Vanilla cupcakes recipe

I'm a cupcake lover. I used to buy cupcakes from the local bakery and still do once in a while until I started baking my own cupcakes. If you ask me where to find the best cupcakes in Melbourne, I'd certainly recommend Joy Cupcakes without hesitation. At Joy Cupcakes, every cupcake is beautifully made and comes with various interesting flavors. Often, there'll be a special cupcake flavor available for a limited time to celebrate an occasion/event. The cupcakes produced by Joy Cupcakes are light and moist. And most importantly, with the perfect sweetness. Unlike the sweet icing on a typical cupcake, the meringue buttercream frosting from Joy Cupcakes is something one can't resist. Hence, it's worth to check it out if you're near any of their outlets.

Because of this, I was intrigued to find out the secret to a great tasting cupcake. Well, at least for the base white/vanilla cupcake that could go with any frosting. So, I've been trying new vanilla cupcake recipes every now and then. 

Recently, I found this basic cupcake recipe from Eugenie Kitchen and I quite like the light and fluffy texture. Although it doesn't taste exactly like those from Joy Cupcakes, I'll settle for this recipe for now :) Note that I've reduced the sugar and salt from the original recipe to adapt to my taste buds. If you like a bit of chocolate flavor, fold in some dark chocolate chips before scooping the batter onto the patty pans or cupcake cases. They taste good too.

Recipe: 

(make 16 cupcakes)

128g all-purpose flour

150g cake flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

200g unsalted butter

130g Caster sugar

3 Eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120ml milk

1. Sift all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk and mix well. 

2. Beat butter and sugar in another mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

3. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Beat on a higher speed after the last addition until everything is well combined.

4. Fold 1/3 flour mixture onto the batter until combined. Add in 1/2 milk and fold until even. Repeat the same by folding in another 1/3 flour mixture and 1/2 milk, follow by vanilla extract and lastly the 1/3 flour mixture. 

5. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

6. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 2/3 full each. 

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160-170c for about 15-20mins or until golden brown and that the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

8. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack.