Easy White Cupcakes are soft, delicate, and surprisingly simple to make from scratch. These moist and light-as-air cupcakes are perfect for weddings, events, and birthdays.
These easy white cupcakes are truly heavenly. They are light, tender, and moist. Best of all? They are shockingly easy to make. Plus, they’re the perfect palette for any favorite flavors you’d like to add.
This white cupcake recipe is also the base for my popular Strawberry Filled Cupcakes recipe. While they may be soft and light, these cupcakes will hold up to any frostings and fillings you may want to add.
Room temperature ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll need room temperature butter, egg whites, and milk. If possible, set out your ingredients ahead of time, about an hour before you begin baking.
To warm up butter quickly, try slicing it into smaller pieces, then setting it out on the counter for 30 minutes. To warm up eggs, place in them in a bowl and cover with warm water. Your eggs will come to room temperature in minutes.
Microwaving milk for 10-15 seconds at a time can bring it to room temperature quickly. However, be careful with microwaving and do not walk away from it (it’s easy to forget and scorch!).
Ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll need cake flour, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, egg whites, and milk.
If you don’t have cake flour on hand, you can make this recipe with all-purpose flour, but your cupcakes will have a less tender texture with a coarser crumb.
Egg whites are needed for this recipe, not whole eggs. If you want to use whole eggs (with the yolk) to make cupcakes, I suggest trying my Vanilla Homemade Cupcakes recipe.
Making white cupcakes
When mixing your batter, you’ll first want to cream together your butter and sugar, then add your vanilla extract and egg whites. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together your dry ingredients.
The photos below show how your batter looks after mixing the wet ingredients, and the finished batter after adding the flour and milk.
Next, you’ll want to divide your batter between 15 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Above, you can see how your cupcakes will look before and after baking.
If made according to the directions, your cupcakes will rise and have a slightly domed top with some light browning around the edges.
Cupcake tips and tricks
Here are a few tips for cupcake success, taken from reader questions and reviews!
- Make sure you’re using baking powder and not baking soda. There is a difference, and baking soda will not work for this recipe.
- Properly measure your flour by using a spoon to scoop flour into your measuring cup, then using a knife to level off the top. Scooping using your measuring cup will compact flour into the cup, adding extra flour to the recipe.
- Only mix your batter until the ingredients are incorporated. Overmixing your batter can whip extra air in, causing your cupcakes to rise quickly and then fall in the center when they bake.
- Do not unwrap your cupcakes while they’re still warm. Your cupcakes will stick to the liners until they are fully cooled throughout. Once cooled, your cupcakes will easily unwrap.
- Are your cupcakes sticky on top? This can be caused by humidity in your home or storing cupcakes while they’re still warm. This can’t really be fixed, but can easily be covered with frosting.
- Do not frost warm cupcakes! Buttercream is sensitive to heat and will melt between 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cupcake frostings
Cupcake frostings- Whipped Buttercream Frosting – fluffier than a traditional buttercream (this recipe is included below)
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting – sweet, traditional buttercream frosting
- American Buttercream Frosting – sweet, traditional buttercream frosting
Any of these frostings are great for piping or knife decorating – they’re very easy to work with. Traditional buttercream frostings are also very sweet, so you could use less (if you want) to top your cupcakes.
For years I’ve used this simple Wilton Cupcake Decorating Kit to decorate my cupcakes. It comes with four piping tips, bags, and easy to read instructions. I also purchased this additional coupler to make it easy secure the piping tips and to change out tips halfway through decorating.
Easy White Cupcakes
Ingredients
White Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large egg whites room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk room temperature
Whipped Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 cups confectioner's sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup heavy cream very cold
Instructions
White Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk (or sift) together the dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and granulated sugar. Add vanilla and beat until incorporated. Then, add egg whites and beat until light and fluffy, about a minute.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk, just until each ingredient is incorporated and batter is smooth. Do not overmix.
- Pour batter into cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Batter will fill 15 cupcake liners. Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Whipped Buttercream Frosting
- In a large bowl, add room temperature butter and beat until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add confectioner's sugar and slowly mix until ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract and heavy cream and whip for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add additional heavy cream as needed to reach desired consistency.
- Pipe or spread frosting with a knife onto cupcakes and serve.
Equipment
Video
Notes
- Frosting will make enough to frost about 16 cupcakes with high, dramatic piped frosting, or 24 cupcakes spread with a knife, a 9x13 sheet cake, or an 8-9 inch two layer cake.
- Butter melts around 90 to 95 degrees, and so will your frosting. If your location is nearing this temperature, I'd recommend refrigerating your baked goods until an hour before you're ready to serve them. Refrigerating your frosted baked goods will not hurt them, but you will want to give them some time to come to room temperature before serving.
- Optionally, add 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract to your cupcakes and/or buttercream frosting for an elevated, light almond flavor.
- For the buttercream frosting, heavy whipping cream can not be substituted with milk, milk will not whip up into whipped cream.
I love a classic white cake! Thanks for sharing!
Can you make this into a cake instead of cupcakes?
Hi Marcy, the recipe as written for 15 cupcakes will also make a 3 tiered 6 inch cake. The baking time would be about 18-20 minutes for the 6 inch cake pans!
Can I make a double batch?
Hi Jessica, yes this recipe can be doubled to make 30 cupcakes! If you hover over the servings in the recipe card, a bar will pop up allowing you to adjust the serving size and will update the ingredients with the correct amounts.
Does this taste like a normal cupcake mix or does it have a different taste
Hi Sonia, to be honest I’ve never compared it to a boxed cupcake mix, but they probably taste similar. The biggest difference would probably be the texture, these cupcakes will have a smaller crumb, and will be more tender and moist.
Can I use all purpose flour… I can’t stand the taste of cake flour. If so would I add other ingredients or change the amount of flour.. if so what to?
Hi Makaila, yes, you can replace the cake flour with all-purpose flour in equal amounts.
The cupcakes stuck to the liners I used, and the tops are sticky. I’m trying to figure out what I did wrong, if anything. Any ideas? Can I save them or do I need to start over?
Hi Sarah! Sometimes cupcakes will be sticky on top if they’re cooling in a humid environment, or if they’re stored in a container before they’ve cooled all the way through, which causes condensation to collect on top. Could this be the case?
If you’re frosting the cupcakes, I wouldn’t worry much about the sticky tops, and just frost over them.
I’ve had cupcakes stick to the liners if they were still slightly warm in the middle, when I didn’t let them cool all the way through before unwrapping. Once they cool all the way, they should shrink a little, making them easier to pull away from the liners.
Heather, you were right. This was the perfect recipe to modify.
For the cake, I used lavender sugar instead of regular sugar and about .5 tsp of lavender
For the buttercream, I added lemon zest from one large lemon.
Thanks for getting me to the perfect lavender and lemon combination!
Hi Lisa, glad to hear you enjoyed the cupcakes!
hii thk u so much its so delicious my kids love it
thk u 😘😘😘
These tasted amazing!! I also used your buttercream recipe and it too, was amazing!! However I did something wrong and my cupcakes didn’t crown very well, they actually look like flat pancakes on top. I know it is something I did, can you tell me what I should do differently next time?! 🙁
Hi Melisa, I’m glad to hear that you love the cupcakes! A few things can affect the rising of your cupcakes. Your baking powder could be expired. If you over-mix the batter, sometimes this can cause the cupcakes to sink in the middle as they bake. Or, opening the oven door while your cupcakes are baking can cause them to rise less. It’s hard to say without being in the kitchen with you, but these are a few things off the top of my head!
Heather,
Thank you so much for the quick response! I bet I over mixed the batter. My baking soda was brand new and I didn’t open the door. I had a feeling I over mixed as I was doing it. So I bet you that was it. Next time I’ll be more aware while mixing! Thanks again! 😁
Not sure if you will see this but the recipe calls for Baking POWDER, NOT Baking SODA. Maybe that was your issue.
I accidentally grabbed the baking soda instead of powder didn’t realize til I mixed it in! 🙁 ended up sinking when I took them out! People said they were great but I was so disappointed I messed up!
Can we freeze these
Hi Jacqui, yes cupcakes can be frozen. I’d suggest allowing them to cool completely, wrap them in plastic, then store in an airtight freezer bag or container. Cakes and cupcakes are usually best within a month after freezing, but if stored well, could last up to three months in the freezer.
If you’d like to freeze frosted cupcakes, I’d suggest placing them, uncovered, in the freezer for an hour. Then, gently wrap in plastic and store in a tightly sealed container.
Is the butter salted or unsalted?
And in the cake mix recipe, is the vanilla, vanilla extract like in the buttercream recipe?
Thank you!
Butter is unsalted – if you only have salted butter, I would omit the salt in the recipe.
Vanilla is vanilla extract. I will update that in the recipe card!
Thank you so much! Making these today!
Love it my family loved it easy to make
Glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe Lily!
If I were to use this recipe for a 9×13 pan would I need to double the recipe?
Hi Nicole, I haven’t tried this recipe as a cake, but according to King Arthur Flour (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2019/04/25/how-to-convert-cake-to-cupcakes), 24 cupcakes would make a 9×13 cake. I’d suggest adjusting the servings to 25 cupcakes to get a nice round number for your egg whites (5). If you give it a try, let us know how it turns out!
The recipe says the cake has 8 Tbsp butter and frosting has 8 oz butter. In other words, one stick for cake and 2 sticks for frosting?
Hi Jane, thanks for catching that! Yes, you’ll need 3 sticks of butter total. I have updated the measurements to match each other.
Thank you! Looking forward to having these for Easter dessert! 🙂
So in the cake recipe it says 4 oz of butter is that supposed to be tablespoons?
Thank you
Hi stacey, 4 ounces of butter would be 1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons!
I am so disappointed in how my cupcakes turned out and I’m trying to figure out what happened 🙁 Mine look absolutely nothing like yours look in your photos (I’m assuming the cupcakes in the photos are yours from this recipe??). I followed the recipe to a T. Mine are not white at all and are the furthest thing from a small tender crumb like yours show in your photos. Mine are yellow and have a very large spongey crumb. They don’t taste light fluffy and tender/delicate at all. How long do cream your butter and sugar? Do you use white refined granulated sugar or unrefined cane sugar (what I used)? What kind of vanilla do you use? Dark brown organic vanilla extract (what I use) or a clear vanilla extract? What brand of cake flour do you use? Please help! I was so excited about this recipe because they look amazing in photos so trying to figure out how I can make mine turn out.
Hi Charity, I’m sorry hear that your cupcakes didn’t turn out. Yes, all of the photos on the website are my personal photos of each recipe. There is also a video posted of the recipe (which is also my own). It’s hard to say without being in the kitchen with you as to what went wrong.
Creaming together the butter and sugar shouldn’t take long, maybe one minute with a hand mixer. I used regular white granulated sugar and brown vanilla extract (but clear vanilla extract would also work and shouldn’t affect the texture of the cupcakes). I use Swans Down cake flour.
Did you use eggs or egg whites for this recipe? Using whole eggs (instead of just the whites) would make the cupcakes yellow instead of white, and also change the texture. The cupcakes will brown very lightly on the tops but shouldn’t be yellow throughout.
Wait so do the egg whites have to be whipped up before I put them in? Or I just add them from the shell? Sorry, just once I used a recipe that had to have the egg whites whipped up but I didn’t do it. Just being cautious 🙂
ALso I LOVE your blog. Keep up the great work!
Hi Anna, the egg whites can go directly into the bowl and do not need to be whipped first. I’m so glad you enjoy the site! 🙂