How to bake a vanilla cake: moist and fluffy cake recipe

Best Vanilla Cake Recipe

Basic baking course

Vanilla cake is a classic and popular cake, loved around the world. Its moistness and tenderizing nature give rise to its huge popularity. Vanilla, a unique spice loved around the world, is a major ingredient of the Vanilla cake. Vanilla cake can take any toppings from chocolate, fondant, fruit, icing, frosting, candies, nuts, spices, sprinkles, etcetera, etcetera. It is versatile.

Vanilla cake is used for birthday cakes, wedding cakes, graduation cakes, or any ceremony that requires the cake. Its simplicity makes it blend well, in any event, it finds itself. I have put in a vanilla cake recipe here that would give you all you had wanted: a fluffy and much sought tender vanilla cake and cupcakes. This particular recipe is considered the best out there given what happens when you take a bite.

Our perfect vanilla cake recipe is so simple to make and tastes much better.

If you are a newbie or an experienced baker, you need a solid vanilla cake recipe in your collection. In this article and course, I have just done that.

It always takes a good amount of time, resources, and patience to be able to get this kind of recipe. In case you love chocolate more than vanilla, you can try my chocolate cake or my sponge cake.

Ingredients for vanilla cake

Vanilla cake ingredients are typical cake ingredients we have discussed in our previous course. These ingredients are readily available in our kitchen cupboards. They include:

Flour: All-purpose flour/plain flour is ideal. No need to stress yourself on cake flour. Plain flour which is cheaper than cake flour will do the work perfectly.
Eggs: Room temperature eggs are always highly advised.
Sugar: Castor sugar dissolves better with eggs. I do prefer it. But then, our normal granulated sugar will just be fine.
Butter: it’s best practice to use unsalted butter. Salt can be added as an ingredient. Room temperature is the key yet again. How to know that your butter is at room temperature? Room temperature butter should make a slight indent when pressed with your finger.
Oil: 1 tablespoon would be enough. It greatly helps in its tenderness and moistness.
Baking powder: Vanilla cake does well with baking powder than with baking soda, Baking soda doesn’t rise as well. This is to ensure that the cake rises well.
Salt: Our normal table salt will just do fine.
Vanilla: I use a high-quality vanilla extract instead of artificial vanilla. I encourage you to do that too. This is where the name of the cake is derived from. Vanilla extract is the backbone of the flavor of the cake.
Buttermilk: Buttermilk brings a strong and sharp flavor to your cake and keeps it super moist. If you do not have one, please see my easy post on how to make buttermilk at home.

Fluffy vanilla cake recipe

500g of whole flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
400g unsalted butter at room temperature
400g or 2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
400ml of buttermilk

How to bake vanilla cake

Pre-heat your oven

It is always the best practice to preheat your oven before you start mixing, blending, and assembling your ingredients. Why preheat your oven? You preheat your oven because you need your cake or cookies to cook evenly. Putting your cake straight into a cold oven can mess up the texture and flavor of your cake., This is because baking requires heat right at the start to spark the rising and browning process. Preheat to 350F.

2. Whisk dry ingredients

Whisk your sifted flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl until combined together. Then set it aside.

3. Cream your butter

Cream your butter and then add the sugar. This involves beating your butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer. The speed should be set at a medium-high speed until pale yellow and fluffy.

4. Add your egg (one at a time)

Reduce the speed of the mixer. Add three eggs one at a time. This allows the first one to incorporate before adding the next. Otherwise, you will have an egg soup on top and solid butter on the bottom.

5. Add your flour

Add the flour mixture in three batches alternating with the buttermilk to help the butter mixture combine evenly and to avoid over-mixing the batter.

After adding the eggs, it’s now time to add our vanilla extract. This is the primary flavor of the cake.
Everything should be at room temperature. You are not going to add ice-cold ingredients into an oven because then the cake won’t bake really evenly. You want it to bake nicely throughout so it’s pretty flat. Because if you don’t, you are going to have a big dome on the top and the edges will be burnt.

6. Bake! Bake! Bake!

Bake for 30 minutes to 35 minutes or a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Transfer it to a rack and allow it to cool in the pans for about 6 minutes. Then use a knife to run around the edges of the pan and turn it into the rack and allow it to cool completely.

7. Decorate your cake

Trim/level your cake with a serrated knife. Frost your leveled cake anyhow you like and enjoy.

If you find decorating your vanilla cake to be a bit daunting, do not flinch. I have a How to Decorate a Cake post containing lots of helpful decorating tips and cake decorating ideas.

Pro baking tips

Always preheat your oven before your prep. It’s your safety catch.
I will recommend that you follow the recipe instructions religiously. Use what is given and measure properly. Follow the steps in the order of the recipe.
Check the status of your baking powder.
Once you start your baking procedure, you dont have to stop or pause. This is because, once you start beating the eggs and whisking your ingredients, pausing in any stage to take a call or get to another thing will result the bubbles in the cake batter to subside if left sitting around, resulting in a dense cake. And again when you let your batter idle around, you will probably risk the baking powder losing its leavening abilities.
It is best practice to use pure vanilla extract.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I have to add eggs one at a time?

Answer: This is to ensure that the egg is thoroughly combined with the batter and this will result to full emulsion. When not emulsified correctly, there is always a risk of having a dense cake or an uneven baking of your goods. When you add eggs one by one, you are actually giving everything a chance to get to know each other, bind together and become one.

What does moist cake mean?

Answer: A cake is moist when it is not dry but a bit wet. The crumbs also tend to stick together. Also a cake is said to be fluffy when it is light and soft to touch,

What makes a cake moist and fluffy?

Answer: When we beat eggs with sugar, we certainly have to do it correctly in order to achieve the desired result where it turns to pale yellow. The aeration that is produced during this step is key for a soft, fluffy cake. Creaming butter and sugar appropriate also plays a better part in making your cake fluffy and moist.

Olive oil in the batter also plays a silent role in making your cake, moist, tender and fluffy.

What is the difference between Vanilla cake and White cake?

Answer: Vanilla and White cake are made from the same ingredients. The only difference is more of certain ingredients or varying grade of ingredients added before the baking process. A white cake recipe only uses the whites of the egg and not the inside (yolk) while Vanilla cake recipe uses both the egg whites and the egg yolks. The egg yolk in turn gives Vanilla cake its slightly off-white color and also its softness because of the added fat from the yolk.

Our team has a post on the Ultimate Guide to Making a Cake.