Galaxy Swirl Vanilla Cupcakes
Easy vanilla cosmic themed cupcakes! These cupcakes come together in less than an hour and are super tender, moist, and packed with vanilla flavor.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 box Duncan Hines Classic White cake mix
- 4 large egg whites
- ¼ cup plain greek yogurt ((or sour cream))
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla American Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter ((3 sticks))
- 6-7 cups powdered sugar
- 3-5 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Supplies & Decorations
- open star piping tip and piping bag
- plastic wrap
- edible glitter
- star sprinkles and/or sprinkles of choice
- gel food coloring
- cupcake liners
Instructions
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and fill muffin pan with cupcake liners
- Beat room temperature buttermilk, egg whites, oil, sour cream, and vanilla together until uniform
- Add in cake mix and beat with a hand mixer for 1 – 2 minutes until combined. Avoid overmixing!
- Divide cake batter into 3 bowls evenly. Dye one part blue, another part purple, and the third part white (or leave plain if you do not have white food gel).
- Spoon in each color into the tins alternating the colors as you go. Fill cups ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Vanilla American Buttercream
- In a stand mixer, beat room temperature butter until light and fluffy, around 2 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer but may need to beat the butter longer.
- With your mixer on the lowest speed, add in the powdered sugar in four increments, mixing well in between to thoroughly combine. Alternate adding in 1T of heavy whipping cream in between increments. You may need anywhere from 3 to 5 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream to help the frosting come together smoothly. If frosting is too stiff, add in more heavy whipping cream one tablespoon at a time. If too loose, add in more powdered sugar a quarter cup at a time.
- Once all the powdered sugar has been added, whip for an additional minute on high speed.
- Scrape down the frosting from the sides of the mixing bowl, add in vanilla and salt. Whip for an extra couple minutes on high speed to ensure buttercream is uniform.
- Split buttercream into three bowls, coloring each part just like you did the batter. One part blue, one part purple, one part white. This is when I love using a rubber spatula to smooth the buttercream and rid the air bubbles by adding in the gel coloring and then using your spatula push and smooth the frosting on the sides of the bowl.
- To create a tri-color swirl, spread out a piece of plastic wrap on your counter. Pipe or spoon on buttercream in rows alternating colors. Roll up plastic wrap and twist the ends closed. Cut off a half inch at one end of the frosting log. Put open end down into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip.
- Swirl buttercream frosting onto each cupcake. Top with star sprinkles, sanding sugar, edible glitter, and a sparkle cherry if desired.
Video
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
