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
hi, i’m starting to sell cakes and they ordered me one with banana filling. My question is can this bread be used for that purpose? I want to know if it is okay if I leave the bread ready at night and nothing else filling in the morning does not dry out? or is it necessary to bathe it with a serum to give it more moisture?
I need help, please
Hi Dorin, the cake layers would hold up ok left covered at room temperature overnight. You would want to cover them to prevent drying out.
What materials do you need to make this like not the ingredients like whisk baking pan and so on i want t try it out and need a list
Hi Natasha,
Big fan of your channel and recipes.
Would it be ok to only use egg whites? If so, would I need to alter the number of eggs?
Look forward to baking this cake.
Cheers,
Alex
Hi Alex, without experimenting that way, I am not able to make that recommendation.
Hi Natasha, thank you for this wonderful recipe. I think I have found a cake recipe to keep. I baked this complete recipe for my daughter’s 1st birthday which is today and turned out just well balanced, a tad sweet for us but will adjust the sweetness next time. As much as I enjoyed eating the cake, I enjoyed baking and decorating it even more. Looking forward for more fab n practical recipes. One question though, I followed the recipe to the word using a hand mixer but my frosting did taste powdery sweet why is that so?
Hi Nikita, make sure to add the powdered sugar gradually as described which will make a big difference in the texture.
Hi Natasha , I just made this cake for my birthday . I’m so excited cause I know it will be so good .
I’ve tried many of your other recipes , they are all so delicious .
That’s just awesome! Happy Birthday!
Hi Natasha I am just about to make the cake ( all the recipes I have made from you are my favourites)
I’m happy to hear that, Chloe. I hope you enjoy this cake and all the other recipes that you will try!
Thanks for sharing the recipe. I live in Canada where our AP flour has higher gluten than the USA, should I be making an adjustment to the quantity of flour. Canadian AP flour has at least 12% gluten. Thanks
Hi Grace, I haven’t tested this with Canadian flour but I do love how things turn out with Canadian flour. I usually use slightly less flour when using Canadian since it has a higher gluten content.
Superr!!! turned out perfect for birthday cake:-)
I’m glad to hear that, Cherry. Thank you for your awesome review!
Hi Natasha , I made this cake was delicious but why the frosting wasn’t white was yellowish??
Hi Rana, did you use our buttercream frosting? The butter is more than likely the culprit, we recommend avoiding yellow-colored butter.
Would this cake hold up as a tiered cake
Hi Annita, to be honest, I have not tested this as a tiered cake. The recipe itself may fit into 3,6-inch cake pans but without that, I can’t say for sure.
Hello Natasha.
I hope you are well.
First of all, I want to say me and my younger siblings are a huge fan of your videos and I always like to watch them to learn new cooking and baking skills and you have a great presentation technique.
I am planning to make this cake and from your video, it looks great.
Can I ask for this cake, do you think using Xylitol would work as a substitute for sugar? My dad does not eat sugar as much but because this cake looks great for a birthday, I would love to make it with a sugar substitute?
I wanted to ask have you made this orange, mandarin cream Gateau cake? It is very similar to Frozen Strawberry Cream Gateau Cakes. When I was young, I used to love buying the frozen, mandarin cream Gateau Cake from Iceland store in London, UK. It was amazing. I do not remember exactly the cake ingredients but the cream itself tastes like orange. I recommend if you come up with a recipe for this cake and show on your next video.
Hi Irfan, Thank you so much to your and your siblings for always watching my videos. I haven’t really tried making this yet using Xylitol to advise if it would work well or not but I think it’s worth experimenting with. Thanks for your suggestion, I have not tried that recipe yet but I can add that to our list and hopefully we can try that in the future.
Hi Natasha! I love your recipes and am interesting in trying this one 🙂 I am just wondering if it will work in a 9 by 13 inch pan? Thank you!!
Hello Bridget, I think you chose the perfect recipe to try. I haven’t tried this recipe in a 9×13 but it may work. You may need to make more than one batch or it may result in a fairly flat cake. If you experiment, please let me know how you like that.
Excellent recipe!!! I made 1 sub- instead of buttermilk, I used a container of coconut flavored Greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup whole milk. Best vanilla cake I’ve ever made.
Super! I’m glad the ingredients that you used as substitutes worked well. Thank you for sharing that with us, Jenn!
Hi Natasha,
I made your vanilla cake and chocolate cake for my son’s bday thats 2 days away. Since im working im assembling the cake with frosting only the day before. So, i wrapped each layer individually in clingwrap in the fridge. Do you think it will be okay to fill and frost just one day earlier with the cooled cake layers? Kindly advice..
Hi Bijee, yes that should work fine. After it is assembled, you will 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 bit before serving.
Hi Natasha,
I’ve been watching your videos and absolutely love your enthusiasm and positive energy- Ive been searching all over for a good vanilla cake and tried your Vanilla cake yesterday. I MUST say..its the very best vanilla cake to date. Even my husband who only ever likes chocolate, tasted this and said this was Good!
Made this vanilla cake and your chocolate cake and layering it in 3 layers of vanilla, chocolate and vanilla for my son’s birthday on teh 14th.
Im gonna use your vanilla buttercream frosting and filling.
Thank you for being so honest and true in your recipes..i find that many people show all nice stuff but when i actually tried it turned out nothing like they say or show!
Again, thanks and best wishes!
Thank you so much for sharing this with me BG! Thank you for that great review!
This cake looks amazing. Do you have any advice on substituting Gluten Free flour? I use Krusteaz brand. I’d love to find a good vanilla gluten free cake for my GF son.
Thanks
Hi Tammy, I haven’t tested this with a gluten-free substitute. If you experiment I would love to know how you like that!
Thanks for the recipe Natasha! To be honest it wasn’t my favorite cake among your cakes, but kids loved it!
You’re welcome! Kids always love this classic cake!
I wanted to make this cake when I saw the video and now I have made it twice! It is so much more than what I thought vanilla cake could be. Moist and flavorful. I love that the cakes have a flat top rather than rounded (at least for me). It frosts perfectly with the vanilla frosting. Great recipe!
Sounds like you found a new favorite Katie! That’s so great!
Hi Natasha! Can I use the same recipe to make a chocolate cake? How much cocoa powder do I have to add? Thank you in advance!
Hi Desy, I haven’t tried that yet to advise. I have a chocolate cake recipe here too that you can try.
Hi Natasha! Can I bake this in just one cake pan?
Hi Desy, I haven’t experimented baking this cake in a single pan so I’m not sure if it would rise properly.
Hi Natasha, I have only one pan is it okay if I do the cake layers one by one?
I do not plan to mix the recipe in halves instead mix the whole batter and then do it one by one. Is that fine?
Hi, I haven’t tested it that way.
Hi Pavitra, I haven’t tested that so I’m not sure how it would affect the rise on the second cake.