Moist Vanilla Cake With Easy Buttercream

This is the best vanilla cake recipe! It has an amazing flavor, a soft, cloud-like crumb, and is so incredibly moist. Cake flour, the reverse creaming method, lots of butter, and a touch of oil keeps this cake moist for days. This was my first cake recipe posted in my first cookbook Artisan Cake Companys Visual Guide To Cake Decorating. It was one of my most popular flavor for wedding cakes back when I was still a storefront.

 

Next to my white velvet buttermilk cake, and lemon blueberry cake, this moist vanilla cake is one of our most popular recipes. I have been using this recipe for over ten years for my cake clients with nothing but rave reviews. This is the cake that turns those "I don't even like cake" consultations into OMG we need to book you right now clients! This is perfect for special occasions like weddings, showers, and it makes the perfect birthday cake!

What Makes This Vanilla Cake The BEST

I have tested this recipe over and over and tweaked it many times until I achieved in my mind what is the BEST vanilla cake. To me, the best cake is soft, moist, buttery, flavorful and moist even after a few days. It's versatile and can go with just about any flavor combo. I've used this recipe as a base for other recipes like my applesauce spice cake, pink champagne cake, and yellow cake recipes.

• The Texture of this vanilla cake is incredibly soft and has a tender moist crumb thanks to the reverse creaming method. The reverse creaming method is where you combine the butter with the dry ingredients first and then add the liquids. There are no large holes, toughness or dryness to be found in this cake. A common complaint is that it's SO tender some people think they did something wrong but I assure you, this tenderness is totally normal and delicious.
• Incredibly delicious flavor! Using high-quality butter, vanilla, and whole eggs not only adds tons of flavor, it keeps this cake moist for days.
• Bakes flat so you have no cake waste.
• Very moist but stable enough to make layered cakes or wedding cakes. 
• Not too sweet and goes really well with my vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Cake Ingredients

Cake flour is used in this recipe instead of all-purpose flour because cake flour has a much lower protein content resulting in a more tender and moist cake. If all you have is all-purpose flour, then you can use the cornstarch hack to make your own cake flour BUT I will warn you it won't taste exactly the same. 

Vanilla is the main flavor ingredient in this recipe so ideally you should use pure vanilla extract or even vanilla beans for the best flavor.

Unsalted butter is what bakers normally use for baking so that you can control the level of saltiness in your recipes. If you don't have unsalted butter you can use salted butter but it can affect the flavor of your cake layers.

Vegetable oil is used to help keep this cake moist for days. If you don't have vegetable oil or don't want to use it, you can use any other type of oil like canola, olive oil, or grapeseed oil.

Tips For Success (trust me, you want to read this)

• Measure out all of your ingredients with a kitchen scale. Baking is a science and because you can accidentally add too much flour or have not enough flour when you use cups, a scale is needed for accuracy. You can purchase a kitchen scale in the baking aisle at most grocery stores for less than $20.
• Bring your butter, milk, and eggs to room temperature. Room temperature ingredients will create an emulsion properly but if any of your ingredients are cold then the batter will not mix together properly and you'll end up with a wet layer at the bottom of the cake. Click the link above if you need to know how to warm up your eggs, milk, and butter properly. 
• Don't be afraid to mix. If you've never used the reverse creaming method before you might get freaked out about the mixing stage because we are going to mix for TWO minutes. When you're traditionally making a cake, you would never mix that long because you would over-mix your cake batter and create huge holes (tunnels).
• With the reverse creaming method, we coat the flour in the butter first which inhibits the gluten from developing. We are also using cake flour which isn't as strong as regular flour so it needs to be mixed more. Reverse creaming also allows us to add more liquids and sugar to the cake than the typical mixing style which is why this vanilla cake is SO incredibly moist and tender.
• Check your altitude - If you live above 5,000 ft you may need to reduce your baking powder a bit so that your vanilla cakes do not collapse.

Vanilla Cake Step-By-Step

1. Preheat your oven to 335ºF. I like to bake at a lower temperature because it results in a flatter cake. If your oven doesn't have that capability, it's still ok to bake at 350ºF. You might have a tiny dome after baking but you can just trim it off.
2. Place the first measurement of warm milk (4 oz) into a separate measuring cup. Add in the oil and set it aside.
3. To the second measurement of milk, add the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk lightly to break up the eggs.
4. Place your cake flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached. You can also use a hand mixer. *before you ask, this is my Bosch universal plus affiliate link if you're interested in learning more.
5. Add in your softened butter in chunks while mixing on low speed. Mix everything until it looks like coarse sand. Don't walk away because this happens pretty quickly.
6. Now add in the milk/oil mixture all at once. Mix for two full minutes on medium speed to develop the cake's structure. The batter should be light, white, and not curdled looking or broken.
7. Now we are going to slowly add in our egg/milk mixture while mixing on low. We are adding it slowly because we are creating an emulsion with our eggs and liquids. If you add it too quickly, your liquids will separate from the butter and sink to the bottom of the cake.
8. The cake batter should be fairly thick and look smooth and shiny.
9. Divide the batter into three, eight inch pans prepared with cake goop or your preferred pan release. For added insurance, you can put parchment paper into the bottom of the pan but it's really not needed. I use a scale to make sure all my pans have the same amount of batter.
10. Bake your cakes for 25-30 minutes in a preheated oven until the center is set and a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake. You may need more time so do not be afraid to bake the cake for longer.
11. Remove the cakes from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack. Let them cool down until the pans are barely warm. Don’t let them get cold or they will stick. The cake layers do not go all the way to the top of the pan and that is ok! The cakes are VERY delicate when warm so handle them carefully.
12. After the cake layers are cool, flip them out onto the wire rack to cool fully before frosting. You can also freeze your cake layers if you don't plan on frosting them right away.

How To Decorate A Vanilla Cake

So now that you've made the worlds best homemade vanilla cake you are probably wondering how to decorate it! Would you believe me if I told you it's not as hard as you think! You can easily turn this recipe into a layer cake by following my tutorial on how to make your first cake. The tutorial will walk you through how to trim you cake layers, how to make the vanilla buttercream frosting, how to stack, crumbcoat, and decorate your cake.

If you want to decorate your cake making palette knife buttercream flowers you can watch this video I made on YouTube.

FAQ

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