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If there’s one dessert everyone loves at a birthday party or celebration it’s vanilla cupcakes. You can make these large or even as Mini Vanilla Cupcakes too!
There’s nothing as magical as your child’s first birthday party. I’m sure that Chloe won’t remember much from her big day, but I’ll certainly remember every moment.
We decided to do something simple to celebrate — just a bunch of babies Chloe’s age lounging around on blankets, musical instruments scattered about for playing, pink and white balloons hovering in the trees above, bubbles drifting through the air and of course, some delicious weelicious food!
The party was called for late in the afternoon, so I figured light snacks seemed appropriate. Benedictine Sandwiches, Fruit Kabobs, Chewy Granola Balls and finally, these Mini Vanilla Cupcakes.
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For the cupcakes, I really wanted something white, light, airy and tiny in size. I literally spent weeks working on the perfect recipe, which also had to be simple enough to be weelicious. I first tried using agave to sweeten them, but that was a big ol’ flop. Then I experimented with different combinations of eggs, flours and sugar, but still nothing tasted quite right until I arrived at the balance for this version.
I love making miniature cupcakes for kids’ birthday parties, because they’re the perfect size for small hands, and even if your little one goes back for seconds (or even thirds), it still won’t equal the amount of one regular size cupcake.
Plus, I’ve tried so many vanilla cupcake recipes over the years and I’m always taken by how overly sweet they are. These came out sweet — but not too much. Just the perfect amount in my opinion.
When you’re looking for an unforgettable cupcake recipe that will only add to the magic of your little one’s special day, try these minis and experience maximum deliciousness.
Mini Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 1 cup):
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined.
- Slowly add some of the flour mixture and then some of the milk, alternating until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as you go.
- Pour the batter into mini muffin cups (I like to use a mini ice cream scooper) lined with paper or foil liners until 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.
- Cool and frost.
- *Refrigerate cupcakes after frosting
To make the cream cheese frosting:
- Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and beat for 30 seconds on low to medium speed using a hand mixer.
- Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and continue to beat for 1 minute or until frosting is smooth and creamy.
- Frost the cupcakes and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Salted butter is fine, but you just might want to use 1/8 of a tsp instead of 1/4. Hope it helps! 🙂
Salted butter may make the cupcakes taste slightly salty.
Would you think it would be ok if you used just normal butter instead of unsalted??
The batter may have seemed thick, but you don’t need to add any more liquid to make it thinner. The only difference of consistencies is the baking time. Hope it helps! 🙂
I tried out a different recipe for vanilla cupcakes first, and they were a disaster, so I was rather panicked when I found yours. What a relief when these turned out so beautiful and tasty. Just what I wanted for my daughter’s classroom birthday celebration (although I did end up adding a couple extra tablespoons of milk because the batter seemed too thick). Thank you!
[…] Do make these delicious Weelicious Mini-Vanilla Cupcakes. They’re truly and utterly scrumptious. There wasn’t one left by the end of the party […]
I’m sure it would be fine but coconut milk is a lot thicker than whole milk and you would get the coconut flavor in the cupcakes which is not bad at all. I love coconuts! I would just water down the coconut milk to get it to the right consistency of whole milk and use that 🙂
Do you think it would come out ok if I used coconut milk instead of whole milk?
I would leave them in 5 minutes longer or until a toothpick comes out clean 🙂
Also, how long would I cook if I’m making regualar sized cupcakes and not the mini kind? Thanks again!
Unfortunately this is White cupcake so you need the sugar – it will change the cupcake if you add sucanat. You can still use it but it will be different. :/
Do you think the cupcakes would turn out okay if I used sucanat in place of the sugar? Thanks for all you do. We love your recipes.
Lovely cupcakes but even without frosting, a bit too sweet for me. Can i have the sugar? Do I need to halve butter? Thx
I just added blueberries and chopped strawberries to the batter for a fun 4th of July treat! Love it.
[…] the cupcakes to be in the shape of stars. I found a GREAT recipe for mini vanilla cupcakes on Weelicious and Wilton sent us a package full of goodies to create the best cupcakes ever. Here’s the […]
hi! i’m looking at this recipe and wondering what to do with the greek yogurt and also not sure what the measurement is.
greek yogurt
Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 1 cup) greek yogurt
thanks so much!