Description
After years of testing vanilla cake recipes that were either dry as cardboard or tasted like someone just emptied a bottle of artificial vanilla into the batter, I FINALLY cracked the code. This is the vanilla cake recipe I’ve been hunting for my entire baking life. It’s ridiculously moist (sorry if you hate that word, but there’s just no better way to describe it), has ACTUAL vanilla flavor, and somehow stays soft for days – if it lasts that long. The first time I made this, my husband ate three slices before I could even frost the thing. That’s when I knew I’d nailed it.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (don’t use self-rising – and for the love of all things sweet, please fluff and spoon it into measuring cups, don’t scoop!)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (check the expiration date – old baking powder = flat sad cake)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt (don’t skip this!)
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (that’s 2 sticks – leave them out for at least an hour)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, room temperature (seriously, room temp matters – cold eggs = lumpy batter)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (the good stuff, not the imitation garbage)
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (optional but AMAZING if you can swing it)
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature (no buttermilk? add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk and let sit 5 minutes)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (the secret to that ridiculous moisture)
- 1/4 cup sour cream (another moisture miracle worker)
For Simple Vanilla Buttercream:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 5–6 cups powdered sugar (depends how sweet you like it)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt (brings out the flavor, trust me)