Best Vanilla Cake Recipe

A homemade vanilla cake recipe, completely from scratch! This sweet and easy vanilla cake recipe is perfect for any occasion.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword best vanilla cake recipe, vanilla cake, vanilla cake recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Cooling Time 2

Total Time 2 50

Servings slices

Calories 426kcal

Author Blair Lonergan

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) salted butter, softened at room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup whole buttermilk

FOR THE FROSTING:

½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened at room temperature
1 lb. box of confectioner's sugar (approximately 3 ¾ cups), sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
Optional: sprinkles

Instructions

MAKE THE CAKE:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the paper.
Place a large sifter or sieve in a medium mixing bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; sift. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Reduce the speed. Add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla extract and oil; mix to combine.
Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of buttermilk). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top of the cake starts to get too dark before it’s cooked through, tent with foil.
Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

MAKE THE FROSTING:

Combine the softened butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream in a large bowl. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add extra cream, if necessary, until desired consistency is reached. Spread frosting onto cooled cake. Top with sprinkles, if desired.

Notes

Properly measure the flour. Spoon flour into the cups and lightly level with the straight edge of a knife. Packing the measuring cups too tightly and using too much flour will result in a dry cake.
Use thick, full-fat buttermilk. This adds richness, moisture and flavor to the cake that you won't get with low-fat varieties.
Make sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature. This helps them blend together more easily and smoothly, and helps to avoid over-mixing (which can result in a dry, dense cake).
Sift the confectioners' sugar to avoid any lumps in your frosting.
Do not over-bake the cake or it can become dry. Start checking for doneness by the 30-minute mark, since total baking times will vary depending on your personal oven and the pans that you use.
Frost the cake with buttermilk chocolate icing or a creamy chocolate buttercream frosting. Really, any frosting will work (even store-bought from a can)!
Use sprinkles for any occasion -- rainbow sprinkles for a birthday, red and blue for July 4th, red and green for Christmas, and so on. It's a festive cake at every celebration!
This recipe yields two 8-inch round cakes, 2 (thinner) 9-inch round cakes or three 6-inch round cakes for stacking. If making a layer cake, you will likely need to double the frosting so that you have plenty for decorating the sides, top, and inside layers.
Use the same batter to make about 24 cupcakes (depending on the size). Cupcakes require a shorter baking time, so start checking them at the 15-minute mark.
For a smaller cake, cut all of the ingredients in half and bake the cake in an 8-inch square pan.
Fold rainbow sprinkles into the batter for a funfetti cake.

Nutrition