The Most Amazing Vanilla Cake Recipe
The Most Amazing Vanilla Cake is moist and flavorful and made completely from scratch. Its the best homemade vanilla cake youll ever have!
The Most Amazing Vanilla Cake is moist and flavorful and made completely from scratch. Its the best homemade vanilla cake youll ever have!
The world of cakes can be a bit confusing. White cake, yellow cake, vanilla cake arent they all more or less the same? Honestly, we love them all, but there are some key differences. White cake is the lightest of the three. It uses oil rather than butter to keep the end result as white as possible, not to mention egg whites only. Yellow cake uses whole eggs and butter to give it that classic yellow color. Vanilla cake doesnt have the same rules to follow. It can use whole eggs and butter, but it isnt required. The most important aspect of a vanilla cake is that it uses enough vanilla to really make that flavor pop. With a whole tablespoon of vanilla in this recipe, you are sure to find that this is the most amazing vanilla cake ever. Youll never use a boxed cake mix again!
Origins Of This Vanilla Cake
This vanilla cake is the result of bringing together the best of Japanese sponge cakes and Western butter based cakes. It has the world renowned very soft, fluffy crumb of Japanese cakes and uses the Japanese baking method, combined with the buttery goodness and sweetness of Western cakes.
But its more sturdy than Japanese cakes which are so delicate, they can really only be decorated with cream. Anything heavier and the bottom layer gets squished!
Also, importantly, this cake incorporates my cake shelf-life requirement to stay perfectly fresh for at least 2 days after its made. Because who bakes cakes on the day they are intended to be served??
Interestingly, baking experts will recognise the method and ingredients in this cake to be very similar to what is called a Hot Milk Cake in America albeit strangely its often described as a dense cake, presumably because they dont preserve the egg aeration to the extent I insist we do and also because sometimes its baked in bundt pans which takes far longer to bake .
The words best served on the day on a cake recipe is never a good sign it means it drastically degrades overnight. But THIS cake recipe is near perfect for 4 days even 5 days!
I dont want to get too cake nerdy with you but one sign of a well made cake is an even crumb. No large tunnels or lots of irregular size holes. It looks and tastes velvety a similar plush texture to Red Velvet Cake.
Can I Freeze This Vanilla Cake
Yes, you can most certainly freeze this cake. It is recommended to wrap each individual cake layer once it cools in plastic wrap and freeze. Then allow them to thaw out to room temp and then decorate/frost. You can freeze decorated cake slices as well, they just dont freeze as well as unfrosted cakes.
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For The Cake You Will Need:
-Granulated sugar- You will need 1 ½ cups of sugar for this recipe, it will provide just the right amount of sweetness.
-Eggs: Grab 6 large eggs from the refrigerator to whip this cake up! These will help with the richness of taste as well as the binding.
-Flour: You need 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour for the base of the cake batter.
-Vanilla: 2 teaspoons of vanilla are called for in the recipe, but feel free to add a little extra if you like it a bit stronger. Using high-quality vanilla would also give a stronger flavor.
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- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 8 cake rounds and line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy . Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour . Fully incorporating after each addition.
- Bake for 30-35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack.
Vanilla Buttercream:
- Place egg whites and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk until combined.*
- Place bowl over a pot with 1-2 of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture is hot and no longer grainy to the touch or reads 160F on a candy thermometer
- Place bowl on your stand mixer and whisk on med-high until the meringue is stiff and cooled ).
- Switch to paddle attachment. Slowly add cubed butter and mix until smooth.**
- Add vanilla and whip until smooth.
Assembly:
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The Perfect Vanilla Cake Recipe For All Occasions
Even if you consider yourself a cook, rather than a baker, every good cook needs a few go-to desserts in their arsenal.
A soft fluffy vanilla recipe cake is the perfect classic treat to make for work events, potlucks, and of course, birthday parties!
We love this vanilla cake because it is so versatile. You can make it as a layer cake, a sheet cake, or even cupcakes. You can frost it with any sort of frosting you like, because what doesnt go with vanilla.
It stays moist when made in advance. It freezes well. And it rakes in the compliments like nothing else!
How To Make This Amazing Homemade Vanilla Cake Recipe
About 30 minutes before making the cake, take out and measure your milk and the eggs, and the butter. The cake bakes more even when those ingredients are at room temperature. The butter needs to be soft as well.
When you are ready to start making the cake, grease your cake pans with shortening or butter, then add about a tablespoon of flour to it and tap it all around. Then dump the excess into the next pan.
Place the pan on a piece and parchment paper and trace around the bottom with a pencil. Then cut on the inside of the line, the circle or parchment paper out. Set the parchment paper on the inside on the bottom of the cake pans.
This really makes sure that the cake will not stick to the pan when baking. It might seem like overkill, but the last thing you want is your cake sticking to the pan, haha. This way ensures it comes out super easy.
Preheat the oven to 350 F/176 C. And make sure the main rack is in the middle position.
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Can This Vanilla Cake Be Baked As Cupcakes Or In Different Sized Pans
It certainly can! You can find the cupcake version here: Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes from Scratch.
As you can see in these pics, I baked my vanilla cake in three 6-inch pans. I just love the look of a tall cake!
But if youd prefer to bake it as two 8 or 9-inch layers, you can totally do that. Just keep an eye on the bake time because a thinner, flatter cake will need less time to bake than a smaller, thicker cake would.
I just know you are going to love this vanilla cake recipe! Bake it up for your next big occasion and get ready for tons of compliments!
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Vanilla Cake From Scratch Pro Tips
The most important things you can do to ensure a perfect bake are:
Its a fact. Most baking failures come down to these three things. Over time, ingredients lose their moisture and lifting power. And ovens often start running too hot or too cool.
Buy an inexpensive oven thermometer to get an accurate read on your oven. Then adjust the temperature as needed.
BONUS: Cakes taste best at room temperature. If you refrigerate your cake, make sure to set the cake out one hour before serving.
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Our Best Baking Tips:
- Room temperature ingredients are critical so your batter blends well without separating or becoming grainy.
- Avoid Substitutions! We always recommend trying the recipe as written before experimenting.
- Measure Correctly check out our post on how we measure ingredients for baking.
- Weigh your pans we use a digital food scale to make sure the layers are evenly divided.
Ingredients Needed For Vanilla Cake
Heres a basic list of ingredients youll need in order to make this super simple cake at home. As always, you can find the full list of ingredients in the printable recipe card below!
- Cake Flour please dont swap for all purpose flour, use cake flour!
- Sugar
- Vanilla Extract use real vanilla extract for that delicious flavor!
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How To Make The Frosting
This vanilla cake is covered with a classic, easy vanilla buttercream frosting. Heres how to make it:
- Cream: Beat the butter until smooth.
- Add sugar: Slowly add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add vanilla: Add the vanilla extract and 4-5 tablespoons of water or milk and mix until smooth.
- Add rest of the sugar: Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Adjust as needed: Add additional water or milk, as needed to get the right consistency of frosting.
I have a helpful post that show you how to frost a cake and this post from Beyond Frosting demonstrates how to color frosting if youre interested in that info!
For The Almond Glaze You Will Need:
-Butter: You will need 1 tablespoon of melted butter to make the glaze nice and rich.
-Almond extract: Use ½ teaspoon of almond extract to give this delicious glaze a nice contrasting flavor.
-Powdered sugar: Using 1 cup of powdered sugar will result in a lovely creamy glaze with a perfectly smooth texture.
-Milk: You need 3 tablespoons of milk to make this glaze into the perfect consistency.
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Easy Homemade Vanilla Cake Recipe
Bake in the day my mom would always start our cake with a boxed mix, which is great but if youre looking for something extra special, this homemade vanilla cake recipe is where its at.
This cake is prepared in a 9×13 baking dish, just like I grew up with, and is so soft and fluffy with a delicious vanilla taste throughout. I topped the cake with my favorite Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting thats just 5 simple ingredients.
Can I Freeze This
If youd like to make this ahead of time, you can tightly wrap the unfrosted cake in plastic wrap and aluminum foil before freezing it for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, thaw the cake in the fridge overnight and then bring it to room temperature before frosting. If you are freezing leftover slices of cake, use the same method but keep in mind that the frosting may not be as pretty when thawed.
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What Makes This The Best Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Recipe
It may be bold, but this cake isnt just the best gluten free vanilla cake. Its the cake that you serve to people who can eat as much gluten as they want, and they ask if they can make it at home with their conventional flour.
I tell them that they can have the recipe, since its right here on the blog. But they cant make this cake without our gluten free all purpose flour. They have their recipes leave us ours.
Please realize you must use one of my recommended all purpose gluten free flour blends for this recipe to work. Please click through for complete information on brands , my mock recipes to make those blends yourself at home, and information on why they work and why others dont.
How To Make Vanilla Layer Cake
- Prep your equipment: Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F .
- Mix dry ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar: Add the butter, sugar, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
- Slowly add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter will look curdled, but thats ok.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
- Bake: Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
- Cool: Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
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Homemade Vanilla Cake Recipe From Scratch
This easy vanilla cake recipe is so decadent that you will never want to buy another store bought cake again. Once you know how to make a vanilla cake from scratch, you will wonder why you didnt sooner. Moist and delicious, this cake will have people running back for more. Dont let it scare you because its from scratch and not from a box mix. This really is the best vanilla cake recipe, its so simple and the results are amazing!
Homemade vanilla cake has a light vanilla flavor that isnt overpowering, which makes your frosting choices endless! Its perfect for any occasion and you can use any icing you prefer. Vanilla Buttercream Frosting is my favorite but you can certainly use whatever you prefer on this delicious cake. Make it a tradition for birthdays, holidays, celebrations and more! If you like this, make sure to try this Easy Chocolate Cake from Scratch.
Lets get starting making moist vanilla cake recipe from scratch!
To begin you will need two 9 round cake pans for this layer cake. These are the ones I use if you need a new set. Also, I slice my rounds in half to create 4 rounds before frosting. I use this to level my cakes and to slice the rounds in half. Its so handy and makes this process so much easier.