Vanilla Cake Recipe

Yield: 16 servings

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Slice of vanilla layer cake with vanilla sour cream frosting on white plate.

Looking for the BEST Vanilla Cake recipe? This vanilla layer cake is moist with a tender crumb and lots of vanilla flavor. Just add your favorite frosting and serve!

Ingredients

2 ½ cups cake flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs + 2 additional egg whites
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine cake flour with salt and baking powder. Use a whisk to blend everything together. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in eggs and egg whites, and vanilla extract. Beat for 2 minutes.
Alternating additions of the dry ingredients with the buttermilk, slowly add each (about 3 additions of each. After final addition of buttermilk, beat 1-2 minutes until fluffy.
Pour evenly into prepared cake pans. Bake for 25-28 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in pans 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on wire rack completely.

Notes

Can also use baking spray or my homemade cake release to grease pans.
Using a whisk to blend dry ingredients helps keep the flour airy and light.
Buttermilk- you can swap this for whole milk or use my easy buttermilk substitute!
Bake the cake layers the night before. Wrap cooled cake in plastic wrap. Assemble and frost the day of serving.
Level the cakes. Use a serrated knife and carefully slice off the domed tops of the cake layers. This provides a sturdy layer cake and the layers won't slide with frosting between them!
Spread about 1 ½ - 2 cups of frosting between the layers, which leaves plenty for the outside!
See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 261Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 175mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 0gSugar: 23gProtein: 4g

*Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.