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 (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 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
Christina Nickerson says
Canola oil, yikes!! Can you use butter instead?
Sam says
I don’t recommend the butter here it is going to dry out the cake. You can use any neutral oil you’d like. 🙂
Mandy says
Can u use applesauce instead of oil with the same effect. I don’t care for oil and try to substitute it when possible.
Sam says
Hi Mandy! It could work, but the cake would probably be a little more dense. 🙂
Tracy says
Can you add some applesauce in addition to the oil?
Sam says
I’m not sure how it would turn out. 🙁
Natasha says
Hi. If I want to make this cake in a single layer square 9 x 9 pan ( just my husband and I), should I cut the recipe in half?
Thank you.
Sam says
Hi Natasha! This recipe should fit into a 9 inch square pan as it is. 🙂
Harry says
Hi, was just wondering if you could substitute coconut extract for the vanilla extract to make a coconut cake
Sam says
Hi Harry! You can but you will want to use significantly less coconut extract. Alternatively I do have a coconut cake you could make. 🙂
Harry Logan says
Thank you
Smriti Edwards says
Hi, would I need to change quantities for a 9×13 sheet pan? I am hoping to make a 4 shaped birthday cake for my son next week and would love to use this recipe. Thanks!
Sam says
This recipe as is will fit in a 9 x 13 pan. 🙂
Smriti Edwards says
Perfect! Thank you! Can’t wait to try it 🙂
Abby says
I don’t have buttermilk! Is there a way to make it without?
Sam says
Hi Abby! Please refer to my post on how to make buttermilk. You should make this cake with buttermilk. 🙂
Josselyne M says
Would you be able to do this with a paddle attachment? Why does it have to be a spatula?
Sam says
Hi Josselyne. You want to do it by hand so you don’t over-mix the batter. If you over mix the batter your cake will come out dense and not taste right.
Patricia says
Love your recipes and videos. Can I make these ahead or time and freeze? Would I leave parchment paper on when freezing?
Sam says
Hi Patricia! You can freeze these cakes. You don’t need to leave the parchment paper rounds on them, just make sure to wrap them tightly so they don’t dry out in the freezer. 🙂
Jill says
Getting ready to make this but I don’t have round cake pans. How should I adjust the bake temperature and time for a 9×13 glass pan?
Sam says
Hi Jill! You won’t need to change the temperature but the bake time will change. I have had someone report a 30 minute bake time in a 9 x 13, but that was with a metal pan, so just keep an eye on it. 🙂
Makenna says
Hi!would this be suitable for kids to make?
Sam says
Hi Makenna! I have several younger children bake this cake. Of course some supervision is probably necessary, but they can definitely do it. 🙂
Michiko says
I love this recipe! After many dry and dense cake failures this one was so fluffy and moist! My only concern is that I can taste the baking soda taste a little bit I’m the cake. Would using both baking soda and baking powder help with that (and decreasing amount of baking soda )?
Sam says
Hi Michiko! You shouldn’t taste any baking soda here. If you do your baking soda may be bad. I would not try adding baking soda here. 🙂
Roh says
I followed your recipe and my cakes were really soft and yummy. One of them cracked and spilt into two. I wonder why. But the other one was just flawless. I joined the cracked cake with some buttercream frosting I made and used it as a bottom layer. But overall the cake with vanilla buttercream frosting was just too good. Thank you. So grateful.
Sam says
Hmmm it’s so weird that one of them cracked but not the others. Did you bake them all on the same rack? Maybe the one that cracked was a little more shallow? Was it dried out by chance? All I can think is that it was over-baked, but I’m glad you were able to enjoy it! 🙂
Reena says
Hi, for the butter and sugar there’s no need to cream them? Just mix together is it?
Sam says
Hi Reena! Please refer to step 2. You need to cream them together. 🙂
Vanessa says
Hi, I am trying to became a baker myself but does this recipe with 6 inch pans. Or how much thing I’ll need like cups and stuff?
Sam says
Hi Vanessa! This recipe will make enough batter to fill at least 3 6″ pans. Baking time will be shorter though. Make sure you don’t overfill the pans. 🙂
Dave says
Can I substitite regular milk for buttermilk?
Sam says
Hi Dave! I would recommend making my buttermilk substitute instead of using just plain milk here. 🙂
Isabel Correa says
Hi, I’m from Brazil, and it’s extremely hard to find buttermilk here. Can I use just plain semi-fat milk?
Thanks, I look forward to making that cake!
Sam says
Hi Isabel! If you don’t have access to buttermilk I recommend using my buttermilk substitute. 🙂