White Chocolate Cupcakes

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Deliciously decadent White Chocolate Cupcakes with a moist sponge and silky smooth white chocolate buttercarem frosting.

Prep Time30

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 753kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcakes

150 g Granulated sugar
113 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content European-style butter, use it softened
2 Eggs room temperature
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
185 g All purpose flour
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon Salt
120 g Whole milk room temperature
½ teaspoon Baking soda
½ teaspoon White vinegar

White Chocolate Frosting

226 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content European-style butter, use it softened
240 g Powdered sugar Sifted
170 g White Chocolate good quality eg. Callebaut, Lindt
1 tablespoons Vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoons Heavy cream 36% fat content

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Vanilla cupcakes

Prepare your cupcake tin by lining it with muffin liners and preheat your oven to 175℃ / 347℉ (no fan).
In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter and sugar for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy.
Then, whip in the room-temperature eggs in slowly, followed by the vanilla extract.
Slowly pour the room-temperature milk into the mixture as you keep whipping the batter.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt over the batter. Then, switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the dry ingredients carefully, not overmixing the batter at this point.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar with the baking soda. It will be super bubbly. Then, immediately fold the vinegar mixture into the batter just until it's combined.
Pipe or spoon the batter evenly into the cavities of your cupcake tin, filling each one about ¾ full.
Bake the cupcake for about 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake them, as they can dry out.
Cool the baked cupcakes on a cooling rack. They must be at room temperature before frosting.

White Chocolate Frosting

Place the finely chopped chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl and semi-melt in the microwave. Let it come to room temperature before using (but do not wait until it sets).
Using your stand mixer or electric hand mixer, cream the room-temperature softened butter at medium-high speed for 3 minutes until it becomes light in color and fluffy in texture.
Add in the powdered sugar tablespoon by tablespoon on low speed, then turn the mixer back on medium-high speed and whip it for another 4 minutes or until the mixture becomes light, fluffy, and increases in volume.
Now, add the melted white chocolate to the buttercream slowly while the mixer is on.
Lastly, add the vanilla extract, salt, and heavy cream and continue whipping for another minute until it is smooth and silky.
Move the white chocolate frosting into a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle. Frost the cupcakes with the white chocolate frosting, and decorate according to your liking with fresh raspberries, chocolate shavings, or sprinkles.
The cupcakes are best served fresh. Any leftovers can be stored refrigerated for 2-3 days in an air-tight container. Bring them back to room temperature before serving for the frosting to soften.

Notes

The frosting recipe above is enough to frost 12 White chocolate cupcakes generously.

You might be able to make more or less cupcakes with this recipe, depending on the size of the cupcake tin cavities.

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy.
All cupcake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, butter, and milk.
The baking soda and vinegar mixture is my signature baking hack to make cupcakes super moist and fluffy, do not skip it.
Use high fat (36%) heavy cream, good quality white chocolate, and good quality high fat (82%) butter for making buttercream.
It is key to use high quality vanilla for the best flavor, feel free to try my homemade vanilla extract.

Technique notes:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking.
A digital scale is required for a consistent, happy baking experience.
Do not overwork the cupcake batter. After whipping the wet ingredients, switch to a rubber spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients.
Always preheat your oven and consider using a digital oven thermometer for the best results.
When whipping in the eggs and milk, make sure they are all at room temperature. Otherwise, the batter will break.
Baking these cupcakes takes 22 minutes in my oven. However, you should focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick test (it should come out clean) to avoid overbaked cupcakes. Do not overbake them, as that will result in a dry texture.
When making the buttercream, the temperature and texture of the butter is key. Wait until it is soft, however, avoid last-minute microwaving.
When adding the powdered sugar, reduce the speed of the mixer to avoid creating a huge powder sugar cloud.
It is critical that you don´t add the melted chocolate while it is still hot, or it might melt the butter.
This white chocolate frosting should have the perfect pipeable fluffy texture, but if, for some reason, it is too thick, add some more cream (1 tablespoon at a time). If the frosting is too thin, add more powdered sugar (2 tablespoons at a time).
Note that the white chocolate frosting texture is best straight after making it when the butter is at the right temperature (room temperature), and the mixture is freshly whipped. I like to use the frosting immediately or store it at room temperature in a piping bag for a few hours. If stored in the refrigerator, you will need to bring it back to room temperature before using it and might need to give it another minute or two to whip in the stand mixer to increase the volume again.

Nutrition