Vanilla Cupcakes & The Great Butter vs. Oil Battle of 2013

Dear Baking World,

In my quest for the best (I'm a poet and I don't even know it), I am attacking cupcakes from the most basic angles. In my previous cupcake post, mixing methods came under my microscope. In this post, I am attempting to answer the ancient, but worthy, question: butter or oil?

So what's the big deal? Cakes derive their moisture and tenderness primarily from two sources. First, their sugar. Second, (and here is the big surprise) fat. Therefore, the type of fat will effect the overall texture and flavor of the cake. 

How does butter affect the cake? Well, butter is concentrated milk fat, around 80% fat with some water. Oil on the other hand is 100% lipid, and therefore is considered a more effective fat because it coats the flour proteins better. By coating the flour better, it prevents the flour from absorbing the moisture to make gluten (which dries out the cake.) More moisture means a moister cake. However, unlike oil, butter provides a wonderful flavor that many cupcake connoisseurs prefer. 

It is also easy to tell the difference between a butter and oil cupcake. An oil cupcake will be slightly more domed with a shinier finish, whereas butter cupcakes aren't nearly as shiny or domed. 

I prefer oil cupcakes. From previous experience, oil cupcakes have a heavier crumb while butter cupcakes tend to have a finer, fluffier, more airy crumb. Oil brings out the best in the sugar. Also by the second day oil cupcakes are more moist and delicious while the butter cupcakes tend to dry out. However I do love the butter flavor, so I came up with a solution.

My favorite vanilla cupcake recipe is the Cake Boss's Vanilla Cake Recipe. I tried a handful of different recipes and this one was by far my favorite. (When I peaked in the oven and saw their perfect dome for the first time, I collapsed in a puddle of tears in front of the oven.) It uses the reverse creaming method and oil.

However, I wanted to try a butter recipe that also used the reverse creaming method. I found a bakery called "Back In The Day" that specializes in making old fashioned cupcakes. I am game for ANYTHING old fashioned. 

So, for this lovely blog post, I made three cupcake batches: Cake Boss's with full oil, Cake Boss with half oil, half butter and Back In The Day with full butter. (I chose not to make BITD's recipe with half oil, half butter because it was almost identical to the Cake Boss's half butter, half oil. They would have been indistinguishable.) 

Important note: Cake Boss's recipe calls for all cake flour but because I wanted to be as fair as possible, I baked his recipe with half cake flour, half all purpose to more closely match the Back In The Day Recipe. 

Vanilla Cupcake 1:

Cake Boss's Vanilla Cupcakes 

oil

¼ cup, 1 Tbsp. cake flour

1/4 cup, 3/4 tsp. all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbsp canola oil

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla (I prefer 2 tsp.)

1/8 tsp salt (or to taste, but salt is necessary for flavor and binding properties)

1 extra large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a stand up mixer, blend the flours, oil, baking powder, vanilla and salt together on slow until smooth. Add egg on slow and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides then mix for an additional minute, which according to Buddy gives the cupcake a "silky in mouth feel." Add half of the milk on slow, wait until fully blended and then add the rest of the milk. Mix for an additional minute until smooth. Put into a cupcake tin and bake for 20 minutes. 

Yield: 6 cupcakes

Note: The batter is extremely runny, so don't be worried about that.

Look at their perfectly domed top and slightly shiny finish!

Vanilla Cupcake 2:

Back In The Day Bakery Vanilla Cupcake

Butter

1/4 cup, 3 Tbsp cup cake flour
1/4 cup, 1 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/8 t. sea salt

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature, cut in cubes

1 large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In bowl of stand mixer add the first 5 ingredients and stir together using paddle attachment for about a minute. Enough to get them nice and combined. With mixer on low, drop in butter, a few cubes at a time continuing until all butter is in and mixer resembles coarse sand. Add eggs one at a time on low speed. With mixer still on low slowly pour in milk and vanilla. Turn mixer to medium and beat for 2 minutes until batter is smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Place into cupcake tins and bake for 18-20 minutes. 

Yield: 6 cupcakes.

Note: The batter consistency isn't nearly as runny as the Cake Boss's. The batter was delicious and fluffy.

Butter cupcakes - Far more crumbly and not as nice of a dome but I still had hope.

The first two batches compared. Butter on top, oil on bottom. You can see my fork marks because I couldn't find a single toothpick in the house.

Vanilla Cupcake 3:

Cake Boss Vanilla Cake

Half oil, half butter

¼ cup, 1 Tbsp. cake flour

1/4 cup, 3/4 tsp. all purpose flour

1/2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp 1, ½ tsp canola oil

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla (I prefer 2 tsp.)

1/8 tsp salt (or to taste, but salt is necessary for flavor and binding properties)

1 extra large eggs, at room temperature

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand up mixer, blend the flours, oil, baking powder, vanilla and salt together on slow until smooth. Add the butter. Mix until it looks like parmesan cheese. Add egg on slow and mix until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides then mix for an additional minute, which according to Buddy gives the cupcake a "silky in mouth feel." Add half of the milk on slow, wait until fully blended and then add the rest of the milk. Mix for an additional minute until smooth. Put in cupcake tins and bake 20 minutes. 

Yield: 6 cupcakes.

Half butter, half oil. They definitely are a nice mixture of the two. Not super domed but still shiny. The very yellow color comes from the brown eggs that my mom had in the fridge. 

The three contenders. Left to right: Cake Boss, BITD, Cake Boss Half and Half

Taste Testing Time

I gathered my two sisters and my mom around the cupcakes and said, "Try these and then mark your two favorite." They started eating and my mom says, "When you eat more than one, you can't remember what they tasted like." So I told them (with a little exasperation) to pick the one they would go back to right now.

The Cake Boss half butter, half oil cupcake won by a landslide. The tasters' commentary and my thoughts below.

Cake Boss - Oil

(sorry about the fork lines...)

Boy did I make a major mistake here. I've made Buddy's cupcakes numerous times with all cake flour, which is what the original recipe calls for. (And they're incredible, by the way.) Buddy warns the baker against switching flours around and was he right. This cupcake, unlike his normal full oil cake flour cupcakes, was dry and less flavorful. Brynn (my younger sister) commented that, "as she ate she felt like she was choking it down." She has a penchant for melodrama but I think she was right. 

I honestly thought this one would a clear winner, but the absence of all cake flour threw off the texture and moisture. (I put the original recipe at the end of the post.)

Back In The Day Bakery - Butter

These cupcakes had a fair more crumbly, delicate crumb. They were airy, delicate and extremely buttery. I loved the flavor but not the texture. They didn't feel very substantial, which I find important in a delicious cupcake. But the flavor was spot on.

Cake Boss - Half Oil, Half Butter

I would say it's the best looking cupcake of the bunch. It was easy to cut, a really nice mixture of the first two in terms of texture and crumb. The girls loved this one. They loved the flavor and the texture, which was moist and substantial but also fluffy and airy. It was truly a perfect mixture of the first two.

The Verdict

The half butter, half oil recipe is the way to go. It had the butter flavor but not the butter texture. I was surprised it won but then again, baking is all about surprising yourself.

However, I would like to add that the Cake Boss Vanilla Cake with all cake flour is still the family favorite. ("I still liked the one you made in the first batch of vanilla cupcakes like a month ago.") I think the loss of butter, which makes a finer, softer crumb, is offset by the cake flour and that's why the combo cake flour and oil is still the combo to beat.

Thanks for reading!

Brita 

Update: Second Day Moisture Test

It is true: oil cupcakes get more moist and butter cupcakes dry out. The butter cupcakes were a dry mess this morning and the oil/ half and half cupcakes were better than last night. 

Cake Boss Vanilla Cake

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for flouring the cake pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups vegetable oil or 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk (any milk works, though)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand up mixer, blend the flours, oil, baking powder, vanilla and salt together on slow until smooth. Add the butter. Mix until it looks like parmesan cheese. Add one egg on slow and mix until fully incorporated. Then continue adding each egg until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides then mix for an additional minute, which according to Buddy gives the cupcake a "silky in mouth feel." Add a half cup of the milk on slow, wait until fully blended and then add the rest of the milk. Mix for an additional minute until smooth. Put in cupcake tins and bake 20 minutes.

Yield: 24 cupcakes.

Update: Check out my favoritest vanilla cupcake recipe here that I concocted the day after this post.