Easy Vanilla Cake Recipe

Name: Easy Vanilla Cake Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Ingredients: 115 grams unsalted butter ((or 1 stick) (softened - see notes)); 1 cup castor sugar ((also known as superfine sugar)); 2 eggs ((room temperature)); 2 cups plain (all purpose) flour ((250 grams)); 4 teaspoons baking powder ((check the recommend amount for your brand of baking powder - see notes)); ½ cup whole milk; 4 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/4 teaspoon salt

Published: Jun 20, 2019 · Modified: Jun 24, 2020 by Marcellina · This post may contain affiliate links

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This Easy Vanilla Cake recipe is a classic and comes together in minutes.

Even if you’ve never baked a cake from scratch, you will find this simple and achievable!

round plain cake dusted with powdered sugar on a white plate on a red cloth with white plates and forks in the background

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This Easy Vanilla Cake Recipe.

Have you been too scared to attempt making a cake from scratch? Are most cake recipes just too complicated? Sick of the strange ingredients in boxed cake mixes? Then, stay with me. This recipe is for you.

Here at Marcellina in Cucina there are quite a few cake recipes. You’ll find chocolate cakes like Mocha Cake with Coffee Liqueur Syrup and Chocolate Glaze, Malted Chocolate Easter Cake and Chocolate Almond Cake. Also, you’ll find fruit cakes like Moist Apple Cake, Lime and Blueberry Cake and an amazing Pear Tea Cake. While these are cakes (and others on the blog) are delicious and not incredibly complicated, what is missing is a basic vanilla cake. A cake that is easy and simple enough for even the newest baker to have success with. So let me introduce you to this Easy Vanilla Cake recipe.

This has been adapted from a recipe that was given to me years ago by a friend. While the original recipe was quite good, it contained more milk which meant it took such a long time to bake. I found that the outside of the cake became overcooked and dry. The result of the adaption is a cake that bakes relatively quickly but with all delicious flavors of butter and vanilla. This vanilla cake is a little denser than the original version but because of that, there’s not too much that can go wrong. Because this is a sturdy cake, it’s perfect for cutting into shapes like numbers for special birthdays.

Collage of four images, grated butter, round cake pan with paper insert, sifted flour and cake batter in round cake pan

What makes this cake so easy.

This Easy Vanilla Cake recipe is made so simply. All the ingredients are added into the electric mixer bowl at once and beaten until just lightened and creamy. More importantly, the ingredients in this cake are found easily in any supermarket and, actually, in most households. If you’ve looked at vanilla cakes before, you may have come across recipes containing sour cream, buttermilk or cake flour. These ingredients all make delicious cakes however you might not have them at home. With this cake recipe all you need is 8 basic ingredients.

unsalted butter
castor (superfine) sugar
eggs
flour
baking powder
vanilla extract
whole milk
salt

Plus with this delicious cake, it is perfectly acceptable to dust with icing (powdered) sugar in lieu of buttercream.

round plain cake dusted with powdered sugar on white plate on red cloth with white small plate and forks on the side viewed from above

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What do you need to know before making this Easy Vanilla Cake recipe?

Baking is not like cooking. You can’t just throw a few ingredients together and have success. Baking is a science. Measure ingredients accurately and follow all directions to ensure the results are good and the cake or cookies are as you expected. With this cake, there are a few points to remember.

all the ingredients should be a room temperature
measure the ingredients carefully and don’t pack the flour into the cup
preheat the oven fully (this can take 15 minutes or even longer if you have an older model)
sugar should be lump free – pass through a sieve if need be
check the expiry date on baking powder
sift and combine the flour, baking powder and salt well
be sure to scrape the bowl after the initial 30 second beat to ensure all the ingredients combine
don’t over beat the batter
avoid opening the oven door to peek – you will let out the heat and that messes with the cooking time

I cannot stress enough to have your ingredients at room temperature for this cake otherwise it will not mix correctly and will not be as fluffy.

How to measure flour for this recipe.

Spoon the flour into the measuring cup, then level off with a knife. Don’t dip and scoop into the flour bag. This will pack the flour resulting in more flour than required.

Beware of baking powder differences.

Baking powder is a chemical raising agent used to make cakes, scones and quick breads increase in volume and lighten in texture. Most baking powders are double acting. This means that the baking powder is activated firstly by liquids (such as milk, eggs or water),then also activated by heat once the batter is in the oven. An important point to remember is that not all baking powders are equal! Different brands call for different ratios of baking powder to flour. In Australia, the brand I use calls for 2 teaspoons per cup of flour. However American readers may need to adjust this quantity – most brands call for 1 – 1 1/4 teaspoons per cup of flour. In other countries, please follow the directions on the packet of baking powder you are using.

Because I can easily find self raising flour, I will often use that. If you prefer, you can substitute 2 cups of self raising flour for the flour and baking powder.

A bit about that important ingredient – butter.

Butter is the king when it comes to baking. Whether you want flaky pastry or crisp cookies or moist bake, you need butter.

Salted or unsalted butter? Once upon a time, we all used salted butter and had no control over how much salt went into our baking. Salted butter is fine in savoury dishes but I want to ask you to do this simple test. Take a slice of white bread. On one end spread unsalted butter and on the other spread salted butter. Take a bite at the unsalted end followed by the salted butter. You will be surprised by how salty the salted butter is. Salted butter can make sweet baked goods too salty.

That brings me to the quality of butter. I know there are a lot of cheap butters that seem to be the same as their more expensive cousins. However it is not the case. Cheap butter has a different structure. It is not necessarily held at the correct temperature at all times during production. I discovered this when I first tried my hand at puff pastry. The butter just didn’t behave as it should have. I’m not scientific but it had something to do with the composition.

And this composition thing is the same reason why you need to be careful when bringing the butter to room temperature. You can do this a little more quickly by grating the cold butter on a coarse grater and allow to stand until softened. BUT, if what the recipe calls for “softened butter”, it shouldn’t melt or look oily. Again, melted butter has a completely different composition. Melted butter is sometimes be used in quick mix cake recipes.

Here’s a butter conversion:

1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup = 8 tablespoons = 1/4 pound = 4 ounces=113 grams

half eaten slice of plain cake on white plate with fork on red cloth with whole cake in the background

Finally, this Easy Vanilla Cake recipe can be adapted simply by adding a little citrus zest, a shot or two of coffee or folding through a handful of fresh berries. Print out this recipe and file it with your most special recipes because it’s bound to become a favourite.

Baci,

Updated 22 February 2020: This is a cake I usually make using cups and not the weight of flour. I have checked and rechecked the flour weight. I have two sets of cup measurements. One set weighed 1 cup = 125g conversely the other set weighed 1 cup = 145g. Therefore I have decided to update the recipe with the more common weight of 1 cup = 125g.

Are you in the unusual position where you need to use up leftover cake? Check out these recipes.

Leftover Cake Bread Pudding by Maryland Momma’s Rambles

Cake Balls (Cake Truffles) by Dinner then Dessert

Easy Trifle Recipe by Create Make Bake

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