Name: High Altitude Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 cup (4.5 ounces or 128 grams) all-purpose flour; ¾ cup (5.25 ounces or 149 grams) granulated sugar; 1 teaspoon baking powder; a pinch of kosher salt; 3 Tablespoons (1.5 ounces or 43 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature; ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon (4.5 ounces or 128 grams) whole milk, at room temperature; 1 large egg, at room temperature; ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract; 2 cups (8 ounces or 227 grams) confectioners' sugar, sifted; 5 Tablespoons (2.5 ounces or 71 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature; 2 Tablespoons whole milk; 2 drops pure vanilla extract; sprinkles, for garnish

High Altitude Vanilla Cupcakes

This recipe for high altitude vanilla cupcakes is perfect for baking at altitudes of 5,000 feet. The recipe makes picture-perfect vanilla cupcakes with a moist, vanilla cupcake base. Then, the recipe tops the cupcakes with a simple but tasty vanilla buttercream frosting! The best part? The recipe produces a smaller batch of cupcakes. Just 10 total! And it uses only 1 stick of butter to make both the cupcake batter AND frosting.

I adapted the recipe from the cookbook of one of my favorite bakeries, The Hummingbird Bakery, in London.

What is high altitude baking?

You may be surprised to learn that baking recipes work differently at high altitudes. Why?

Air pressure is less intense at altitudes of 3,000 feet and greater. That means that leaveners like baking powder, baking soda, and yeast don’t have as much gravity to work against. As a result, these ingredients typically need to be reduced.

Similarly, water boils at lower temperatures at higher altitudes. Because atmospheric pressure is lower, it takes less energy to boil water. People usually need to adjust the temperatures and the cook times of baking recipes at high altitude.

What is considered high altitude for baking?

High altitude is generally considered 3,500 feet and more. In the United States, these cities are considered high altitude:

Roswell, New Mexico (3,573 feet)
Amarillo, Texas (3,505 feet)
Bend, Oregon (3,623 feet)
Las Cruces, New Mexico (3,900 feet)
Salt Lake City, Utah (4,226 feet)
Sedona, Arizona (4,350 feet)
Reno, Nevada (4,506 feet)
Fort Collins, Colorado (5,003 feet)
Denver, Colorado (5,280 feet)
Albuquerque, New Mexico (5,312 feet)

Curious if your city is “high altitude”? Check out this list! The list contains all the cities and towns in the United States with elevations between 3,000 and 11,000 feet.

How To Adjust for High Altitude Baking

Most baking recipes online and in cookbook were developed at sea level. That means that, if you live somewhere high altitude, you need to adjust recipes to work accordingly.

Unfortunately, there is no magic shortcut or formula to translate baking recipes to work at high altitudes. You need to look at each one on a case by case basis. It’s a lot of work!

Luckily, I’ve started to do some of that work for you on this blog. Like this recipe! I developed this high altitude vanilla cupcake recipe when I was living in Denver, Colorado.

Why You Should Make This High Altitude Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Here are all the reasons to make this high altitude vanilla cupcake recipe:

I adapted this high altitude vanilla cupcake recipe from famed London cupcake bakery, The Hummingbird Bakery.

The Hummingbird Bakery popularized American-style cupcakes in London, England. Their cupcakes are simple and delicious, with classic flavors like vanilla, chocolate, red velvet and more. I love their cookbook because most of the recipes yield small batches of 10 to 12 cupcakes. The recipes also rely on basic pantry ingredients, many of which a frequent baker will already have at home.

These cupcakes are no exception! The Hummingbird Bakery’s recipe for vanilla cupcakes is the dictionary definition of a vanilla cupcake. Think: a moist, fluffy vanilla cake base topped with a sweet and simple vanilla buttercream frosting. Of course, don’t forget the sprinkles!

**I tested this high altitude vanilla cupcake recipe obesessively to work at high altitudes.**

I lived in Denver, Colorado, for 6 months in 2012. Prior to then, I’d only lived in coastal cities like San Francisco and, Portland, Oregon.

The first time I made The Hummingbird Bakery’s vanilla cupcake recipe in Denver, I received an unpleasant shock. Instead of baking up into beautiful, fluffy cakes, the cupcakes baked into sticky puddles of goop.

That experience led me to research high altitude baking. I learned everything I shared with you above. And I became determined to adapt my favorite recipes from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook to work at high altitude.

Starting with these cupcakes! I tested the recipe for these cupcakes 8 times. Each time, I made a different adjustment to adjust for high altitude. I altered different levels of ingredients, and adjusted the bake times and temperatures accordingly. So rest assured that I did all the hard work adapting this recipe for high altitude so YOU don’t have to!

This high altitude vanilla cupcake recipe comes together quickly.

The best part? This cupcake recipe comes together really quickly! The batter takes just 10 minutes to make. The frosting takes even less than that—just 5 minutes! The Hummingbird Bakery is also known for frosting their cupcakes simply, with just a signature swirl on each cupcake. As a result, decorating the cupcakes just takes 10 minutes.

This high altitude vanilla cupcake recipe uses basic pantry ingredients.

If you’re a frequent baker, it’s likely that you already have everything you need to make these high altitude vanilla cupcakes! No special ingredients are needed here, folks: just flour, sugar, eggs, and butter.

However, my favorite part about this recipe is this: it uses just ONE stick of butter for both the cupcake batter and frosting! The cupcake batter needs 3 Tablespoons of butter, while the frosting needs 5 Tablespoons. Together, that’s 8 Tablespoons of butter… the exact amount in 1 stick of butter! Cool, right?