Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Do you have a tiny chef in your house? There are so many benefits to cooking with your child such as spending quality time together, kids feeling a sense of accomplishment, and encouraging mathematical thinking. My kids love helping to prepare their lunch and dinner, but their very favorite thing to do is help with baking. This simple vanilla cupcake recipe with a surprising ingredient is sure to be winner. Add in a Tiny Chef kit and provide your child with kid sized tools to make the job extra fun.

The secret ingredient in these cupcakes is mayonnaise. If you have never made cupcakes with mayonnaise instead of butter or oil, you are in for a treat. I find that mayonnaise makes the most moist and fluffy cupcakes. If you are concerned about your cupcakes tasting like mayonnaise, they will not. They will turn out light and fluffy and perfectly sweet.The kid sized tools included in the Tiny Chef kit are perfect for little hands, plus they make kids feel a real ownership over what they are making. We keep our kids cooking utensils in low cabinets where they can reach them, and when it is time to cook, they get their tools and are ready to help.

Helping to bake is always fun for kids, but waiting for baked goods to cool off, is not. Since we were going to be frosting the cupcakes, we needed them to be cool so the frosting didn’t slide right off. To keep the kids busy, we cleared off our table and cleaned up our mess. Most kids love to be helpful, and rinsing out bowls and loading items in the dishwasher is a great way to capitalize on that desire. Will everything be done perfectly? Probably not. But getting kids into the habit of cleaning up after themselves is important. Before my kids knew it, it was time to frost the cupcakes.

I gave each child a small cup of frosting and a child’s knife. They added frosting to every inch of that cupcake top and shook on sprinkles.

I had a few varieties of sprinkles available so they could really personalize their cupcakes.

The flowered cupcake holders that came in the Tiny Chef kit are perfect for serving your cupcakes. In addition to making a beautiful presentation, they can be used time and again for finger snacks, yogurt, ice cream and apple sauce. We use ours all the time! This is my go-to cupcake recipe and is simple enough to make with kids. Have some fun with your tiny chef and get cooking today!

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe Instructions

vanilla cupcake recipe

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
Cooking Directions

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup milk
• Frosting
• Sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream mayonnaise and sugar in a loarge bowl until thoroughly combined.
3. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla.
4. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in another bowl.
5. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine.
6. Divide into 12 lined muffin cups.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.