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
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (113g)
- ½ cup canola oil* (120ml)
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar 300g
- 4 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 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
How to Make Into Vanilla Cupcakes:
Fill cupcake liners no more than 3/4 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
L Dahl says
Such a delicious cake. I used a bunt pan for this and it came out amazing. Cooked at 350 F for 45 minutes at and altitude of 5600′ ft. It had to cool for almost 2 hours after before removing from pan.
I will make this again and recommend. Really good for strawberry shortcake.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Maxine says
Thank you Sam, you rock!
I want to try this delicious-looking cake 🙂
Would you please say how many minutes I should beat the sugar and butter and oil for and on what speed level?
Sam says
Hi Maxine! You really just need the butter, sugar, and oil to be well combined and lump free. Depending on how soft or hard your butter is, your time may vary here. It normally takes me about a minute on a higher speed to get it combined. 🙂
Hannah says
Followed the recipe, except used veg oil, did not over bake at all, and I have never had a more dry cake in my life.
Sam says
Hi Hannah! I’m sorry this happened. Your cake can turn out dry from over-mixing as well.
Amy says
Unfortunately, I had this same issue from probably over mixing the batter.
I just turned it into a semi-tres leches by pouring some cream on it and it was moist and tender once again.
Alana says
I have been searching high and low for a perfect vanilla cake recipe and I am happy to say I have found it! Ah-mazing. Perfect crumb, beautiful buttery flavour, sooo moist and tender. Thank you for the recipe!!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so happy to hear that your search is over and you loved this recipe, Alana! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Tina says
Hello Sam,
First I wanted to say how amazing you are and thank you for your wonderful recipes.
I have recently purchased a kitchen aid stand mixer and tried this vanilla cake.The taste was absolutely incredible but my cake’s texture resembled sponge with bunch of small, open holes…nothing like how your pics look on the blog post.
I creamed room temp butter, sugar and oil on speed 4 of my stand mixer for 5 minutes and then added room temp eggs one at a time on speed 2…was it too long?
If you were to make this cake in your stand mixer, how long and on what speed would you do the creaming?
Tina says
sorry forgot to say, I used brand new baking powder and folded flour and milk in 4 and 3 parts by hand, respectively.
Sam says
Hi Tina! I’m glad you have been enjoying the recipes! While I don’t cream my butter/sugar/oil quite as long, I don’t think this is the problem. It is possible that the eggs may have been over-beaten, sometimes that can cause tunneling/bubbles in cake, but I’m not convinced that is the problem, either. Did you scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl periodically? Sometimes chunks of butter can settle there, causing pockets in the final cake if not properly incorporated. Another possibility could be if the dry ingredients weren’t well enough combined when you stirred them together by hand. You definitely did the right thing by combining by hand, but while it’s very important to not overmix at this step, sometimes under-mixing can cause bubbles like you are describing.
I don’t usually like to list a time/speed for the cake and generally prefer to go based off of the consistency of the batter because it can vary quite a bit depending on the specific mixer you’re using as well as even the temperature of your ingredients. in general, I probalby would cream my butter/sugar/oil for about 30-60 seconds on medium speed (about 4-5), then I stir the eggs on low (about 2-3) for about 10 seconds after each addition.
bananapotato says
I have tried this cake before, it’s moist and delicious. Is it better with chocolate or vanilla frosting? (assuming I like them both equal)
Sam says
Hmmm I think I would prefer a nice chocolate frosting here. 🙂
Julia says
I’m planning on making a 12×15 inch tie dye cake. What are your suggestions for cooking time and should I double amount of batter?
Sam says
Hi Julia! I believe increasing the batter by 50% would suffice here, but if you are worried you can definitely double the recipe. Make sure not to overfill your pan. I am not sure what the baking time would be here as I haven’t made it in a pan that large. Good luck! 🙂
Cheryl says
Hi,
I don’t have buttermilk, but I really want to make this cake. Can I use the substitute of milk with a little vinegar? If so, will it impact the taste?
Sam says
Hi Cheryl! If you follow my buttermilk substitute recipe it will work just fine here without changing the taste of the cake. 🙂
Neha says
Hey.. Can you plz tell me.. In place of canola oil can I use butter only
Sam says
You could, just keep in mind the cake will be a bit more dry than it would be otherwise.
Elizabeth says
Hey, I only have a salted butter just wondering if it’s okey because not planning to go shopping anytime soon
Sam says
Hi Elizabeth! Salted butter will work, just be sure to cut down the salt by 1/4 teaspoon. 🙂
Safa says
I tried this recipe and believe me it was the besttt!!!!..
All your recipes are easy to follow and yummy too!!😍
Wanted to ask whether this cake would taste good topped with chocolate ganache rather than the cholocate frosting?
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Safa, thank you for commenting! Yes chocolate ganache would work well on this cake, it’s just a matter of which frosting you personally prefer 🙂
Linda says
OMG so good! I used regular milk (1 1/4 cups with 2 Tablespoons of white vinegar). Let sit for about 10 minutes and there’s your buttermilk! I also used avocado oil. Delicious cake!
Sam says
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed, Linda!! Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
Renee says
Hi! I was just wondering why we need buttermilk? Doesn’t it make a cake sour?
Thanks
Sam says
Hi Renee! It helps make the cake moist. If you have a sour cake afterwards you have another ingredient that is probably bad. 🙂
Tracy says
I have two 8 inch pans that are black. Is that okay, do I need to adjust the baking time or anything?
Sam says
Hi Tracy! The cakes may need to bake for a little less time. 🙂