Desserts · Cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes

Name: Vanilla cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour; 1 cup granulated sugar; 8 tbsp butter, softened; 2 egg; 1/2 cup whole milk; 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp salt; 8 tbsp butter, softened; 2 cups powdered sugar; 1 1/2 tbsp whole milk; 1 tsp vanilla extract

The birthday standard, buttercream and all, scored exactly as it is made. Nothing here is trying to be healthy — it is a small, rich, very good cake, and the number below is simply the truth about a small, rich, very good cake.

Time: 40 min (20 prep + 20 cook)
Servings: 12
Per serving: 355 kcal
Protein: 4 g

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour200 g
1 cup granulated sugar200 g
8 tbsp butter, softened115 g
2 egg100 g
1/2 cup whole milk120 g
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract8 g
1 1/2 tsp baking powder6 g
1/4 tsp salt2 g

Buttercream

8 tbsp butter, softened115 g
2 cups powdered sugar220 g
1 1/2 tbsp whole milk20 g
1 tsp vanilla extract4 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and line a 12-hole tin. Beat the softened butter and sugar 3–4 minutes until pale and visibly lighter — this is where the rise comes from, not the baking powder.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt in two goes, alternating with the milk, and mix only until it comes together. Overmixed batter bakes tough.
Divide between the cases, filling each two-thirds full, and bake 18–20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely — warm cakes melt buttercream straight off.
For the buttercream, beat the butter alone for 2 minutes, then add the icing sugar in stages with the milk and vanilla and beat 3 minutes more until it is almost white.

Can I make them lighter?

The honest answer is portion, not substitution: half the buttercream, piped thin, takes about 90 kcal off each cake and nobody notices. Swapping the butter out changes what it is.

Why this score

engineered against fullness

Concentrated sugar, with little protein or fiber to slow it down; dense calories with little protein, volume or fiber to fill you up.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

4% of kcal

21% water

1 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

62%

35%

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 4261 kcal goes into the pot, 1110 g of ingredients comes out as ~1050 g of food → 406 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 406
Protein: (4%); 4 g
Fat: (43%); 19 g
Carbohydrates: (53%); 55 g
of which sugar: 40 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sodium: 279 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.