Bring all your ingredients to room temperature, meaning the milk, eggs, and butter should not be even a tiny bit cold. This will ensure that the cake batter mixes together correctly and you'll get a better rise and texture in your final cake. Preheat your oven to 335ºF and prepare two 8"x2" round cake pans with cake goop or another preferred kind of pan release and parchment paper. Measure out your ingredients with a food scale. If you haven't used a scale before, don't be intimidated. It's actually easier than using cups and way fewer dishes (yay). You can get a great scale online or in any local store that sells kitchen equipment. Divide your milk in half and add your oil to one half and add the eggs and vanilla to the second half. Set them aside.
Place your cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment attached.
Add in your softened butter and mix at low speed until the flour mixture resembles a coarse sand texture.
Add your milk/oil mixture and increase the speed to medium. Let your cake batter mix for 2 full minutes. Scrape after 1 minute if you need to. The texture should be light, white, and fluffy after 2 minutes. Don't worry you won't overmix it.
Reduce the speed to low and slowly add in the milk/egg mixture in a steady stream until it's all added in. This takes me about 1 minute. Once the egg mixture is all mixed in, your cake batter is ready to bake!
Divide your cake batter into your cake pans evenly and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the center bounces back when you lightly touch it.
Let your cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes or until the pan is just barely warm to the touch.
Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way or pop them into the freezer to cool them down faster. For me, it takes about an hour and then they are chilled and ready to go. You can also fully freeze your cakes (wrapped in plastic wrap) and that will help seal in the moisture and keep them moist until you're ready to frost your cakes.