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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I want to use this recipe for my daughters’ birthday cake. Could I bake this in a bundt pan and if so how long and at what temperature do you suggest? Thank you in advance!
Hi Vikki, I worry that this cake would stick in bundt pan. You may want to try this one instead. It’s delicious!
Can I make this with swans down cake flour?
Hi Anna, I would encourage you to stick with the recipe as is– the texture is perfect (And I’ve never tried this cake with cake flour so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out.) If you do attempt to make this with cake flour, I would increase the amount you use by a few tablespoons. Hope that helps!
Made this cake for a 66th birthday. Very nice flavour to the cake I think adding the almond flavour made a difference. Added toasted coconut and sprinkles to it, only wish I took a picture!
Made this cake a few days ago and it was loved by everyone (1 year olds to grown ups)! The cake has a very light and fluffy texture, but still slices perfectly clean. I colored the frosting blue and made rosettes all over for a lovely cinderella inspired theme. One thing to note is that the cake is not huge, even for a two layer cake I found it to be on the slightly smaller side (pretty sure that the cake rose to the desired height). When I make this again (which I will!!) I might 1.5 times the batter and make a 3 layer cake. What can I say, I like a tall cake. 🙂 Thanks Jen!
Hi, Wanted to try this recipe (vanilla birthday cake) as a base for a rainbow cake .. add food coloring to it .. do you think this would work with the batter? is your batter white? Thanks
Hi Asiya, Yes, the cake is white and it’s fine to adding food coloring to the batter to give it color. Hope you enjoy!
I made this cake for the first time for my son’s 8th birthday and it turned out perfectly and everyone loved it. I added shredded coconut to the icing on top. It was so delicious that I had a piece for breakfast the next day.
🙂 Breakfast of champions!
Hi jenn, im thinking how to transform your cake for Halloween for my daughter’s first birthday. any suggestions on how to make orange spider web on top or something else, not too spooky? Btw i bought your cookbook and everything i cooked from it or website i loved it.
What a cute idea! There are lots of tutorials, videos, and images online for how to create a spider web on top of a cake. This one looks good (but you’ll obviously want to use orange food coloring as opposed to black. Hope that helps (and thanks so much for the support with the book — glad to hear you’re enjoying it)! 💗
Thank you for the quick reply, yes this is definitely the look I was going for 😀 So far everything I baked from your recipes turned fanatics also so I’m positive this cake will be too, thank you.
Don’t normally leave reviews but this recipe was amazing. I made it for my sons first Birthday and people couldn’t believe I’d made it myself. Thank you for making it a special day for me and my little boy 🙂
Glad everyone enjoyed it — happy first birthday to your little one! ❤️
Hi Chef Jen. My husband wants this cake for his birthday but wants fruit in middle. Maybe strawberry? How do I do it please.
Hi Dorene, I think strawberries would be a great addition here! After frosting the bottom layer, arrange thinly sliced strawberries evenly on top, add the second layer on top of that, and finish frosting. Hope he enjoys!
Thank u!
I made this cake for my husband’s birthday yesterday, added thin strawberry slices between layers as you recommended in this comment thread, and decorated the top with a rim of strawberry halves with one in the middle. Super cute and the cake was delicious! It is super tasty even when refrigerated. I bake maybe once a year— this was a great simple recipe for a novice like me.
I was okay with this cake. I think I would really love it if the crumb was a bit more tender and sweet. I’d like to add more sugar to the batter but I’m worried how this will affect the rest of the recipe. I would love your recommendation.