The Perfect Vanilla Cupcake

By emp1438

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup Vanilla Greek Yogurt
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 8 ounces cold cream cheese
• 1 pint cold heavy cream
• 1 and 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Details

Servings 16
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 25mins
Adapted from houseofyumm.com

Preparation

Step 1

The perfect vanilla cupcake.  An EASY friendly from scratch recipe! Serves 16

The perfect vanilla cupcake. An EASY friendly from scratch recipe! Light, fluffy, and loaded with vanilla flavor!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.

In medium size bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients together to incorporate. Set aside.

In mixing bowl add the room temperature butter. Beat on medium speed for about 1 minute to loosen up the butter, add in the sugar and beat on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. *More information on this in the post

Add in the vanilla extract and add in the eggs one at a time, mixing in between.

Mix in the greek yogurt. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer.

Slowly add in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then 1/3 of the milk. Mix with a rubber spatula gently, just until most of the flour is incorporated, not fully mixed. Continue with this method until all the milk and dry ingredients are added. Gently stir the batter to incorporate all the dry ingredients, it's ok if there's some lumps in the batter. Don't overmix.

CREAMCHEESE ICING:

In mixing bowl beat the cream cheese on medium for about a minute to loosen it up. Add in the powdered sugar and mix, start on slow and increase speed as the powdered sugar is mixed with the cream cheese. Mix until smooth.

Add in the heavy cream and the vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed until fluffy and forming into stiff peaks.

Add to piping bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Serve and enjoy!

Additional Tips & Tricks for the Perfect Cupcake!

Don’t Overmix.

The batter is your friend. You love the batter. It’s never done anything wrong to you, so resist the urge to beat it! If overmixed then all those air bubbles will be crushed and our cakes will not be light and fluffy like you know you want them to be.

Most recipes will tell you how full to fill the liners, usually half full or two thirds.  This is important because not all cupcakes rise the same.  So if we fill them too much then the tops will flow over and out, or if we don’t fill them enough they won’t rise up past the top of the liner.  If the later happens though, just add the frosting! To keep your cupcakes uniform try using an ice cream scoop to fill the liners.

Preheat The Oven Always

. Preheat your oven when baking. Starting in a cold oven is not going to help our cupcakes bake and rise.

If we leave those precious little cupcakes in the tin they will continue to bake off the heat of the tin. Let’s get them carefully out of the tin and onto a wire rack to cool and not dry out.

. There is nothing better than fresh baked goods right out of the oven. But what happens when we put our beautiful frostings made of butter on top of those warm cupcakes? It melts. Whomp whomp whomp.

Store Covered

. Just like most things air will make them go stale. Just make sure they’re covered, keep them at room temperature unless otherwise noted in a recipe. Cupcakes can be frozen and brought back to room temperature.  Just wrap them tightly in foil and then place them in a freezer bag.

Question: What are some of your favorite tips and tricks you have discovered that lead to the perfect cupcake?

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