These Yellow Birthday Cupcakes are buttery soft and made with basic pantry ingredients. They’re topped with a creamy Malted Chocolate Frosting that’s enhanced with malted milk powder for a delicious & unique chocolate malt flavor. These are sure to fly off the plate at any birthday celebration!
What Ingredients Are In Yellow Birthday Cupcakes?
These cupcakes are made with a relatively short list of simple ingredients, with the addition of a few special ingredients that yield the most fluffy and moist cupcakes with a velvety texture. You’ll need:
Cake Flour – This flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose, which produces a more tender baked good.
Baking Powder & Baking Soda – These help the cupcake to rise and become light and fluffy.
Salt – All baked goods need a bit of salt to enhance the flavors.
Butter – Butter adds flavor and tenderness.
Granulated Sugar – Sugar provides sweetness and moisture.
Eggs – Eggs provide flavor and structure.
Vanilla Extract – Vanilla adds flavor.
Vegetable Oil – This adds extra moisture and tenderness to the crumb of these cupcakes.
Sour cream – This adds lots of moisture to these cupcakes.
These are all basic ingredients, with the possible exception of the cake flour. I highly recommend using cake flour in your cakes and cupcakes, since it produces a more tender cake than all-purpose flour. I always keep a box in my pantry!
How to Make the Cupcake Batter:
Start by creaming together your butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Next, add in the eggs and vanilla. Be sure to add the eggs in as directed in the recipe, as adding them all at once can affect the texture of the finished cake. The batter won’t be perfectly smooth here – that’s fine.
Next, add your dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Finally, add the greek yogurt or sour cream and vegetable oil. The batter will be so luscious and smooth!
How to Bake Yellow Cupcakes:
Place cupcake liners in your pan and fill each just about 2/3 full. Don’t overfill them! The trick to getting nice cupcakes with rounded tops is to not overfill your cupcake papers. Bake the cupcakes just as directed in the recipe card below to avoid over baking. A good rule of thumb with cupcakes is that they’re done when a toothpick inserted into the center pulls out moist crumbs, not wet batter. The toothpick will often not come out clean. You can also lightly tap the tops of the cupcakes with your finger – if they spring back, that’s another indication that they’re done.
How to Make Creamy Chocolate Frosting:
I have two tricks to getting the creamiest chocolate frosting.
- Use a mix of cream cheese and butter, as directed in the recipe, for the creamiest frosting. Traditional all-butter buttercream is often too sweet and can hurt your teeth if they’re sensitive (hello!), so I always add a bit of cream cheese to my frosting – it ensures the frosting is just sweet enough without being overly sweet, and gives an incredible creaminess to the frosting. This is technically not a cream cheese frosting because there is still a high ratio of butter to cream cheese. It tastes like a less teeth-achingly sweet version of your favorite chocolate buttercream!
- Be sure to cream the butter and cream cheese together for 2 full minutes, as directed in the recipe. This will ensure a perfectly smooth, creamy texture in the finished frosting!
This frosting isn’t just creamy & dreamy – it tastes incredible too! Using a bit of malted milk powder (you can find this in most grocery stores, near the chocolate milk powders, etc.) adds an extra depth of flavor to this frosting that tastes a bit like a chocolate malt.
How to Decorate Yellow Birthday Cake Cupcakes:
Add your malted chocolate frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (I used an Ateco #849 tip) and pipe the frosting onto your cooled cupcakes. Remember to never frost warm cupcakes or cake – the frosting will melt and slide right off.
Alternate Frosting Techniques:
If you don’t want to use a piping bag, you can use an ice cream scoop to plop frosting onto the cupcakes, and then spread it using a butter knife or offset spatula.
Recipe Yield:
This recipe yields 16 cupcakes. If you want more cupcakes, you can certainly double the recipe to make 32 cupcakes. You can also cut the recipe in half if you’d only like 8 cupcakes.
Make-Ahead Tip:
These cupcakes can be baked, cooled, and stored in an airtight container at room temp for 24 hours before frosting them. I recommend making the frosting when you’re ready to frost the cupcakes.
Ingredient Swaps & Substitutions:
Butter – You can use sticks of dairy-free butter (found in many major grocery stores) if you wish. The Country Crock variety has worked well for me in baking recipes.
Cake Flour – I don’t recommend swapping the cake flour for regular flour, as cake flour provides a lighter texture, ideal for cakes and cupcakes. You can find cake flour in any major grocery store in the baking aisle.
Sour Cream – You can swap greek yogurt for the sour cream. Just be sure that whichever you use, it’s at room temperature and is the full fat variety not the low fat or fat free.
Malt Powder – In a pinch, this ingredient can be left out, although I do recommend giving it a try!
Now you know how to make homemade cupcakes – it’s really easier than you might’ve thought! These cupcakes are perfect for birthday parties, holiday gatherings, or a fun weekend baking project.
More Cupcake Recipes to Try:
Best Ever Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes – No boxed mix required! These are flavorful, fluffy, and loaded with sprinkles.
Maple Bacon Cupcakes – Moist cupcakes flavored with real maple syrup, topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting, and decorated with maple candied bacon.
Samoa Cupcakes – Vanilla cupcakes topped with salted caramel buttercream, caramel coconut filling, and a drizzle of chocolate ganache.
Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes – Moist chocolate cupcakes topped with a creamy Guinness chocolate frosting.
Did you make this recipe? Snap a photo and leave a comment!
Be sure to follow bluebowlrecipes on instagram and tag @bluebowlrecipes with your photo – I’d love to see what you make! And, be sure to leave a comment + rating below if you make this recipe.
Yellow Cupcakes with Malted Chocolate Frosting (Birthday Cupcakes!)
These Yellow Birthday Cupcakes are buttery soft and made with basic pantry ingredients. They're topped with a creamy Malted Chocolate Frosting that's enhanced with malted milk powder for a delicious & unique chocolate malt flavor. These are sure to fly off the plate at any birthday celebration!
Ingredients
For the Yellow Cupcakes
- 1/2 cup salted butter, softened at room temp (8 tbsp, 1 stick, or 113 grams)
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 and 1/2 large eggs See note
- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups cake flour, spooned & leveled See note
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup full fat sour cream, at room temp See note
For the Malted Chocolate Frosting:
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp salted butter, softened at room temp (18 tbsp, or 254 grams)
- 5 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1-2 tbsp heavy cream or milk
- 2 tbsp malted milk powder
- 1 box whoppers, crushed optional, for decorating
Instructions
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Prep: Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside. Make sure your butter, eggs, milk, and sour cream have come to room temp - this is crucial for the batter to come out correctly.
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Make the Cupcake Batter: In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter well with electric mixer on high speed. Add the sugar and cream together with the butter for 2 minutes on high speed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low speed, just until each egg disappears into the batter. Add the vanilla with the last egg. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix on low speed until just combined, scraping the sides of the bowl to get everything incorporated. Add the oil and sour cream and mix on low speed just until they disappear into the batter.
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Bake the Cupcakes: Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the centers should pull out moist crumbs, not wet batter. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
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Make the Frosting & Frost the Cupcakes: In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese on high speed for 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar in a few batches, mixing until well incorporated each time. add the cocoa powder and mix until combined. Add the heavy cream, vanilla, pinch of salt, and malt powder. Mix until well combined and creamy.
Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes using a piping tip (I used an Ateco #849) and piping bag, or dollop it on with an ice cream scoop and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with crushed whoppers, if desired.
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Serve + Store: Serve immediately once frosted! Store cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Let come to room temp for a bit before serving as the frosting will become fairly solid in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
Half an egg: Crack an egg into a measuring cup or small bowl and whisk to beat it well. Measure out two tablespoons worth - that's half an egg! Save the remainder for another baking recipe or for your morning scramble.
Flour: Spoon the cake flour into the measuring cup and level it off at the end. This is how to measure flour by spooning & leveling. It's important for cakes + cupcakes.
Sour Cream: You can substitute full fat greek yogurt for the sour cream.
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