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
Anonymous
It’s so easy to make and it’s delicious
Evelia Morales
Hi, your cake recipe looks delicious and now I want to try! How much do I need for 12×2 or 12×3 round pan? Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Evelia! This recipe will make enough batter for one layer in that size pan. If you want to do two 12″ layers, you’ll need to double it. The baking time will be less, so be sure to watch them closely. 🙂
Victoria Hill
Hi! I’m going to be making a number cake and will be using 2 half sheet pans (12×18). Should I double or triple this recipe? Thanks in advance!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Victoria! A 12 x 18 sheet pan will hold about 16 cups of batter. This recipe makes about 8 cups of batter, so you would need to make four batches to fit two 12 x 18 pans.
Angela V Buchanan
could i use substitute cake flour for all purpose flour?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes you can. We hope you love this cake, Angela!
SK
New to baking cakes and I’m attempting to use your recipe for my son’s third birthday.
Do you know how I would arrange the two pans in the oven to bake for an even cook? Do I place both 8” pans side by side on the middle rack?
Sam
You are correct. Side by side on the middle rack is the best way to get an even bake on the two cakes. 🙂
SK
Thanks for the quick reply! So no need to rotate or swap places at the half way point when you place the pans side by side?
Sam
I’ve never needed to when baking just two layers and generally don’t like to open the oven door any more than I have to, but if your oven bakes unevenly it would be a good idea to do so.
Mallory
This looks so so good. I’ve been searching for a vanilla cake recipe. Can I use 375g of cake flour instead of AP flour? I personally love using cake flour in my cakes. Have to try soon!
Sam
Yes you can! I hope you love it!
Julie
Hi! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I’ve tried making this recipe twice, but both times my batter looks lumpy and not smooth after hand-mixing. I’m afraid to over-mix it as well if I continue mixing to get the clumps of flour out. Does it typically take you a while before the batter smooths out too?
Sam
Hi Julie! It can still have some lumps in it, but it shouldn’t be really really lumpy. You can actually see how it looks in the video. You do want to be careful to not over-mix the batter. 🙂
Kenny
Hello Sam! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will be using this recipe to make four 6inch cakes. Will the batter be enough or do you recommend I increase it by 25% or 50%?
Sam
Hi Kenny! The layers may be a little bit thin if you use 4 six inch pans. Increasing the recipe by 25% should give you plenty of batter. 🙂
Gayle
Is this good for layer cakes? I’ve tried different recipes and they have ALL fallen apart!
Sam
Hi Gayle! This one should hold together pretty well. 🙂
Dee
Hi,
How many cups of batter does this make? It looks like you used 8″x3″ cake pans, but i would like to make a 3 layer cake using 8″x2″ cake pans. Do i need to adjust the recipe?
Sam
Hi Dee! It makes about 8 cups of batter. You’ll want to increase the recipe by 50%. 🙂
Saba
Hi Sam!
Can I add chocolate chips to this cake? I have a request for vanilla cake with chocolate chips, and I love this recipe too much to try something else :p
Sam
Hi Saba! Adding chocolate chips to this cake should work just fine. 🙂
Theresa
Hey, Sam!!! If I use nonstick cake pans does the temp of the oven and time to bake change?
Sam
Hi Theresa! A nonstick pan won’t change any thing here. Sometimes if you use a really dark colored pan the bake time may reduce by a minute or two. 🙂
Theresa
Thank you, Sam!!
Deepanjali Singh
Hi can I use this recipe for a 9cup bundt pan?? The pan is Nordic ware gingerbread house bundt pan.. so was wondering if I could use this recipe in the pan..!! Please do let me know. Many thanks
Sam
Your pan should hold all of the batter but I’m not sure on a bake time.
Rebecca Pascarella
I recently used this recipe for a wedding cake. I paired mine with an old-fashioned fluffy, boiled icing. Because my icing needs to stay refrigerated, I made many 8 inch double layer cakes so they could stay boxed and chilled until the cake cutting. This recipe makes a perfect amount of batter for two pans! It’s easy and had nothing but great comments from tons of our guests!! Thank you for sharing!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Rebecca! 🙂
Jenny
Can I use this cake with the giant cupcake pan? It states to use a more dense cake. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Jenny! I haven’t tried it before. I think it could work, but this isn’t a really dense cake. Let me know how it goes if you do try it! 🙂
Jenny
Hey Sam, I did use the Wilton Giant cupcake pan and it did work, the only thing is it was about a cup short of filling the pan. Would use this recipe again for it the cake is just a little smaller. I am using your recipe for the cupcakes as well. The cake is very flavorful! Thanks for sharing.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear it! Thank you for the feedback. 🙂