An easy Vanilla Cake with a soft and moist crumb and great vanilla flavor. We used our popular Buttercream Frosting here but it’s also fantastic with a Chocolate Frosting. This Vanilla cake recipe is the perfect base for a birthday cake or any special occasion.
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Watch the Easy Vanilla Cake Recipe Video:
This cake really is easy and can even be made ahead. Watch the video tutorial for how to make the perfect vanilla cake and best Buttercream Frosting (which isn’t overly sweet like most American buttercreams).
Why we Love this Vanilla Cake!
Everyone needs a great vanilla cake base and I hope this becomes your new favorite! It’s made from scratch and the combination of ingredients gives it amazing texture and flavor. We used the same base as our famous Vanilla Cupcakes and made this stunning cake. You’ll love the perfectly level cake layers – there’s no need to trim them.
How to Make a Vanilla Cake from Scratch:
Here is a quick visual reference for homemade vanilla cake. Get the full print-friendly recipe below.
- Butter and flour two 9″ cake pans and preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Whisk together dry ingredients.
- With an electric mixer, beat Butter and Sugar 5 minutes.
- Beat in eggs 1 at a time then beat in vanilla.
- Add flour mixture in thirds alternating with buttermilk and mixing between each addition.
- Divide between 2 cake pans and bake at 350˚F for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes then transfer cakes (we use this cake release tool) to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.
How to Frost a Cake:
Frosting a cake is the fun part. Once your cake is fully at room temperature, make your Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. We love the vintage vibe of waves in the frosting like we did with our chocolate cake but you can also crumb coat the cake and pipe the frosting onto the cake.
- Place the first cake layer on a cake platter.
- Spread a generous layer of frosting over the top, going to the edges.
- Cover with the second cake layer with the top side down for a perfectly level cake surface.
- Coat the top and sides of the cake with remaining frosting and use an offset spatula or spoon to create waves in the cake.
Add sprinkles if desired. Sprinkles are the easiest way to turn a plain cake into a birthday cake!
Our Best Baking Tips:
- Room temperature ingredients are critical so your batter blends well without separating or becoming grainy.
- Avoid Substitutions! We always recommend trying the recipe as written before experimenting.
- Measure Correctly – check out our post on how we measure ingredients for baking.
- Weigh your pans – we use a digital food scale to make sure the layers are evenly divided.
How to Keep Leftover Cake Moist:
If you have sliced your cake and want to refrigerate leftovers for later, cover the cut side of the cake with plastic wrap, placing it directly onto the cake. This will prevent moisture loss and keep your cake from drying out.
More Top-Rated Cake Recipes:
These are the best-loved and best-reviewed cakes on our site. These are the ones we make most often.
- Chocolate Cake – rich, moist and decadent
- Tiramisu Recipe – coffee-infused Italian dessert
- Tres Leches Cake – the moistest cake you’ll try
- Perfect Cheesecake – with irresistible cherry sauce
- Pumpkin Cake – with the best cream cheese frosting
Vanilla Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, or plain kefir, room temperature
- 1 Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter and flour two 9" cake pans, tapping out excess flour.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set flour mixture aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer (or stand mixer), beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 minutes until thick and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition then scrape down the bowl. Add 4 tsp vanilla extract and beat to combine.
- Reduce mixer to medium speed and add the flour mixture in thirds alternating with the 1 cup of room temperature buttermilk, allowing the flour and buttermilk to incorporate with each addition. Scrape down the bowl as needed and beat until just combined and smooth.
- Divide batter evenly between 2 prepared cake pans and spread out the batter into the pans smoothing out the tops with a spatula. Bake on the center rack at 350˚F for 28-30 minutes. Rest in pans for 10 minutes then run a knife or thin spatula around the edges to loosen and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before applying Vanilla Frosting.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Isn’t 2 1/2 cups of floor 280 g? I went by the “metrics “ which says 312.5 grams I made the recuperacion twice for my nephews birthday today and its very dry. I thought I might have overmixed but when I was looking at other recipes I noticed they also use 2 1/2 cups of floor but the measurement in grams says 280g ….
Hi Alondra! 1 cup of all purpose flour is 125g (some charts say 120g). The metric conversion here is correct. Did you over bake it by chance?
Thank you for responding! Yes it did. Í actually baked two batches. Both in a 9x13in pan. I used 312g of flour per batch.
I made this vanilla cake and vanilla buttercream and it is a huge hit with my family! It came out perfect! Love how light and fluffy this was , super easy and came out great. Love so many of your recipies and will probably be ordering your cook book. Thank you!💕
I noticed this cake recipe is the same as the cupcake recipe just doubled ingredients. However salt is not doubled. Is that correct of a typo ?
Hi Enza, the measurements here are accurate- more than that and you can sense the salt a bit too much in the cake. I hope you love the vanilla cake!
Attempted this cake…your definition of soft and moist was deff not the description for this cake. It was dense and hard inside. The frosting was way too sweet and so greasy. This cake made me feel nausea from how sweet it was, I was very disappointed. My husband even called it mediocre and that really made me sad after I tried to create this and all the time I put into it. All to say, this cake does not live up to what you say it does. Do not recommend!
Hi Zhanna, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you, I’d like to help troubleshoot. Are you possibly at a high altitude? that may impcat the outcome. A dense cake is most often due to using too much flour. Are you measuring in grams using a food scale? If not, I would watch my tutorial on how to measure ingredients to ensure you’re measuring correctly and not scooping the flour out with your measuring cup.
Also- don’t over mix the batter, this can cause the texture to be dense and gummy too.
Hi Natasha
I have 8 inch pans
How do I go about cooking times
Thanks you
Hi Julian! It could work, but a few things to keep in mind. Fill the pans about ⅔–¾ full (don’t overfill). You’ll likely have a little extra batter which can be baked in cupcakes or smaller pan. Keep an eye on it in the oven since the baking time will vary depending on how thick the layers are.
Hi Natasha!
I made your vanilla cake it was delicious just like your chocolate cake! Thank you for sharing 😍
Can I use a stand mixer or no? Thank you!
Yes, just be careful not to over-mix.