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
Julia Groeneweg says
I was in Arizona at a rental house on vacation when that need to bake something hit. We had limited baking ingredients so it was a bit of an adventure and challenge. We had baking soda and not powder, no buttermilk, no dry measuring cups or spoons – so needless to say I was surprised this worked.
I used your buttermilk substitute with lime juice, and for a baking powder substitute I used 3/4 tsp baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons of lime juice.
Then I decided to top it with cinnamon and sugar and swirl it in.
These came out AMAZING! They were so good – and they definitely helped the need to bake and to eat baking😂
I love your blog!
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Julia! 🙂
Kaylee says
It was very good recipe, and it turned out really good!!
Nikki says
Hi, this looks good, but I was wondering why you use only baking powder as the leavener rather than adding some baking soda to take advantage of the acidity from the buttermilk. Wouldn’t a combo like 50/50 or 67/ 33 baking powder/soda be a better option, or did you have a reason for doing all powder? Thanks!
Sam says
Hi Nikki! Originally this was also my thought, but after lots and lots and LOTS of testing, I found this was the best combination. While the baking powder isn’t reacting with the buttermilk, the buttermilk does provide a much better flavor and texture. 🙂
Sherry says
hi can I use a 9×13 pan
Sam says
Hi Sherry! This fits in a 9 x 13. I haven’t tried it myself but others have reported a 30 minute bake time. 🙂
Alina says
Hi, I’ve been wanting to try this recipe, but we don’t have full fat buttermilk only low fat is that ok
Sam says
Yes that will be fine! Enjoy 🙂
Danielle says
I made half the recipe to test it out. It baked up beautifully with a nice dome, but deflated when I took it out of the oven. I’m sure it was user error, but not sure what I did wrong. It tastes wonderful, just dense because it collapsed. Any idea what could have happened?
Sam says
Hi Danielle! There are a couple of things that can cause this. The batter may have been over-beaten or the cake may have been slightly under-baked. Make sure to take it easy mixing when adding the eggs. I hope it turns out better next time. 🙂
Crescence says
I made this cake for my mother’s 88th birthday. I’ve never baked a cake before but this one turned out to be so good and all were surprised. The recipe is so simple yet the end result is awesome. Thanks Sam for helping me bake my first cake.
Sam says
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Jenn says
I don’t have canola oil, only avocado and grapeseed lol can I double the butter? And if using cake flour how much? I know you mentioned the measurement is not 1:1?
Sam says
Hi Jenn! I haven’t tried either but I know others have had success with avocado oil. Doubling the butter will make the cake more dry. For the cake flour you need to use 1 c + 2 TBSP for each cup of all purpose flour so here you will need 3 cups + 6 TBSP. 🙂
Caroline says
Can we use vegetable oil for the cake?
Sam says
Yes that will work fine here. 🙂
Adam says
Good.
Nell says
Wonderful cake recipe. Everything turned out perfect. It will definitely be my go to recipe! Thank you!☺️
Polita says
Hi there, I want to bake this today for my hubby’s birthday! Can I use cake flour instead of all purpose?
Sam says
You can use cake flour, but make sure to use the proper substitution as it isn’t a 1 for 1. Enjoy! 🙂
VLFH says
Can i use your ermine frosting for this cake?
Sam says
Sure thing! 🙂
Aditi says
I always make this cake but have never rated the recipe. Am sorry. It is indeed the best vanilla cake recipe. It just melts into the mouth.
Thank you so much for sharing!!
amanda says
can i use the blue bonnet btter that comes in a tub, i ran out of stick butter
Sam says
I have never tried it myself, I think it could work but if you try it would you please let me know how it turns out for you?
Cel says
I forgot the canola.oil! My cake is now baking! 🙏 It will still turn out ok 😩
Sam says
Unfortunately I am worried it will be dry as the oil adds moisture to the cake. Once it’s cooled you can try leveling the cake and tasting the scraps to see how it tastes.
Elle says
I’m guessing it will still taste delish, just not as moist. When I’ve done something similar, I give up on the idea of a frosted cake and do something like top with sliced peaches or berries and whip cream. Those both have enough moisture that no one really knows I goofed except me.