Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes
Light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes frosted with a vanilla bean buttercream
Ingredients
Vanilla Cupcakes
- 90 g all purpose flour (¾ c.)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 100 g granulated sugar (½ c.)
- 41 g unsalted butter cubed, room temperature (3 tbsp.)
- 32 g vegetable oil (2 ½ tbsp.)
- 1 egg white room temperature
- 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
- 45 g sour cream room temperature (3 tbsp.)
- 55 g whole milk room temperature (¼ c.)
Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- 125 g unsalted butter (9 tbsp.) room temperature
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 220 g powdered sugar (1 ¾ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
- 1 tbsp. heavy cream
Instructions
Vanilla Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a muffin pan with 6 parchment liners.
- To a medium sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cubed butter. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the mixture together until the butter has completely combined with the dry ingredients and no lumps remain.
- Add in the oil, egg white, vanilla bean paste, sour cream, and milk. Whisk the ingredients together just until a cohesive batter has formed.
- Distribute the batter evenly between the six liners. Bake for 15-18 min., or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out with only a few moist crumbs.
Vanilla Bean Buttercream
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the butter and salt. Use a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to beat the butter and salt together for 2 minutes, until the butter is pale and fluffy.
- Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until all of it has been used.
- Add in the vanilla bean paste and heavy cream and beat the mixture for an additional minute.
- Once the cupcakes have completely cooled to room temperature, transfer the frosting to a piping bag and frost each cupcake. Top with sprinkles, rose petals, or enjoy them as is!
Notes
Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | Cordless Hand Mixer | Cupcake Pan | Oven Thermometer | Cookie Scoops
Beating the butter into the dry ingredients
I've found that this is always much easier and takes way less time when you do it in a a stand mixer. If you're using a hand mixer, just note that this is going to take a couple of minutes, and the smaller you cube up your butter, the easier it will be.Use a kitchen scale:
I can’t stress enough the importance of a kitchen scale for accurate baking. While other things can go wrong during the baking process, using a kitchen scale helps your recipe come out closer to how mine did and can be more helpful for troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Here is a cheaper kitchen scale (affiliate link) that was trusty and helpful when I was starting with a scale. If you can’t use a scale – please make sure that you fluff up your flour with a fork, and spoon it into your measuring cup while measuring the flour.Substitutions:
This recipe used to use buttermilk. I know a lot of people don't have a need for a whole jug of buttermilk, especially if you're just making a small batch of vanilla cupcakes, so I switched it out for sour cream and milk. If you'd like, use 85g of buttermilk in place of the sour cream and milk - you'll get a slightly more tangy (delicious) flavor.Nutrition
Serving: 1cupcakeCalories: 553kcalCarbohydrates: 68gProtein: 2gFat: 31gSaturated Fat: 17gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 68mgSodium: 219mgPotassium: 51mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 56gVitamin A: 789IUVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 78mgIron: 1mg