Pardon my baking streak friend, it’s a wave I promise. I love to bake, but the mood has to be right for it. Speaking of the right mood, I was definitely in it when I decided to experiment with ingredients to achieve a fluffy Vanilla cupcake recipe.
Vanilla cupcakes are my go-to treat whenever I am craving a simple, light, and airy addition to a cup of coffee in the morning or ice cream on a hot day.
Have you tried some of our other sweet and savoury recipes How to Make Flaky Nigerian Meat Pie or How to Make the Fluffiest Pretzel Buns?
A little side story, my first baking attempt was about 6 years ago in my small-sized basement kitchen somewhere in the suburbs of Brampton, Ontario. We had just moved in at the time and were excited that the basement kitchen had an oven which didn’t seem too common with the options we had been seeing.
On this fateful Sunday, after church, I get out all my ingredients and get on YouTube to emulate any cupcake recipe that just looked pleasing to the eye. Hmmm, long story made short, I ended up with a disaster!
The cupcakes were so dense, and I figured this was the case because of insufficient whipping time.
Have you tried out our sweet Toogbei/Wet Ghanaian Bofrot/Puff Puff you should!
Anyway, 6 years and a few other disasters here and there later, I can confidently say that I have perfected my vanilla cupcakes. This secret recipe will produce soft and sweet vanilla cupcakes that your family and friends will love.
The Secret Recipe to the Fluffiest Vanilla Cupcakes
There are 3 key secrets to making the perfect batch and here they are:
- Choice of Flour: You would have seen that people use different types of flour eg. all-purpose flour, almond flour, etc. I have tried different kinds and have seen that none of them give me the lightness and airiness that I get when I use cake flour. You may be asking why cake flour? The reason is not far-fetched – the cake flour has a lower protein content. You can either purchase cake flour in its made form at your local grocery store or combine 1/4 cup cornstarch and 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour to achieve 2 cups of cake flour.
- Whipping: The second secret is the whipping process. There has to be sufficient amount of time dedicated to whipping the batter till it is smooth and creamy. Don’t be like the former me who would whip only to have the batter come together, the sugar granules were still being felt in it. If you run your finger through your batter and feel the coarseness of the sugar, you should keep on whipping. At least a good 15 minutes of whipping time is required to achieve that fluffiness.
- Vanilla extract: So you might be wondering why this will be a “secret”, I mean it is vanilla cupcakes after all. The catch here is to refrain from using any artificial vanilla extracts, the real vanilla flavour is lost when using those. The original vanilla extracts are slightly pricier than the artificial ones but they make all the difference, thank me later!
Now that I have spilled the tea or teas on the secret recipe to the fluffiest vanilla cupcakes, we should not be wasting time any further, let’s get into the recipe, shall we?
Looking for another snack to explore its recipe? Try out these my; Warm and Sweet Strawberry Cobbler
VANILLA CUPCAKE RECIPE
Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups of cake flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup of softened unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups of white sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- cupcake lining sheets
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In one bowl, mix some of the dry ingredients together- flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
- In your mixing bowl, combine the sugar and butter and begin whipping with a hand or stand mixer for about 3-5 minutes.
- Begin adding in the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time till it is well combined, continue whipping for 5 minutes.
- Gradually add in the dry ingredients into the wet mix in increments making sure to loosen it up with the milk till both the flour and milk have been completely added in.
- When combined properly, add your vanilla extract and continue whipping till smooth and creamy.
- Line your cupcake tray with the cupcake sheets, use a scoop to portion the batter into each cupcake sheet, ensuring each portion is not exceeding halfway up the height of the cupcake sheet.
- Insert in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- Use a toothpick to check if it is well done (the toothpick comes out dry), let it cool completely on a tray before serving or topping with icing.
Notes
- Ensure to use a scoop to avoid inconsistency in the size of your cupcakes.
- It is important that the batter portions in each cupcake sheet only fill up halfway as this gives the cupcake room to rise. If not, the cupcakes will lose shape and you might end up with a bloated center.
