Step away from the boxed cake mix, I repeat, step away! These Vanilla Bean Cupcakes are sooo much better than boxed mix! So many vanilla cupcakes out there taste like yellow cake or white cake and don’t have a strong flavor; these are different with their velvety and sweet vanilla flavor. Some people may call vanilla “plain” but this recipe will change your perspective on the vanilla flavor. True vanilla flavour has a smooth, sweet and rich depth to it. Most recipes use either vanilla extract or scraped whole vanilla beans, but these cupcakes use both! It’s what gives them their strong vanilla flavor.
Get back to basics with this irresistible Vanilla Bean Cupcake recipe!
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
- 3 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Seeds scraped from 1/2 split vanilla bean*
- 1/2 cup 1% plain yogurt
- 2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup almond milk (or milk of your choice)
Frosting
- 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter,softened to room temperature
- 4–5 cups (480-600g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) almond milk (or milk of your choice)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, meltbutter in the microwave. Whisk in sugar – mixture will be gritty.Whisk in egg whites, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined.Split 1 vanilla bean down the middle lengthwise. Scrape seeds from half of the vanilla bean into batter. Reserve other half.
- Slowly mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick.
- Divide batter among 12 cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.Allow to cool.
- To make the frosting, beat softened butter on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for about 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds with the mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat for3 minutes. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if mixture is too thick. Add salt if frosting is too sweet (1/4 teaspoon). Frost cooled cupcakes and top with fanned strawberries.
