Moist Vanilla Cupcakes

My niece Emma has become quite the baker and made these delicious vanilla cupcakes a few times. I finally tried them out myself for my twin sons' 6th birthday earlier this week. I have always made them a birthday cake in the past, but it was just going to be our family of 4 eating it on their birthday, so I did not want a big cake. I made half of this cupcake recipe (12 cupcakes) and it was perfect for just us. We enjoyed them over 3 days and they tasted great each day!

The buttercream frosting was just OK - it's been a while since I've made buttercream and I was rushing to get it made before my boys returned from sledding with my husband. Next time I will try a different frosting.

These were so good that today I'm making the same recipe as a 9x13" cake for a larger celebration with more family tomorrow. I'll post that recipe separately since it has a different frosting, which I think would taste a lot better than the buttercream.

Moist Vanilla Cupcakes

Recipe from “Life, Love and Sugar” Website

 

These Moist Vanilla Cupcakes are super easy to make and so moist – for days! They are my new favorite vanilla cupcake!

 

VANILLA CUPCAKES:

2½ cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup water*

 

VANILLA FROSTING:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

4 cups powdered sugar

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2–3 Tablespoons water or milk

Pinch of salt

 

Preheat oven to 350° and prepare two cupcake pans with liners.

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixer bowl and combine. Set aside.

Add the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs to a medium sized bowl and combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until well combined.

Slowly add the water to the batter and mix on low speed until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to make sure everything is well combined. Please note that the batter will be very thin.

Fill the cupcake liners about three quarters full and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove the cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

To make the frosting, beat the softened butter in a large mixer bowl until smooth.

Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Add the vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of water or milk and mix until smooth.

Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Add remaining water or milk, as needed, and salt and mix until smooth.

Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I used Ateco tip 844.

 

Yield: 24-26 Cupcakes

 

 

NOTES:

*Some people report having issues with these cupcakes. If that happens to you, you could try leaving out the water entirely.