With its outstanding vanilla flavor, pillowy soft crumb, and creamy vanilla buttercream, this is truly the best vanilla cake I’ve ever had. And after 1 bite, I guarantee you’ll agree.
One reader, Sarah, commented: “This cake is elite. Texture, flavor, sturdiness for frosting and decorating, freezes well… It was a beautiful centerpiece and dessert for a baby shower. Thank you! ★★★★★“
One reader, Candice, commented: “This is truly the best vanilla cake I have ever tasted! It is among the best cakes I have made in my 20+ years of baking… ★★★★★“
One reader, Rary, commented: “Off. The. Charts. Absolutely scrumptious! ★★★★★“
Out of all the cake recipes on my website, there’s a glaring absence. There’s white cake with a pristine soft crumb, vanilla naked cake with a flavorful tight crumb, and checkerboard cake with a whimsical design.
What about a classic vanilla layer cake draped in vanilla buttercream? I already have homemade vanilla cupcakes and a vanilla 6 inch cake covered and now in all its crowning glory (and after plenty recipe testing catastrophes), I present you with cake perfection:
This is the best vanilla cake I’ve ever had.
What Makes it the Best Vanilla Cake?
Let’s count the ways!
- Soft, light crumb from cake flour
- Fluffy from extra egg whites
- Buttery and cakey from creamed butter
- Stick-to-your-fork moist from eggs & buttermilk
- Extra flavor from pure vanilla extract
Not to mention its versatility: This vanilla cake batter is strong enough for shaped cakes, tiered cakes (see the slight variation in my homemade wedding cake recipe), and holds up beautifully under fondant. Use this batter for vanilla cupcakes, Bundt cake, or even piñata cake. It’s classy enough for a wedding celebration, but unassuming enough for a big family dinner.
Behind the Vanilla Cake Recipe
After years of cake successes and flops, I’m confident in this homemade vanilla cake. During my recipe testing, I combined my white cake recipe and naked cake recipe. These are two reader favorites and I knew they’d be the best starting point. At first there were too many eggs and I quickly learned sifting cake flour was NOT doing any favors.
You need the following power ingredients:
- Cake Flour: If you want a fluffy and soft bakery-style vanilla cake, cake flour is the secret. The cake will be denser and heavier using all-purpose flour.
- Eggs & 2 additional egg whites: 3 whole eggs provide structure, moisture, and richness. 2 extra egg whites keep the cake light and airy. I don’t recommend using 4 whole eggs; stick to the 3 egg & 2 egg white combination.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Remember the differences in baking powder vs baking soda and why we use both in some recipes? Using enough baking powder to give these layers height gave the cake a bitter aftertaste. Baking soda allows us to use less baking powder.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is an acidic ingredient and baking soda requires an acid to work. Plus buttermilk yields an EXTRA moist cake crumb. See recipe note about using a DIY buttermilk substitute.
For more prominent vanilla flavor, use homemade vanilla extract. (What a fun DIY gift!) This vanilla cake batter is moderately thick and fits perfectly in 3 9-inch cake pans. We actually use the same exact batter to make snickerdoodle cake.
Do you know how to level a cake? Let me help. It’s really easy. You can use a fancy cake leveler, but I use a serrated knife. Carefully slice off the tippy top of the cooled cake layers, creating a flat surface. Leveling cakes doesn’t require a ruler, talent, or any mathematical equations. Instead, just use your eyes, hands, and a knife.
Leveling the cake layers promises a straight and sturdy layer cake.
How Much Frosting Between Cake Layers?
I always eyeball the amount of frosting between cake layers, but I measured when I decorated the pictured cake. The vanilla buttercream recipe below yields about 6 cups of frosting. I recommend you use about 1.5 heaping cups of buttercream between each cake layer and reserve the last 3 cups for outside the cake. If you are going to add a filling such as raspberry cake filling, you’ll use less frosting between the layers. You can use this detailed how to assemble and decorate a layer cake post as a guide!
Cake Decoration Inspiration: For a simple look, stick with vanilla buttercream, fresh berries, and mint sprigs. You can also decorate with chocolate buttercream (I recommend the same amount from this piñata cake), rainbow sprinkles, a chocolate ganache drip like on this chocolate chip cake, or even beautiful buttercream flowers.
Homemade Vanilla Cake Success Tips
Learn from my mistakes and bake the best cake on the 1st try!
- Follow the recipe closely. Use each power ingredient listed.
- Use room temperature ingredients. The batter mixes together evenly when all the cake ingredients are roughly the same temperature. This also reduces the risk of over-mixing and over-baking. Set out your ingredients 1 hour before beginning. Read more about why room temperature ingredients are important.
- Line your cake pans with parchment. Place your cake pans on a large sheet of parchment paper. Trace the bottom of the cake pan with a pencil. Cut parchment paper into rounds. Grease the pan and the parchment paper. Parchment paper rounds guarantee seamless removal from the pan because the cake slides right out.
- Cool cake layers completely. I’ve tried taking shortcuts by assembling a layer cake with semi-warm cake layers. Well, the frosting completely melts and causes the entire cake to collapse. Make sure each layer is cool– refrigerate or freeze the layers if you need to!
- Refrigerate decorated cake. After frosting the cake, place it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. This is optional, but it sets the frosting and cake layers. You’ll get beautifully clean slices because the crumbs are cool and tight.
Great read: Check out Tessa’s Top 10 Best Layer Cake Tips.
Finding the perfect vanilla cake recipe requires a celebration. Luckily we have cake!!!
More Classic Cake Recipes
And here is my perfected vanilla cupcakes recipe.
Print
Best Vanilla Cake
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 12-14 servings
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
With its outstanding vanilla flavor, pillowy soft crumb, and creamy vanilla buttercream, this is truly the best vanilla cake I’ve ever had. Make sure you read through the recipe and recipe notes before beginning. This recipe yields approximately 8 cups of batter which is helpful if you need this batter for different cake pan sizes and conversions.
Ingredients
- 3 and 2/3 cups (433g) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs + 2 additional egg whites, at room temperature*
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (yes, a Tablespoon!)
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 and 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 and 1/2 cups (650g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk or heavy cream
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease three 9-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Make the cake: Whisk the cake flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Beat in the 3 eggs, 2 egg whites, and vanilla extract on high speed until combined, about 2 minutes. (Mixture will look curdled as a result of the egg liquid and solid butter combining.) Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients just until combined. With the mixer still running on low, pour in the buttermilk and mix just until combined. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Pour batter evenly into cake pans. Weigh them to ensure accuracy, if desired. Bake for around 23-26 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire cooling rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more milk if frosting is too thick, or an extra pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
- Assemble and decorate: Using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Discard (or crumble over ice cream!). Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with about 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting. Top with 2nd cake layer and evenly cover the top with about 1 and 1/2 cups of frosting. Top with the third cake layer. Spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides. I use and recommend an icing spatula to apply the frosting.
- Refrigerate cake for at least 1 hour before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The cake layers can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight. Likewise, the frosting can be prepared then covered and refrigerated overnight. Let the frosting sit at room temperature to slightly soften for 10 minutes before assembling and frosting. Frosted cake or unfrosted cake layers can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before decorating/serving. See how to freeze cakes for detailed instructions.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Round Cake Pans | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Kitchen Scale (optional) | Cooling Rack | Large Icing Spatula | Cake Turntable | Bench Scraper | Cake Carrier (for storing and transporting)
- 9×13-inch Cake: I recommend using my white cake batter instead. Both use similar ingredients and produce a deliciously light vanilla cake. See recipe notes for the 9×13 inch version.
- 2 Layer Cake: I recommend using my 2 layer white cake batter instead. Both use similar ingredients and produce a deliciously light vanilla cake.
- Bundt Cake: This vanilla cake batter will fit into a 10-12 cup or larger Bundt pan. I’m unsure of the exact bake time (likely around an hour), but use a toothpick to test for doneness. Same oven temperature.
- Cupcakes: Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 350°F (177°C) for 19-21 minutes. Yields about 3 dozen. Or try my vanilla cupcakes recipe.
- Cake Flour: To prevent a dry-tasting cake, make sure you are spooning and leveling the flour or weighing it. For the best results, I strongly recommend cake flour. You can find it in the baking aisle and I have many more recipes using it. Usually a homemade cake flour substitute works, but this recipe uses far too much cake flour and the homemade substitute is not ideal.
- Eggs: 3 whole eggs provide structure, moisture, and richness. 2 extra egg whites keep the cake light and airy. I don’t recommend using 4 whole eggs; stick to the 3 egg & 2 egg white combination. Here are recipes using leftover egg yolks.
- Buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make a DIY buttermilk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 1 and 1/2 cups. (In a pinch, lower fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the cake won’t taste as moist or rich.) Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about why room temperature ingredients are important.
- Want chocolate frosting instead? I recommend the recipe/amount of chocolate frosting I use for Piñata Cake.
- Sprinkle Cake: To make a sprinkle cake, fold about 3/4 cup (135g) of sprinkles into the cake batter. Avoid nonpareils (the little balls), which tend to bleed their color. Or try this confetti birthday cake, which is quite similar to this recipe.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally,
I couldn’t find the comment area on your brown butter pecan pie bars so I’m asking my question on this recipe if it’s okay. Can I also toast the pecans?
And, WOO HOO, I received your new Baking 101 Cookbook from Amazon today!! Praise Jesus!! My mom was here for coffee when it arrived and she didn’t even want to look at it because we both knew she wouldn’t leave once we began turning the pages and her coffee visit would have ended up becoming a sleepover instead!
Can hardly wait to try the brown butter pecan pie bars! Thank you Sally for this beautifully put together baking book!
Blessings,
Brenda
Hi Brenda! You can certainly toast the pecans if you wish. We’re so glad you’re enjoying the new cookbook and hope you love the pecan pie bars!
Can you substitute pure vanilla extract with Vanilla paste
Hi Robin, Yes, absolutely! Simply use the same amount of vanilla paste.
Hello, if I added sour cream into my vanilla or chocolate cake , how much and how much buttermilk do I remove from receipe?
Hi Roslyn! It’s hard give advice on changing a recipe without testing it ourselves, but you can try reducing the buttermilk by the same amount of sour cream you’re adding. It will make a cake with a tighter crumb.
Been trying to figure out why this cake came out dry. I measured and weighed my flour and didn’t over bake it. I was so.looking forward to making this recipe. Im an experienced baker, measure and double check my ingredients. Input welcome, did happen to anyone else?
Hi Marina, Here are all of our best tips on how to prevent a dry or dense cake. Hope this helps!
Hi. For the eggs/egg whites in this recipe I’ll be using extra large rather than large. Should I make any adjustment to the quantities? Thanks in advance!
Hi Mary, Do you have a food scale? Egg weights can vary but usually large eggs in the shell are about 57g, and 50g out of the shell. If you ensure you’re using the correct amount of total ounces for this recipe, you’ll be all set.
Hi, is it possible to use this recipe for 10 inch cake pans? Could I double the recipe and then just use the extra batter for cupcakes or something? Would the baking time change?
Hi Marcy! Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes. This recipe yields about 8 cups of batter. The baking time will be longer with more batter and larger pans.
This looks like the perfect recipe for my husband’s upcoming birthday. Can you add real vanilla bean or would the flavor be too overpowering? I always think the flecks add such a nice touch! Thank you.
Hi Allyson, yes, absolutely! You could add some scraped vanilla bean in place of or in addition to the vanilla extract. Hope it’s a hit!
This is actually the best vanilla cake ever. But what i love most about it is, how easy it is to just add, some cocoa powder to the recipe and it’s one of the best chocolate cakes ever, or just add a little cocoa powder and red food colour and it’s a great red velvet. I love this recipe and it has been my go to since I discovered it 5years ago
Hi! I’m thinking about making the raspberry chocolate chip cake but if I do I might use this recipe for the cake itself instead since I saw a few people having issues with the cake in the og recipe. Would I be able to use the same amount of raspberries and chocolate chips in this one?
soooo goooooood
I’ve never made a cake before in my life but want to try this for my daughter’s first birthday coming up. I’m so nervous!
I need the cake to be a bit taller, probably by one layer to allow for the decoration I am doing/and would probably help as I need to feel more people than 14 so could cut slices thinner.
How would I go about making it that bit taller? Would just making extra batter work or is there a baker reason I don’t know about why this is three layers and four wouldn’t work??
Hi Steph! You can bake and assemble 4 layers, but increasing the batter by that much could be a bit tricky. You could use our two layer white cake recipe and make two batches of that for a nice tall cake (both cakes have great vanilla flavor!). Let us know what you try!
I am going to make this for my kid’s birthday, i am just wondering if the frosting will be enough to coat and piping decoration as well? Frequently I run out of frosting before I get all the piping done and have to make a mini batch..and don’t want it to happen this time! Thanks! Love your recipes!
Hi Rachel, we would make extra for piping decorations – happy baking!
Can this be turned into a lemon cake with zest and/or syrup?
I know you have a lemon cake recipe but this one looks better for a decorated celebration cake and my daughter would love some lemon flavour in it.
Hi Shelly, You can try replacing some of the vanilla extract for lemon extract and add some lemon zest to this batter. We caution adding too much lemon juice, as it can make the batter too liquidy and impact how it bakes up. Let us know what you try!
Can these be had without frosting?
Hey I saw that you didn’t use simple syrup while assembling the cake. I wanted to use this cake to make a tiramisu cake. So can I use simple syrup? A strong coffe syrup? Would it affect the texture of the cake? Is there anything I should.be careful about
Hi C, we havent tried that here, but we use this recipe for tiramisu.
The recipe calls for 1 1/2 sticks of butter, or 340 g. These measurements are not equal, which should it be…1 1/2 sticks or 340 g?
Hi Kirsten, the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of butter, not 1 1/2 sticks. 1 1/2 cups of butter is equivalent to 3 sticks of butter.
Can this recipe be doubled and used for an 11x15x2 sheet cake? I used your sheet cake recipe last year (I’m making a cake for a large birthday party – this is the only time I make a birthday cake), and while I loved it, I had some folks who were’t a fan of the texture. So, I wanted to try this one as a sheet cake.
Hi Kristie, This amount of batter, as written, should fit nicely into that size sheet pan. Here’s everything you need to know about cake pan sizes and conversions. This batter makes about 8 cups.
My cake came out great! The flavor was amazing. My only regret is I didn’t find the Not-So-Sweet Whipped Frosting recipe until a few days later. Still, this cake with the whipped buttercream frosting was a hit. I added a bit of fruit for decoration.
Hello Sally, I don’t really have access to buttermilk, with what can I substitute it? Will kefir be a good choice?
Hi Ana, see recipe Notes for details on a DIY buttermilk substitute.
DELISH! Used to this make a cake for my sister’s birthday and it was perfect! My sis loves almond flavoring so I swapped out the extract and did 3/4 tablespoon of almond extract and 1/4 of vanilla. Worked out beautifully.
My cake came out dry!
I’m really sad it wasn’t perfect.
Hi HelenMae, sorry to hear that your cake came out dry! Happy to help troubleshoot. How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured. Too much flour can significantly dry out cakes, as can over baking, even by a few minutes. Always make sure to keep an eye on your cakes in the oven.
What is best for a 4 layer wedding cake – 2 x 6 inch and 2 x 8inch layers – this recipe or your Simple Homemade Wedding Cake Recipe?
Or will they both work well?
Hi Rebecca, the homemade wedding cake recipe is nearly the same as this vanilla cake, but we swap buttermilk for whole milk and sour cream. So you can use either. Enjoy!
I’d like to half the recipe . How would you recommend doing the eggs?
Hi Andrea, Our general rule for halving an egg is to crack it open, beat the yolk and white together with a fork, measure the volume (should be a few Tbsp), then use half) and then 1 egg white. Or, you might like our 6 inch vanilla cake recipe instead. The two are similar, but with this larger cake we like to use buttermilk instead of sour cream and whole milk simply because larger cakes tend to become denser quicker and buttermilk helps prevent that. This cake also needs a few egg yolks for structure. Hope this is helpful!
Hi Sally, could I bake this recipe in 3 8” pans and if so what would be the timing?
Hi Michelle, you can use this recipe with 8 inch cake pans for slightly thicker layers in a three layer cake. You may need an extra minute or two of bake time since the layers will be thicker – use a toothpick to test for doneness. Or, you can fill the 8 inch pans a little less and use the leftover batter for some cupcakes.
Thank you…I’ve used your triple chocolate cake recipe for years and it’s the best
I made a strawberry lemonade cake using only recipes from this site and it came out so good!
I used this recipe for the cake, your lemon curd recipe for the filling, and your strawberry buttercream recipe for the frosting.
Hi Sally! Would this recipe work well for a 6 inch layered cake?
Hi Kayla! This batter yields too much for a 6 inch cake, unless it’s several, several layers! Instead, I recommend my 6 inch vanilla cake recipe.
I followed the recipe exactly and two of the cakes turned out great but one sunk in with a spot in the middle. This is a “trial run” for a special birthday cake, so I would appreciate any suggestions as to why this might have happened.
Hi Kathy! Sometimes this can happen when you’re scraping out the last of the batter from the bowl that hasn’t been well incorporated, so it has a lot of extra butter. You can use a spatula or whisk to mix by hand at the very end to make sure the batter is well mixed.
Made it with a gluten free 1:1 flour, it was still delicious and moist, which is usually hard to achieve with gf products at times 🙂 Will definitely bake again, thanks for the recipe
I also make the Triple Chocolate Cake with Namaste gluten free flour (1:1) and it turns out perfectly each time. You cannot tell that it;s gluten free and I’ve make it at least 6 times now! I love Sally’s Baking as the instructions are so concise and clear!
Sally, I’m excited to bake this cake for friend’s birthday. Question:
She needs it made with coconut sugar. A y suggestions? And for frosting, will ground coconut sugar and small amount of tapioca starch work? Thank you!
Hi Paula, we’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Hello!!
This cake by far, is the best cake I’ve ever made! It’s so good i cant stop eating it.
I made this for my birthday just to try out and was skeptical because I’ve tried so many different homemade cake recipes. we used a commercial frosting and filled it with instant pudding just to see how the crumb of the cake is. Needless to say, the cake came out better than I could have asked for.
A little back story… I wanted to find a perfect cake for your basic flavors, vanilla, chocolate, coconut etc. I’ve tried many cake recipes and this by far is the best.
I like the fact that i uses your basic ingredients and is listed in grams as well as cups.
Thank you so very much, I can’t wait to see how it turns out as a cupcake!!
I agree!!! Bake even strips are the best!!