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
Saiqa says
Hi , i was just wondering is it ok to put some simple sugar syrup on cake before covering it with icing ? Will it make the cake moist ?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Saiqa! The cake is already moist, therefore, I find that the simple syrup is not needed. However, it’s up to you. 🙂
Mymi says
Hi, can this recipe be used under fondant. I want to make a 3 tier vanilla cake cover in fondant.
Thanks
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Mymi! Others have used this cake under fondant with success, I hope that you do as well. Happy Baking. 🙂
Laci S says
Hi there! So i want to make this cake for my brothers birthday, but i have school so I don’t have much time to make the whole thing together. How would I store the cake and leave it overnight without it drying out?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Laci! That is so sweet of you to make this cake for your brother’s birthday. If you have already baked the cakes, you will want to let them cool, remove them from the pan, place them on a cookies sheet or platter and wrap them well with saran wrap. You can leave them at room temperature or in the fridge until you are ready to decorate. I hope that helps! 🙂
Jen says
Hi! Does this cake freeze well (pre-icing)? I’d like to make it a few days ahead of time. I know denser cakes do, but worried about freezing a lighter cake. Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Jen! I personally have not tried it, however, others have and had success. I hope that you enjoy the cake. 🙂
Lily says
So for the recipe you don’t need baking soda?? How else will the cake rise?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Lily! This recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon baking powder which helps the cake the rise. No baking soda is needed. 🙂
Karen says
Can’t wait to make this vanilla cake. I have 3 9” pans and saw someone else wanted to use their 3 9” pans using the cake recipe doubled. Do you think I could 1 1/2 times the recipe having no batter left over and it would work ok or would I have to double it. Really don’t want batter left over and don’t have enough ingredients where I am to double it but do have enough to 1 1/2 times the recipe. What do you think? Thank you so much! Karen
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Karen! Yes, you can 1 1/2 the recipe, but your layers will be slightly thinner. You will also want to keep an eye on the bake time since it will be different than what is listed on the directions. I hope that you enjoy the cake. Keep me posted on how it turns out. 🙂
Jariah says
Thank you for sharing! I would like to use your recipe to make a vanilla top & chocolate bottom cake (without having to make 2 different batch of cake batter). Is it possible to add cocoa to half the batter to make the chocolate cake bottom? If yes how much cocoa should I add?
Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Jariah! Seeing how you one to use one cake batter and add chocolate to half of it, I would reccomend that you use my marble cake recipe. You can skip the marbling and bake two separate cakes. This will achieve the desired cake you are after. Keep me posted on how it turns out. 🙂
Brenda says
Hey Sam! I would like to make this a 3 layer cake using my 9″ Wilton Pans. With this being, said do you think it would be safe to double the cake recipe and any batter left over, use for cupcakes? I double your Chocolate Frosting recipe … it is the best indeed! The only difference, is I substitute semi sweet chocolate for Hershey’s Cocoa Powder and I have a recipe for that substitution. I really love all your recipes and so grateful for you sharing them. Thank you again and God Bless you!
Sugar Spun Run says
Thank you so much, Brenda! I am so glad that you have enjoyed my cake recipes. With this recipe, you can most certainly double it to create a 3-layered cake with some batter being left over for cupcakes. Keep me posted on how it turns out. 🙂
Princess says
This has been my go to vanilla recipe ever since I discovered it. I love that it uses butter and oil with a perfect crumb too.
Came back here yesterday to discover that the flour is 375g. Is there a reason you reduced it and does it affect the cake in any way?
looking forward to your response.
Sam says
I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying the recipe, Princess! I changed the measurement from 390g to 375g to align with my standard measurement for a cup of flour (1 cup = 125 grams). I’ve tested the recipe both ways multiple times to make sure it worked and the difference wasn’t noticeable by any of my taste testers, I just wanted to keep a standard through my recipes. So, either way will work just fine and you should not see any difference. If you’ve been happy with the 390g measurement there’s no need to change that 🙂
Maynaz says
Hi
What size eggs should I use for this recipe?
Thanks
Maynaz
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Maynaz! I typically use large-sized eggs. 🙂
Katie says
How could I adjust cooking time for a 9×13 pan? How about 12×20? Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Katie! Others have tried this recipe in a 9″ x 13″ pan and reported that it took approximately 30 minutes to bake. As far as a 12″ x 20″ goes, no one has reported baking it in that size pan. If you do try it, I reccomend increasing the recipe to fit the pan size (best guess would be doubling it). Without trying either size pan myself, I reccomend keeping an eye on it while it bakes. I hope that you enjoy the vanilla cake! 🙂
Celia says
Hi, I’m going to try this recipe for my daughter’s birthday cake. Want to know if I can add color to the batter. Or you can suggest a different recipe for a birthday cake?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Celia! You can color the cake batter. If you want a more vibrant color, I would recommend my white cake recipe for this. I hope that your daughter has a wonderful birthday and enjoys her birthday cake. 🙂
Sarah says
Thank you for sharing this recipe, it’s exactly what I was looking for in a cake!! super fluffy and moist! 🙂 I used coconut milk instead of buttermilk and still turned out great, everyone loved it!!
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that your vanilla cake turned out perfectly even with the substitution, Sarah! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Cathy says
I would do 0 stars if I could I feel scammed.!!😭 The consistency was very chunky.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so sorry to hear that you had an issue with this recipe, Cathy. If your cake was chunky, it sounds like you may have over measured the flour or you did not mix your batter enough. Over-measuring flour is the most common mistake in baking so I have created a post on
how to properly measure flour that can be used as a reference. If you have a significant number of lumps, you can also move them to another bowl, and squish it all into a paste and work them out. Again, I am sorry you had an issue. 🙁
Kool 12 year old says
I useed this to make my grandmas birthday cake and blew everyone away. The cake is nice and dense, but isnt like chewing mud.
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that everyone enjoyed the vanilla cake, Vincent. Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Francis Adiburu says
awesome cake really tests yummy
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the vanilla cake, Francis. Thank you so much for commenting. 🙂