I am so excited to share this recipe for a Moist and Fluffy Vanilla Cake! I’ve been making this recipe for years, because it uses simple ingredients, has great flavor, and is perfect for making layer cakes!
For those who know me and see me regularly, they know that I play with vanilla recipes like it’s my job. I kind of feel like you are only as good as your best vanilla cake. It is super important to have a wonderful one, and yet it seems to be the hardest for people to find. Plus everyone has their own idea of what makes it “the best”. I think I might have made it my life’s mission to make the best vanilla cake for everyone. It may not be that there’s one “best” recipe for all, but maybe a couple recipes that you can choose from. Bottom line – I make a lot of vanilla cake. And it’s all for you. 🙂
So let’s talk a little about this recipe. You may or may not have seen/made my vanilla cupcakes. They have been quite popular and it’s a recipe I go back to time and time again. I love it and so many others love it too.
But it always amazes me how people love different things about cakes. Many people have agreed that they are perfect, moist and fluffy and it’s their new favorite. Yet some think they are too dense. To be fair, when you bake it as a cake, it is fairly dense. And yet, every time I do a taste comparison with a larger group (usually our church group), it’s their favorite – whether a cake or cupcakes. Funny, right?
But I am someone who likes options. I don’t want to feel limited and I’m sure I’m not the only one. And since I’ve loved this cake for so long, I decided it was time to share it so you could have more options. 🙂 The only reason I haven’t shared it sooner is that I wanted to tweak a few things. One thing being that the original recipe didn’t do well as cupcakes. They separated from the liners as they cooled, so I wanted to fix that (and I did!).
Of course, now it begs the question of how this recipe is different from the other one. Neither is necessarily better than the other. That really depends on your preference. But any time I see multiple options for a particular flavor (like vanilla) on someone’s site, I’m always curious about the differences so I know which one I want to try. So I want to break down some of the differences and similarities for you.
First, let’s talk about the ingredients. Just like with the other recipe, I wanted to have simple ingredients that most people usually have on hand. The original recipe calls for cake flour and I wanted to replace that with all purpose flour. That, plus some other tweaks to account for the change, and you now have a pretty normal ingredient list. Score!
Second, there’s the mixing method. The other recipe is very simple. Basically a throw everything together and mix method, which is wonderfully easy. This cake uses the creaming method. The steps are more involved and definitely need to be followed.
Third is the final cake taste and texture. Again, this is very subjective in terms of which is better. I love them both. They both have excellent vanilla flavor. This cake is flatter on top when baked. As for which is denser, or fluffier, I think they’re both fluffy and dense. Confusing, right?
This cake manages to be a little denser-seeming, as there aren’t as many air pockets in the baked cake. But when you bite into it, it actually has a super fluffy taste and feel to it. I feel like the other recipe is actually the denser one, especially when made as a cake, but it has more air pockets and also manages to seem fluffy. Both are very moist.
Personally, I like the other recipe for cupcakes (they’re still my perfect cupcake!) and this one for a cake. But both can be used as a cake or cupcakes and both are delicious.
Hopefully that explanation was more helpful than confusing. 🙂
The bottom line is that you can’t go wrong with either, though you might end up preferring one over the other if you try them both.
I love the texture of this cake. It is absolutely wonderful when layered and iced and I find it very hard to not want to eat the entire cake. It really is a very soft and moist cake. I recently shared it with a friend who wanted to make a vanilla cake for her daughter’s birthday and they loved it!
So there you have it – another vanilla cake/cupcake recipe. Decisions, decisions. If you give them both a try, I’d love to know what you think. 🙂
More Recipes to Try
- Moist Vanilla Layer Cake Recipe
- Homemade Vanilla Cake Mix
- Moist Vanilla Cupcakes
- Vanilla Bundt Cake
- Vanilla Sheet Cake
Moist and Fluffy Vanilla Cake
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Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups (336g) salted butter (room temperature, I use Challenge Butter)
- 2 1/4 cups (466g) granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) milk
Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups (336g) salted butter
- 1 1/2 cups (284g) shortening
- 12 cups (1380g) powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 6-7 tbsp (90-105ml) water or milk
Instructions
Make Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Line three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper in the bottom and grease the sides.
- Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the egg whites and vanilla and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute, no more. The texture of the batter will change and become thicker and may seem a little curdled.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium sized bowl.
- Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
- Add about half of the milk and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
- Continue alternating adding dry and wet ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, and beating until incorporated after each addition. There should be three total additions of dry ingredients and two total additions of milk. End with the dry ingredients. The batter will be thick and glossy.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and spread evenly.
- Stagger the cake layers on the oven racks so that no layer is directly over another. Bake for 30-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Don’t be alarmed if the tops are a little browned, that is normal.
- Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove cakes from pans to cooling racks and cool completely before frosting.
Make Frosting
- To make icing, combine butter and shortening and mix until smooth.
- Add 6 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add vanilla extract and 4 tbsp of water or milk and mix until smooth.
- Add remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add more water or milk until desired consistency is reached.
Assemble Cake
- To assemble cake, place first layer of cake on your cake stand or plate. NOTE: The cake layers shouldn’t have a rounded dome on top of them, but if they do, cut them off before stacking.
- Add about 1 1/2 cups icing and spread into an even layer.
- Add second layer of cake and another 1 1/2 cups of icing.
- Top cake with remaining layer of cake.
- Use the rest of the icing to ice the outside of the cake. TIP: This tutorial gives instructions on icing a smooth cake and piping.
To Make Cupcakes
- Follow cake making instructions above through number 7. Fill cupcake liners about 1/2 way. Bake at 350 degrees for about 16-18 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely. Recipe makes about 36 cupcakes.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
Recipe modified from this recipe.
Enjoy!
Hi, can I replace the butter for oil? Or use half butter half oil?
I wouldn’t suggest it with this cake. If you’d like an oil-based cake, I’d suggest trying the cake layers in this one this one.
How long in advance can you make the cake?
I have a birthday party coming up…
The cake should be good for 2-3 days.
Hi, please can you tell me what number icing tip you used for the swirls on top of the cake? I make this all the time and it is perfect. Everyone loves it.
Glad you enjoy it! It’s Ateco tip 844.
Hafa Adai Lindsay from the island of Guam, I just prepared this cake today for my birthday. This was my first cake from scratch and it turned out delicious! My children found it yummy. It was moist with a slightly crisp edge. Definitely a dense cake but not at all hard. The vanilla taste was full. My oldest son said he considered it a pound cake and absolutely loved it although he believes it would surely add a few pounds to his waist just by inhalation alone.
I didn’t weigh any of the ingredients but the end result looked exactly like your cake. It was very easy to handle and slip out of the pans. Also, the icing easily spread to perfection. There were no crumbles that I normally dealt with when making a boxed mix cake.
My 75 year old mother had seconds. This cake recipe is a keeper but will only be used for special occasions. Everyone said, this would make wonderful recipe for a wedding cake. It is a bit new for me to add the ingredients in the phases presented but not at all difficult. I cooked the cake for 31 mins, cooled them in the refrigerator for 40 minutes while I prepared the icing. I can’t think of any tweaking except maybe the title. Hee Hee. I would call it “Rich and Moist Goodness!” Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
So Blessed,
Fredalynn Hecita
I am using this recipe to make a double (9×13) white cake with raspberry filling and whipped-cream, cream cheese frosting for my daughter’s swim team banquet dessert competition held this Friday. It is literally in the oven as we speak and I could not get over how smooth, light and creamy the batter is! This is just a test run….the real cake will be made Thursday with Olympic Pool Theme decor and all! I tried another recipe I found….The best white cake ever….it was terrible!! Both my husband and daughter felt it was extremely “bready” with no flavor! Fingers crossed on this one! It has been in for 30 minutes and is far from done. The edges are golden brown so I lined them with tin foil so that it will not brown anymore as the middle cooks. I will update after!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
How did this turn out for you? Thanks!
Hi Kara! I plan on trying this recipe next week – it looks awesome. Would I need to adjust anything for different pan sizes for future reference? Thank you so much!
Just the baking time.
Hi can you add jam to this cake in between the layers ? Will it taste as good ?
Thanks
That should be fine. 🙂
I made this today and infused the milk with tea bags and it was DELICIOUS! Just wanted to let people know this is a perfect recipe for doing this. Thank you so much for such a wonderful cake.
If I wanted to use cake flour instead of all purpose flour will the recipe change? If so, how? If not, please let me know!
Please see this recipe.
Cake is perfect!
I made this cake today, as written, no substitutions, weighed everything and even used Challenge Butter… so basically I’m saying followed the above recipe to a T. I bake a LOT and was hoping this was going to be everything I wanted in a vanilla cake but it was not. I read almost all the past comments and saw a lot of people comment on LIKING the idea of the recipe but not a lot of people actually MAKING it and giving feedback (only a small percentage). Now, while the cake was moist, it was not “fluffy”, it was more dense and tasted very similar to a cake made with a lot of Crisco, pound cake like texture. The cake itself (without any buttercream) was a bit sweet. I opted for a vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream instead. I read in previous comments someone said that the cake tasted like “play-doh” and as crazy as that may sound, that’s an accurate comparison. As in previous comments, the edges get a bit crispy too, the cake also shrinks a lot and my parchment actually stuck a bit to the bottom of the cake. I will not make this cake again. My husband and children were not fans either, they just said it tasted “weird”. I am confident in my baking that I prepared everything as it should be so no second chance here. Thank you for the recipe but I’m off in search of another.
Hey Lindsay , this is such a great recipe. I did a birthday cake and I mean it was just perfect. We had a lot leftover and kept it in the fridge but it still remained fluffy and soft. This is by far the best vanilla cake recipe I have tried. See link below on how it turned out ! My decoration skills still need work but thank you ! https://www.instagram.com/p/BQhbNivFQhI/?taken-by=chirichoo&hl=en
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It looks great!
hi,
im in Australia and was just wondering weather the sugar you use in most of your recipes is regular sugar or castor sugar when i bake i usually use castor sugar not sure if thats what im supposed to be using as castor sugar is alot finer then regular sugar??
help haha thanks
Unless otherwise stated, I use granulated sugar in my recipes.
Hi. Can we use unsalted butter. Dint take notice of the salted bit. Please help. Tried your vanilla cupcakes. They are brilliant. Thanks.
Yes, you can use unsalted butter, you’ll just need to add some salt to the recipe – probably about 1/2 tsp.
2 3/4 of baking powder means 2 full tablespoons and 3/4?? Sorry is my first time making a cake
It’s actually teaspoons (tsp). Tablespoons would be tbsp. And yes, two full teaspoons, plus 3/4 teaspoon.
Hi, the recipe is for 3 layers, if i want 1 layer of 8 inch, i need to divide by 3?
thanks
Depends on how thick of a cake you want. If you want it taller, you could try cutting it in half.