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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Can you use liquid egg whites in this recipe instead of cracking eggs?
Hi Mary, I generally don’t recommend liquid egg whites for baking– I’m sorry!
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for all the great recipes.
I’m going to try this cake, but wanted to make it into a 13 x 9 instead. I was thinking I’d adjust the baking time to about
35 – 40 minutes. Does this sound about right? Thanks again
I haven’t tried this recipe in that shaped pan and not certain it would rise evenly. That said, I’d start checking it at about 35 minutes. Just keep an eye on it!
I just made the frosting to use with a different cake and it was WAY too sweet. I threw it away because it was so sugary you couldn’t taste the cream cheese or the vanilla at all. The texture seemed ok but would have preferred double the cream cheese and half of the sugar. Now that being said, I find that frostings are all too sweet (even the ones used by very successful and popular cupcake companies) so this one might be ok for most people but I was sugared out from it.
I have made this cake at least a dozen times now, and it is a HIT. My daughter requests it constantly and I’m on your site again today to make cupcakes with this recipe. Haha. Delicious! I’ve never had a problem with get it to turn out perfectly every time.
This is pound cake. Made it for my daughter’s birthday party and threw 75% of it away. Lesson learned, don’t go by reviews on a special occasion, always do a tried and true recipe.
Hi Amy, I’m so sorry the cake didn’t turn out well for you. It should be light in texture — definitely not like a pound cake. Did you by chance make any substitutions?
I am making the chocolate cupcakes and noticed yesterday that there was also a recipe for chocolate buttercream icing, an easier recipe than the one listed. The vanilla buttercream is still there, but the chocolate recipe vanished. I would dearly love to have it. Thx Jennifer.
Hi Donna, are you referring to this recipe? (I mentioned it as an alternative to the icing in the chocolate cupcake recipe.)
I will be making a fondant decorated cake with this cake recipe but have a question regarding the buttercream frosting. With fondant decorating I need a firmer consistency of frosting to allow for a smoother fondant appearance. I have usually in the past used a buttercream frosting with butter, confectioners sugar, and heavy whipping cream; in your opinion is the buttercream frosting from this recipe soft or more firm like what I have used previously?
Hi Megan, I think the consistency of the icing in this recipe would be similar to the one you’ve described.
I made cupcakes instead of a cake. I must say. They were the best ever. The flavor is amazing. A big hit for my coworkers birthday. I’m going to make the cake next time. Thank you so much for the recipe!
At first, I thought that I had messed up because the cake batter had an unusual consistency; almost like a home-made whipped cream sort of texture. I put it in my cupcake tin and baked them anyways, and what I got was a batch of the sweetest, fluffiest vanilla cupcakes I have ever tasted. They were so light and delicious, and they definitely satisfied my sweet tooth. The buttercream frosting complimented them nicely. Will definitely be using this recipe again in the future!
Total failure, did not rise and came out a weird texture! In a way it’s kind of good but had to stay up until 2 am baking a second birthday cake for my toddler. Im sure it was my own error, I think I did something wrong maybe in the butter and sugar creaming- I don’t have a food processor, just normal beaters, and the butter was kind of cold so I might have over (or under) done it? Maybe I did not measure my flour carefully enough? My baking powder is not more than 6 months old…the photo looks so amazingly good that I would try it again, but definitely not the night before a big event unless I can learn from my mistakes!
Hi Hilary, I’m so sorry your cake didn’t turn out well! You should be able to make this cake with a hand held electric mixer — is that what you used? Next time, be sure the butter is softened (room temp) before beating with the sugar; this is what makes the cake light and fluffy. And in terms of measurements, baking is a science so definitely measure carefully. Hope you’ll give it another try!