Vanilla Cupcakes With Pink Cream Cheese Frosting… Because I’m really into Valentine’s Day. Because the Seahawks lost and I’ve moved on. Because I’m a fair-weather fan. And because I hadn’t posted a plain vanilla cupcake recipe yet, here they are. Da da da da!
These cupcakes are more gorgeous than cotton candy and the frosting is more delightful than almost anything else on the planet earth.
Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 24 regular-size or 12 large cupcakes.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 6 large egg whites
Place the butter, sugar, oil, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, work up to medium-high speed to whip until light and fluffy.
In a separate container, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a third container, whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites.
After the butter mixture is light and fluffy, turn the mixer off and scrape down the bowl so everything is sure to be included. Turn the mixer on the lowest speed so the cake batter doesn’t get over mixed. Add about a cup of the flour mixture. Once it is combined, add about a half a cup of the buttermilk mixture. Keep alternating this way just until everything is in the batter and combined.
Prepare cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
Use a heaping medium ice cream scoop
Tap pans on the counter before baking to remove any large air bubbles.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes and they bounce back when lightly touched in the middle or until a fork poked in comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely.
Buttery Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 8 ounces unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 – 1/4 cup warm water, if needed
Mix cream cheese, butter, and salt together on a high setting until they’re light & fluffy. This might take a couple of minutes. Add powdered sugar and mix on the lowest setting so it doesn’t fly out of the bowl. Add lemon juice. Turn up speed and whip for a couple more minutes.
To coloring the frosting pink, add just a tiny bit of pink food coloring. You can always add more if you’d like it to be darker.
Giveaway
The only thing better than these cupcakes might be winning prizes. So, I say we give away a prize as well. Congratulations to Winston who made me laugh right out loud to his comment from the last post. Winston won a fancy Linzer cookie cutter and my respect for the best comment this year. Congrats, my friend and thank you to everyone who played along! I’ll be giving another Trophy Cupcakes gift card away soon so be on the watch for the next opportunity to win.
Winston’s response about one thing he has lost or just saying “hi”
This giveaway has ended.
Really bad recipe, not detailed enough and the icing came out both lumpy and then runny. Do not recommend.
Hello Morgan, Thank you so much for your comment. It is very important that the butter and cream cheese in both the cupcake batter and the frosting are softened (allowed to sit out for at least an hour at room temp is best) before used, otherwise neither one will turn out for you. Although I’ve made these many times with success, I made them again today to double check the recipe directly from this post and they are delicious again so I do hope you will give them another try. Happy baking! 🙂