Go Back
Print
The best vanilla cake, single slice on white plate.

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.
Course Cakes
Cuisine North American
Keyword vanilla cake, vanilla scratch cake
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 16 servings
Author Barry C. Parsons

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cake or pastry flour
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs at room temperature
  • 1 cup evaporated milk undiluted.
  • 4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Sift together both flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
  3. 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.
  4. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after every addition.
  6. Beat in the vanilla extract.
  7. 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.
  8. Pour batter evenly into 2 well greased and floured 9 inch cake pans.
  9. 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.

Recipe Notes

As with all my cake recipes I recommend using aluminum cake pans for gentle even heating with much less chance of over baking.