing sugar or Chocolate Fudge Flavour icing sugar and simply beat together with butter, following the instructions on pack for a delicious, speedy frosting.
Tips for making the best homemade vanilla cupcakes:
1. Do not overfill your cupcakes
For the perfect-shaped cupcake with a lovely golden dome, only fill 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the cupcake liner. If it's too full it looks messy and sometimes, it can even sink. As a rule, we say it's better to underfill rather than overfill.
2. Best buttercream for cupcakes
We recommend using our delicious vanilla buttercream recipe, but if you're after something a little different on top of your vanilla cupcakes, try out our citrus buttercream or maple buttercream.
3. How do I store my vanilla cupcakes?
Once your cupcakes are cool, get them into an airtight container as soon as possible. Cupcakes can last for around 4 days before losing their freshness. Cupcakes with buttercream/frosting on top will need to be stored in the fridge.
Method
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C/gas mark 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
Step 2:
Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well between each addition along with the vanilla extract.
Step 3:
Fold in the flour then divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases.
Step 4:
Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.
Step 5:
To make the buttercream beat together the softened butter, vanilla and half the icing sugar until smooth. Add in the remaining icing sugar and milk and mix again until soft and fluffy.
Step 6:
Fill a piping bag with the buttercream and pipe swirls onto the cupcakes to finish.
Step 7:
Tip: Leave plain or decorate however you wish. Try topping with sprinkles, fresh fruit or even a swirl of toffee sauce.
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 150g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 150g Silver Spoon Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs (medium)
- 150g Self-raising white flour (sieved)
- 1 1/2 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the Buttercream
- 125g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 250g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste
- 1/2 tbsp Milk
Utensils
- Cupcake case
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
Recipe Reviews
Simple recipe made delicious with great quality ingredients. These wouldn't be the same without a good quality vanilla!
They were pretty easy to make and tasted really good!
Used this recipe 5 times already!
Idk if my standard cupcake holders are small or what but filling them 2/3 of the way makes them overflow. Otherwise a nice simple recipe
Definitely my favourite cupcake recipe !
Delicious!
Absolutely delicious and very easy to make. Lots of icing to do great big traditional cupcake swirls which I love.
Delicious but my cake mix made loads more and the cakes were still huge, I also had lots of buttercream left but that wasn’t a problem as I halved it and froze the rest for the next batch another day. Easy to make and tasty 😋
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 150g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 150g Silver Spoon Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs (medium)
- 150g Self-raising white flour (sieved)
- 1 1/2 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the Buttercream
- 125g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 250g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste
- 1/2 tbsp Milk
Utensils
- Cupcake case
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon