Magnolia Bakery’s Cupcakes

Could you please use weight measurements instead of volumetric in all of your recipes, but especially in baking? It's a far more accurate method and is possibly the reason for the variations mentioned herein.

It is not recommended to substitute self-rising flour for other types of flour since a leavening agent has been added. If you do not have self-rising flour and the recipe calls for it, you can make your own by combining 1 cup all-purpose flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt

I saw a Youtube video of the Magnolia Bakery's owner demonstrating how to make the vanilla cupcakes. Not only is her technique different from what is in this recipe (she started by combining flour and sugar and then slowly mixed in softened butter until it resembled sand), but she use self-risen flour and bleached cake flour rather than all-purpose. Anyway I made them the way she showed in the video and they came out perfectly.

I have made these twice now following the recipe exactly and they were perfect both times, definitely not dry and perfectly risen. Lovely and simple cupcake perfect for adding flavoured frosting and very easy to make.

I watched the magnolia video others did, and followed her technique with perfect results. Biggest changes were switching all purpose flour for cake flour and also mixing flour and sugar with butter first; then adding half the eggs (whisked); then adding remaining eggs with milk and vanilla mixed in. Another cupcake baker commented that, for cupcakes, it’s best to add wet to dry ingredients, or all-in-one. I made self-raising flour by adding 2.25 tsp baking powder and 0.25 tsp salt to 1.5 cup

I just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to the good folks at NY Times Cooking. I reference your website often when looking for recipes or dinner ideas. Despite all the negative posts I see attached to your recipes, I think you guys are awesome! Keep up the great work.

I feel like no one checked this recipe. It says extra flour & butter for dusting the pans—something you don’t do when using cupcake liners, as directed. As others have posted, this isn’t the Magnolia recipe, tho the measures are correct. Use cake flour instead of all-purpose. Mix together the flours, butter, & sugar until it looks like sand. Add half the eggs and mix. Add the milk and vanilla and mix. Add the other half of the eggs and mix. Mine took 23 minutes at 350.

The first time I made them with butter they were dry. The second time I substituted oil for the butter and they were perfect.

Thanks for the warnings on dryness! I was careful not to overbake, baking only 20 min, and they were moist and perfect. (I also did half batch, using only one muffin tin, so maybe better heat circulation helped? Also, I used almond milk instead of cow's, but I doubt that had anything to do with it...

Now if we could only get the chocolate cupcake recipe. Seems cruel to have chocolate ones in the picture (and the recipe thumbnail) only to find the vanilla recipe instead!

Found the video - https://youtu.be/EFU3gBHhfWE Going to use their technique intstead!

I made these into rainbow cupcakes for my four year olds birthday and they turned out really moist snd delicious.
After reading the reviews I was worried about them turning out to be too dry so I used cake flour instead of all purpose flour and baked them for only 15 mins.

I've made this recipe several times because I love the vanilla flavor of those Magnolia cupcakes and wanted to make them at home. But sadly they are always a bit dry. Perhaps a shorter baking time would help?
Alas, I have moved on to better cupcake recipes.

These came out super nice and fluffy. Of course, I substituted milk with heavy cream and added two teaspoons of lemon zest and a teaspoon of fresh thyme. It has a lovely flavor, and it's perfect for summer!

Any way to make this with leavenings instead of self-rising flour?