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    Home » Recipes » Cake Recipes

    Super Moist Vanilla Cake - A Made from Scratch Recipe

    Published: Oct 18, 2020 · Modified: Nov 26, 2022 by Priya Maha

    Jump to Recipe
    A round cake covered in white buttercream with pink and maroon rosettes and green leaves. A slice of the cake is cut out onto a white plate.

    I love this super moist vanilla cake. I call it super moist because that’s what this cake is all about. It has a wonderfully moist and fluffy texture and tastes so good when layered with buttercream!

    If anyone is looking for a simple or easy homemade vanilla cake recipe from scratch, I would definitely recommend this vanilla layer cake recipe.

    A round moist vanilla cake covered in white buttercream with pink and maroon rosettes and green leaves. A slice of the cake is cut out onto a white plate.
    Super Moist Vanilla Cake - Perfect as Birthday Cake Too!

    Firstly, this classic vanilla cake recipe requires only the basic ingredients you would need to make a cake. The cake is made using self-raising flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract, and coupled with a pinch of salt and some baking powder, you get a wonderfully moist and fluffy, classic vanilla cake.

    Secondly, the steps to make this vanilla layer cake are very easy, you just add the ingredients one after another and continue mixing until the batter is ready, before baking it.

    Thirdly, the vanilla cake texture is not only soft and moist, it is also pretty solid and so works beautifully for stacking into tiered cakes (wedding cakes) and carving making this a perfect cake for weddings, birthday and other special occasions.


    Table of contents

    • How to Make
      • Ingredients
      • Baking the cake
      • Decorating the cake
    • Notes
      • Use room temperature ingredients
      • Sift the flour to aerate it
      • Substitute for self raising flour
      • Measure all ingredients correctly
      • Do not over bake the cake
      • Line your cake tins
      • Divide the cake batter equally into cake tins
      • Bring the cake to room temperature before decorating
    • Like this moist cake recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out
    • Recipe (Printable)

    How to Make

    Ingredients

    The main ingredients for this moist vanilla cake are as follows with the full details in the recipe card below:

    • Self-raising flour + baking powder + salt
    • Butter
    • Castor sugar
    • Eggs
    • Milk
    • Vanilla extract

    And the vanilla buttercream is made up of the following:

    • Icing sugar (Powdered sugar)
    • Butter
    • Vanilla extract
    • Milk (optional)

    Baking the cake

    Poster for making a cake
    1. Start by adding butter and sugar into a large bowl. Make sure both the butter and sugar are at room temperature. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it's light and creamy. Add in the castor sugar and beat until the mixture turns light and fluffy (on medium speed). For the measurement given in the recipe below, this should take about 2 to 3 minutes. Scrap the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl halfway through the creaming process to make sure there is no butter left on the sides of the bowl. 
    2. After that, add the eggs in, one at a time. And with each addition, beat them well and make sure they are all incorporated before adding more into the vanilla batter. The next process is adding the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) and milk into the creamed wet ingredients. Do it alternately, starting with about one-third of the flour. Fold it in with a large spatula, followed by half of the milk. Repeat the process and finally end the last batch of flour. Make sure the flour is all well folded in before adding in the liquid.
    3. And finally, add in the vanilla extract. Give the vanilla cake batter a good mix and pour it into prepared tins.
    4. Bake these vanilla cakes for about 40 to 45 minutes at your normal baking temperature. Remove the cake layers from the oven and let them cool in the tins for about 5 minutes. Turn them over onto cooling rack (wire rack) to cool completely before decorating. For the recipe measure below, I made the moist vanilla layer cakes in two 7 inches round cake tins and layered them further with a knife after baking. You can also divide the batter into four 7 inches round cake tins and if you do, reduce the baking temperature to 17 to 20 minutes.

    Decorating the cake

    Poster for decorating a cake with buttercream
    1. To assemble this awesomely moist and fluffy homemade vanilla cake, start by leveling and layering the cakes. Since I made mine in only 2 cake pans, I layered each tier into 2 (with a serrated knife) so that I got 4 layers of cake in total. See here for more tips on how to layer cakes.
    2. Apply buttercream frosting between each cake layer and stack the layers up. Follow that by giving the vanilla layer cake a thin crumb coat. Place the crumb-coat frosted cake in the fridge for about 20 minutes for the buttercream crumb coat to set.
    3. Remove from the fridge and apply the final layer of the vanilla frosting with your palette knife. Start with the top of the cake and move to the sides. For this design, it is not necessary to smooth frost the cake, so it is generally a very simple and quick buttercream cake decorating idea. Nevertheless, eyeball to make sure the icing is evenly applied and there are no parts of the cake that look bulging with icing.

    To complete the moist vanilla cake decoration, I randomly added simple rosettes in Wilton Burgundy and Rose Petal pink using star piping tip 21. The leaves were tinted with Wilton Juniper Green and piped with leaf tip 352. I completed the decoration with a buttercream pearl border, piped using round tip 12.

    A moist vanilla cake covered in white buttercream with pink and maroon rosettes and green leaves. Cake is on a white cake stand.
    Super Moist Vanilla Cake - A Perfect Vanilla Cake


    Notes

    Use room temperature ingredients

    • Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature. Using them straight out of the fridge can result in your cake batter curdling. If that happens (normally after you have added in the eggs), add flour in small increments until the batter is no more curdled before adding in the milk. 
    • But bear in mind to not over mix the batter after adding in the flour for your cake with not be as soft as it should.

    Sift the flour to aerate it

    • Sift flour and baking powder at least twice. Sifting helps to aerate it which in turn helps the cake to rise well during baking.

    Substitute for self raising flour

    • If you do not have self raising flour, you can substitute with all purpose flour mixed with baking powder. For every 240 g of plain flour, add 1 and half leveled teaspoons of baking powder. Mix the two with a whisk and then sift twice.

    Measure all ingredients correctly

    • Make sure the ingredients are measured accurately. It is highly advisable that you do not modify the quantity in your first try as that will not help if the cake does not turn out as it should.

    Do not over bake the cake

    • This will help ensure your cake is moist. The cake should be removed from the oven when a toothpick (or cake tester) inserted in the center or middle of the cake comes out without any wet batter sticking to it.
    • In fact, ideally, there should be tiny crumbs sticking to it. If the toothpick or cake tester comes out entirely clean, the cake might be overbaked already.

    Line your cake tins

    • It is also important that the cake tins are well greased and floured. The cake tins can also be lined with parchment paper. But make sure they are well greased so that they are not stuck to the cake tins after baking.

    Divide the cake batter equally into cake tins

    • When dividing the cake batter between multiple cake tins, it is best to weigh the cake tins after filling the batter in to make sure the batter is consistently filled in each tin. This will ensure the cakes are all cooked uniformly.

    Bring the cake to room temperature before decorating

    • If you refrigerate the cake before decorating, make sure it comes back to room temperature before layering or carving. The cake tends to be crumbly when its straight out of the fridge but is perfectly soft and moist at room temperature.
    A round cake covered in white buttercream with pink and maroon rosettes and green leaves. A slice of the moist vanilla cake is cut out.
    Super Moist Vanilla Cake - Easy Recipe for a Good Vanilla Cake

    Like this moist cake recipe? Here are my other posts you might want to check out

    • Marble Pound Cake Recipe
    • Chocolate Cake Recipe
    • Sprinkles Layered Cupcakes
    • Orange Cake Recipe
    • Butter Pound Cake Recipe
    • Vanilla Cupcakes from Scratch - A Homemade Recipe
    • Almond Chocolate Marshmallows Cupcakes

    Recipe (Printable)

    Here is the full printable version of my best ever moist vanilla cake recipe:

    A round cake covered in white buttercream with pink and maroon rosettes and green leaves. Cake is on a white cake stand

    Moist Vanilla Cake

    This is the best vanilla cake I have tried so far. With a soft and moist yet solid texture that cuts so perfectly, this cake is perfect for stacking and carving.
    4.87 from 22 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Moist Vanilla Cake
    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Cook Time: 45 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
    Yield: 2 7 inches round cakes
    Author: Priya Maha
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Metric - US Customary

    Ingredients

    • 440 g self-raising flour
    • 360 g butter
    • 280 g castor sugar
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 4 eggs
    • 240 ml milk
    • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Frosting (Buttercream)

    • 600 g icing sugar
    • 300 g butter
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
    • 2 tablespoon milk optional
    Metric - US Customary

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 160 °Celsius. Prepare two 7 inches round baking trays (greased and floured).
    • Sieve flour, baking powder and salt and keep it aside.
    • In a clean bowl, cream the butter, and castor sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue beating until it is well incorporated and the mixture is all light and creamy.
    • Fold in the flour alternately with milk, starting and end with flour.
    • Finally, add the vanilla extract and mix well.
    • Pour cake batter into prepared tins and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes until the center of the cake springs back when pressed lightly. You can also use a toothpick to test if the cake is done. The toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.
    • Remove cakes from oven and let them rest in the tins for a few minutes before turning them over onto wire racks to cool completely.
    • To assemble the cake, level each layer and sandwich them with buttercream. Cover the sides and top with buttercream. Decorate as you wish.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 5094kcal | Carbohydrates: 607g | Protein: 44g | Fat: 284g | Saturated Fat: 175g | Cholesterol: 1050mg | Sodium: 3086mg | Potassium: 599mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 442g | Vitamin A: 8916IU | Calcium: 449mg | Iron: 4mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @decorated_treats or tag #decoratedtreats!

    And that’s my super moist vanilla cake recipe for you.

    A slice of four layer cake in white frosting on a white plate.
    Super Moist Vanilla Cake - The Best Vanilla Cake Recipe

    Happy Baking 🙂 🙂

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    • Pandan Cheesecake - Perfectly Baked & The Creamiest Ever!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. R

      March 01, 2021 at 12:12 pm

      5 stars
      Tried this recipe..cake turned out delicious. Thank you ☺️

      Reply

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    I'm Priya, and I'm so excited that you dropped by :) Welcome to DECORATED TREATS, a place where I share all my cake decorating ideas & true and tried recipes for all things sweet.

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