The color of the cupcakes will depend on a few things, how dark your vanilla is, how dark in color your butter is, what type of pan you use, the oven temperature. I do not use dark baking pans. I use heavy pans, they are nordic ware I believe. I have an extra thermometer I place in my oven and I double-check it before I put my cupcakes in the oven. I also preheat my oven for a while so there isn’t such an up and down in temperature, at least 15 minutes. But it’s not uncommon for my oven to be on for hours if I baking lots of recipes. So be sure you know exactly the temperature of your oven. Start checking your cupcakes about 5 minutes before you think… that will certainly help prevent over baking. I test mine every minute or two (same with cakes) minutes matter when baking. Test with a toothpick in the center and it should just be becoming dry, not “really dry and firm, that will cool to be very dry” The test before the final minute will have some cake stuck on the toothpick, then it’s usually just 1 more minute. If you are selling baked goods I suggest making a batch and bake one or two cupcakes in the center of the pan, in the center of the oven (maybe one rack up from center) and test batches to be absolutely sure. Make it three times with the batch you like most and you’ll have your timing and temperature correct. I made these cupcakes more than 5 times before posting, so oven temp is important, be sure you have an extra thermometer to place in the oven. And also test the oven temperature in various places of your oven if you think it’s off… you’ll have to adjust for that as well. Some ovens have hot spots! I baked all the batches using all the other same items(cupcake liners, baking pan) I immediately place my pans on cooling racks that sit about4 inches above the counter to cool.
Even cupcake liners can bake up differently. Mostly I think it’s the oven itself. I have an electric oven, I’ve been baking in the oven I have for 18 years, so I know it well. I use glassine baking liners for the cupcakes and I like them far better than just paper liners. And yes it’s only 1 egg (It was a typo me typing 1 eggs, I corrected it thanks for letting me know there was an error)
If you haven’t seen my cupcakes guide you can find it here, there’s a lot of info in it.
Hope that is helpful, you’ll have to let me know how they turn out.

Thank you for the recipe. I decided to use it today for my small cupcake order. I love how easy your recipe was to follow. I noticed you referenced “eggs” in your recipe. I used only 1. I was actually able to make 7 nice cupcakes from your recipe 🙂 1 extra for me. Lol

Ok..here I go. First attempt was not so great. After 18 minutes in the oven @ 375 degrees they turned out extremely dark not light and pretty as in your cupcake picture 🙁 After they cooled completely, the rims were so hard and dry! I could not sell these to a customer so I decided to try again.

I lowered my oven to 350 degrees and baked for 20 minutes instead. I was soooooo happy! They turned out much better the second time around. I think I could have gone 18 minutes and they would be even better. They turned out much lighter than the first batch but still not as light as the ones you have pictured. How are yours so light colored?

Thank you again! I am certain my customer is going to love them.

Thanks! I’m sure they will turn out great! :p

Hi Mimi, this recipe makes 6 cupcakes, you can double it for 12.