These easy Blue Cupcakes are moist vanilla cupcakes frosted with simple blue buttercream. They're perfect for birthdays, baby showers and blue-themed celebrations!
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✏️ Why you'll love this recipe
Blue cupcakes are a deliciously simple vanilla cupcake. They're one of my favourite homemade blue desserts, because they're easy to make, can be customised for your theme and feed a crowd!
This recipe is for an easy vanilla cupcake sponge and blue buttercream frosting from scratch, using blue food colouring to give your cupcakes the perfect blue shade.
Blue iced cupcakes are great for birthday parties and kids' parties, boy baby showers, christenings, Father's Day and any blue-themed celebration dessert table!
🥘 Ingredients
This blue cupcake recipe calls for the following ingredients:
1. Vanilla cupcakes:
- Unsalted butter: room temperature for a softened butter that's easier to beat.
- White sugar: finely granulated e.g. caster sugar.
- Vegetable oil: or other neutral flavoured oil.
- Eggs: large size
- Plain all-purpose flour: sieve for a smooth batter.
- Baking powder: always check the expiry date before use or the cake won't rise.
- Vanilla extract: use extract or paste for the best taste.
- Milk: full-fat or semi-skimmed milk.
- Salt (optional)
2. Blue buttercream:
- Unsalted butter: room temperature.
- Powdered icing sugar: sieve your confectioners' sugar for a smooth frosting.
- Vanilla extract
- Milk: full-fat or semi-skimmed milk.
- Salt (optional)
- Blue food colouring: use a gel or paste to prevent adding too much moisture.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Top tip: For accuracy, it's best to weigh your ingredients rather than using cups.
♻️ Substitutions / Variations
Ingredient substitutions
Instead of white sugar, you can use golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar. This gives your cupcake a more caramel flavour.
You can swap the plain flour in the vanilla cupcake recipe for self-raising flour of the same quantity. If doing this, exclude the baking powder.
You can use whole, semi-skimmed or non-dairy milk in the cupcake batter and buttercream. For the blue buttercream, this gives it a thinner, creamier consistency, so only add as much as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Flavour options
You can swap your blue vanilla icing for another frosting, like this lemon buttercream, caramel buttercream or matcha buttercream.
You can also change the vanilla cupcake for another type, like chocolate cupcakes or these moist lemon cupcakes.
Decorating ideas
If you don't have a piping bag and tip, you can use a plastic freezer bag with the corner cut off to create big swirls of blue frosting on your cupcakes. Alternatively, use a knife or spatula to generously spread your blue buttercream on your cupcake.
Top your blue buttercream cupcakes with fun sprinkles or a drizzle of melted chocolate or candy melts.
You can also choose a different colour frosting, like this cute pink buttercream - or why not use half of each and create blue and pink cupcakes!
For a blue velvet cupcake, you can also add several drops of blue food colouring to your cupcake batter before baking.
📖 Method
Vanilla cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F.
Step 1: In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and oil, either using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer, until light and pale.
Steps 2-3: Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
Step 4: Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture, gently folding in until just combined.
Steps 5-6: Stir in the milk, vanilla extract and salt.
Step 7: Line your cupcake pan with cupcake cases and fill each up to ½ to ⅔ full with batter. This should give you 10-12 cupcakes, depending on case size.
Step 8: Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes are lightly golden, springy to the touch, and an inserted skewer comes out clean from the middle. Transfer the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting.
Blue buttercream
Step 1: Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
Step 2: Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined.
Step 3: Repeat this with the remaining half of the icing sugar.
Step 4: Add in the vanilla extract, milk and salt, mixing until smooth.
Step 5: Mix in a few drops of blue food colouring at a time until you reach the desired shade.
Step 6: Once your cupcakes have fully cooled, decorate them using your buttercream.
You can add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle of your choice (e.g. an open star like Wilton 1M) or use a freezer bag and cut off one corner. Pipe your blue buttercream frosting onto your cupcakes and enjoy!
🎥 Recipe video
Check out the recipe video below for how to make the best easy blue cupcakes!
💭 Top tips
- For soft and fluffy vanilla cupcakes, try not to overmix your cake batter once you've added the baking powder.
- Your cupcakes are cooked once they're risen and springy to the touch. An inserted toothpick or skewer should also come out clean from the middle.
- Use good quality sturdy baking cases or baking cups, as sometimes the cheap ones can peel over time due to the moisture in your blue cupcakes.
- For creamy blue buttercream, beat your butter until it's pale, light and fluffy first. This could take several minutes with an electric mixer.
- To decorate your blue vanilla cupcakes, use a piping bag and your favourite tip to pipe a big swirl of buttercream on top of your cupcakes. I use a large open-star nozzle like a Wilton 1M, but you can decorate it using your favourite piping tip and style.
❔ Recipe FAQs
Your blue cupcakes should last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If it's hot where you live, store your cupcakes in the fridge instead.
Yes! You can freeze your frosted (or unfrosted) cupcakes in an airtight container or wrapped in cling film and then foil for up to 3 months. Defrost, decorate and enjoy!
Swap the butter in the cupcake and frosting for a plant-based baking block (the solid type). Also swap the milk for a dairy-free alternative milk, such as coconut milk.
Yes, to make gluten-free blue cupcakes, swap the plain all-purpose flour for gluten-free flour. I recommend using a gluten-free all-purpose plain flour blend 1:1 measure.
No, cake flour is actually different to both plain flour and self-raising flour. It has a different composition, and your cake will have a different consistency if you use it.
For a specific blue shade for your cupcakes, you can use that shade of blue food colouring, e.g. baby blue or navy blue.
Alternatively, add your blue food colouring a few drops at a time until you reach the desired shade. Stop just before it reaches the intensity you're after, as colour develops and strengthens over time.
See my blue buttercream colour tips in my blue frosting recipe for more details.
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🧁 Other goodies
Looking for some other goodies to make?
For more cute party desserts like these blue frosted cupcakes, give these a try:
- Blue cake pops
- Funfetti sprinkles cupcakes
- Biscoff cakesicles - biscoff-flavoured popsicle cake pops!
- Chocolate oreo birthday cake
Or if you're after more easy birthday cupcake ideas, give these recipes a try:
Other Related Recipes:
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📖 Recipe
Blue Cupcakes
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Equipment
Ingredients
Vanilla cupcakes
- 110 g (½ cup) unsalted butter room temperature
- 115 g (½ cup) white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil or other neutral oil e.g. sunflower
- 2 eggs large
- 115 g (1 cup) plain all-purpose flour see notes for self-raising flour swap
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional
Blue buttercream
- 150 g (⅔ cup) unsalted butter room temperature
- 350 g (3 cups) powdered icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon milk whole or semi-skimmed
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional
- Blue food colouring
Instructions
Vanilla cupcakes
- Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and oil, either using a spatula, electric hand mixer or stand mixer, until light and pale.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully combined.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture, gently folding in until just combined.
- Stir in the milk, vanilla extract and salt.
- Line your cupcake pan with cupcake cases and fill each up to ½ to ⅔ full with batter. This should make 10-12 cupcakes, depending on case size.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20mins or until the cupcakes are lightly golden, springy to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean from the middle.
- Transfer the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting.
Blue buttercream
- Beat the butter (either by hand, using an electric mixer or stand mixer) until pale, light and fluffy. This could take several minutes.
- Sieve half of the icing sugar into the butter and beat until combined, then repeat this with the remaining half of the icing sugar.
- Add in the vanilla extract, milk and salt (if using) mixing until only just smooth.
- Stir in a few drops of blue food colouring at a time until you reach the desired shade.
Assembly and decoration
- Once your cupcakes have fully cooled, add your buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large nozzle of your choice (e.g. an open star like Wilton 1M) or use a freezer bag and cut off one corner.
- Pipe the blue buttercream onto your cupcakes and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Use softened room-temperature butter for ease of mixing.
- Your cupcakes are cooked once they're risen and springy to the touch. An inserted toothpick or skewer should also come out clean from the middle.
- Use sturdy cupcake cases or baking cups so they don't peel with moisture.
- For creamy frosting, beat your butter until it's pale, light and fluffy first. This could take several minutes with an electric mixer.
- Stop adding colouring a shade less intense than you'd like. Food colouring develops stronger over time.
- Swap your plain flour for self-raising flour and reduce the baking powder to only ½ tsp.
- You can swap the milk for any type, including dairy-free alternatives, or heavy cream.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
Kachina says
Lovely simple cupcakes!