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
I baked it and tried it your sooooooooooooooo right its really moisted and soft. BTW I love that you put sprinkles it makes it better
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I always follow some of your recipes esp.all about cake,however here in the Philippines seldom that we can buy Buttermilk.
What is the best substitute for buttermilk?
Thank you, Rose. Plain kefir will also work well instead of buttermilk. You can also make your own buttermilk at a ratio of 1 cup whole milk to 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice. Combine and let it sit 10 minutes to curdle then stir and use.
I made this cake , followed the recipe to a t . The flavors the taste was spot on , my cake texture was off looked correct but it felt as if it was thick not fluffy almost like pudding or dry any ideas as to what i did wrong ? Over bake or over mixed perhaps . Love all of your recipes they are amazing
Hi Mike, it should normally be soft in the center and not dense like a pound cake. Make sure the ingredients are all at room temperature, which helps to form the correct texture. Also, be sure to measure dry ingredients by fluffing the flour first with a spoon, then spoon it into a dry ingredient measuring cup and scrape it 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 made this cake yesterday and we just didn’t like it. Too sweet. This is a classic American cake and I tried then of course, thought maybe this one wouldn’t be that sweet. The recipe works really well and if someone is a fan of such cakes, you should use this recipe and you will like it. I never tried myself to make such cakes and buttercream and I gained the experience 🙂 I never want to repeat it again, with all due respect to Natasha. I’m a fan your recipes and it’s just a matter of preference at this point
My cake did not rise enough. Not sure what I did wrong. I followed everything you did. Everything was at room temperature. The only thing I did not have a mixer. I used my food processor for the butter sugar eggs and vanilla. Then took it out and add it flour a little at a time and mixed by hand till just combined. Also, I sifted all dry ingredients.
Hi Yolanda, that is a likely culprit – the whisk attachments make it nice and fluffy; this cake relies on the fluffy eggs mixed with rising properly. Also, make sure your leavening is not expired.
Thank you for replying but we ate the cake and it was delicious!
This is quite good, really nice moist crumb. I bake quite a bit (cakes are my favourite) and already had a solid vanilla cake recipe that I used from Chatelaine (from Canada), this one is equally if not better. As an overall comment Natasha’s kitchen is great resource and filled with very well recipes that are clearly tested prior to posting. Keep up the great work!
Hello Paige, that is so wonderful! Thank you for your nice comments and feedback, we appreciate it.
Hey Natasha. I’m a huge fan of your channel and love baking for my friends using your recipes. Last night was a disaster. I was trying to make this cake recipe with my friends but the batter did not rise properly in the oven. I noticed that on your recipe that all the ingredients have to be room temperature. Maybe that’s where it went wrong. I had used the eggs and milk taking them straight out of the fridge and maybe it chilled the batter? I’m not sure. Could that have been the problem? Cheers.
Hi Yohan, that is a likely culprit – the ingredients should be at room temperature. Also, make sure your leavening is not expired.
This recipe is really good can you tell me if there is substitute for eggs
Thank you! I haven’t tried making this without eggs yet, but I have an Eggless Chocolate recipe.
Hello Natasha
I was hoping to make the cake a day in advance to save time. How can I store the cake once its baked? I don’t think I need to freeze it for just one day.
Hello Karen, this cake can be made ahead. 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.
Can you bake this cake in a bundle pan.
Hi Donna, I’m assuming you’re asking about a bundt pan? If so, I haven’t tested this in a bundt cake to advise. If you happen to experiment, I would love to know how you like that.
Hi Natasha! So I’m a child… and I tried out this recipe for my parents’ anniversary, and I would just like to say, as a add-on, that you can swap out the Eggs (for people who don’t eat eggs) for 1 cup (measured out in 1/4ths tho) of hung curd or Greek yogurt works really well as well. I have my own website too, as well as a YouTube channel, and I just looked at this recipe to recheck the recipe I made, and OMG! This was awesome! Thanks for helping, please visit my YouTube channel which is called Aamni Saraswat, I also share the link for it in the video for the vanilla sponge cake (YES, this very recipe but in video form) and I just wanna say that I’m a huge fan and all the recipes I followed (like a year ago when I began baking, before I could make my own recipes) turned out amazing! Thank you soooo much! 🤩👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😃😃😃😃😇😇😇🙂🙂🙂😜😜😜🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🙃🧁🧁🙃🙃🙃🙃 🎂 🍰 🧁
Awesome info! Thank you for sharing that with us and great job, Aamni.
Hi
Can this recipe be halved?
Hi Alliya, I imagine that will work, although I haven’t tested it yet to advise of the measurements and all. Please share with us how it goes if you try it! Also, if you click on the serving size in the recipe card, you can slide it up or down to scale the recipe ingredient lists. I hope that helps!
I believe that if you put half of the ingredients it will half the cake or you can do the recipe and save the remaining batter
I made your Vanilla Cake for a party of 25. Everyone loved it. It really was yummy. I needed a sheet cake for that many people so i made it in a 9X13 pan that i lined with foil so i could lift it out easier. I cut the cake length wise so i could frost between the two layers. It worked out great. My only suggestion would be to start with 3 cups of powdered sugar in the frosting. I thought 4 1/2 cups was to sweet. Love your site. I have made many of your recipes and have love them all. Thank you
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Hello, I was planning to make this cake in a 9×13 and cutting it length wise as well. If you can answer a few questions I would greatly appreciate it! Was the batter amount enough for a 9 x 13 or did you adjust the ingredients to increase batter amount? Also how much longer was your baking time? Any other tips before I begin? Thanks!
can I use turbinado cane sugar instead of white sugar?
Hi Laurie, I haven’t personally tried using that yet to advise. If you do an experiment, please share with us how it goes!
how can i use a buttermilk powder with this recipe?
Hi Esther, I haven’t tried using powder to advise. Plain kefir will also work well instead of buttermilk. You can also make your own buttermilk at a ratio of 1 cup whole milk to 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice. Combine and let it sit 10 minutes to curdle then stir and use.
You can also do it with the same proportion of the Lemon juice but instead use vinegar. So, 1 cup milk, with 1 table spoon vinegar.
Hi Natasha, I made your vanilla cake recipe this weekend and it was so good! We can not stop eating it! Thank you so much! I really enjoy your videos and your recipes look so easy and delicious. I posted pictures of the cake on Instagram,but dont know if they posted.
I’m so glad to hear that you loved this recipe, Diane. Thanks for sharing! You can also post your photos on our Facebook page and group.
Hi Natasha! I was wondering if it’s okay to add red gel to the cake batter? My son wants a red cake, so I want to make sure the added gel will be okay and that it won’t affect the taste!
Thank you!
Hi Jill, I haven’t experimented with food coloring in this recipe, but I imagine gel would work best. If you happen to test that, I would love to know how you like it.
Hi Natasha. The layers when I baked this cake were very thin and therefore looked overcooked. I baked it for someone else so never tasted it. What would have happened? I followed the recipe exactly.
Hi Diane, you might check that your leavening is still active and not expired.
Hey Natasha! I just made this cake and it tastes amazing but looks done on the outside but a little wet on the inside. What should I do?
Hi Madison, keep baking until a toothpick comes out clean. It sounds like the inside may still be raw. I do recommend making sure your oven is calibrated and not running too hot.
I made the cake, one cake piece came apart down the middle. What did I do wrong
Hi Claire, make sure not to move the cake until it is fully cooled down. Transferring a warm cake can cause it to crack.