Vanilla Cupcakes

These cupcakes melt in your mouth as soon as you take a bite. They are super soft and moist with a beautiful vanilla flavor. Plus they are topped with a fluffy vanilla buttercream! This recipe uses the reverse-creaming method which basically means that the dry ingredients are mixed with the butter first which results in a soft and fluffy cupcake. Before we begin, let's talk about the ingredients first :

• Oil : You can use any flavorless oil like sunflower oil or vegetable oil.

• Buttermilk : If you don't have buttermilk on hand you can use regular whole milk mixed with a teaspoon of vinegar.

• Sour cream : It adds a lot of moisture to the cake. But if you don't have sour cream on hand you can use plain yoghurt instead.

• Vanilla : Since vanilla is the main flavor here, please don't use artificial vanilla or vanilla essence. I would highly recommend using a good quality vanilla extract. It makes a difference trust me.

• Butter : I prefer using unsalted butter because it allows you to adjust the amount of salt however you like. But if you only have salted butter on hand it's completely fine just skip the 1/4 tsp of salt.

Servings : 12-14

Ingredients :

For vanilla cupcakes :

• Flour - 200g

• Caster sugar - 160g

• Baking powder - 1 tsp

• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

• Salt - 1/4 tsp

• Butter - 120g

• Eggs - 120g

• Oil - 40ml

• Sour cream - 60ml

• Buttermilk - 120g

• Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp

For vanilla buttercream :

• Butter - 120g

• Icing sugar - 240g

• Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

• Milk - 1-2 tbsp

• Salt - 1/8 tsp

Instructions :

For vanilla cupcakes :

1. To a large bowl, add flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix everything well.

2. Add in room temperature butter. The butter should be soft and spreadable.

3. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, mix it for 2-3 minutes till all dry ingredients and covered in butter. The mixture should resemble bread crumbs.

4. To a separate bowl, add in the eggs, oil, sour cream, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Whisk until everything is combined.

5. Add this mixture to the butter mixture and mix on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. There should be no lumps and the batter should be a bit fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl using a spatula to ensure that everything is well combined.

6. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.

7. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way with the batter using an ice cream scoop or a spoon and bake for 25-30 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

8. Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely while we make the buttercream.

For vanilla buttercream :

1. Make sure that your butter is at room temperature and is nice and soft before making the buttercream. If the butter is not soft, it won't whip up properly.

2. Add the softened butter to a large bowl and using a hand mixer or a stand mixer whip it for about 5-7 minutes or until it's super fluffy and almost white in color.

3. Sift in half of the icing sugar and mix on a low speed at first then gradually increase the speed and whip for about 2 minutes.

4. Now, sift in rest of the icing sugar and mix again. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl using a spatula to ensure that everything is well combined.

5. Add in the vanilla extract, 1 tbsp of milk and salt and mix again.

6. At this stage, if your buttercream is too stiff just add in a bit more milk.

7. Our buttercream is ready so let's start assembling the cupcakes.

For assembly :

1. Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle (or any nozzle of your choice).

2. Make sure your cupcakes have cooled completely before piping or else the buttercream will melt. Pipe a swirl of buttercream on top of each cupcake.

3. You can decorate these with any sprinkles of your choice. Serve and enjoy!

4. Keep the cupcakes refrigerated.