The Best Vanilla Cake
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The Best Vanilla Cake. All bakers search for the best vanilla cake recipe. After 30 years, I developed my own moist, buttery, perfect vanilla cake. I've added Marshmallow Frosting too!
Originally published Aug 2010.
The best vanilla cake recipe is something every curious baker spends plenty of time searching for. I've tried dozens over the years and have conducted many experiments.
I tweaked each recipe trying to get the result I want. This one is the best I've tried so far.
It is quite moist and has a good density but not as dense as pound cake. I like the balance of texture that is achieved by using a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour. It is important not to over measure the flour.
Essential ingredients!
One essential ingredient in this recipe is real dairy butter.
Margarine just won't cut it.
I've used whipping cream in other recipes but this one gets a lot of richness from using undiluted evaporated milk instead.
Finally, the vanilla flavouring is crucial. DO NOT use artificial vanilla flavouring! In fact NEVER use it! Use the best quality, real vanilla extract that you can find for real, exotically fragrant vanilla cake.
Vanilla paste is also delicious in this recipe. You use an equal amount to vanilla extract.
The frosting for the Best Vanilla Cake.
The frosting on this cake is a family favourite which goes by many names but is referred to at our house as Marshmallow Frosting. It has been featured several times on this site.
You can find our terrific recipe for Marshmallow Frosting here. It is the perfect frosting for this cake.
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The Best Vanilla Cake
All bakers search for The Best Vanilla Cake recipe. After 30 years, I developed my own moist, buttery, perfect vanilla cake; with Marshmallow Frosting too.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cake or pastry flour
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup evaporated milk, undiluted.
- 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- For this recipe it is very important to be sure to sift the flour very well before measuring. Flour that is too compacted can cause a denser, heavier cake. If you do not have a flour sifter, put some flour in a bowl and whisk it for a minute before spooning the flour into the measuring cup to measure. Do this for both types of flour in the recipe.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after every addition.
- Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Gently fold in the dry ingredients in three equal portions, alternately with the evaporated milk. When adding dry and wet ingredients alternately in any baking recipe, always begin and end with the dry ingredients.
- Pour batter evenly into 2 well greased and floured 9 inch cake pans.
- Bake in a 325 degree F oven for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Watch it carefully, you will not want to over bake this cake, as soon as the toothpick comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and let it rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
As with all my cake recipes I recommend using aluminum cake pans for gentle even heating with much less chance of over baking.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
one sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 407Total Fat 19gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 100mgSodium 224mgCarbohydrates 54gFiber 1gSugar 36gProtein 6g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Hello..when you say fold....fold in flour with hands and a metal spoon? or can this be done with the mixer? (i have a kitchen aid)
I generally fold by hand with a runner spatula.
I made this recipe as cupcakes last week for a family celebration. Recipe gave me 24 cupcakes and 8 minis. (Probably could have gotten more regular sized one if I used a cupcake scooper.) They were AWESOME! I got 1/2 of one. The kids were eating 3-4 each. All gone before I could turn around, and everyone was asking if there were more. Topped it with chocolate frosting. They baked beautifully, with a flat top. 2 sunk a tiny bit in the middle, but the could be my oven. No worries, a little frosting and they were devoured too. I think I'm going to have to make a batch just for myself.
I absolutely LOVE this cake! Don't mess with it. Really. Just follow it as written (I rarely do that, but this recipe doesn't need modifying), and you will have delicious, soft, cake with a beautiful crumb. I've used this cake by special request for my kids' birthdays for several years now! Drooling just thinking about it.
You are so right. It took a lot of experimenting to get this recipe where I wanted it. Those who try to change it will not better it, I don't believe.
This cake recipe is AWESOME! I LOVE IT best vanilla cake recipe EVER!!!!!thanks a million Barry
I am going to make this type of cake for the first time and chose to use this recipe (there are a lot of fans!). I'm interested in both vanilla layers and chocolate layers. Can this recipe be easily converted to chocolate?
I've never tried it but there are other chocolate cake recipes on the blog too that are not as dense as this cake. You could also try adding cocoa to the recipe but You would likely have to cut back on the flour a little to prevent it from being too dry. It is VERY important not to overbake this cake.
Thank you so much for your fast response! This really helps me on what I should do. The person requesting the birthday cake asked for 1 layer vanilla and 1 layer chocolate. I'm really excited about this cake! I'll let you know how it turns out.
T. 🙂
Hi - I'm a different Teresa to above! I'm excited to try this recipe for my daughters first birthday. How well does it store before icing? I will need to make it at least a few days in advance...will it last that long? Thanks!
I'd make it and freeze it immediately in that case. I'm a real stickler for freshness though.
Thanks Barry - I might just have to delegate some party tasks so I can make it fresh!
Barry-
I've tried this recipe twice, once in Texas, and once in Utah. Both times it did the same thing: it pulled away from the edge of the pan and got crispy and dry on the edges and it had a strange eggy texture- almost rubbery. I don't know what the heck I'm doing wrong, I tried to follow the recipe exactly. I do use my Kitchen-Aid mixer. I bake a lot and rarely have a problem, so I'm determined to get this cake right.
I'm thinking you're overmixing. Try hand folding in the dry...and cut back a little on your baking time.
Thanks- I'll give it a go and report back!
Hi Barry,
This is the best vanilla cake and my go to recipe if I am making a cake. I just had to look at the picture and I knew this cake was going to be good.You can tell by just looking at the picture about the texture and how moist the cake was gonna be. It is delicious. I love the addition of evaporated milk, it gives a unique taste to the cake.
I have a question, can you double the recipe? I usually like my cakes to be at least 3 9" layers.
Thanks in advance.
For a third layer I usually multiply the recipe by 1 1/2.
This cake looks delicious! I am hoping you can help me with some math. I am going to be making a wedding cake for a friend (hopefully this one). It will have 3 9" rounds on the bottom and 3 6" rounds on top. I read in one of the comments to multiply recipe by 1.5 for the 3rd layer. All I need to know is how much to add for the 3 6" rounds? Super excited for this cake! Thank you in advance!
Some simple middle school math is all you need. 3.14 x a radius of 3 inches for the 6 inch pans means a surface area of 28.26 square inches. The same formula applied to the 4.5 inch radius of 9 inch pans gives 63.59 square inches, so a 9 inch pan is actually a little larger than two. 6 inch pans. The recipe as written would easily fill four 6 inch pans.
Can this cake be tiered? I need to make a 2 or 3 tiered cake for a baby shower.
With proper structure yes.
I just made some cupcakes with the extra batter, and they came out Perfect! I baked them @ 325° for 19 min.
I have two 6 in. pans baking in the oven. I started baking them at 20 min. and I'll add more time if need be.
Hi Barry-
Wanted to leave you a note saying this recipe is truly amazing! I made it once before in (2) 9 in pans, and it was great! Now, I have to make a 9x13 cake! Do I need to do anything different when it comes to the recipe?
It should be foine in that size pan. Watch the baking time is all. Might be a little longer depending on glass vs metal bakeware.
Doubled the recipe, used an 11x15 pan for a sheet cake, and used Wilton baking strips so the edges wouldn't overbake before the middle was done. Baked at 325 for 1 hour, came out perfect!
I want to use this recipe for making 4 tier wedding cake. I will frost with buttercream and cover fondant icing. Will it be okay that way?
Openly internally supported it should be fine.
Thank you so much for this recipe, It's the best cake I've ever made.