Eggless Cupcake Recipe | Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 120 grams (1 cup) all-purpose flour preferably unbleached flour, can also use cake flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 small pinch salt

Wet Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons avocado oil or sunflower oil or any neutral flavored oil
• ½ cup whole milk – cold or at room temperature
• 75 grams (6 tablespoons) sugar – unbleached, can add 6 tbsp white granulated sugar instead
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or white vinegar

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• 113 grams (about ½ cup) butter – unsalted, cold yet a bit soft
• 187.5 grams (1½ cups) powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tablespoon whole milk – cold
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Steps

Making Eggless Cupcakes

1. Before mixing the batter, put 5 to 6 muffin or cupcake liners into a muffin or cupcake pan and set it aside.
2. Put the sugar into a mixing bowl first.
3. Pour in the whole milk and vanilla extract.
4. Stir and mix thoroughly until every sugar granule has dissolved.
5. Stir in the apple cider vinegar (acv) to combine.
6. Follow with avocado oil, sunflower oil or your choice of neutral-tasting oil.
7. Whisk briskly for 3 to 4 minutes so the oil mixes evenly into the milk, then set the liquid mixture aside.
8. Allow the oven 20 minutes of preheating at 180 degrees C/350 degrees F.
9. Sift the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt together into a mixing bowl.
10. Pour the wet mixture into the sifted flour in the bowl.
11. Whisk to a flowing, medium-thick batter, breaking up small lumps with the whisk. Do not overmix.
12. Use a measuring cup, spoon or ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake liners to ¾ of their volume with batter. Tap the tray on the countertop a few times to release air bubbles.
13. Put the cupcake pan in the heated oven and bake at 180 degrees C/350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden-looking. Watch them as they bake: ovens vary, so yours may need less or more time.
14. Take the pan out of the oven and test a few cupcakes with a toothpick or bamboo skewer; it should emerge clean.
15. Cool the pan on a wire tray or rack for about 15 minutes.
16. Pull the liners to lift out the cupcakes, then set them on a wire rack or tray to cool to room temperature.
17. Wait until the cupcakes are completely cool before icing.

Making Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1. Put the unsalted butter in a bowl, keeping it cold yet soft. Hard, cold butter makes grainy icing; softened, warm, melted butter makes a mess.
2. Whip with an electric beater on medium-high for 8 to 9 minutes, or as needed, until the butter is light and fluffy.
3. Sift the powdered or confectioner's sugar into a bowl or plate and set aside.
4. Put half the powdered sugar into the bowl of whipped butter.
5. With a spatula, fold the sugar into the butter first, then mix.
6. Whip again until the sugar is mixed evenly through the butter.
7. Add the half of the powdered sugar that remains.
8. Fold and mix again with the spatula, then whip for a few minutes until all the powdered sugar is evenly incorporated.
9. The cold milk and vanilla extract go in next.
10. Give the mixture a minute or two of whipping.

Assembling Vanilla Cupcakes

1. Set the cooled vanilla cupcakes on a tray or rack.
2. Secure your chosen decorative nozzle inside a piping bag. Fill the bag with the vanilla buttercream using a spoon or spatula.
3. Pipe the buttercream in circles, moving from the cupcakes' circumference toward the center.
4. Serve immediately, or refrigerate the vanilla cupcakes for a few hours with a bowl covering them.
5. The leftover icing can be refrigerated for a few weeks or frozen for two to three months.