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
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (113g)
- ½ cup canola oil* (120ml)
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar (300g)
- 4 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ 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 (or see notes for other favorite frosting options) and decorate with sprinkles (if desired).
Notes
Frosting Options
The chocolate frosting I linked to in the ingredients is my favorite pairing with this cake, but here are some other great options:How to Make Into Vanilla Cupcakes:
Fill cupcake liners no more than ¾ of the way full. Bake on 350F for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs or clean. This recipe will make approximately 24 cupcakes.Nutrition
Sarah
Hey this recipe looks delicious! I was wondering, if I only used 1 round cake pan how long should I bake it for? Should I halve the recipe? Also if I make this the day before serving it how should I store it and when do you think I should ice it?
Sam
Hi Sarah! If you only have one pan I would cut the recipe in half. It should bake for close to the same time, maybe a few minutes less since it will be the only one in the oven but make sure to utilize the toothpick test to see if it is done. You can store it at room temperature. If you choose to ice it the day before, an air tight container will work just fine. If you choose to wait until the day of to ice it you will want to wait until your cake cools completely and then wrap it in cling wrap. 🙂
Dominique
Hi! Can I substitute the vanilla for strawberry to make a strawberry flavor? Or should I just do both?
Sam
Hi Dominique! A strawberry extract or emulsion should work just fine. 🙂
Josie
Hi, I want to use this recipe to make a 7″ cake, how much should I reduce the recipe ingredients and also the bake time?
Sam
Hi Josie! Honestly the reduction for a 7 inch pan would probably get too clumsy for me to want to do it. I would make the batter as it is and just make sure to not overfill the pan. You can use the excess to make cupcakes. 🙂
doug martin
Do you think changing AP for cake flour would cause issues?
Sam
It should work just fine if you use the proper substitution. 🙂
Sara
Hi,
I would like to know can I possible add shredded/desiccated coconut and roughly chopped almonds into this cake?
Sam
Hi Sara! I haven’t tried it but I think it could work. 🙂
Sonja
can this cake be frozen?
Sam
Hi Sonja! Several people have done it with success. 🙂
Sonja
Sorry another question, I need to use a 9in x 12in rectangle tin. Wld this recipe work for this size?
Sam
Yes it will. It typically fills a 9 x 13 so you may have a little excess batter. 🙂
Kate
I need to make a 10″, 8″, and a 6″ cake. How many batches of this recipe would I need?
Sam
Hi Kate! You will probably need to increase the recipe by 50%.
Suraiya
Hi how do I go about this with half batter? If I just wanna make like 12 cupcakes ?
Sam
Hi Suraiya! You’ll just want to make sure cut all of the ingredients in half. 🙂
Suraiya
I tried the full recipe and it came out really well. Although I thought I was gonna get about 24 cupcakes or so I got 36 cupcakes instead. Also, I used 21/2 (two and a half) cups of flour instead of 3 because of the grams measurement, I checked both and saw that that gave exactly 375g and using 3cups would’ve probably been too much for my batter cuz it was over 400g or I wouldn’t get the best results
Elaine
Can this cake be stacked for a two tiered cake?
Sam
Hi Elaine! That should work fine. 🙂
Dillon
This cake came out wonderful!
Andre
Hi, I live in a country where is almost impossible to find Buttermilk. Is it possible to use regular milk instead?
Sam
Hi Andre! I would recommend my buttermilk substitute. 🙂
Kay
I used this recipe today for my granddaughter’s birthday cake. It turned out AMAZINGLY well and the flavor is great. I think I will keep using this for all of my cakes. Thank you for sharing.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kay! 🙂
Sheree Thomas
I have finally found the perfect vanilla cake recipe. I’m throwing my other recipes in the trash. The secret has to be the combination of oil, butter, and buttermilk. Thank you for posting this.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Sheree! 🙂
Kathy
Can this recipe be baked in a 9×13 pan instead of 2 rounds?
Sam
Hi Kathy! That will work just fine. Others have tried it and needed 30 minutes, but just keep an eye on it. 🙂
Carol
Can I make this in a bundt pan?
Sam
Hi Carol! That should work, but I’m not sure of a bake time since I haven’t tried it personally. 🙂
Princess
Hi Sam,
I would like to make a sheet cake? Do you think I should double the recipe? And double my icing as well.
Thank you
Sam
This batter will fit in a 9 x 13. Others have reported a 30 minute bake time. 🙂
Hannah Jacob
Hi- I didn’t figure out where to comment, but I have a question: can I make this cake without frosting? My father’s birthday is today but his sweet tooth isn’t that big.
I’ve made this cake so many times (with the frosting) and I love it! Definitely five stars- paired with homemade cream cheese frosting, this thing is golden!
Sam
Hi Hannah! You could certainly leave the frosting off if you’d like. 🙂