Simple Vanilla Cupcake Recipe – My Go-To Cupcakes

This simple vanilla cupcake recipe makes 12 cupcakes and is my go-to recipe whenever we make cupcakes for birthdays, parties or seasonal treats. I tend to keep the basic cupcake recipe the same and then change the decorations depending on what we're making them for.

They're really simple to make with just a few basic ingredients and, once they've cooled, they're ready to decorate with buttercream, icing, sprinkles or whatever decorations suit the occasion.

It's also an easy recipe for the children to get involved with. Alice often helps when we're baking, whether that's weighing out the ingredients, mixing everything together or helping with the decorating afterwards.

Makes: 12 cupcakes

Baking time: Approximately 15 minutes

Oven temperature: 180°C

Simple Vanilla Cupcake Recipe Ingredients

You only need five ingredients to make these vanilla cupcakes:

• 110g butter

• 110g sugar

• 110g self-raising flour

• 2 large eggs

• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence

  
  

One of the things I like about this recipe is how easy the quantities are to remember. The butter, sugar and flour are all 110g, so I don't have to keep looking up the recipe every time we decide to make some.

How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes

1. Preheat the Oven

Preheat the oven to 180°C and place 12 cupcake cases into a muffin or cupcake tin. I tend to use muffin cases for mine.

2. Cream the Butter and Sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together until well combined.

3. Add the Eggs

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after adding each egg.

4. Sift in the Flour

Sift the self-raising flour into the mixture and gently fold it in until combined.

5. Add the Vanilla

Add the vanilla essence and mix it through the cake mixture.

6. Fill the Cupcake Cases

Divide the mixture between the 12 cupcake cases. When I'm using muffin cases, I usually fill each case around one-third full.

7. Bake the Cupcakes

Bake the cupcakes at 180°C for approximately 15 minutes, until they are golden brown.

8. Check the Cupcakes Are Ready

To check that the cupcakes are cooked, insert a skewer into the centre of one of the cupcakes. If the skewer comes out clean, they're ready.

9. Leave the Cupcakes to Cool

Once baked, remove the cupcakes from the tin and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.

Decorating the Cupcakes

This is the basic vanilla cupcake recipe I use for lots of our birthday, party and seasonal bakes. Instead of changing the cupcake recipe itself, we usually change the decorations to suit whatever we're celebrating.

Once the cupcakes are completely cool, they can be decorated with buttercream, icing, sprinkles, sweets or other decorations to match your theme.

The cupcakes pictured here were decorated with piped buttercream and lots of colourful sprinkles and decorations.

I'll also be sharing the simple buttercream recipe that we use for our cakes and cupcakes. Just like this cupcake recipe, it's a useful basic recipe that can be changed with different colours and decorations depending on what we're making.

A Simple Cupcake Recipe We Use Again and Again

This is one of those recipes that we come back to again and again. The ingredients are simple, the quantities are easy to remember and we can make the finished cupcakes look completely different depending on how we decorate them.

We use them for birthdays and parties as well as seasonal baking, and I'll be sharing some of the different ways we decorate them for Halloween, Christmas, Easter and other celebrations.

As I add those ideas to the blog, I'll be able to link back to this simple vanilla cupcake recipe for the basic cupcakes rather than repeating the recipe every time.