Recipe for the best vanilla cake: moist and tender vanilla cake flavored with vanilla bean paste and filled and frosted with decadent white chocolate buttercream frosting. *Chef kiss*
About The Best Vanilla Cake
Vanilla cake is my absolute favorite so I thought it was high time I finally shared my favorite recipe for vanilla cake. This cake is pretty simple and quite easy to make. I use a lot of vanilla bean paste to really give this cake the best vanilla flavor. It's paired with white chocolate buttercream frosting, which if you've been here for awhile you'll know is my favorite and goes on a lot of my cakes/cupcakes! Follow along below to make the best vanilla cake! 🙂
Ingredients for The Best Vanilla Cake
- All purpose flour- gives this vanilla cake the best crumb
- Granulated sugar- used to sweeten the cake
- Eggs- make sure they're room temperature
- Unsalted butter- make sure it's softened, used in the cake and to make the white chocolate buttercream frosting
- Buttermilk- helps this cake stay extra moist, can be made with 1 cup of regular milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar
- Vanilla- I always recommend using vanilla bean paste for the best flavor, and especially in this cake as vanilla is the sole flavor
- Baking powder & soda- used to leaven the cake and give it a fluffy texture
- Powdered sugar- used to sweeten the white chocolate buttercream frosting
- White chocolate- used for the frosting, I recommend using high quality white chocolate like Lindt or Ghirardelli
How to Make The Best Vanilla Cake
For the Vanilla Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Start by creaming 10 tablespoon of butter and 1 ½ cups of sugar together in a large bowl.
Next add in 3 eggs and 1 ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste. Mix until combined.
In a separate, medium sized bowl, sift 2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of baking soda together.
Alternate adding 1 cup of buttermilk and the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time.
Continue until everything is combined together.
Divide the batter evenly between 3 6″ greased cake pans.
Bake the cakes at 350 degrees for 35-38 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centers.
Let the cakes cool in their pans for five minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
For the White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Melt 6 oz of chopped, high quality white chocolate and set aside to cool slightly.
Add 1 ½ cups of softened, unsalted butter to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until it is pale in color and fluffy.
Add in the slightly cooled white chocolate. It should be still liquid and warm, but not hot as to melt the butter. Mix until fluffy again. (If you wait until the white chocolate is cool to the touch it will solidify when you mix it into the butter so don’t wait too long to add it in).
Then add in 1 ⅓ cup of powdered sugar, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Mix until light and fluffy.
Assembling the Cake
Once the cakes are completely cooled assemble the cake. You can simply fill each layer and ice the outside with the white chocolate buttercream and the decorate it how you see fit. However, if you are looking to make a really beautiful cake, follow these extra steps.
For these Steps You'll Need
- a cake scrapper
- a rotating cake turntable
- a cake frosting spatula
- a sharp knife
Getting Perfectly Sized Cake Layers
Once the cakes are completely cooled, wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer for a few hours. Once they are frozen, or nearly frozen, remove them from the freezer and begin to make each layer as similar in size as possible. Usually you will only have to cut the tops off of each cake layer. With a sharp knife, remove the tops from each cake layer until each are flat and can be stacked to where the cake is even. So, each layer should sit flat on each other without the cake leaning.
Creating the Crumb Layer
Then place a dollop of white chocolate buttercream frosting in the center of your cake turntable. Place the first cake layer over it. Then add a generous amount of white chocolate buttercream frosting on top of the cake layer and even it out with your frosting spatula, turning the cake table as you go. Place the next layer over top and repeat the step. Then place the final layer over the top and place small dollops of frosting on the outsides and top of the cake. Even out the frosting as much as possible with your frosting spatula.
Then with your cake scraper, scrape the icing across the cake, turning the cake table as you go to make this as easy as possible. This layer of frosting should be very thin. This is called the ‘crumb layer’ and will ensure that the cake’s final coating of frosting is smooth and free of crumbs. Freezing the cake layers before frosting them also helps tremendously with this step.
Final Frosting Layer
Once the crumb layer of frosting has been applied, place the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow the frosting to harden. Once the cake has chilled in the fridge, remove it and apply the final coating of frosting. Apply generous dollops of frosting on the sides and top of the cake and smooth them out with your cake frosting spatula.
Then with your cake scraper even out the frosting, turning the cake table as you go, to give you an even coating of white chocolate buttercream frosting. Make sure it is not too thin so you do not see the layers underneath, unless of course that it is how you want it to look. (You may have to apply a layer of frosting, place the cake back in the fridge for 30 minutes and repeat the step to ensure the frosting is on thick enough and the cake cannot be seen underneath).
Decorating the Cake
I chose to decorate this cake simply with flowers but you could also easily pipe any remaining frosting onto the top edges of the cake or add sprinkles on top! Whatever you think would look the best. Then serve the cake! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before eating to ensure the frosting becomes soft again.
If you make this cake please tag me on Instagram @inbloombakery_ so I can see! Follow me on Pinterest for other dessert ideas!
Other Recipes to Try
Layered Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
📖 Recipe
The Best Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Cake
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoon softened, unsalted butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste
White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 6 oz. chopped white chocolate
- 1 ½ cups softened, unsalted butter
- 1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
For the Vanilla Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Start by creaming 10 tablespoon of butter and 1 ½ cups of sugar together in a large bowl.
- Next add in 3 eggs and 1 ½ tablespoon vanilla bean paste. Mix until combined.
- In a separate, medium sized bowl, sift 2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of baking soda together.
- Alternate adding 1 cup of buttermilk and the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time.
- Continue until everything is combined together.
- Divide the batter evenly between 3 6″ greased cake pans.
- Bake the cakes at 350 degrees for 35-38 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centers.
- Let the cakes cool in their pans for five minutes and then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
For the White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Melt 6 oz of chopped, high quality white chocolate and set aside to cool slightly.
- Add 1 ½ cups of softened, unsalted butter to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until it is pale in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the slightly cooled white chocolate. It should be still liquid and warm, but not hot as to melt the butter. Mix until fluffy again. (If you wait until the white chocolate is cool to the touch it will solidify when you mix it into the butter so don’t wait too long to add it in).
- Then add in 1 ⅓ cup of powdered sugar, ⅛ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Mix until light and fluffy.
Assembling the Cake
- Once the cakes are completely cooled assemble the cake. You can simply fill each layer and ice the outside with the white chocolate buttercream and then decorate as you see fit. However, if you are looking to make a really beautiful cake, follow the extra steps in the above blog post.
Notes
- Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before eating to ensure the frosting becomes soft again.
Hi Ginny,
I really love all your recipes and would love to try them. But since some recipes doesn't include the metric measurements, im very much intimidated on doing so. I hope if you can mention both cups and grams measurements for beginners like me. Appreciate all the hard work that goes into doing all that you do..
Please send ingredient list in gram's it helps a lot...... In cups measurement is not get correct measurement in every time