I finally found a really delicious and moist vanilla cake recipe that is EASY to make. A lot of recipes for “THE BEST VANILLA CAKE” require cake flour and whipping a lot of egg whites. I wanted to share a recipe that was more approachable and simple than that. Just a quick and easy recipe with an outstanding result. I also adapted this recipe to be a smaller cake, rather than a huge layer cake. You can divide the batter between two 8 inch pans, or make one thicker single layer like I did. You can make 12 cupcakes, or a 6 inch layer cake with 2 or 3 layers. Take your pick!
I adapted this recipe from Sarah Kieffer’s recipe for Yellow Cake in her cookbook, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book. The vanilla buttercream comes from Smitten Kitchen’s confetti cake recipe.
Check out some of my other cake recipes here:
Carrot Cake (single layer or small batch)
Small Batch Moist Chocolate Cake
Easy Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
Moist vanilla cake with a dense but tender crumb reminiscent of a Bundt. Quick and easy to make. Makes a single layer 8 inch cake, 12 cupcakes or 6 inch layers.
Servings: 8 generous slices
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream (full fat)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (114g) unsalted butter*, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature*
Vanilla Buttercream
- ½ cup (114g) unsalted butter, room temperature*
- 1 ¼ cups (150g) icing sugar, sifted if lumpy
- pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk or cream (plus more if needed)
- food colouring (optional)
- sprinkles for decoration
Instructions
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat oven to 350°F, with an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Grease an 8 or 9 inch round cake pan with butter (or cooking spray). Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper, and lightly flour the pan by sprinkling some flour in the pan and tapping the pan to evenly coat the sides with flour. If making cupcakes, put 12 muffin liners in a standard 12-cup muffin tin. See notes* for cake pan size options.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream.
- Using either a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a handheld electric mixer and a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt on low until combined. With mixer on low, add the butter one piece at a time. Beat until mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add half of the wet ingredients and mix on low. Increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and mix on low until just combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 20 seconds. Batter may still be a little lumpy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and mix it a few more times with the spatula.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan (or pans) and smooth top to spread in evenly. If making cupcakes, fill the liners about half full. Bake for 30-35 minutes if using an 8 inch pan, reducing the bake time if using smaller pans. For cupcakes, check after 16-20 minutes. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake (or cupcake). Watch it carefully and do not over-bake because dry cake is an abomination.
- Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes on a wire rack, then tip cake out onto rack, remove parchment paper, and let cool completely. Frost once completely cooled, or wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to frost.
Vanilla Buttercream
- Beat the softened ROOM TEMPERATURE* butter in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the icing sugar, salt, and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add the milk or cream and food colouring (if using) and beat until smooth. If it is too thick to easily spread, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. If too thin, add a little more icing sugar. See notes below if your buttercream splits and doesn't look smooth.
- Spread over the top of the cooled cake and top with sprinkles if using.
Notes
- Room Temperature Butter is really important here for both the cake AND the icing. Butter should not be cold at all. It should be soft and spreadable. If your butter is cold, cut into 1-inch pieces place in a bowl over a larger bowl of hot tap water (water bath). Let sit, mixing occasionally until butter is softened.
- Using Salted Butter : I often use salted butter and unsalted butter interchangeably, however it is best to reduce the salt slightly if you do this. For the cake, use 1/4 teaspoon of salt instead of 1/2 teaspoon if using salted butter. For the buttercream, omit the pinch of salt if using salted butter.
- Buttercream Troubleshooting: If your buttercream looks split (tiny little lumps rather than perfectly smooth), your butter was probably either too cold or too warm. If it was too cold, then put your bowl of split buttercream in a larger bowl full of hot tap water to create a water bath. Stir the buttercream and let sit until it warms up a bit. Remove bowl from water bath and beat again with your mixer until smooth. If butter was too warm, do the same but with an ice cold water bath.
- Cake Pan Size Options:
- For a little layer cake, you could divide the batter in two 8 inch round pans, or two or three 6 inch pans. You may need to double your buttercream recipe if making a layer cake.
- You could also make this in a square 8 or 9 inch pan
- Makes about 12 cupcakes
- I made one thicker 8 inch round single layer cake