Vanilla Cupcake Recipe with Milk Chocolate Frosting

Vanilla cupcake recipe from scratch that is super moist, simple to make, and one of my family's favorite desserts.

We love desserts around here.  Some of our favorites include Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake Bars, Rocky Road Brownies, Homemade Chocolate Cake with Fudgy Frosting, Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies, and Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies.

Vanilla cupcake recipe with milk chocolate frosting, all from scratch, is such a treat.

I'm really enjoying reading The Cupcake Diaries cookbook by the owners of Georgetown Cupcakes and found this vanilla cupcake recipe in their fun book.

What grabbed my attention was the milk chocolate frosting.  That just sounded ridiculously delicious and something I needed to try right away.

If you've been following along, you know I am really enjoying using my new frosting bag as I mentioned with my chocolate cupcake recipe post.

This cupcake recipe was another experiment with my frosting bag and it did not disappoint.  Its so fun working with the bag to create pretty swirls and twirls of delectable frosting to place atop the delicious vanilla cake.  I'm excited to try other tips with different designs - I will share in future posts.

This is the best moist vanilla cupcake recipe I've tried to date.  Maybe its the addition of 1 ¼ cups whole milk that makes them so moist or the extra dose of vanilla extract.

Tips for this delicious vanilla cupcake recipe:

1. The original recipe calls for seeds from a vanilla bean - I used vanilla extract from a bottle instead, and it still turned out super delish, but I will try the seed in the future.
2. Make sure to follow the directions and mix the dry ingredients and milk mixture into the butter and sugar on low in three increments.  Do not overmix.  To maintain the lightness and fluffy texture, not mixing too much is the key.

The icing is super creamy and rich and milk chocolate - its tastes like a decadent milk chocolate bar - yum.  These will become a mainstay in our cupcake recipe reservoir.  I think I may be becoming slightly addicted to finding and making cupcake recipes from scratch.  You might see a few more cupcakes on this here blog in the very near future.

So excited - it just occurred to me I will actually be using this recipe again next week for my daughter's birthday, but with lots of pretty sprinkles atop.

If you enjoy cupcakes, you will most likely enjoy these recipes as well:

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes

Enjoy!

Update: 10/25/16

Here's a look at the cupcakes I made for my daughter's birthday:

Recipe

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Vanilla cupcake recipe with milk chocolate frosting

This vanilla cupcake recipe with rich homemade Milk Chocolate frosting is pure heaven.  Moist cupcake and fresh chocolate icing, yum.

Course Dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 24

Calories 400 kcal

Author Five Silver Spoons

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 2 ½ C all-purpose flour
• 2 ½ t baking powder
• ¼ t salt
• 8 T unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 ¾ C sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 ¼ t pure vanilla extract
 vanilla seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• 1 ¼ C whole milk at room temperature

Milk Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

• ⅔ C milk at room temperature
• 5 C confectioners’ sugar
• 12 T unsalted butter at room temperature
• 5 t pure vanilla extract
• ½ t salt
• 2 ½ C chocolate chips melted and then cooled to room temperature

Instructions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line standard cupcake tin with cupcake liners
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

4. Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes, or until light & fluffy and pale yellow in color (I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer and it took a few minutes on medium speed)

5. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

6. Add the vanilla to the milk in a large liquid measuring cup. 

7. Add ⅓ of the dry ingredients followed by one third of the milk mixture, and mix thoroughly. Repeat. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the last ⅓ of the dry ingredients followed by the last third of the milk, mixing slowly until well incorporated.

8. Scoop the batter into the cupcake pan, filling the liners about ⅔ full, using a standard size ice cream scooper and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (mine took 17 minutes)

9. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting

1. Combine the milk, confectioners’ sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt at high speed until light and airy, approximately 3-5 minutes.
2. Slowly add the melted and cooled chocolate until well incorporated.

3. Once cooled, frost cupcakes with delicious milk chocolate frosting. You can either spread the frosting on with a mini spatula or knife or pipe the frosting.

Recipe Notes

Source: The Cupcake Diaries

Nutrition Facts

Vanilla cupcake recipe with milk chocolate frosting

Amount Per Serving

Calories 400 Calories from Fat 135

% Daily Value*

Fat 15g23%

Saturated Fat 9g56%

Cholesterol 43mg14%

Sodium 101mg4%

Potassium 46mg1%

Carbohydrates 63g21%

Sugar 51g57%

Protein 3g6%

Calcium 51mg5%

Vitamin C 0.1mg0%

Vitamin A 390IU8%

Iron 0.9mg5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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