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
Made this cake this weekend. Frosting and cake are beautiful. Everyone loved it. Live all of your recipes.
So glad it was a huge hit! Thanks a lot for sharing that with us.
Hi Natasha! I’m 12 and I’ve been baking for a long time and I’ve made this recipe many times using gluten-free flour, which works better that all-purpose flour. The cake was crumbly and the frosting started ripping off the golden brown layer of cake and got crumbs in it. What was I doing wrong that made the cake crumbly?
Hi Gigi! I have not tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so I am not sure if that is what effected it. Some things that you can try to help… make sure the cake layers have fulled cooled before you frost (you may even try to refrigerate them). Also, if you used my recipe for buttercream frosting, I would check the texture and consistency of your frosting. If the butter was too cold, or if you did not add any cream or enough cream to the frosting, the frosting will be harder to spread which will break off pieces of cake crumbs as you frost the cake. I hope that helps!
Hey Natasha! Thank you for replying, and I did cool the cakes overnight actually. Overall, this cake was very delicious!
You’re welcome, Gigi! Try cooling/chilling the cake to see if that helps. Often times it can be difficult to frost when it’s so fresh because it’s fragile. If you refrigerate the cake layers, be sure to let them fully cool and put them in an airtight container so they don’t dry out.
Hi, I’ve made this cake many three times and the buttercream frostings ends up tasting like a blob of butter and greasy. Am I doing something wrong. If so, how can I fix it? Lastly, is the buttercream frosting American?
Hi Adrian! Yes, the frosting linked in this recipe is American buttercream. Often times if it tastes like butter, it’s because it needs to be mixed longer. If you prefer a different frosting, you may try one of my other frosting recipes HERE.
Hi, thanks for the reply.
When you mean it needs to be mixed more, do mean the butter itself or when you are mixing the ingredients together for the final time? How long would you say I need to mix it more because I don’t want it to curdle. Lastly, would chilling the before making the Frosting reduce the chance of curdling. I believe that’s the last question
Hi Adrian, I assumed you were referring to the frosting tasting too much like butter. Is that correct? If so, it shouldn’t curdle since this isn’t a whipped cream-based frosting. I have a video for the frosting, watch my process so you can see the texture of my frosting at the end. Mixing it longer incorporates more air into the frosting to make it light and fluffy, as well as making sure the sugar is incorporated well. The temperature of your butter is important so read my tips/notes in the blog/recipe post.
The cake layers should be completely cooled (I even chill them sometimes) before I frost the cake. Hope that helps!
Okay, I lied, I have another question. Do I have to refrigerate the leftover cake after I cover it in frosting? I remember the second time I made this cake I left it out on the counter with a bowl covering it and got coagulated grease puddles at the rim of the cake plate.
Yes, you can refrigerate it. Just make sure to keep it in an air-tight container to help keep it moist. It will dry out a bit when refrigerated but let it come to room temperature again before cutting/serving.
Hi Natasha, I am planning to bake this cake for my son’s birthday, but I have a few questions:
We don’t really like buttercream frosting but your cupcake frosting on the vanilla cupcakes is divine! Could that frosting work here? Knowing that I will be making a 3-layer cake, most likely a day ahead, any tips here? How long ahead should I get it out of the fridge?
Hi Sara! That would work fine. Just be aware, the frosting is not very stable so it is not the best for tall cakes. Make sure the cake layers are cooled down completely and even cold when frosting. I would not take the cake out too soon, this frosting does not harden as much as buttercream so it can be served directly from the refrigerator.
I made this for Christmas Day for the first time. I followed the directions perfectly (I think) but it turned out really dense, bready and heavy…like a brick. Any ideas on what may have caused that? I made it the day before and stored in fridge overnight.
I love your recipes so much!
Hi Nancy! It sounds like you could have used too much flour. I recommend watching my tutorial on how to measure flour HERE. Also, don’t over-mix the batter. I hope that helps!
baked this yesterday and it turned out really well! a bit dense for my liking but everyone has different preferences.
Totally understand. Thanks for Sharing!
i tried to baked your chocolate,red velvet and this vanilla cake and my family loves it, and even sell it and got a positive response from my customer….
That’s great! I’m glad it’s enjoyed.
Seven minute frosting would be great on that cake. Looks good either way.
Hi Natasha
Love your receipes!
Please advise on cake Tin Sizes, at the top of the screen it says to change for no of slices, but how does this work for cake tin sizes? Thanks
Hi Heather, changing the number of servings on the recipe card will change the ingredient list but unfortunately, it does not change the instructions or give new pan sizes. I did not test this recipe in multiple pan sizes to provide that information. You may find this article on cake pan conversions helpful.
I made this recipe for a 24″ x 16″ 2 layer slab cake for a 80 person corporate event with the vanilla butter cream frosting.
Huge hit! I used vanilla custard and whipped cream between the layers. Needless to say, there was no cake left!
Thank you for this amazing recipe! Best vanilla cake recipe I have ever used in 50 years.
Wow! That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Susan! I’m so glad this was a hit with a crowd!
how many times did you have to multiply this recipe to make a cake that size?
thanks!
Hi Nathasha, love your recopies, But I find it hard to measure the ingredients in cups. It would be super helpful if you had your ingredients in grams.
Hi Su! If you click on “metric” in the recipe card, it will convert the ingredient list to grams for you.
Vanilla cake recipe
My first time making a cake from scratch. I followed the directions exactly as in the recipe
My oven temperature was confirmed at 350 degrees
I was disappointed the height of each cake is a little over 1 inch. I was hoping for more height in the cakes.
Hi Natasha – My son wants a chocolate chip cake for his birthday. I have made this cake many times with rave reviews. Would you recommend adding the chips at the end? And if so, how much?
Hi Angela, I haven’t tried that myself, but I bet that could work. Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Your are the BEST !! I love watching you cook and bake !! You have amazing recipes!! Thank
You !! 🌸♥️
Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Sofia! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi
I love love love your recipes!!!
Have you ever made a surprise cake? I want to make a surprise cake with confetti filling inside. Will this cake be suitable for that?
I’m happy that you’re enjoying my recipes! I have not tried making a surprise cake yet but here are some of my Cake recipes that you can try.
Ha ha
I have tried every one of your cakes and I LOVE them
Thank you
So glad you enjoy them. Thank you!
This cake was so delicious and easy to make. It turned out very moist! The layers baked evenly as well. It was a huge hit at my mom’s 82nd birthday party!
That’s great, Sheryl! I’m so glad it was a huge hit! Happy Birthday to your mom. 🙂
Hi! I want to try this cake out for my family and I was wondering if I could use salted butter instead of unsalted and some salt. Would that work too? And my other question is would I be able to use whole milk instead of buttermilk? Thanks for this recipe!
Hi Anna, buttermilk is what really adds the flavor profile and texture to this recipe. You can make your own buttermilk using 1 cup of milk and 1 tbsp white vinegar, stir and let is sit for 5-10mins and its ready to use. I think salted butter would be fine if you omit the salt. I have tested it and it may be a bit on the salty side but could possibly work just fine.
Hi, I’m super excited to make this cake for a surprise party, but I was wondering how long I could store it (unfrosted) before the party? I’ve got a really busy week ahead of me and wanted to make it early.
Hi Averia, this cake can be made ahead; I have made it up to two days in advance. After it is assembled, you want to refrigerate the cake (covered with a cake cover or large inverted pot). It will be softer at room temperature, so let the cake sit out a little before serving.
Hi Natasha,
This is a wonderful cake! I use, what I don’t eat, it in trifle. I only need an 8×8 cake. Do you think I should half the recipe?
Hi Jacki, I have not tested this recipe in a different pan size. I used 2 pans that are 9”x2”. You may try looking up a cake pan conversion chart to help.
Hello, Natasha
I love this recipe, it was hit when I made it for my mom’s birthday 2 years ago. I want to make it again in either a 6 inch or a 8 in pan, but I want to do 4 layers do I need to increase my ingredients?
Hi Brittney, it might be difficult to layer this cake as 4 layers since it is fairly heavy. I haven’t tested that so I can’t provide specific advice. It would be very tall if you doubled the recipe. You might be able to do 1 1/2 times the recipe and bake in 4 separate cake pans. As a 4-layer cake, the buttercream will be a safer bet or Swiss Meringue Buttercream as a whipped cream-based frosting might not hold up well under the weight of the cake layers.
Ok thank you so much, I will definitely give that a try, and maybe I can us my 6 inch pans