Cupcake Jemma Vanilla Cupcakes (Rainbow Edition)

If you love a classic vanilla cupcake, this recipe from Cupcake Jemma is a must-try. Light, fluffy, and topped with her signature vanilla buttercream, these cupcakes are simple yet show-stopping. I gave mine a colourful Pride-inspired twist by tinting the buttercream in rainbow shades — the result was bright, fun, and full of joy!

Ingredients:

For the Cupcake Batter:

• 125g self raising flour
• 125g caster sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 125g soft, unsalted butter (very soft!!)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tbsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

For the Buttercream Icing: 

• 200g very, very soft butter
• 450g sifted icing sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• food colouring paste

Method:

For the Cupcake Batter:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line a cupcake/muffin tray with 12 cases.
2. In a sieve over the mixing bowl - add the flour, caster sugar and bicarbonate of soda and sift them.
3. Add 125g of butter.
4. Add 2 large eggs.
5. Start the mixer on a low speed until everything is just mixed and then turn up to medium to high for 1 minute.
6. With the mixer on a low speed add the milk and vanilla extract.
7. Put the mixer back up to medium to high speed for one last blast (about 30 seconds).
8. Stop the mixer, remove the paddle and get as much batter off as you can. Scrape the sides with a spatula and give a final mix with the spatula to catch anything missed by the paddle at the bottom.
9. Using a dessert spoon and teaspoon scoop the batter into the cupcake cases
10. Bake for 22 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Check with a skewer - it should come out clean.
11. Leave in tray for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

For the Buttercream Icing:

1. Add the butter to a mixer and beat for 5 minutes on a medium to fast speed.
2. The butter should now look very pale (edging on white) and be fluffy.
3. Add half the icing sugar to the bowl with the butter and start the mixer on a low speed.
4. Once its incorporated turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the last half of the icing sugar and again start on slow, then once mixed together, increase speed to medium and beat for another 2-3 minutes.
6. Turn down to a low speed and add the milk and vanilla extract.
7. Turn back up to a high speed for 1-2 minutes.
8. Divide the mixture evenly between 3-4 bowls
9. Using a cocktail stick get some food colouring paste - with the colour of your choice and add each colour to each bowl and mix until you have the desired colour.
10. Get the piping bag, pop your nozzle in and cut the end off and then 'splodge' each colour down one side of the bag (warning: this gets messy and fiddly).
11. Pipe away ...

Depending on which colour you added to the piping bag first, the first few cupcakes might come out mostly one shade — I had a couple of bright yellow ones before the other colours started to swirl through. They still looked great though!

My buttercream ended up a little firmer than I’d have liked, but that’s an easy fix — just add a splash more milk to loosen it up next time.