A classic vanilla cake recipe, made completely from scratch! Ditch the box mixes — you’ll love how easy, moist and fluffy this homemade vanilla cake is!
I’m back in cold, snow-covered Pennsylvania after a long, wonderful (if not very warm… we arrived in the midst of a cold spell!) weekend in Florida with family. My cousin and my sister both ran in the Disney marathon and I nearly screamed a lung out on the Tower of Terror 😱.
My sister had a bad cold for the trip but still managed to run the Disney marathon and beat her own time, despite being barely able to even talk. I caught the cold on the way back home and don’t seem to be able to muster up the energy to change out of sweatpants or cook myself anything other than vanilla cake. The endurance gene skipped right over me, I swear.
Orrrrr, maybe it just exhibits itself in different ways. There’s no way I could run a marathon, but I can endure recipe fail after recipe fail after recipe fail until I land on the most perfect vanilla cake recipe there ever was.
Completely cloaked in chocolate frosting, naturally.
This vanilla cake recipe has been a long time coming. The journey began with my pineapple upside-down cake and was continued with my marble cake recipe — if you recall it took me almost a dozen attempts to get the vanilla cake base of those recipes right. A few more tweaks were still needed to make this a perfect standalone vanilla cake recipe, but, after a lot of wasted ingredients, we have arrived.
Looks like I can endure after all.
Tips for making the perfect vanilla cake recipe
- It’s best if all of your ingredients are at room temperature. I like to set out my butter, eggs, and buttermilk early in the morning so that they have reached room temperature by the time I am ready to bake.
- Don’t switch out the oil for more butter. This vanilla cake recipe uses both butter and oil because it gives it the best possible taste while still preserving the soft, fluffy texture that you want. Using all butter will actually likely make your cake more dense and dry. You can, however, substitute vegetable oil for the canola oil without issue.
- Make sure that your vanilla cake cools completely before frosting! If it’s warm at all, it’s likely to melt the frosting, leaving you with a big mess (ask me how I know…).
- Store your finished vanilla cake in an airtight container (like an airtight cake carrier). It will keep at room temperature for several days, or longer if stored in the refrigerator.
Be sure to check out my most recent video where I walk through all the steps to make the perfect vanilla cake, completely from scratch (printable recipe is just below the video).
Make sure that you also check out my favorite chocolate cake recipe!!
Enjoy!
How to Make Vanilla Cake
Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (113g)
- ½ cup canola oil* (120ml)
- 1 1/2 cup sugar 300g
- 4 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (390g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup buttermilk room temperature preferred (300ml)
- 1 batch Chocolate Frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and prepare two deep 8" round cake pans** by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly greasing the sides. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using an electric mixer) cream together the butter, canola oil and sugar until creamy and well-combined.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Using a spatula and gently hand-mixing, alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined after each addition. The batter should be smooth and completely combined, but avoid over-mixing.
- Evenly divide batter into your prepared cake pans, and bake on 350F (175C) for 30-35 minutes. When the cake is done, the surface should spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out mostly clean with few moist crumbs (no wet batter).
- Allow cakes to cool in their cake pans for 10-15 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Frost cake using my chocolate frosting and decorate with sprinkles (if desired).
Notes
Nutrition
Komal says
June 23, 2019 at 4:01 amHi !
I dont have buttermilk.. is that okay?
Sam says
June 23, 2019 at 12:14 pmHi Komal! I recommend using my Buttermilk Substitute, then. I hope that helps!
Daddy says
June 23, 2019 at 1:04 amThis was a good cake . I really took my time mixing it . The flavor was good. But the consistency was not what I expected . It was dense more like a poundcake . Not fluffy and light .
Sam says
June 23, 2019 at 12:15 pmI’m glad you enjoyed! However, I am disappointed to hear it wasn’t light and fluffy as it should be for you. Usually the culprit is over-mixing or over-baking, but it sounds like you did not do that. Is your baking powder still good? if it’s old that could be the culprit. I hope that helps!
Tiffany says
June 22, 2019 at 7:42 pmThis cake is sheer perfection. It was moist and the crumb was just right. LOVED IT!!
Sam says
June 22, 2019 at 11:02 pmI’m so happy to hear you enjoyed! Thanks for commenting, Tiffany! 🙂
Danielle says
June 22, 2019 at 7:05 amWant to use this recipe for my son’s birthday but want to add food coloring.
Sam says
June 22, 2019 at 11:15 pmYou can add food coloring. Enjoy!
Twyla says
June 21, 2019 at 1:15 pmCould I use vegetable oil instead of the canola oil? Just wondering
Sam says
June 22, 2019 at 11:27 pmYup! Enjoy!
Sarah says
June 21, 2019 at 12:09 pmWould this cake still taste good with vanilla buttercream? Reviews all look amazing but wanting to do vanilla butter cream and a strawberry filling?
Thanks
Sam says
June 22, 2019 at 11:28 pmAbsolutely! Enjoy 🙂
Barbara says
June 23, 2019 at 1:24 pmI made this cake yesterday. I have 9 inch cake pans, and only cooked the cake for 27 minutes. It still turned out dry. The batter was thicker than other cakes I make, and I folded in the flower mixture and buttermilk very carefully. I used the spatula to scoop it up and put it in the pan because it was so thick. It has a great flavor, but it’s not moist.
Sam says
June 23, 2019 at 1:35 pmHmm, it should be moist. Does your oven run hot? I would put a thermometer in there and check the temperature, if it’s running hot even 27 minutes could be too much (or even depending on the cake pans you used, it might’ve needed a bit less time than 27 mins).
Bianca says
June 21, 2019 at 7:34 amI’ve made this cake as the recipe said and it was delicious. I’ve also made it dairy free substituting the butter for more oil and the buttermilk for tinned coconut milk and for some reason I actually prefer the taste. Either way, this is my go to cake recipe and everyone loves it!
Sam says
June 21, 2019 at 8:22 amThank you so much for the feedback, Bianca! I am so glad you enjoy the cake. 🙂
Marie says
June 20, 2019 at 1:00 amI’m about to bake a birthday cake requested by one of my student’s parents for tomorrow .. And just by reading the comments I’m certain it’ll be perfect! Thanks.
Sam says
June 20, 2019 at 3:49 pmI hope everyone loves it! 🙂
Melissa says
June 19, 2019 at 9:22 pmOmg this recipe is amazing!!! I had given up on making cakes from scratch. They were always dry or tasteless. So it’s been cake mixes for the last 10 years. It’s my sons 8th birthday today and he asked for a vanilla cake. So I decided to google found this recipe and thought I’d give it a go. It was a big risk cause i didn’t have time to bake another one, but this cake is perfect and so easy to make!! Full of flavour and so moist…I love it!! I don’t think he’ll be disappointed when we try it tonight.
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 9:59 pmI’m so happy to hear this, Melissa!! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how it turned out, I really appreciate it! 🙂
Shawn says
June 19, 2019 at 9:17 pmFabulous! I have been trying yellow/vanilla cakes and this is the best, so good and moist. Really close to box cake texture. My hubby loved it. Thanks for sharing.
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 10:02 pmI’m so glad to hear it was such a hit, Shawn!! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Lisa says
June 19, 2019 at 7:07 amCould this be made in a simple 9×13 cake pan?
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 9:25 amHi Lisa! It can be made in a 9 x 13. I haven’t tried it myself, but other readers have reported a 30 minute bake time on the same temperature. Enjoy! 🙂
Lisa says
June 19, 2019 at 10:13 amThank you! A friend recommended this recipe for meeting my son’s birthday request for a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting! 🎂
Karen says
June 18, 2019 at 1:37 pmCan I use a bundt mold instead? What would you recommend for cooking time? And, sorry one more question should I line it with parchment paper?
Thanks!
Sam says
June 19, 2019 at 3:08 pmHi Karen! You can make it in a bundt pan, just make sure you grease and flour the pan really well, especially if there is any fluting in the pan. Parchment paper won’t really work here. I don’t know a bake time because I haven’t tried it, but I would think it would take longer than 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!
simi says
June 18, 2019 at 9:51 amI recently discovered your website and everything I have tried so far was a HIT (chocolate cake, pineapple upside down (this cake is so good that i baked one three days in a row!!!). When you say “best”…it is the best!
This cake is no different-moist, good texture, flavorful! I made it before as is but yesterday I made a tweak- I added 11/2 tablespoons of McCormick orange extract instead of vanilla. This is the BEST orange cake I ever had! I used a simple butter frosting…Divine!
Sam says
June 18, 2019 at 11:01 amThank you so much! I am so glad you are enjoying all of the recipes! I really appreciate the feedback. 🙂
Emily says
June 18, 2019 at 8:01 amWow! Super recipe. Great tips. I used this to make ice-cream cone cupcakes (where you fill an ice cream cone 2/3 with batter and then bake in oven), and they sold out very quickly for a fundraiser where proceeds were donated to a charitable organisation in India. So thx from Frankfurt, germany!
Sam says
June 18, 2019 at 11:03 amI am so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Emily! I love ice cream cone cupcakes! 🙂