Perfect Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes
Jan 27, 2017, Updated May 07, 2023
Simply perfect Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes topped with a creamy and delicious Vanilla Buttercream Frosting!
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Simply perfect Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes topped with a creamy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.
A classic cupcake for all occasions!
How gorgeous are these cupcakes? Seriously there’s something so amazing about baking cupcakes and decorating them, it just makes me super happy! I think I am just plain biased when it comes to cupcakes. I mean I like cakes, but cupcakes are so much better for me in every way.
They are cuter, more fun to decorate and perfect to feed a crowd. Win win! I wanted to bake and share a Vanilla Cake recipe with you guys for Valentine’s Day but at the last moment I opted for cupcakes. And aren’t you glad I did? Just look at them!
Valentine’s Day is around the corner and I am already seeing tons of red and pink recipes floating around on the social media. This year I didn’t really get to plan much or bake in advance since I just came back from India so I will post as I bake.
These cupcakes I baked yesterday and they are on the blog today! I don’t have a basic Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes recipe on the blog and I know a lot of you love eggless bakes and so I thought Valentine’s Day would be perfect to share these.
There’s nothing fancy about these eggless vanilla cupcakes. They are made with very basic ingredients which I am sure you must already have in your pantry. I have been playing around with a lot of eggless recipes lately.
I made these eggless cupcakes sometime back, I guess way back in October but I didn’t like how they turned out. There was a strong taste of baking soda (metallic taste–>yuck!) and even though they looked pretty and I clicked pictures as well, I obviously couldn’t share them on the blog.
This time around I changed the recipe a bit and ended up with these Perfect Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes!
These Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes Are
✓ Eggless
✓ Super Soft
✓ Full of vanilla flavor
✓ Topped with a creamy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Vanilla is such a classic flavor. It goes for every occasion and almost everyone likes them. I mean I know people who don’t like chocolate but I have never met someone who doesn’t like vanilla. Have you?
You can make these eggless vanilla cupcakes for birthdays, anniversaries, valentine’s day or whenever you feel like. After all who needs a reason to eat cupcakes? I don’t!
The cupcakes are topped with a classic American Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. I am not a huge buttercream fan honestly but since these were vanilla cupcakes and I wanted to make a classic, the buttercream just had to happen.
Please feel free to use any frosting of choice. One thing which I would like to mention here is that these cupcakes are very lightly sweetened and that’s because the buttercream is super sweet so it all goes well together.
TIP: If are going for whipped cream or cream cheese frosting, you might want to add an extra 1/4 cup sugar for the cupcakes.
Method
In a bowl whisk together all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Sift the mixture twice. Set aside.
Meanwhile mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes while it curdles (or use 1 cup buttermilk).
Using paddle attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer, mix together oil and powdered sugar. Mix till creamy and well combined.
Add vanilla extract and mix.
Start adding the flour mix and milk-vinegar mixture in parts. Start by adding one part of the flour mix.
Then add one part of the milk-vinegar mixture. Add the flour-mix in 3 parts and milk-vinegar mixture in 2 parts, starting and ending with flour mix.
Mix till all is well combined but do not over-mix. The batter is now done.
Using an ice cream scoop (or any spoon), fill the cupcakes liners 2/3 full with the batter. Bake at 350 F degrees for 15-18 minutes or till toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from oven and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting – Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer, beat room temperature butter for 5 minutes till smooth and creamy.
Now add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla extract, milk/cream and mix.
Add food color (if using) and mix. Once everything is nice and combined, beat the buttercream at medium speed for 5 minutes to make it all fluffy and creamy.
Frost the cooled eggless vanilla cupcakes with the prepared vanilla buttercream frosting and enjoy.
Perfect Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes
- 1.25 cups all purpose flour 163 grams
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch 22 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar 75 grams or add more to taste
- 1.25 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup canola oil 80 ml
- 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon white vinegar or use 1 cup buttermilk, 8 oz/240 ml milk + 15 ml vinegar
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup salted butter at room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 tablespoons cream/milk 45-60 ml
- pink food color optional
Instructions
Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes
- Pre heat oven to 350 F degrees. Line a 12 count muffin tray with cupcake liners or spray with a non-stick spray. Set aside.
- In a bowl whisk together all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Sift the mixture twice. Set aside.
- Meanwhile mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes while it curdles. (or use 1 cup buttermilk)
- Using paddle attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer, mix together oil and powdered sugar. Mix till creamy and well combined.
- Add vanilla extract and mix.
- Start adding the flour mix and milk-vinegar mixture in parts. Start by adding one part of the flour mix, then add one part of the milk-vinegar mixture.
- Add the flour-mix in 3 parts and milk-vinegar mixture in 2 parts, starting and ending with flour mix.
- Mix till all is well combined but do not over-mix. The batter is now done.
- Using an ice cream scoop (or any spoon), fill the cupcakes liners 2/3 full with the batter.
- Bake at 350 F degrees for 15-18 minutes or till toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from oven and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer, beat room temperature butter for 5 minutes till smooth and creamy.
- Now add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition.
- Add vanilla extract, milk/cream and mix.
- Add food color (if using) and mix.
- Once everything is nice and combined, beat the buttercream at medium speed for 5 minutes to make it all fluffy and creamy.
- Frost the cooled eggless vanilla cupcakes with the prepared vanilla buttercream frosting and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes
I am a kid and my aunt has the same name as you
Love love this recipe. Amazing outcome for a not so pro baker as well! Totally loved it!
glad to know Ananya!
It is really good
Hi Manali,
I do not wish to add corn starch to this recipe. Can u suggest what I can add instead of corn starch?
Regards,
Nutan
more flour
I made this last night and it was the best eggless cupcake I baked. And I tried it with 2 different flavors like red velvet and the other one with a chocolate essence and choco chips. It was indeed a shortcut to heaven! Lol. However, I will try to reduce the amount of cornstarch the next time I’ll make it cos I don’t want it to be too sticky. Thank you for this recipe!! 💗
Hi manali! What would be the best milk substitute? Soy or rice milk?
almond milk works well
Hi Manali!
I love baking and have two little sisters allergic to egg, so I’ve been searching for a good recipe to bake for them so they won’t be left out anymore!
Will this recipe work with add-ins or will they sink to the bottom? (Nuts, chocolate chips, candies, etc.)
Thank you!
should be okay, just toss those in little flour and then add to the batter
Tried these for my 8 year old granddaughter who is allergic to eggs. She absolutely loved them, along with my other grandchildren. Since she doesn’t normally doesn’t get to eat cake at any family functions, I was thrilled to find your recipe.
Thanks for your feedback Deb, so glad to know!
hi manali! i just made these cupcakes to use for an apple pie cupcakes and they turned out SO fluffy and stunning! my batter was quite loose but it did come out nicely so i’m not too worried about that!! thank you for this recipe, it’s probably my go-to vanilla cake recipe now!
Can this recipe also be used for fondant birthday cake? Thanks for your reply
I don’t really know, no experience with fondant
It’s a new recipe for me. I never added corn starch. Also I need a suggestion. My cake don’t come out in even shape. I have a small otg oven. Most of the time it’s not like the shown in picture. Please help!!
what do you mean by even shape? you mean the tops are not even? could be an oven temperature issue. If they taste good, I would not worry so much about it, you are going to frost it anyway
I just made a batch of these last night. I’m having a party and my neighbor is highly allergic to eggs. I really wasn’t sure how they would turn out. I filled them with a dollop of Nutella and made a Nutella frosting. My husband and I just tried one and they were “out of this world” good! I will definitely be making these again.
glad to know Colleen!
Hi manali, my cupcake was a disaster. The batter was loose like milkshake and took more than 18 mins to cook. The cupcakes were more like molten cakes. Can you please help me what went wrong.
looks like you didn’t measure the ingredients correctly, the batter cannot be like a milkshake. It’s a recipe that I have tried multiple times and so many readers have also made this successfully. So, I am not sure what else can be wrong other than not measuring the ingredients correctly. And as far as the baking time is concerned, every oven is different. Maybe your oven runs less hot and it’s settings are off by few degrees and hence needs more baking time.
I know this recipe was not written as vegan, but I used unsweetened almond milk and it worked great.
I just made these and they are really “perfect”! Delicious and I like that they did not stick to the cupcake paper. Other vegan cupcakes do not always come out of the paper so easily. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Hi Manali, can you please tell me why you add 2 time baking soda i.e. 1/8 + 1/4 tea spoon
it is not 2 times, it’s just the quantity of the baking soda in the recipe- it is a little less than 1/2 teaspoon. 1/2 teaspoon is 1/4 + 1/4 teaspoon but since this is little less than 1/2 teaspoon , it is 1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon.
Please there is no quantity of water for the eggless cup cake.
because there is no water in the recipe. The recipe uses buttermilk as the liquid.
This seems like the perfect eggless recipe..I will definitely do these for my son’s birthday Saturday.
I don’t want to change your recipe I will definitely make it as is.. But what will happen if I add some yogurt?? Will it become to heavy or light??
I don’t know why you want to add yogurt? This recipe is not yogurt based, the vinegar is the acid here which reacts with the leavening agent to give soft cupcakes. So please follow the recipe.
I tried it
Turned out super soft and yummy
Thanks
the best no egg cupcakes ever!!! i made these to trim the top and make mini 2 layer cakes for fun but didn’t have eggs. i was scared to make a no egg recipe bc all others i’ve done have been so dry and had no flavor. this one was definitely the best. taste so delicious and so moist!! the only thing is that it only made 10 cupcakes for me (so i just made 5 mini cakes) so good anyways and left abt 2 tablespoons of the buttermilk because my batter was getting really runny but nevertheless, turned out IMMACULATE. thanks so much!!
Hi Ma’am… I tried the buttercream….. But I had a couple of problems, my buttercream was quite grainy and oily…. Can u pls tell me if u know what went wrong??
probably your butter wasn’t at room temperature and so didn’t mix well with the sugar
Would love to try this recipe . Can you tell me how I can make this in a 6 inch tin and how ping to bake/ temperature
probably around 20 minutes at 350 F degrees (180 C).
Tried them a week ago with chocolate ganache icing. They were amazingly rasty! Thanks so much! Love your recipes!!
Welcome Shruti!
Super recipe..just what I wanted …thanks tonne…
Wish I could post a picture 🙂
Can we substitute oil with melted butter. And can you please provide the steps for preparing buttermilk from curd. Or can we substitute white vinegar with apple cider vinegar???
I would recommend using oil here, makes it moist. How to make Buttermilk is mentioned in the recipe, please read it.
I have not tried the recipe with apple cider vinegar but it should work
Hi Manali, can I add choco chips to the same recipe?
should be fine
Measurements are not clear….. 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon???
Shame as I enjoy baking, when planning around family rather not be googling to as certain what the 1/8 equates to.
I am not sure what is not clear? 1/8 is half of 1/4, I don’t know how else to write? The recipe needs a little less than 1/2 teaspoon baking soda hence 1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon. What is not clear about this? Shame that you will give the recipe 1 star without even trying it when it has such good reviews.
These cupcakes came out perfectly. I followed the recipe as directed. Blended regular sugar for a few seconds as recommended (instead of powdered sugar). The final mixture was runnier than I expected.
Only minor change I made was after filling all 12 cupcake liners, I added 2 teaspoons of cocoa to the spoons of mixture remaining and added a few drops of the now chocolate mixture to half the cupcakes.
Cakes rose perfectly. Baked in about 18 minutes. Kids gobbled them up.
omg! i have used this recipe for a year now— made it atleast 30x, for cupcakes and normal cakes. so grateful you uploaded this, my staple recipe x
Hey manali,
I tried your recipe and it turned out awesome. But there was one fault and I don’t know why but the cupcakes has an huge and uneven dome at the center. Can you pick up my mistake?
it’s a common issue, my guess is you over-mixed the batter or try baking at a lower temperature next time. I usually never bother about it since cupcakes are always covered with frosting so dome or flat doesn’t make a difference to me
Hello,
Can I use corn flour instead of cornstarch? Are they the same thing?
Thankyou
yes
Can I use whole wheat instead of all purpose flour??
they will be denser and I haven’t tested so I can’t say
Hi ma’am
Can I replace corn starch by corn syrup.. Plz suggest
no, they are two different things!
Hii can i use butter instead of oil
I would suggest using oil.
Hi tried this recipe and cupackes were so soft and nice but somehow my cupcakes were uneven and had cracked up. Any idea why this happened?
sometimes cakes crack up due to uneven oven temperature (you can get an oven thermometer to check the temperature of your oven). I wouldn’t worry too much about it especially in cupcakes since we are going to put the frosting on top so it will be all covered anyway.
Hello, for how much time will the frosted cupcake stay at room temperature for hot india climate?
not much after they are frosted, keep them in an air conditioned room else frosting will melt.
can u use olive oil?
sure if you don’t mind the smell of olive oil in your cupcakes.
how much is 1 cup in the above? and is the same measurement applied for both flour and the sugar when it comes to 1 cup?
Weight and volume are different. A standard US measuring cup= 8 oz/240 ml is what is used here. While ingredients will be 1 cup, they will be different by weight of course. I added the weight in grams.
Thanks for your recipe. The cupcakes turned out fantastic! They were very moist! I also added orange zest for extra flavour
glad to know!
Tried your recipe today. Turned out awesome. I put some light green color in the frosting and decorated The cupcakes with sprinkles of all colors for my son’s second birthday tomorrow !
Aww. so fun
hey I neither have viniger nor i have buttermilk …please tell what to do…is there anything else i can use or shall i skip it
Then you can’t make this recipe, since that’s the acid here and you need it for it to react with leavening agent and make it rise. I would suggest searching for cupcakes made with yogurt and make those!
I made cupcake first time in my life and just followed the steps and come up with awesome, delicious cupcakes.
Thanks for sharing.?
welcome! 🙂
For the icing, can I hand mix it instead of using a mixer? I don’t have a mixer.
you can use a hand mixer sure
I meant, can I mix it by hand with like a whisk or a fork or something? As I said, I have no mixer. (no stand mixer, no hand mixer)
you can use a whisk but you will need to use a lot of hand strength to get it this smooth!
hey! can we use this recipe to make a cake instead of cupcakes? and if we can, how many layers can it make?
yes, single layer (8 inch)
This is my go to egg free cupcake recipe! Any recommendation on cool time if we try it in the cake form?
try 25-30 minutes for a 8 inch round pan
I doubled the recipe and made 2 cakes. 25 min was perfect. Thanks!
great!
“Cook” time I mean!
Lol. Thought it would be OK to use granulated sugar instead of powdered. FAIL. Oops.
yum yum
Hi! I have no cornstarch at the moment. Is there anything I can use to replace it?
skip, use more of the flour
Hi, if I was to use self raising flour, would I need to exclude cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda?
haven’t tested the recipe with self raising flour. I am assuming it has baking powder. I would not exclude the soda and cornstarch. Again, haven’t tested the recipe with this self rising flour and so can’t comment on how it will turn out.
I just made these cupcakes, but I added shredded coconut and used coconut oil instead of canola oil so that they would be coconut vanilla cupcakes. They came out great and the whole family loves them! 🙂
It seems as your steps are off, because it does not say to add the 3/4 cup of sugar any where or add the powdered Sugar oil mix together. Just to let you know. Overall great recipe!
Hmm I see it clearly “Using paddle attachment of your stand mixer or using your hand mixer, mix together oil and powdered sugar. Mix till creamy and well combined.
Add vanilla extract and mix.”
Yes where does this step go ??
I am not sure? It’s clearly there in the recipe card as well as in the text!
Hello Manali , You have a fantastic blog and your recipes look very amazing . I am tempted to try this cupcakes , but just had a query. Can I swap powdered sugar with granulated sugar ? And if yes then how much is the quantity ?
you can , just grind the granulated sugar in a food processor and then use. quantity will remain same.
My grandson is allergic to eggs so I whipped a batch of these perfect moist vanilla cupcakes. Thank you!