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
Hello! This looks amazing! I am planning on making this tomorrow for my son’s birthday. Would this recipe work in a 9×13 pan?
Hi Jessie! I haven’t tested it in different size pans but one of my readers said, “I made this in a 9 by 13 pan and baked it for about 35 minutes at 350.”
Hi! I LOVE your recipes! I want to bake this on Saturday for my son‘s 1st birthday and have a question – do you think putting strawberries in between the layers would work? I k is you have a strawberry sponge cake recipe, but I’m just not the biggest fan of sponge cakes. What would be your opinion?
Also – what frosting works best with food coloring (water blue theme – so the cake will be blue 🐳). Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Anetta! Adding strawberries is fine, many of my viewers add strawberry filling to this. Buttercream frosting would be best. Happy birthday to your son!
How do I store it once it is made and I want to eat it tomorrow ? Please let me know asap thank you
Hi Jaanvi, 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.
This cake is SO yummy! Over the years, I’ve made several other recipes that I’ve come across (Ina’s being one of them) and I think this one is by far the best in flavor and texture. I’ve made it 3x now over the past two weeks and every time people raved!
I LOVE this vanilla cake recipe! Can I make it funfetti by folding in sprinkles once mixed? If so, how much would you recommend? My sister requested funfetti for her wedding cake, and I would much rather add sprinkles to our favorite cake as opposed to taking a chance hunting down a new recipe. Thank you!
Hi Lindsey, I haven’t tried that but it sounds like a fun experiment. Most recipes will use 2/3 cup to 3/4 cup of confetti sprinkles – you can add them to your preference and fold them in gently just before dividing the batter between baking pans.
Natasha, I was so happy to see your reply! 🙂. I tried baking the cake this weekend and started with 1/4 cup of sprinkles, as that seemed to be distributed nicely throughout the batter. It turned out so well! Again, thank you for your suggestion and for a delicious vanilla cake recipe!
You’re so welcome, Lindsey! I’m so glad that suggestion worked!
My cake is in the oven now, I used a 12” round pan, hope it’s yummy. It’s similar to another cake I make. I’m hoping this is a good recipe to save.
I am a horrific baker but Natasha makes it easy ! I use almost all her dessert recipes. It’s worth a try if you have not already !!
Thank you so much, Fiona. I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes.
How long does the cake stay fresh and can you put it in deep freezer?
HI Tanya, are you referring to the cake layers or the assembled cake? With the cake layers – once they are at room temperature, you can freeze them for 2-3 months. Wrap in plastic wrap then a layer of foil to keep them from getting freezer burn. You could also freeze the entire cake since its a buttercream frosting which freezes well. If storing leftover cake, lay plastic wrap directly over the sliced sides to keep the layers from drying out.
Hi I made this cake and it turned out a little dry. Should I add another egg
Also can you refrigerate if made a day in advance
Hi Diana, once your cake is cooled, if not using right way, ensure to store it in an airtight container or wrapped well in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Also, if it is dry, ensure you didn’t use too much dry ingredients. Be sure to measure by fluffing the flour first with a spoon then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape off the top. If you push your measuring cup into a flour bin, you will get up to 25% too much flour. Also, do not tap the flour down in the measuring cup. I hope this is helpful.
I 100% corroborate what Natasha said, “yummy batter” Indeed! This cake is in the oven right now, the batter, as I said (and Natasha) Yummy! It’s my first cake from scratch. Three days ago I made beef back ribs, on the Traeger, six hours of cooking, but I didn’t make a cake, so tomorrow for the wife’s 4th birthday dinner she’ll finally get her cake, and be able to blow out candles. Next year for her birthday I will not cook anything special for dinner, but you can bet the farm I’ll be baking a cake from Natasha’s Kitchen dot com! 😄
Hi Steven! Happy Birthday to your wife. I hope she loves her cake!
I usually have real issues with cakes rising and then falling, being overly dense, but I followed the steps and let ingredients reach room temperature and it came out of the oven beautifully and had a light crumb and was delicious. I was so happy with the results that I just keep looking at what is left. Everyone enjoyed it. Love love love your recipes!
That’s wonderful, Beth! Thank you for the feedback!
Hi. I love all your recipes . For the Vanilla Cake can I make cake one day and frost the next?
Hi Isabel! Yes, just let the cake cool and store it in an airtight container or wrapped well in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. You can store it at room temperature or refrigerate/freeze the layers for longer storage.
Good morning Do you think i could use salted butter.
Instead of unsalted butter ?
Hi Sherry! Yes, just omit the salt. I hope you love the recipe!
Your recipes make m6 family happy so thank you for the goodness you give to us
Can I bake this vanilla cake receipe in a 9×13 inch pan instead?
Hi Maria! I haven’t tested it in different size pans but one of my readers said, “I made this in a 9 by 13 pan and baked it for about 35 minutes at 350.”
Hi Natasha
can you use cake flour? I found the cake to be dense.
Hi Teresa! I have not tested cake flour so I can’t say. One of my readers reported using cake flour and said it had pound cake consistency.
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.
The cake turned out really dense and it tasted like biscuits. I know my ingredients were at room temp and I measured flour how you showed. Does freezing affect the cake? Because I froze the cake layers and that’s how it turned out..
Hi Eliana! Yes, freezing the cake can dry out the crumb, but that shouldn’t be the case if it’s properly wrapped/stored.
Also, eating this cake cold can make it seem dense/dry. You’ll want to let it come to room temperature for best results.
Did you measure your ingredients according to my tutorial on How to measure ingredients ? This cake shouldn’t be dense/dry unless the ratio of wet/dry ingredients is off, which is often caused by using too much flour. I would look over the list of ingredients again to see if every thing was measured correctly. Also- be sure to not over-mix the batter or it will make the cake more dense and even gummy. I hope that helps.
Hi I made the cake. It was very dense. I thought it would be moist. What did I do wrong?
Hi Nella! I’m sorry to hear that it was dense. Did you make any substitutions or changes? If not, the most common cause would be not measuring your flour correctly (using too much). Please watch my tutorial on How to measure ingredients to help. Also- be sure to not over-mix the batter or it can become gummy or dense.
Hey Natasha, I really admire you and I love your cooking. I really want to learn a lot from you.
Thank you, Elizabeth!
Can I make this into 2 7 ” cake pans? And how long would I bake them?
Hi Margaret. Yes, but you’ll have to experiment with the quantities. I haven’t tested different size pans to know how to adjust the ingredients. You’ll have too much batter for just 2- 7” pans. You’ll want to know overfill the pans. Watch them in the oven, they will bake faster. You can keep the temperature the same.
Hi Natasha my name a Maria B. I enjoy your you tube tutorials, your make cooking look FUN. I like your receipe for this vanilla cake and I am wondering if I can make this as a sheet cake instead of rounds? Also what size pan/cookie sheet and will this bake at same temperature?
Hi Maria! I’m sure you could but I haven’t tested different size pans to provide those exact instructions or to know how to adjust the ingredient quantities. Baking temperature would be the same but timing will depend on the size of pan and how thick/thin the batter is. You’ll have to experiment with it. Watch it in the oven. It will be done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.