Let’s face it: sometimes we all need a dessert that only makes two servings.
Sometimes we just can’t handle 12 servings.
Sometimes we eat them all by ourselves. Sometimes we eat them all by ourselves in two hours. Sometimes we eat them all by ourselves in a matter of minutes. Sometimes it’s the best thing ever.
FYI: I have no idea what that is like.
Haven’t you always wished you could make just enough dessert for yourself? Or yourself and one other person?
Or… just yourself?
Me too.
But more often than not, I’ve found it to be a hassle to drag out the mixer, cream the sugar and butter, sift the dry ingredients and all that fun stuff for a measly two cupcakes.
What can I say? I’m lazy.
Well, I was lazy. Until I decided to make these cupcakes for two. This is only my second or third cupcake recipe completely from scratch and completely from my own recipe development, and I am so excited with the result.
It is definitely your typical white cake; fluffy and soft, full of vanilla flavor, and the perfect vehicle for some fluffy white frosting.
And it only takes one bowl! Not creaming, no mixer, no folding… just you, a bowl and a spoon. Try not eating some of that batter. Yeah right.
I think what I love most about these cupcakes is their customizability. Mr. How Sweet and I can have different flavors of frosting or even some different fruit, nuts or chocolate chips added in our cupcakes if we’d like. Meaning that I can make mine fun and fancy and he can keep his plain and boring. Nothin’ new there.
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One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two
serves 2
1 egg white
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla (yes, a full teaspoon – they are super vanilla-y!)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 heaping teaspoon of baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 2 liners.
In a bowl, add egg white and sugar and whisk until combined. Add in vanilla and melted butter and stir until mixed. Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in milk. Divide batter equally between the 2 cupcake liners.
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until cake is set. Let cool completely, then frost as desired. I used some leftover white chocolate frosting.
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I have an inkling that these “easy” cupcakes may be made nightly. Does that defeat the purpose?
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I am having so much fun with this recipe. I have already baked them several times! I do have to say though…I am following the instructions to a T and every time I pour them into the pan, I always end up with 3 cupcakes! I’m not complaining because I love them! Oh…I also ran out of eggs and tried them with 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar…gave them a kind of lemony flavor. Not too bad!
Omg I am loving this thankyou. Made my day.
I just baked these in a mini cast iron skillet, the single-portion square size. Don’t have any frosting, but used some honey over it..perfect size for me! Looks huge on the plate, and just a min or two to mix! I’m adding this recipe to my collection. I used a whole egg for a denser cake, came out quite delicious! With my mini skillet, no baking cups required! I also extended the time, for my mini skillet it took about 25 minutes at 350. Thanks so much!
This is just the most perfect thing I have seen in a while. Thank you for sharing this with the rest of us; I do believe I shall be baking these up more often than I should! Oh, and they will be just for me. Oh yes!
Tried these today…wonderful! I made them with a whole egg, so they were more dense than most cupcakes. I, too, ended up with 3 cupcakes, but I’m not complaining. I topped mine with a frosting made with cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and a splash of chocolate milk. It was tasty
Yum made these last night & for icing made the white chocolate icing which I divided by 4. Easy. Yummy. Added 1 tsp pink food colouring to the icing for a pretty pink gift (& the 3rd was for me-yum yum yummy!)
I love personal cupcakes.. However, I am a total chocolate anything girl! If I add Hershey Cocoa Powder, could I make them chocolate cupcakes?
Yep, add about a tsp – tbsp depending how chocolate-y you want it.. it will work perfect!
Or even a little melted chocolate or both… yum!
This is the most incredible idea! I have often wished I could have cupcakes without making enough to kill my husband and I. Thank you thank you………….. I think. LOL
This recipe is great! I’ve used it adding some instant espresso powder & used a vanilla peanut butter frosting & they turned out Devine!
I made mini cupcakes – they were so tiny and cute plus it stops you from eating too much in one sitting.
I’m not a big fan of vanilla, so, instead I put in some strawberry jam to make strawberry cupcakes. Taste like a dream! Thanks for the recipe. : )
Hi Mariann,
my best friends birthday is tomorrow, and she too is not a huge fan of vanilla,
just wondering if you could tell me how much jam you added?
cheers,
Amber x
Hi Amber!
I put two tablespoons of stawberry jam. They tasted great but came out a bit sticky! Make sure to do a test run first before heading to your party. I hope this helps : )
Have fun baking!
Mariann
I have been searching for a recipe that only makes 2 cupcakes. Perfect for Valentines Day coming up!! I cant wait to make these. Thank you!
I made my fiance homemade canolis about a week ago, and I had leftover filling – I marbled the chocolate and vanilla flavors of the canoli filling and used it as frosting! Best idea I’ve ever had I think…
WOW. Just discovered your blog and have been frantically printing off recipes for my next tea party with the girls. I will be making this one for dessert tonight for myself and my little brother, who is a raging cupcake fan – even moreso than myself! Thankyou so much for bringing me this wonderful recipe for two, perfectly portioned so as to maintain my waistline… Sort of. Absolutely cannot wait to try it out!
i hate it cause they did not turn out right
My cakes I doubled by two and they just tasted eggy. And I didn’t have any liners so I used spray butter (BIG MISTAKE) which also made them soggy. They were AWFUL!! Haha. Any way I can make them less eggy? That’s all they tasted like to me.
Mine just tasted like eggs, how cani fix that?
I made the cupcakes along with your frosting for my 9 yr old son’s school-night birthday party that consisted of him, me, and my husband. I didn’t want to make a big batch because they either go to waste or I eat them! These were simply divine- turned out perfectly, and I live at 8000 ft elevation! I’m trying to lose weight, by tracking the food I eat, so I calculated the calories, if anyone is interested. Each cupcake has approx 237 calories, and the frosting adds about 161 for a total of 398 calories. It was well worth it!!
I took a shot at this recipe last night. I would have to give it a C+. The texture was a bit rubbery. Needed more than 12 minuutes to bake, egg dominated the taste and I ended up with 3 cupcakes not 2. I believe I went wrong with this recipe by not combining all ingredients in order. Luckily I took it for a dry run now , so it can be ok for valentines day : ). Thanks for the recipe. I will be trying it again.
These cupcakes were delicious! It took about 15 minutes for the cupcakes to be completely done. But overall really good! Then after I filled them with chocolate(just melted Hershey kisses) they were sooo good!
I’ve made this cute little recipe around 3 or 4 times now (heh) and they’ve come out beautifully each time! The cakes had a great flavour and were perfectly sproingy. For those of you who got enough batter for three cupcakes, I’m wondering if you perhaps packed in the flour when measuring instead of lightly scooping it? That would probably give you enough extra volume for a third cupcake.
I can’t wait to try this for my friend’s birthday! I like that it makes two cakes, that way I can “test” one to make sure it’s okay.
I am making these right now. I split the batter between three little heart pans and will make a strawberry icing for the top. Making in honor of a young man whose birthday would have been today(24 yrs), but gave his life for all of us in Afghanistan.
That is so touching – I’m grateful for his service to our country.
i don’t believe in valentine’s day, but i do believe in two strawberry cupcakes, two glasses of red wine, and a crappy horror movie.
for those of you who have trouble with this recipe: up the baking soda, halve the vanilla, add a dash of water or a fruit juice, and/or use oil instead of butter. vegetable oil worked perfectly.
Made these on Saturday! FUN. I doubled this recipe to take to visit a sweet almost-6-year-old and her family. They’re having a big party later in the week so we just needed a few cupcakes to share on my visit. I did get 6 cupcakes instead of 4 (I had hoped it would make 5 or 6), and that was with the light scoop/sweep method on the flour. Not complaining! I agree they had a slight eggy flavor but they were still delicious (no complaints from the birthday girl or my friends!). I think using vinegar with an extra pinch of baking soda instead of the egg white would work perfectly. I am a huge fan of any recipes that scale down for fewer servings so THANKS
I made these today for my boyfriend so I used banana extract instead of vanilla (about 1.5 tsp) and added finely chopped walnuts and they’re sooooo good! And to make them a little healthier I used Egg Beaters, skim milk and Brummel and Brown instead of butter. They’re amazing! Thank you so much for this recipe – it’s so easy and saves me from eating too many!
Definitely just made these twice in one day. And I made them as mini cupcakes, so I ended up with 14 in total
Delicious!
Just made these and they came out amazing! Thank youuuuu
How would I make this a chocolate cupcake? I would LOVE to make these for a reallly special friend for his birthday
Excellent recipe for the first baking adventure between me and my little girl, she loved it, and so did I!
These were delicious. I made them with a whole egg and sour cream because we were out of milk. One was peanut butter M&M and my DH wolfed it down. Mine was blueberry and about 1/2 of the total volume was blueberries. They totally overflowed the cupcake holes, but were DELICIOUS! I wish that I had made a 6x batch, but that would have defeated the purpose.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi! I love these cupcakes! YUM! I would like to bake them as a recipe that will give 24 cupcakes
I know totally contradictory of what your trying to do here..lol BUT I love them and can use them for a birthday party. How would the recipe look if did that??
Just made these but got a bit creative with mixins
First I made the base but instead of pure vanilla added coconut extract and coconut flakes. I am planning on topping this cupcake with chocolate buttercream and almond slivers! I also made another “batch” but added cocoa powder and some instant coffee, instead of milk, I added hazelnut coffee cream. I am planning on putting a dollop of nutella in the center and icing it with a mocha butter cream! They just came out of the oven, so I’ll update you on how they came out!
So, the cupcakes came out awesome! I made a third batch using almond extract fillling it with apricot perserves and then topping with almond buttercream and slivered almonds!
Worked great, good flavor, not too eggy at all. However, had more of a dinner roll consistency on the inside, not “cakey.” Would love a single serving frosting recipe with it…
Had a half of a banana all brown and spotty. Too ripe for the cereal bowl and not enough to make a batch of muffins. What to do? I Googled, “recipe for 6 muffins” and somehow this recipe came up. Genius! I mashed up my half banana decreased the milk just a tad and reduced the sugar a pinch. Perfect banana cupcakes. No need for frosting they were that delish just on their own. And mine had a cake-like consistency. The trick is to really give the egg whites and sugar a good whisking get some air in there. Now of course I want to make this everyday, but it would defeat the whole purpose of not eating all those leftovers right?
Jackie I read your comment and felt so bad, God Bless your son for his service to our country and may be rest in peace forever….Haven’t tried the cupcakes yet but going to try to make them in the microwave just minutes I bet…I have made reg cakes in the microwave and they come out so moist.. My husband loves it that way he said they are the best cakes you have made. Thanks and God Bless you!
I just made this recipe for the third time and it’s so fun to play around with! My first time I followed the recipe perfectly and they turned out good, but just good. The second time I used orange juice in place of the vanilla and added orange zest. Very yummy, but not what I think of when I want to eat a cupcake. Tonight I added a tsp of cocoa powder, a tsp of water, and used the whole egg. They were amazing!!! Thanks so much for introducing this recipe to all of us!
I used a brown sugar cinnamon buttercream I made on these cupcakes!! it was amazing
I made my first twin cupcakes for a late night sugar jaunt with my husband, they were very delish and fun however slightly more dense than I was expecting, are yours generally fluffy or a little more dense?Perhaps trial and error on the egg white or how heavy the flour is packed? Keen for any advice! Thanks for a fun recipe!
What an adorable recipe – this will be a perfect surprise for date night dinner this weekend! As for the test batch… they were delicious and I may or may not have eaten them all myself in about 5 minutes.
Thank so much for the fantastic recipe! For anyone looking for an easy frosting to go with them, good general rule for a quick and dirty buttercream: 1 part butter, 2 parts icing sugar, dash of vanilla. Beat it really well, make as much as you need! It’s not perfect but it’s pretty good for small batches!
made it today!! Awesome!!
I’ve followed this recipe a couple times already and they came out amazing every time! Just wondering how much espresso powder I should add to make espresso cupcakes?
Made these over the weekend — also as mini cupcakes, which my husband and I snacked on all weekend long. They were glorious! I added lemon zest to the mix and the (embarrassingly, store-bought) icing. Making again tonight for friends. Thank you!!
This is fantastic! The recipe is simple and perfect for two people who do not have any self control around cake! My favorite frosting is to melt two squares of 85% cacao chocolate in the microwave using the bowl I melted the butter with a 1/4 teaspoon of evaporated milk. Once the choclateis melted (and still very warm) I add the egg yolk and a drop of vanilla. Mix until stiff and thick and add to the top of the cooled cupcakes. YUM! Thank you, thank you and my waist thanks you too.
My boyfriend is always complaining that I’m making “too many” This is absolutely perfect for my future culinary experiences. Thanks a lot !!
Perfect portion for one! I’d double the recipe. Of course!
I just found this recipe online and made them right now, but in a GF Version. Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh IN LOVE! Thank You for sharing this. I will be posting this recipe GF Version to my website and will def give you props! Genius!
Hi, I just made mine & they were delicious, but seemed very dense. I’m wondering if that is just the recipe? If anyone has any tips that would be greatly appreciated!
Thank youu (:
Omit the eggs. It should solve your problem
if I omit the eggs, sorry but what do I replace it with?
I had left over cream cheese frosting from a carrot cake that I baked. Needless to say, my boyfriend wanted some sweets to go with it. I remember seeing this recipe and thought I’d give it a try. I tripled it. You know… because moderation wasn’t really in our dietary plan this weekend. We LOVED it. They were delicious. Thank you for sharing!
I made these for the first time today. My hubby LOVES them!!!! I’m a huge health nut so I had to talk myself out of making more!
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