When it comes to choosing a cupcake, are you team chocolate or vanilla? Honestly, it’s hard to decide, because they’re both so good in different ways. I recently shared my high altitude tested recipe for chocolate cupcakes, and these high altitude vanilla cupcakes were next on my list. And as much as I love chocolate, these vanilla cupcakes are pretty hard to resist. They’re impossibly soft, tender and moist, topped with fluffy vanilla buttercream. It’s pretty much the perfect vanilla cupcake recipe for all special occasions!
Looking for more cupcake recipes? You’ll love these key lime pie cupcakes, chocolate cherry cupcakes, and cookies and cream cupcakes.
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Ingredients
Simple, but good-quality ingredients make a good vanilla cupcake. Without any other flavors to take center stage, you really taste the butter, sour cream and vanilla. Just as you should only cook with wine that you would like to drink, you should choose ingredients that taste great on their own, and you’ll have a great-tasting cupcake.
Unsalted Butter. I always use unsalted butter in cooking and baking, so that I can control the amount of salt in my recipe. You don’t have to splurge on an expensive European butter, but use one that you like to eat on your morning toast.
Sugar. Plain granulated sugar adds moisture, and of course, sweetness, to your cupcakes.
Eggs. I always buy large eggs, which are about 1/4 cup in volume. If my eggs are on the small side, then I might add an extra.
Vanilla. Our star ingredient! I use a whole tablespoon of vanilla extract in these, so make sure it’s a good extract. If you want your cupcakes to be really special, replace the vanilla extract with Vanilla Bean Paste or real Vanilla Bean.
Cake Flour + Baking Powder + Salt. Cake flour makes the best, lightest fluffiest white cakes and vanilla cakes. You can use all-purpose flour, if it’s all you have, but you really should try cake flour. I usually use either Swans Down Cake Flour or Softasilk Cake Flour. The baking powder leavens the batter and makes the cupcakes rise, and the salt balances the sweetness.
Sour Cream + Buttermilk. These high altitude vanilla cupcakes are incredibly moist and tender, thanks to the butter, sour cream, and buttermilk. No non-fat substitutions, please. Use the full-fat versions for the best flavor and texture in your cupcakes.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two standard-sized muffin pans with 24 paper liners.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 4 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each for 15 seconds before adding the next. Scrape the bowl down, add the vanilla, and beat again. If the mixture looks lumpy, don’t worry, it will smooth out in the end.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
- With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then add the sour cream. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, then add the buttermilk. Add the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture. Increase speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds, until the batter is smooth and thick.
- Use a cupcake scoop / ice cream scoop to evenly measure the batter into the paper liners. One level scoop is enough batter for each; if you overfill the cups, the batter will spill over the edges and you’ll get muffin tops with browned edges instead of gently domed cupcakes.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 20 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
TIP: When filling the cups, use an ice cream/cupcake scoop to evenly portion the batter. One perfectly level scoop (not heaping) is exactly the right amount of batter to fill the cups so that the cupcakes rise with nice little domed tops. If you fill them too full, your cupcakes will spill over the edges and develop browned muffin tops.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined. The buttercream will be clumpy at this point.
- Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk as needed for desired consistency.
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
If you struggle with your buttercream, I’d encourage you to read my post on Perfect American Buttercream. It’s a comprehensive guide to making buttercream, troubleshooting common problems, and many recipe and flavor variations.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading my comprehensive post on making Perfect American Buttercream.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I store these cupcakes?
You should store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
Do you have a vanilla cupcake recipe that doesn’t require creaming butter and sugar?
This recipe uses the creaming method, so you do need a mixer to make the batter. If you’d like a recipe that needs just to be whisked by hand, you can make vanilla cupcakes from my vanilla cake recipe.
What piping tip did you use for the buttercream?
I used tip 2D.
You Might Also Like
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream 
Fluffy Vanilla Cake 
Caramel Cake 
Blueberry Jam Filled Cake
Favorite Products
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High Altitude Vanilla Cupcakes
Equipment
- Muffin Pan
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
Cupcake Batter
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups cake flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ cup full-fat sour cream
- ½ cup whole buttermilk
Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tbsp milk or cream, if needed
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two standard-sized muffin pans with 24 paper liners.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 4 minutes, scraping the bowl down several times.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each for 15 seconds before adding the next. Scrape the bowl down, add the vanilla, and beat again. If the mixture looks lumpy, don't worry, it will smooth out in the end.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
- With the mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then add the sour cream. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, then add the buttermilk. Add the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture. Increase speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds, until the batter is smooth and thick.
- Use a cupcake scoop / ice cream scoop to evenly measure the batter into the paper liners. One level scoop is enough batter for each; if you overfill the cups, the batter will spill over the edges and you'll get muffin tops with browned edges instead of gently domed cupcakes.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 20 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined. The buttercream will be clumpy at this point.
- Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy, adding the milk as needed for desired consistency.
- Spread or pipe the buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes.
Can I cut this down to 12 or 6 to try them?
The thing that would make it tricky to make a smaller batch is that it can be difficult to properly cream butter and sugar when there’s just a little in the mixing bowl, since smaller amounts tend to just stick to the sides of the bowl. You might accomplish that more easily with a hand mixer than a stand mixer.
Or, you could try making cupcakes out of this vanilla cake recipe. I haven’t personally tried it yet, so I don’t know for certain that it will work as cupcakes, but it’s a very easy recipe to halve.
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/vanilla-cake-recipe/
Your chocolate cupcake recipe came out perfectly! Would this vanilla cupcake recipe make a good funfetti cupcakes? Or do you recommend converting your confetti cake recipe into cupcakes?
I’m so glad to hear that! I haven’t tested this vanilla cake or the funfetti cake as cupcakes, yet, although I do plan to do that soon. I think this vanilla cake would work just fine as funfetti cupcakes, though! I do have a tested vanilla cupcake recipe, that would work great with the addition of sprinkles.
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/high-altitude-vanilla-cupcakes/
Hi,
I made these cupcakes. They generally came out nice though they weren’t evenly baked. Also I took 30 mins for my cupcakes to be ready rather than 20. Can we bake these at a lower temperature for a longer time period .. let’s say 325F instead of 350F. Additionally, can the granulated sugar in this recipe be substituted with caster sugar. Iv’e read that caster sugar
is preferable for creamed cakes as the smaller crystals will dissolve quickly as it is beaten with the butter whereas granulated sugar doesn’t always fully dissolve during the creaming stage (and not if using an all-in-one method) and you may get small crystals of sugar left which will affect the texture of the baked cake.
Thank you.
You could certainly try caster sugar if you like. I only use granulated sugar for my baking, and haven’t ever had issues with it not dissolving. As for baking at a lower temperature, you could certainly experiment with that. Your oven might have hot spots, though, which could have caused them to bake unevenly.
Hi Heather, I baked these over the weekend and they tasted great! I did a mix of vanilla extract and bean paste. I also did half butter and half oil (creamed the butter and sugar first, then added the oil). I also left them in only for 15 min and they still burnt on the bottom a little bit. My rack is in the middle of the oven. Do you have any thoughts on this? I’m in Reno, NV which is at about 4500ft.
Do you have an oven thermometer to check that your oven is heating to the correct temperature? Sometimes they run hot or cold. I once had an oven that was about 65 degrees colder than what I set it to, and I always had to set it higher to compensate.
I also live in Reno! I’ve found that baking cakes/cupcakes at 25 degrees hotter helps a lot. They rise more aggressively and bake a bit more evenly 🙂
Do you think I could add sprinkles to this recipe? I have a friend that wants some mini funfetti cupcakes.
Yes, you can definitely add sprinkles to this recipe. Jimmies tend to work better than nonpareils since they don’t bleed into the batter quite as much.
What if you don’t live in a high altitude area, will these rise and be just as moist?
You should make some adjustments to the ingredients to get good results at a lower altitude, such as decreasing the flour and increasing the leavening. This article has good guidance on specific adjustments: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking