These very vanilla cupcakes are really good. We call them very vanilla because they are not the typical vanilla cupcakes with a sugary frosting, but they have vanilla pretty much everywhere, and not just vanilla extract but real vanilla inside, using vanilla beans.
Jump to RecipeThere are two types of people in this world, chocolate kind of people and vanilla kind of people. I, for sure prefer vanilla all the way. But vanilla is so underrated lately cause we´re too used to it. You see, people who prefer chocolate have a lot of options to choose from: double or triple chocolate, dark or white chocolate cupcakes, even red velvet cupcakes have chocolate, but what’s out there for us vanilla lovers? Well for all of us this s our recipe right here!
This is not a plain vanilla cupcake, it is made with real vanilla. So we have a vanilla cake with a really good vanilla frosting and dulce de leche filling, wich goes great with vanilla and is really similar to caramel.
In this recipe, as we have said, we use, besides vanilla extract, natural vanilla beans. You have to know that vanilla beans are quite expensive almost everywhere in the world, because they are hard to produce and therefore, a bit scarce. Vanilla comes from a very specific type of orchid. Originally, vanilla comes from Mexico (something we find fascinating), and was later taken to some other countries where is currently produced as well, because they have the perfect conditions to do so.
So if you can get natural vanilla then great, but if you decide to simply use vanilla extract is fine, but just make sure you use natural vanilla extract, and for the label to say it, because there are artificial vanilla “extracts” or flavorings which don’t come from real vanilla, and do not taste the same way.
If you like this recipe, you have to go see our banana caramel cupcakes recipe.
Very vanilla cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 3.2 oz (90 gr) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 C white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- The seeds of half a vanilla bean
- 1 2/3 C all purpouse flour
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 C buttermilk
- Dulce de leche for filling
For the forsting:
- 1/2 C unsalted butter at room temperature
- (115 gr) cream cheese at room temperature
- 2 C confectioners sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- The seeds of half a vanilla bean
- 3 tbsp milk
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven at 350° F.
- In a big bowl, sift the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Mix and set aside.
- In a different big bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together the butter, oil and sugar for 2 minutes until you get a light and fluffy mixture.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then beat in the vanilla extract and the vanilla bean seeds and beat for another 3 minutes. The mixture must turn really fluffy.
- Incorporate the dry ingredients in three separte additions, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and finishing with the dry ingredients (once you´re done with the last dry ingredients addition is important not to beat too much, just until the mixture is well incorporated).
- Distribute the batter filling a cupcake pan (already prepared with cupcake liners) about 3/4 each.
- Bake at 350°F for 22 min. aprox. or until a wooden stick comes out clean when inserted.
- Put the dulce de leche in a pastry bag with a small piping tip. Once the cupcakes are cool, take out a small piece of each using a knife and fill them with dulce de leche, then put the small pieces of cake back in their places.
For the frosting:
- In a big bowl, with a hand mixer beat the butter and cream cheese together until soft.
- Add in the confectioners sugar and salt (both previously sifted) then the vanilla extract and the vanilla bean seeds and continue beating until the mixture lightens in color.
- Beat in the milk and keep on beating until you get a fluffy frosting that´s almost white.
- Decorate the cupcakes with the frosting however you like.