Vanilla Birthday Cake with Old-Fashioned Vanilla Buttercream
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This classic white cake is soft, moist, and tender, with fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting—perfect for birthdays and every celebration in between.
I’ve made this simple vanilla cake every year for my daughter’s birthday since she was two years old. The cake portion of recipe is adapted from one of my favorite baking books, Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri, and the vanilla buttercream frosting comes from my great-grandmother’s recipe box.
“Everyone who ate this cake raved about it! This recipe reminds me of the cakes I ate as a kid.”
What you’ll need to make vanilla birthday cake
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar. Beat the softened butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Step 3: Mix liquid ingredients. In a bowl or large measuring cup, combine the egg whites and milk. Whisk well to combine.
Pro tip: Be sure the eggs are at room temperature, otherwise your batter may curdle. (To warm them up quickly, place them in a bowl of hot water before cracking them.)
Step 4: Alternate wet and dry ingredients. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract, then add one-quarter of the flour mixture and beat on low speed. Next, add one-third of the milk/egg mixture. Continue alternating adding the flour and milk mixtures, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
The finished batter should be completely smooth.
Step 5: Fill the pans. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and smooth the tops.
Step 6: Bake and cool. Bake the layers for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are set and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool the layers in the pans for five minutes, then unmold onto racks to finish cooling.
Step 7: Make the frosting. While the cake cools, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until well combined. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth, then beat in the vanilla and salt. If the frosting is too thick, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk or cream.
Step 8: Frost the cake. Once the layers are completely cool, ice the cake. You can spread the frosting smooth, or swirl it casually with a butter knife. I like to scatter some festive nonpareils or confetti sprinkles on the edges for color. Or for a change, try topping the cake with heaps of shredded sweetened coconut—it’s amazing.
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Vanilla Birthday Cake with Old-Fashioned Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients
For the Cake Layers
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
- ¾ cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
For the Buttercream
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Spray two 8-in (20-cm) cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Cut two 8-in (20-cm) rounds of parchment paper and line the bottom of each pan; spray the paper with nonstick spray. (To measure the parchment paper, just trace the bottom of the pan.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until very soft and light. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the egg whites and milk by hand in a medium bowl until just combined.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in one-quarter of the flour mixture, then one-third of the milk mixture, stopping and scraping down the bowl and beater after each addition. Beat in another quarter of the flour, then another third of the milk mixture. Scrape again. Repeat with another quarter of the flour and the remaining milk mixture; scrape. Finally, beat in the remaining flour mixture.
- Scrape the bowl with a large rubber spatula. Don't worry if the the batter looks a little grainy. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and smooth the tops.
- Bake the cakes for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are set and a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on rack for 5 minutes, then unmold onto rack to finish cooling right side up (keep parchment paper underneath cake layers so they don't stick to rack). When cake layers are completely cool, transfer to cake plate and frost with vanilla buttercream. (I always flip the bottom layer of the cake so that the domed side is facing down and touching the plate. That way, the surface that you're icing is flat and will minimize any separating between the two layers when you put the other layer on top of it.)
For the Vanilla Buttercream
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese until creamy and well combined.
- Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat in the vanilla and salt. If the frosting is too thick, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk or cream.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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What changes must I make, if any, to make this in a dome shaped pan( half a soccer ball)?
Hi Janhavi, Unless the pan you’re planning on using is significantly larger or smaller than 8 or 9-inch round pans, I don’t think you’d need to make any changes, but definitely keep an eye on it while baking.
I made this with cake flour (before I spotted the Q&A about cake flour). I used some batter to make mini cupcakes, and they were a bit slight, too light almost to hold up to being frosted (at least right away, when they were barely cool). They didn’t crack (at least, the ones I didn’t overfill) or crumble, but some paper began to peel off while handling. And they dented easily on removing from the pan, so a few were sacrificed. But we persisted and they received rave reviews. With the remaining batter, I made a single round layer, and it was perfect. Held up to frosting and had a perfect crumb/texture as well as amazing flavor, even better the next day.
How many cups is 1 1/2 sticks of butter?
That would be 3/4 cup. Hope you enjoy the cake!
Sorry- one more question. Can I freeze this? I have frozen cakes in the past, well wrapped, for about 4-5 days. Can I do that with this?
Hi Chitra, Yes, the cake (w/o the frosting) can be wrapped in saran wrap and then foil and frozen. Just frost it after removing it from the freezer.
Hi! I have made 4 or 5 of your recipes so far and they have all been huge hits with my family and friends (so thank you!!)
Regarding this cake- should I fluff up the flour in my flour container before I spoon into a measuring cup or should I spoon before “fluffing” it up? I know it would be a different amount of flour based on the answer. Thanks in advance!
Hi Chithra, so glad to hear you’re enjoying the recipes! No need to fluff the flour– just spoon into a measuring cup and level off. Hope you like the cake!
Today is the big day…so excited to make this cake for my daughters 5th birthday party. I will be making a 5 or 6 (layer cake) in a 9 inch pan so the layers are a little thinner. Im guessing I will probably need double the icing? Is it better to duble everything or make 2 separate batches? Using 12 cups of icing sugar seems like a lot…any suggestions? *** have you tried piping this icing with a cake tip for some decorative embellishments? Wish me luck!
Hi Cynthia, Yes, I’d probably make two separate batches — it makes a lot as is and you may not need to double the recipe. Another half-batch might do, plus not sure the mixer could handle all that butter and 12 cups of sugar at once :). This frosting isn’t the best for piping since it’s made with so much butter — if the cake is in a warm spot, the decorations will start to droop. For piping anything elaborate, you’re better off with a heat resistant buttercream made from Swiss meringue. You can also use shortening in place of all or half of the butter in this recipe, but it won’t taste nearly as good. Happy 5th birthday to your daughter. I hope she loves the cake!
Thanks for the recipe.
I just halved the recipe and baked it in one 6 inch tin.
The cake came out domed …does using a smaller tin affect the evenness of the top layer when baking? Anything I should look out for to prevent a dome shaped cake .
Hi Chris, Yes, I think that using a tin that small could make the cake dome a bit. (I actually don’t mind a bit of a dome on my cakes, but I know that’s a personal preference.)
Hi Jenn, I plan to make this cake and frost it with a white chocolate ganache. Since the ganache would be sweet, I would like to keep the sweetness of the cake as low as possible. Would 1 1/4 cups sugar work well? Or can I reduce it further more by a tablespoon?
Hi Prabs, I think you could get away with reducing the sugar by 1/4 cup. I wouldn’t do any more than that as I’m not sure how it would affect the texture of the cake.
I would really like to try this recipe however, my son has an egg allergy. Can I use ener-g egg replacer or some other substitute for the eggs?
Hi Michelle, I haven’t tried this with an egg replacer, but some other readers have with success. Hope you enjoy!
Is it possible to make 12 or 18 large cupcakes instead of 24 with the recipe? I know the cook time will increase, but I was wondering if it would change the texture.
Thank you
You’re right that the bake time will increase, but I think the texture will be okay. (I would probably not make any fewer than 18 cupcakes with this amount of batter.)
Thanks Jenn. What bake time would you suggest for 18 cupcakes? A time wasn’t posted for baking cupcakes so I’m not really sure what the baseline would be.
I’m making these Saturday and I’ll be sure to leave a review once they have been devoured 🙂
Hi Emma, hard to say for sure as I haven’t prepared them this way, but I would suggest starting to check them at around 25 minutes.
I went off script with this recipe but it still came out wonderful. I cut the recipe in half and made six good sized cupcakes. The cook time was 24 minutes.
They were delicious and tender. Not heavy at all, I will definitely use this recipe again when I need to whip up a vanilla cake!