Soft Vanilla Cake
Print Pin VideoThis vanilla cake has the most soft, tender crumb and is so easy to put together! Bursting with vanilla flavour, this will be your new go to vanilla cake!
IMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake
- 2¼ cups (300 g) flour - regular all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1⅔ cups (332 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1¼ tbsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1½ cups (337 g) buttermilk - room temperature, see note 6 if using a homemade buttermilk substitute
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (see note 4)
- 1½ cups (340 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- 3 cups (375 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners' sugar
- 1½ tsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1½ tbsp milk - heavy or whipping cream okay too
Instructions
- IMPORTANT: For this recipe I would highly recommend using gram measurements, especially for the flour for accurate results. It has a high fat/liquid ratio so slight adjustments to the quantities can throw off the balance of the cake :)
Vanilla Cake
- Preheat oven to 165 °C (330°F) with the fan on (see note 5 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
- Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3).
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins, and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting with the vanilla buttercream recipe below, or another frosting of your choice.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (see note 4)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and milk.
- Using the paddle attachment, mix on the lowest speed until the ingredients are combined (about a minute), and then turn up the speed to a medium high and mix for a full 10 minutes. Scrape the bowl down half way through.
- The frosting is now ready to use.
Video
Notes
Note 1. You can use cake flour in replacement of the all purpose flour and cornstarch in this recipe (325g total required).
Note 2. If using a stand mixer, then use the paddle attachment for the initial mixing, but continue to do the last step by hand as stated in the recipe.
Note 3. By gently folding in the ingredients, it prevents too much gluten from forming, thus giving us a softer cake. Only mix until the strands of flour have disappeared and the batter is uniform.
Note 4. This frosting is an American buttercream so is a ‘sweeter’ frosting, although my recipe does use a lot less icing sugar compared to a regular American buttercream. However, if you still want an even less sweet frosting, I’d recommend a Swiss meringue or French buttercream.
Note 5. In this recipe I use an oven with the fan function turned on. The fan forced function cooks cakes/cupcakes faster, so if your oven doesn't have a fan option, then you will need to increase the baking temperature to 175°C (347°F) so that the cake/cupcake bakes at the same rate as mine 🙂
Note 6. I use store bought buttermilk which is thicker than a homemade substitute. For this recipe, because it uses a lot of buttermilk, a homemade substitute doesn't give the same results. If you are using a homemade version you will need to reduce the amount of buttermilk to about 1 1/4 cups (275g).
Nutrition
Calories: 630kcal | Carbohydrates: 86g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 23g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 136mg | Sodium: 238mg | Potassium: 103mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 1122IU | Calcium: 80mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
Tried this recipe?I love hearing from you! Tag me @cakesbymk.nz on instagram so I can see your amazing creations :)