Hello friends – it’s time for small batch cupcakes!
Let this be a bit of sunshine in your day.
This is a very vintage Joy the Baker recipe I’ve brought back to life for this modern day. Cupcakes feel… I dunno… maybe a little trivial considering our current reality, but even as strange as things are, some things remain the same – our sweet teeth and need for little cakes.
This recipe is a wonder in that it uses one simple stick of butter to make and frost 12 tender little cupcakes. We’re making a lot from a little these days, in more ways than one.
I hope this moment finds you well and helps to take a refuge in the kitchen with sugar and sprinkles for a few hours.
Here’s what you’ll need for these small batch cupcakes:
• One stick of butter: 3 tablespoons for the cupcakes + 5 tablespoons for the frosting. All softened, of course.
• Flour, leavening, and salt for the cupcakes.
• Granulated and powdered sugar for the cupcakes and frosting respectively.
• An egg to bind the cakes.
• Vanilla extract though a dash of almond extract would also be nice.
• Whole milk for both the cupcakes and the frosting.
These cupcakes start rather unconventionally.
Instead of creaming just the butter and sugar we’ll whisk together all of the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add the softened butter and, using electric hand beaters, work the butter into the dry ingredients.
You’ll come to a sandy mixture – that’s right.
This isn’t the same texture as creaming together only butter and sugar.
Sandy with a few small bits of butter that remain is absolutely spot on.
Whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla extract until the yolk and white are well combined.
Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the buttery dry ingredients.
Beat until smooth and a little soupy.
The batter should be smooth and glossy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, we’ll need every bit of batter for 12 small batch cupcakes.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers and fill each cupcake to 3/4 full with cake batter.
I’ll tell ya now, you’ll need every bit of batter to fill 12 cupcakes so scrape the bowl well.
Bake the small batch cupcakes to puffed and golden. They really are the sweetest little cakes!
While the cakes cool whip together the powdered sugar, remaining butter, milk, and splash of vanilla.
Add a few dashes of whatever food coloring you fancy. Yellow feels appropriately sunny.
Spread each cooled cupcake with frosting. Use a butterknife or offset spatula to spread the frosting, we’re not making enough frosting to use a piping bag for these cupcakes.
Top with a few sprinkles for ya know… festivities sake.
Enjoy with milk. Live in this fine moment.
Photographs with my dear Jon Melendez.
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Twelve Frosted Cupcakes, One Stick of Butter
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Total Time: 0 hours
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- a scant 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Frosting:
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the butter and use electric hand beaters on medium-low speed to combine the mixture to sandy. There still may be a few small bits of butter, that’s ok!
- Gradually pour in half of the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg, vanilla and remaining milk together and pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated. Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side or the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Continue mixing on high speed until the batter is smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Spoon the batter into paper lined muffin tins, dividing between the 12 cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly in the pan, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- In a medium bowl, combine powdered sugar and butter. Using electric hand beaters, on low, start to incorporate the two. Combine the milk and the vanilla extract and slowly stream it into the butter and sugar mixture. Once incorporated, turn the mixer to high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes. If you find that your frosting is getting to warm in the summer months, stop beating and set in the fridge for a few minutes. Once chilled, hook the frosting back up the the mixer and beat once more until you reach the desired consistency.
- Whip in desired food coloring.
- Use an offset spatula or butterknife to spread frosting on each cupcake. Top generously with sprinkles and enjoy! Cupcakes will last covered at cool room temperature for 3 days.
63 Responses
These are great! And so fast – started them at 4:15 and they were cooked, iced and ready for birthday candles by 6!
That’s fantastic, Kate!
Cupcakes turned out delicious, recipe was easy to follow. I took them to work and everyone enjoyed. I did not make the icing recipe as I have my own
The perfect recipe! Delicious! Easy! Made with butter which is a must and having these in a small batch is accessible and special. The fact that it is also ingredient I pretty much always have on hand is the frosting on top of the cupcake! ? my sister loved them so much she wants them for her birthday! 11 stars!
Brilliant recipe! And it is easy to follow.
Looks amazing! Could I use almond or soy milk instead of the whole milk?
Love the science behind, I just landed on this page from your Instagram stories of reverse creaming! Thank you for sharing these little little facts about bts in baking ?
This recipe is really great. I was a tad dubious about only using one stick of butter but it works! I did scoop out a teaspoon from each cupcake top and plopped in a wee bit of cherry jam just to add some contrast. The cakes themselves, however, I would eat alone, frosting-free. They are that delicious.
This is a delicious recipe for birthdays and other fun occasions.
Wow, these cupcakes looks delicious. I look forward to making this soon.
Seriously love this recipe, have made it multiple times in the last month (help but also YES).
I use a mini cupcake silicone tray which turns out about 18 cupcakes AND leaves a little extra icing for other projects/eating with a spoon. I also add orange zest as I see fit as it’s a great vibe. Love!
Thanks Joy! Turned these chocolate (replaced like 2-3 tablespoons of the flour with cocoa) and they were a treat. This was the first time I had ever tried the ‘reverse creaming’ and was bummed by what (for me) was a big mess of flour powder flying around while I tried to beat in the butter. I suspect it wasn’t soft enough. I will try again with gushier butter sometime. I mostly appreciate the inspiration of fun things to make, these days, so thank you for your continued sharing.
Okay, to be fair, they are still in the oven, but so far the batter looks great. :-) I added lemon zest to the sugar before adding flour, and I’m planning to add a tad bit of lemon juice to the frosting.
For the record, since the quantity of batter is intended to be *just barely* enough, each cupcake worked out to 42 grams of batter by my calculation.
Can I substitute APF for almond or coconut flour?
I don’t think either of those flours will give you the same outcome. If you’d like to use a GF flour try a 1for1 gluten free flour blend.
The cupcakes were absolutely delicious! Thank you for a fun, easy recipe for my kids and me during this crazy time! These will be on repeat at our house!
Would a Kitchenaid mixer work?
Sure! It’s just a small amount of batter so make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl a few times.
I love this recipe! Made is yesterday because 1) it only requires 1 cup of flour (and I’m running low in this pandemic!) and 2) I was craving something sweet. The cakes aren’t too sweet and balance with the frosting perfectly.
Wonderful!
I stress-baked these last night at 10pm and they are SO GOOD – already half gone…. Thank you Joy.
I enjoyed making these. I made this yesterday and they came out perfect. I used cake flour instead of all-purpose and it was extra fluffy. Would you happen to have a recipe like this for chocolate cupcakes? Nice recipe!
That’s great feedback Bianca!
Bianca, I just made these chocolate! I added 1/4c cocoa powder and subbed hot coffee for the whole milk in the cake. I left the frosting as is and they were delicious!
They look reaaally good!
These are just what we need right now. Thank you.
I will make a batch and do a few add-ons in each cake, like maybe lemon zest in some and chocolate chips in others and maybe even some coconut in a few. Just so the whole batch has variety. But they look good plain.
These look perfect and delicious . Also, I can alter them if I want to. Thinking about making a batch and once they are in the pan adding different additions to some – like coconut or chocolate chips, etc. And I might add cocoa to half of the icing, Just play with them
.
Now, in trying to print out the recipe the dang ads leave empty spaces and it won’t print right onto one page. No biggie,
Thanks for all you offer.
Thank you for this recipe. I’m single but love cupcakes every now and again. I will be trying this tonight with 2% milk because that’s what I have on hand and cake flour because I have lots of it.
This will be just fine with 2% milk! Enjoy!
All I have is oat milk. Would that work instead of cow milk? Excited to bake this for my bday tomorrow! (Shelter-at-home bdays kinda suck).
Happy Birthday! Yes – I bet oat milk will work just fine!
Can you make em chocolate by adding cocoa? Dumb question, but seems logical.
I haven’t tried this cake with a cocoa substitute for flour but feel free to experiment!
I just made these chocolate! I added 1/4c cocoa powder and subbed hot coffee for the whole milk in the cake. I left the frosting as is and they were delicious!
Any tips for making these chocolate cupcakes? LO requested chocolate for his upcoming bday.
I haven’t tested this recipe with swapping cocoa for flour but feel free to experiment!
These look great for the single person with a sweet tooth! How would you adapt the recipe to be chocolate, lemon and other flavors?
You could add lemon or any citrus zest and/ or almond extract. You can experiment with replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder though I haven’t tested this recipe that way so I don’t feel confident giving you exact measurements.
These look so sunny and happy. :) I love the combination of the soft yellow with the colorful sprinkles! <3
Thanks for always bringing a spot of sunshine to these challenging days!
These look lovely and happy!
These turned out great – I even goofed and put too much butter (the 5 Tbsps) into the batter instead of the 3 Tbsps. Phew – they turned out and taste great. I put almond extract in the icing – love that stuff. Thanks Joy – these were needed in this moment. Now I fear eating them all myself ;)
It IS perfect timing. My birthday is next week and my kids are so excited to have cupcakes. I love that this uses minimal ingredients. Thank you for sharing and I hope you are well!
No handmixer and don’t want to drag out the kitchen aid. Would beating the butter in by hand work equally well?
Absolutely give it a shot!
Perfect timing, Joy! My daughter turns four on Sunday. In an effort to conserve ingredients and our obvious people-who-live-in-this-house-only celebration, we’ll be making these! Many thanks!
My daughter turns 4 on Sunday as well! Wishing I’d found this recipe before making a full 24 cupcakes from a box mix for the 4 of our in our household, but I won’t complain too much about extra cupcakes throughout next week.
Thank you for being you. You are always a bright light and even more so during our current situation.
These look so delicious, and would be perfect for my husband’s birthday this weekend. Could I use 1% milk instead of whole? It’s all we have on hand and we’re being very strategic (of course) about grocery store trips. Thanks for your uplifting posts and IG feed, they’re extra appreciated during this crazy mess.
Yes yes – feel free to use 1% milk that’ll be totally fine! Happy Birthday to your husband!
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about you in NOLA hoping you are healthy and continue to be well. You bring so much joy to so many. Thank you.
I think a little playful indulgence can really go a long way right now. I’m almost out of sugar, and hoping to find more at the store today. I have a feeling I’m going to need to bake a lot of cakes to get me through this. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Look delicious…just wondering if this recipe is in one of your books? Thank you
Will this bake the same (just more time) if I make this in to a sheet cake or double round?
I don’t think it’s enough batter for a sheet pan. I have a recipe called Everybody’s Birthday Cake that bakes in a sheet pan properly. This could likely bake into one single 8 or 9-inch round.
Why did mine turn out really bad ,it like grew really big and went over the baking pan ,??I’m so sad and mad
Gosh Elvy, I’m so sorry. It sounds like a problem of too much leavening but I haven’t personally had that problem with these cupcakes. I totally understand that it’s very frustrating.
Will half and half work? Or a combo of whip cream and plant based milk? I don’t want to go to the store :))))
Half & Half is literally half heavy cream and half milk. I’d maybe dulite it a bit, or try it out for a richer cupcake.
I use Pet milk in buttercream icing. Great sub.
Greetings Joy,
Thank you for the memories of this sweet little gem. Making vanilla cupcakes brings back memories of being the “room mother” when my son, now 31 years old?, was in elementary school. These times too will be but a memory… Please stay well.
Do you think that i could use gluten free flour in this recipe?
Yes, Laurie – I think you could use a 1-1 gf flour blend for these cupcakes!
Thank you from Vermont My husband does need a bit of sweet every now and then .
Stay well and healthy! Dale
Cupcakes=comfort. We all need cupcakes every day.
Just a FYI I noticed a typo. I bet you meant REFUGE not REFUSE.
autocorrect ?
You’re right, thank you Kelli!
These are perfect! I never want to make a batch of cupcakes due to how many the recipe makes. Will make once I buy butter and milk!