The Best Vanilla Cake

Easily the best Vanilla Cake. It’s tender and moist with a buttery flavour and an aroma of vanilla. It has the perfect texture for layering.

The Best Vanilla Cake

I’ve been working on perfecting this recipe for so long and I’m honestly so excited to finally be able to share it. It’s the most tender vanilla cake that’s reliable, easy to make, and bakes up consistently every time. It has a beautiful open crumb and sturdy structure which makes it perfect for milk soaks and layering.

It has pronounced flavours of vanilla and butter, as every good vanilla cake should. But it also has a complex richness that comes from the combination of butter, yogurt, eggs, and milk powder. The yogurt and milk power also ramp up the tenderness and moisture, which makes every bite an absolute delight to eat.

This Vanilla Cake recipe is:

• Fluffy, moist, and STAYS moist – the combination of butter, oil, yogurt, and milk powder creates a cake that is moist and retains its moisture for 4-5 days (if stored correctly)
• Incredibly tender – the cake has the perfect crumb with a velvety and tender texture that almost melts away in the mouth
• Balanced and flavourful – it does use a lower sugar ratio than most recipes as I’m not a fan of tooth achingly sweet bakes. This recipe is well balanced between the richness from the butter, egg yolks, and milk powder, along with sweetness, and a hint of salt
• Perfect for all situations – whether this is being served alone, layered, with whipped cream, butter cream, or even whipped ganache. It serves all purposes and it serves them well. It’s a reliable and versatile vanilla cake recipe

This cake doesn’t require any creaming of butter and sugar

Creaming butter and sugar is a very popular method in baking. It incorporates air to lighten the batter and dissolve the sugar. But it’s not my favourite method and I’ll explain why.

Creaming butter and sugar is technique sensitive. To do this correctly, the butter must be at the right temperature and degree of softness. You can also under cream and over cream the mixture which can hugely impact the final texture.

The success also lies in the emulsion between the butter and the water in the eggs, which can break if the eggs are at a different temperature or added too quickly. Although it sounds deceivingly simple, it is technique sensitive.

Now, not only do I prefer the texture of my vanilla cake over traditional creamed butter cakes. My recipe also eliminates a lot of variables to ensure that every bake is consistent. Personally, this is something I value greatly when I’m recipe developing with the intention of it being followed by others.

How to get perfectly flat cakes

I personally don’t like trimming cakes, so I tend to use cake strips to ensure an even bake. These strips are soaked in water before being wrapped around the baking tin.

Cake strips provide a more gradual increase in temperature around the outside of the tin, which prevents the side of the cake from baking too quickly. This allows the sides to continue rising for a more flat cake. Doming tends to happen when the sides of the cake bake too quickly whilst the centre is still rising.

Let’s talk about some of the ingredients

I’ll cover the main ones below but the full recipe can be found at the end

• Cake flour – this has a lower protein content that regular plain/all purpose flour which reduces gluten formation. This leads to a more tender and light crumb. However you can substitute plain/all purpose flour if needed, it just won’t be as light
• Large eggs – I always use large eggs when baking, which is the standard. In the UK, each large egg will weigh between 63-73g. These will be classed as extra large eggs in the USA
• Baking powder – this is different from baking soda and it provides all of our leavening here as we’re not incorporating any air via a creaming stage or foaming stage
• Sugar – white granulated sugar or white caster sugar works best here. Brown sugar can offset the wet:dry balance due to the molasses
• Butter – this recipe uses unsalted butter (I like to be in control of the amount of salt) but salted will also work just fine. Make sure to use a butter block and not a butter based spread
• 5% fat Greek Yogurt – this adds moisture and tenderness, while the flavour also balances out some of the sweetness
• Full fat milk powder – also commonly sold as full cream milk powder. This adds tenderness to the crumb and richness to the flavour. I’m frankly obsessed with the flavour and texture of milk powder in my cakes and never really make them without these days

The KEY tips for making this Vanilla Cake

1. Room temperature ingredients – this allows the ingredients to mix more readily and more evenly
2. Don’t mix all the wet ingredients all at once – having a mixing order allows for even distribution of ingredients and uniformity. For example, in this recipe I incorporate the eggs after the butter, oil, and yogurt have emulsified, and then I add the milk
3. Wrap and refrigerate the cakes whilst still hot – this traps the steam within the cakes which ramps up the moisture. It’s very handy tip that I love using

How to make this Vanilla Cake

The images below show how to make one layer but the full recipe at the end is for two 8″ layers

Start by adding the melted butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla to a mixing bowl. Then, add in the 5% fat yogurt and the full fat milk powder

Whisk the mixture together very well, it will initially look split and curdled but will slowly come together as it emulsifies. It should look smooth with a fairly runny consistency

Add in the eggs and whisk well once again. The mixture should look homogenous and slightly glossy, with a thicker consistency

Add in the milk and whisk well once again. Then, sift in the dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, and salt) and whisk these in till incorporated. Avoid over-whisking as this can lead to excess gluten development and a tough cake

Fold the batter with a spatula to ensure no dry flour remains. Then pour it into a greased and floured/lined 8″ baking tin from a slight height. Give the tin a gentle shake and a tap on the counter, which will help to level it out and release any large air bubbles

Pop the tin into the oven and bake for around 27-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. I do like to use baking strips to ensure even layers as I’m not a fan of trimming cakes. I highly recommend using an oven thermometer for accuracy

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then flip out onto a wire rack

While the cake is still warm, wrap it tightly in clingwrap and pop it straight into the fridge. This will trap the last bit of steam inside the cake for extra moisture

Frequently Asked Questions

How long will this cake keep? And what’s the best way to store it?

This cake will stay moist for up to 5 days if wrapped tightly in clingwrap and stored within an air tight container in the fridge. It can be kept at room temperature for 2-3 days in an air tight container.

Can this cake be made without eggs?

Try my Egg Free Vanilla Cake recipe instead. I’ve spent months working on it to get it as close to the egg version as possible!

If you enjoyed this recipe

Please do let me know! Leave a review and a rating below, I’d love to know how you got on.

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Until then, happy baking!