Cupcake Princess' Vanilla Cupcakes

"I really liked these cupcakes. I doubled the recipe and got about 30 cupcakes (the cupcake cups were only filled halfway). I also put a piece of chocolate in the middle of each cupcake right before ba..." See moreking, because we are not very much into plain cupcakes :-) When I tasted a cupcake right from the oven, it did taste a little eggy (but perhaps I was just looking for this taste...) but once the cupcakes have cooled, they are perfect - moist and sort of fluffy at the same time. I think this is a perfect recipe for a basic cupcake batter and I can imagine all the variations for the creative folks - citrus flavour, cocoa/chocolate, coffee..."

"I made these and I wasn't thrilled. I thought they were chewy and not as flavorful as I expected I guess. Sorry!..." See more"

"I’m not a food science whiz but I’ve been baking a long time and I recognized some things in this recipe of concern. So I made some changes and ended up with a darn good vanilla cupcake. First, the ..." See morebaking soda - and no baking powder. Baking soda typically is used when there’s something acidic in the batter like chocolate or buttermilk but there is none here. Also, baking soda is 4 times as powerful as baking powder so why so much? If some reviewers complained of an off taste or if their cupcakes were crumbly and coarse too much baking soda could be the problem. I eliminated it entirely, substituting 1-1/2 tsp. of baking powder instead. Others reported these were dry – they might have over baked them, but I’m thinking 5 T. of butter wasn’t enough – I increased it to 1/2 cup. As for technique, I didn’t trust the instructions to heat the milk and butter. I used a traditional creaming method instead – cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each; add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, in thirds, alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Finally, still others mentioned a flat taste – I added 1/4 tsp. of salt rather than just a pinch, and 1-1/2 tsp. of vanilla. As I mixed up the batter I found it needed another 1/4 c. of flour. The cupcakes rose nicely, had great flavor, and were moist with a light and tender crumb. So, some problems as written, perfect with some tweaks."