These vanilla cupcakes are so easy to make, simply mix all of the ingredients together and bake. They’re perfect for birthdays, cake sales, tea with your friends and any other celebration you can think of.
I mentioned when I shared my recipe for caramel cupcakes a couple of weeks ago that I’m working on creating a mix-and-match cupcake index with all my sponges, buttercreams and fillings in one place so you can create your own cupcakes using any combination you can think of. However, when I made a start on it I realised that two of my go-to cupcakes recipes (vanilla and chocolate) didn’t exist on here in cupcake form (they’re only on here as larger birthday cake recipes). Whilst it’s really easy to convert these particular recipes from large cakes, to save you the trouble of working out what to adjust I decided that I’d publish them as cupcakes too.
Have you ever cooked someone else’s recipe for them to eat, or vice versa? How did it go?
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Easy Vanilla Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
- 165 g self-raising flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 3 medium eggs
- 165 g soft margarine
- 165 g caster sugar
- A few drops of vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp milk
Extras
- 12 cupcake cases
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
- Place your cupcake cases into a muffin tin.
- Sift the self-raising flour (165g) and baking powder (1½ tsp) into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients (3 medium eggs, 165g soft margarine, 165g caster sugar, a few drops of vanilla extract and 1½ tsp milk) and mix until fully combined (either by hand or using an electric mixer on a low speed).
- Divide the mixture equally between the muffin cases (I use a cupcake scoop to help split it evenly).
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes and then move them to a wire rack to cool fully before decorating.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soya-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
I’m sharing this recipe with the following blog challenge… #CookBlogShare with Easy Peasy Foodie.
Valerie Straiton says
Made this recipe twice now and have turned out perfectly I am having to make 60 of these for my granddaughters birthday can I double the recipe to make 3 batches of of 24.
Valerie Straiton says
Have just made these cupcakes really happy with the result will be using this recipe as I have to make 60 for my granddaughters 21st in a few weeks.
Angela says
I made these yesterday and, like a couple of other comments said, mine overflowed and the tops peeled off a few of them. Also took longer to bake. However, they were beautifully light and tasted good. I then made a second batch using muffin cases and, although a couple still overflowed, they turned out better.
I mixed the second batch more carefully too as I read in the comments that too much air in the mix could cause problems.
My advice would be either to use muffin cases or have extra cupcake cases available and don’t make my mistake of getting a bit carried away with the mixer!
Stacy says
Hi if I want to only make 6 cupcakes do I just half all the ingredients? However I can’t “half” 3 eggs Help? I love all your recipes x
Charlotte Oates says
Yes you need to halve the ingredients. To use half an egg, whisk one egg, weigh it and then add half. You can add the other half to scrambled eggs, use as an egg wash for pastry or use in another recipe where the quantity of egg isn’t so important.
Lynn Fraser says
I have previously made your Birthday All-in-One vanilla cake with great success on several occasions. I used this cupcake recipe and although they taste nice, I had too much mixture and I made about 15. the mixture came over the top a little too. They were also a very light after 20 minutes on 140 degrees fan oven, so I switched to fan and top heat at 160 degrees for a couple of minutes and that helped.
I am still giving the recipe 5 stars as they rose well and tasted good and I used them with buttercream and they looked good for my grandson’s birthday. I am just a bit puzzled as to what I did differently to you! My cupcake cases are a reasonable size – not fairy cake ones, but a little smaller than muffin cases.
Also your buttercream looks lovely – what size nozzle do you use please?
Kate says
Could you make mini cupcakes with this recipe? Would you reduce the cooking time?
Charlotte Oates says
You can and you would!
Candice says
Love this recipe, it’s my go too for Birthday cupcakes or the other one for cake!
can it be done with gluten free flour? As this year we have some celiac’s coming.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m so pleased you enjoy the recipe. I haven’t tested a gluten free version of this recipe so I couldn’t guarantee that a straight swap of regular flour to gf would work. But if you use a brand of flour blend that you are familiar with and know can usually be swapped on a one for one basis then it will likely work. If you aren’t sure about gf flour blends, it might be worth asking your celiac friends as they will probably have a preference.
Adita says
Ok so just made these and for some reason it has the texture and taste of cornbread I have no idea why lol
I did use Hi ratio shortening instead of butter but that’s not gonna make it taste like cornbread it’s so funny to me and I had someone else say the same so not just me otherwise they are soft altho a bit dense as well
Charlotte Oates says
Using shortening instead of margarine or butter will absolutely affect both the texture and taste of the cakes. The two products are not interchangeable unless a recipe says otherwise. I have removed the low star rating you included with your comment as you have not made my recipe and therefore cannot accurately rate it. I would suggest trying the recipe again but use the stated ingredients this time and you will find that you end up with soft sponge cakes.
Emma says
Is there a particular margarine you recommend using for this recipe? I only normal use unsalted butter in my cakes but happy to try margarine.
Thanks for your help, Emma
Charlotte Oates says
Any solid margarine should work for this recipe – from spreadable butters to vegan margarines or baking margarines like Stork.
Elle says
My family love this recipe and we always go to this recipe when we want to make something simple and delicious!
Carolyn says
These are so yummy. Occasionally my mix collapses. Why is this?
Charlotte Oates says
My guess would be one of two things.
1) You’ve occasionally added a little too much baking powder to the mixture. This will cause the cakes to over-rise and then sink.
2) You’ve mixed the ingredients on too high a speed. This adds air to the mixture which again expands in the oven so the cake over-rises and sinks.
Annette says
I used this recipe to bake 50 cupcakes, for our friends Golden Anniversary.
I added some gold coloured edible bits and gold dust on the tops of the cakes.
Feedback was ‘ oh these are too die for, they are soft, and so yummy, with a wonderful taste ”, far better than the anniversary cake that was professionally made.
So big thanks Charlotte for sharing your recipes.
Racgel says
Have you ever had an issue with the cupcakes peeling my Ones peeled quite bad and was not sure if it was just the cases or what
Charlotte Oates says
I do find that not all cupcake liners are created equal so it may be worth experimenting with a different type or brand.
Marwa says
Yes, I’ve tried this recipe so many times and every time I make it my cupcake liners peel off, I’ve bought so many different liners and yet still the same.
I’ve had to change my cupcake recipe because of this
Christine says
Followed the recipe exactly but after 25 minutes they are still runny. Any suggestions as to what has gone wrong?
Charlotte Oates says
You may have a problem with your oven not heating to the correct temperature. You can buy oven thermometers to check this – it is quite a common problem. You can also just leave the cakes in the oven until they are cooked through.