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Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes

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Small Batch Cupcake Recipe – An easy and delicious recipe for 5 vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream frosting. VIDEO below!

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla ice cream and rainbow sprinkles.

Sometimes you just need a cupcake. This is life, friends. Cake, topped with frosting and sprinkles is a necessity in my world, and it should be in yours too.

For those times that you’re craving a cupcake, you need a quick dessert, or you’re baking for just a few people – this is the recipe to have at the ready. Five cupcakes, made from scratch, ready in minutes. It doesn’t get much better.

Vanilla cake batter and freshly baked cupcakes in a pan.

I have to tell you that these are some of the best and easiest vanilla cupcakes I have ever made. They are soft, moist, and flavorful. I top the cupcakes with a quick vanilla buttercream which is the perfect addition. My family goes crazy for these.

And since we don’t really need a reason to make these, I whip these up more often than I’d like to admit.

Vanilla cupcake with a bite taken out of it.

 Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes

  • This recipe is super simple
  • It creates only a few dishes
  • The cupcakes taste amazing – they’re loaded with vanilla
  • No extra cupcakes sitting around to tempt you

For those times when you need a little sweet pick me up, look no further. This small batch vanilla cupcake recipe will have you diving in to a perfect vanilla cupcake in no time.

Prefer a small batch of chocolate cupcakes (here)! Want to top these with Strawberry Frosting, check out this recipe (cut it in half).

Vanilla cupcakes in a pan with a bowl of frosting and a bowl of sprinkles.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: SMALL BATCH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Chocolate chip cookies

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla ice cream and rainbow sprinkles.
4.3 from 71 votes
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Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes

A simple and delicious batch of 5 vanilla cupcakes topped with vanilla buttercream frosting.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Dessert
Keyword Cupcakes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 5
Calories 318 kcal
Author Allison - Celebrating Sweets

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour see note
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
  • 1/4 cup milk preferably whole or 2% milk

Vanilla Frosting:

  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1-2 teaspoons milk I used whole milk

Instructions

For the cupcakes:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 5 muffin cups or place 5 liners in a muffin pan.

  2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

  3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg and sugar for about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla extract and melted butter and whisk until well combined.

  4.  Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Add the milk, and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and whisk until combined (being careful not to overmix).

  5. Divide the batter evenly between 5 muffin cups (each cup will be between 2/3 and 3/4 full). Bake for 14-16 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

  1. Beat powdered sugar and butter until smooth. Add vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of milk. Beat on medium speed for several minutes, until light and fluffy. If the frosting appears too thick, add an additional teaspoon of milk, if it appears too thin add a little more powdered sugar.

  2. Frost the cupcakes using a butter knife. Top with sprinkles, if desired.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Proper flour measuring: Fluff the flour with your measuring cup to lighten it. Scoop the flour and level off with a knife.

This frosting makes enough to spread a moderate layer on top of each cupcake. If you would like a generous amount of frosting, or if you want to pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes, you can double the frosting.

 

Cupcakes adapted from How Sweet It Is

Nutrition Facts
Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes
Amount Per Serving
Calories 318 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 16g 25%
Saturated Fat 10g 50%
Cholesterol 75mg 25%
Sodium 79mg 3%
Potassium 83mg 2%
Total Carbohydrates 38g 13%
Sugars 28g
Protein 2g 4%
Vitamin A 11.2%
Calcium 4.2%
Iron 4.1%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Comments

  2. Katheryn says


    This cupcake recipe is amazing! Thank you so much. This super easy and quick recipe completely impressed my family.

    I did add 2 Tbsp of softened cream cheese to the frosting and it was so good!

    Reply

  8. Monica says

    I’m sorry but these were awful. I’ve tried other recipes on this site and enjoyed them, but these were just BAD. If you’re a fat kid at heart like me, then you’re used to sweets being……sweet. These were not sweet. There was no flavor to them at all. They were just damp and spongy and had a weird texture. I did use salted butter instead of unsalted, but that shouldn’t have made that big of a difference (I always use salted butter for all of my sweets anyways, it adds another layer of flavor to me) but I’m sorry these were just bad. I should have figured that only 1/4 of a cup of sugar would be too little to add any sweetness. If you’re dieting, these cupcakes might be good for you, or if you never eat sweets then maybe these will be mildly sweet to you, but for me, they tasted like nothing. Very disappointing. The icing was the only saving grace, although the icing was too similar to sugar cookie frosting to me. If you’re looking for good cupcakes skip this recipe. There are some other good recipes on this site but I’m sorry this was not one of them (for me anyways)

    Reply

    • Celebrating Sweets says

      Hi, Monica. I’m sorry that you didn’t like these. Small batch recipes can be tricky since you’re working with such a small quantity of a ingredients. I’m glad that you’ve found some other recipes here that you’ve enjoyed. Thanks for leaving your feedback. Happy baking!

      Reply

  9. Jennifer says

    Is it possible to use this recipe for a larger batch? Would I simply multiple by how many I would need? Or would I need to adjust other quantities? Say for example I wanted to make 20 cupcakes, would I just multiply everything times for?

    Reply

    • Celebrating Sweets says

      Hi, Jennifer. It’s tricky to make changes like that, especially since this recipe is written to make a small batch. I have successfully doubled it in the past, but I have never tried more than that. Best of luck if you give it a go! Enjoy!

      Reply

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