The Best Vanilla Cake | Sprinkle of This (2024)

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This vanilla cake is soft, fluffy and delicious! Covered in vanilla buttercream frosting, this vanilla cake is really the best.

Classic Vanilla Cake

This buttery golden vanilla cake is moist and delicious. Covered in vanilla buttercream, it is a great classic recipe for any occasion.

It’s no secret that I have been on the hunt for the best vanilla cake recipe. My friends and neighbors know when I start going down the rabbit hole of trying different recipes and tweaks. I will often show up at their houses with several vanilla cakes for them to try. I know…it’s hard being my friend.

So here’s the deal.

Everyone has their idea of the best vanilla cake, and apparently no one can agree. My ideal cake is one that both tastes delicious but is sturdy enough to decorate. So it’s important to note that this recipe does have a slightly denser texture than a sponge cake. While you want a cake that is “light and fluffy,” you also need something that is not going to fall apart when it’s time to decorate it.

So after 5,349 attempts (I lost count) at a vanilla cake recipe, I have finally created my perfect one. I tweaked my original recipe based on feedback from others.

I also learned a lot about what each ingredient in cake batter does and how it can impact the recipe. I’ll share with you why the different ingredients are important, methods for making the best vanilla cake and tips to make sure you are successful.

Why is this Vanilla Cake so Good?

This is what makes this vanilla cake so good:

• Tender crumb from cake flour
• Fluffy from the egg whites
• Extra buttery and strong vanilla flavor
• Moist cake from creaming the butter

Traditional Creaming vs Reverse Creaming Method

There are two common methods for making a cake batter: traditional creaming and the reverse creaming method. It’s important to understand the difference each method.

The traditional creaming method starts by beating the butter and sugar together. The eggs are added one at a time. Then the flour and liquid ingredients are added to the butter mixture. As soon as the flour is added, the gluten (protein in the flour) starts to form. When the cake is baked, the air trapped in the butter expands and creates a light and fluffy cake.

The reverse creaming method starts by beating the flour, sugar and butter together. The flour particles are coated with the fat (butter) which reduces the gluten formation. Then the eggs and liquid ingredients are added. Since this process slows the formation of gluten, it makes a more tender, finer crumb.

This vanilla cake uses the traditional creaming method to produce a light and fluffy cake. It’s not as fool-proof as the reverse creaming method so pay close attention to the steps and length of times when mixing.

Cake Batter Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what each ingredient does in the vanilla cake batter:

• Flour – Flour provides structure in the cake. A low protein cake flour produces a cake with a light and tender texture. If you don’t have cake flour, you can make your own using all purpose flour. For this recipe, remove 4 tablespoons of your all-purpose flour and substitute in 4 tablespoons of cornstarch.
• Eggs – Egg whites help with the moisture in the cake since they are a liquid. The egg whites also provide structure and help leaven the cake.
• Butter – Fat is a tenderizer and adds moisture and flavor to the cake. Butter allows the cake to create air pockets which makes it light and airy.
• Sugar – Sugar obviously gives the cake sweetness, but it is also a tenderizer for the cake. It bonds to water molecules and suspends them in the structure to lock in moisture. By weakening the bonds of proteins in the flour and eggs, it breaks down the structure a bit to create a tender crumb. Although too much sugar and the cake can fall apart.
• Baking powder and baking soda – These chemical leaveners use carbon dioxide gas to lighten and lift the cake.

If you want a detailed explanation of the science behind each ingredient and what is does to the batter, I highly recommend checking out the Baking Science: Cake Batter posts.

Did I lose you? Ok, science class is over. Let’s get back to baking.

Tips Before You Get Started

• Follow the recipe – Read the instructions before starting. Read them again and then start baking.
• Bring ingredients to room temperature – Make sure that your eggs, butter, and milk are at room temperature. I usually set out my ingredients about an hour before baking. This helps the ingredients come together better. Cold ingredients do not come together well in cake batter. Don’t skip this step.
• Weigh your ingredients – If you don’t have a digital food scale, get one. Weighing your ingredients will ensure everything comes out consistently. It is amazing how inaccurate cups are in baking. You can easily over measure the flour in a cup, but grams on a scale are always accurate. Just get the dang scale.
• Use a high-quality butter – Butter quality matters when it comes to flavor. The butter I use has an 82% milk fat content. Most American butter contains 80% butterfat. I recommend the Kerrygold butter brand if you are in the U.S.
• Know your oven – Understanding your oven is a huge advantage in baking. You can get a digital oven thermometer to see what temperature it is really baking at. You may need to adjust the temperature based on your oven.
• Preheat your oven – You should always preheat your ovens for a minimum of 30 minutes. You can do this while you’re waiting for your ingredients to come up to room temperature.

How to Prepare Pans

• Step 1: Use room temperature butter and your fingers to coat the inside of the pans. Don’t forget the sides!
• Step 2: Put about 3-4 tablespoons of flour into the pan. Use your hands to tap the outside sides of the pan so that the flour moves around. Make sure there is a light even coat of flour.
• Step 3: Dump the excess flour into the next pan and repeat. Discard any remaining flour.
• Step 4: Cut circles of parchment paper and place at the bottom of the pans.

How to Get Flat Cakes

This cake recipe bakes up fairly flat. However, I do use the Wilton Bake-Even Strips to ensure they bake flat. You wet the fabric strips and wrap them around the cake pan while it is baking. If you have a cake recipe that tends to dome up, these are perfect for keeping the cake top flat.

Note: If you are looking to do a naked cake and need golden brown sides, I would not recommend using the cake strips.

How to Decorate Your Cake

The beauty of a vanilla cake is that you can go super simple or go all out with the latest trends. You can add a fault line using different layers of buttercream frosting. Add some horizontal stripes using different colors of frosting to create a striped cake lookor paint the buttercream for a really stunning look.

For this cake, I used the Wilton icing combs to create some texture around the sides. I added some spring flowers around the sides. You can use these different tips to create some beautiful buttercream flowers.

For this cake I used these tools:

• Aluminum cake turntable
• #1M Tip
• #199 Open Star Tip
• #6B Tip
• #67 Leaf Tip
• Piping Bags
• Icing Comb
• Icing Smoother

What if I Need Another Size Cake?

This recipe makes three 6 inch cake layers. This recipe will make two layers of an 8” inch cake. If you want a larger cake with three layers, I suggest you double the recipe. Use any remaining batter to make cupcakes. Note that with a larger cake, the baking times may be a little longer. Be sure to keep an eye on your cakes as they bake.

Hope you enjoy this vanilla cake recipe. If you like this recipe, you can check out a few of my other cakes:

• White Cake from Scratch
• The Best Chocolate Cake
• Stroopwafel Cake