Mini cupcakes are so cute and perfectly bite-sized, which is part of what makes them so irresistible. While putting this tutorial together, I realized that there aren’t many recipes out there that have a modification line for making minis as opposed to regular-sized cupcakes. Well, that’s why I’m here! Today you’ll learn all about mini cupcakes, how to make them and how long to bake them.

Why are mini cupcakes so elusive?

In theory, mini things should be less work. This isn’t true. You’ll be doing the exact same motions as you would for making regular cupcakes, except filling twice as many cups. Mini cupcakes are tricky. Tricky because they’re smaller; it’s tricky to get them into the cavity in a clean manner, and tricky because there’s really no rule of thumb for how long you should bake them. Well, after today, they won’t be as tricky any more!

I’m going to teach you how to make some basic vanilla cupcakes using my vanilla cake recipe, and we’ll top them off with vanilla buttercream. Note that this recipe yields about 5 dozen mini cupcakes, however I usually bake only 4 dozen (two 24-cavity pans) because I find that the average person only owns no more than two mini cupcake pans! With the excess batter I bake 5-6 regular-sized cupcakes.

Tip: You can freeze these regular-sized cupcakes for future use. I use them for making a small batch of cake pops.

Let’s get started! You know the drill… Beat the butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy.

Add one egg at a time and incorporate well.

It should look like this when it’s nice and incorporated.

Add vanilla. This part always makes me swoon! I love the scent of vanilla so much.

Combine the dry ingredients. And add a cup of the mixture into the mixer bowl containing the wet stuff. Mix until incorporated.

Next, combine the milk and cream, pour half into the mixer and let it whirl. Then add another cup of flour and let it whirl. This is a good time to scrape the sides of the bowl. Next add remaining milk mixture, whirl until combined and add remaining flour mixture. Beat on medium for a minute.

This is what the batter should look like.

Make sure your pans are lined with “mini cupcake liners” or “mini muffin liners” NOT with “candy cup liners”! They look similar, but candy cup liners are way too small!

Use a cookie scoop to fill the paper-lined cavities of the pan. Fill no more than 2/3 of the cavity. The cavities hold about the same amount as your standard metal cookie scoop. Fill your cookie scoop only 2/3 and carefully eject the batter into each cavity.

Bake for about 15 minutes. The edges will start to just turn golden and they’re done!

Here’s my foolproof rule for baking mini cupcakes:

• Mini cupcakes take about 2/3 of the time to bake compared to regular cupcakes. For example, if you have a regular-sized cupcake recipe that says it takes 21 minutes to bake, it will take only about 14 minutes for mini cupcakes, give or take 1-2 minutes.
• Mini cupcakes take about 1/2 the time to bake compared to a recipe for a 9×13 (quarter sheet) cake. For example, if you have a 9×13 cake that takes 30-35 minutes to bake, take the smaller number and divide it by 2. It should only take about 15 minutes (plus or minus 1-2 minutes) for the mini cupcakes to bake.

Now for the actual recipes!

Recipe for vanilla mini cupcakes

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup butter at room temperature
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¾ cup milk
• ½ cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large bowl, using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or handheld mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla extract.

3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix milk and cream together. Add flour mixture and milk/cream mixture in three batches, starting and ending with flour mixture. Continue to beat on medium high for 1 minute.

4. Use a cookie scoop to fill lined mini cupcake pans.*

5. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

*As I mentioned above, you can also use the excess batter to bake 5-6 regular sized cupcakes in addition to the 48 minis. Bake the regular cupcakes an additional 5-6 minutes.

Recipe for vanilla buttercream

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 stick (½ cup) salted butter at room temperature
• 3-3½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-2 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions:

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Then add vanilla extract.

2. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing between each addition.

3. Add 1 Tbsp of heavy cream. Add more powdered sugar and/or heavy cream until the consistency is to your liking.

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If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask! Leave a comment below!