Hi fellow bakers, I've been trying to make moist (and stays moist overnight) but not too dense vanilla cupcakes. I don't have cake flour at where I live and I don't like using oil in my cakes. I found a fantastic red velvet recipe from http://www.carrottopmom.com/?p=290 (everyone raves about it and I understand why!) and have tried to mimic that.

This is the recipe I used for my vanilla cupcakes, can anyone tell me what is wrong with it? Is there not enough leavening in there? I'm concerned that if I used too much, the vanilla flavor will disappear. Any help is appreciated!!

Unsalted butter, room temperature  112.0 g
Sugar, caster   224.0 g
Large egg, room temperature   2
Buttermilk, room temperature   0.25 cup
Sour cream   0.5 cup
Vanilla extract   2.0 tsp
Plain flour, sifted   120.0 g
Baking powder   0.50 tsp
Baking soda   0.25 tsp
Salt   0.25 tsp

This is the recipe that I use for my cakes and cupcakes. It's moist and sturdy enough to stack cakes aswell! It makes 2 9inch rounds, for cupcakes I don't know exactly how many it makes, as I always make a few batches of batter at a time.

2c. Sugar
4 eggs
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 c milk
3/4c vegetable oil
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

preheat oven to 350. Grease and parchment pans.

In bowl, beat sugar & eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
Add flour milk oil b. powder and vanilla, beat for 1 minute.

I bake my cupcakes for about 15-20 minutes

Good luck, let me know what you think!

oops I just noticed you said you didn't like oil in your cakes :s sorry, its a really good cake though!

Double check this but I think you can substitute this for cake flour - 1 cup ap flour with two tablespoons removed and replaced with cornstarch.
I've used this method before and don't know where I wrote it down. On my way to chemo so no time to search but maybe google cake flour substitute.