I am a vanilla cake kind of girl all the way. Vanilla cake is my first choice and this recipe is my absolute favorite vanilla bean cake.
It’s a scratch cake and I’m sure you know how hard it is to find a flavorful and moist scratch vanilla cake, but I promise, this is it.
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INGREDIENTS FOR THE VANILLA BEAN CAKE:
I’ve worked and tested out recipes for so long and this baby is no ordinary bland vanilla cake. It’s got a full vanilla bean flavor, it’s rich and buttery and just a hint of almond flavor.
Now, just hear me out on the almond flavor. I use almond emulsion and it does NOT taste like ordinary almond extract.
Even if you think you won’t like anything with almond extract in it…I have one question for you. Have you tried it? It’s the same lecture I give my step-kids. Don’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it yet. Sometimes things taste totally different than you expect.
Here’s my point on the almond extract: The recipe only calls for a half a teaspoon. That isn’t much and it’s not strong or overpowering at all. All it does is to help bring out the flavor of the vanilla bean.
When you taste this cake, you don’t taste almond. You just know it’s got this full vanilla bean flavor and something a little special that makes you never want to stop eating it.
Ok, I’m done with the lecture. If you’ve tried almond extract and you just can’t stand the thought of it, I promise I won’t be mad at you and you can still make this cake with just vanilla bean paste or extract and it will STILL be awesome.
So, onto the vanilla part of this cake. I use this vanilla bean paste: Vanilla Bean Paste. It really gives the cake a much better flavor than plain vanilla extract. Trust me, you’ve gotta try it. There are a couple different brands available, so try a few out.
MIXING METHOD FOR THE VANILLA BEAN CAKE:
The mixing method for this cake is a little different than the norm. It’s called the reverse creaming method. Instead of creaming the butter and sugar together first, you’ll be mixing the dry ingredients with the butter.
Without getting too technical on you, the butter coats the flour and minimizes gluten development, which in turn, creates a very fine crumb and an oh so tender cake.
Oh and by the way, if you want to watch a ‘real time’ video on how to properly mix a scratch cake, you can do that here: How to Mix Cake Batter
Here’s how it works: Take your dry ingredients and mix them in a mixing bowl. Add slightly cooler than room temperature butter in chunks to your dry mixture as your mixer is running on low. Mix until all the flour is coated and it looks crumbly.
Next you’ll pour in about a third of your liquid ingredients and mix just until combined (about 30 seconds).
Next you’ll add in the remaining liquid ingredients and mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for about 30 seconds. Don’t overmix the batter.
Pour into two 8″ round cake pans (or you can use three 6″ round cake pans). For this cake, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees. But here’s the deal, once I put my cakes in the oven, I turned the temp down to 325 degrees. I wanted it a little hotter in the beginning to help with rising, but I didn’t want the outside to over brown.
Once it’s done baking, you want to set it on a wire rack to cool for only ten minutes.
After ten minutes, Set your rack face down on your cake and flip it over. Now your cakes are directly onto your racks. Just lift your pan off the cakes. Let them cool completely like this.
You can ice them once they’re cool or you can also freeze them. Check out my post with tips for freezing cakes and cupcakes.
For this cake, I used my Favorite Vanilla Bean Buttercream. It’s a match made in vanilla heaven.
Cut yourself a huge slice. Oh, and maybe if you feel like it, you can share it with your family 😉
This cake is absolutely perfect for a birthday cake AND for a wedding cake. It has a wonderful vanilla, buttery flavor AND it stays moist.
TIPS AND FAQS FOR THE VANILLA BEAN CAKE:
No you absolutely do not need a stand mixer. It’s really convenient, but you can still make a great cake with a hand mixer.
Cake flour is different than all purpose flour and they can’t be substituted for each other in equal amounts. Cake flour will give your cake a more tender texture, so it’s best to use that in this recipe if you can get it. If not, and you really need to substitute for it, you can make these changes: For every cup of cake flour called for in the recipe, use one cup of all purpose flour instead and remove two tablespoons of it, then replace that with two tablespoons of cornstarch.
No you don’t have to use it, but it’s really a very small amount and just gives a hint of added flavor. Personally I think it add that extra secret ingredient that people just love.
Yes you sure can. I think using a good vanilla bean emulsion or paste really pumps up the flavor and can set your cake apart from the rest, but a real vanilla extract will work as well.
If you don’t have access to sour cream, you can use yogurt instead. Try to use the full fat version though and not the low fat.
Whole milk just has more fat in it than 2% milk, so if you have access to it, use it, but if you don’t, just use the milk you have available.
Now, onto the recipe:
Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups cake flour (not all-purpose flour)
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter (slightly cooler than room temp)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond emulsion
- 3 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (You’re going to turn the oven temp down to 325 degrees once you put the cakes in the oven.)
- Grease and flour two 8" round cake pans. (If making cupcakes, read notes below)
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk.
- In another bowl, combine the sour cream, milk, oil, vanilla, almond and eggs. Mix well with a whisk.
- Now cut your butter into chunks. Turn your mixer on low and add in the butter slowly to your dry ingredients. Mix on low to medium until all the flour is coated with the butter and the mixture is crumbly.
- Pour in about a third of the liquid mixture. Mix on low to medium until combined. About 30 seconds.
- Pour the last of the liquid mixture and mix again until combined. Don’t overmix the batter.
- Use a rubber spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix again for only about 10 to 15 seconds.
- Pour into prepared pans.
- Slide into the oven and turn the oven temp down to 325 degrees. (Unless you're making these as cupcakes, in which case you'll want to read the notes below.)
- Bake approximately 40-45 minutes.
- Set on wire racks to cool for ten minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the racks and let them cool out of the pans completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
UPDATE!!! I got a very good question in the comments below: Can you use this recipe for cupcakes? I’ve tried it and YES, they make great cupcakes! Here are my tips though: If you’re using this recipe for cupcakes, you’ll want to leave the oven temp at 350 degrees. Fill your cupcake wrappers just slightly more than half full. Bake them at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Let them cool on a wire rack.
Ok, now I’m off to go and eat a slice…or two…or three.
The vanilla pudding cake why just three eggs for 2cups of flour and a cup of butter. Thanks I will love to get your reply. Thanks
Hi there, you mentioned pudding, but this recipe does not include pudding. Are you referring to another recipe? If not, this recipe calls for 3 cups of cake flour (not 2). It does call for 2 cups of sugar though, so maybe that’s what you’re referring to?
Three eggs are the perfect amount for this cake for baking stability and richness. I normally use 3 eggs in my cake recipes although there are certain times I will use a different amount.
The one cup of butter gives it the right about of fat needed for this recipe to be moist and rich. I’ve tested and made this recipe numerous times and I’ve found these amounts to give the best results.
I hope this answers your questions. 🙂
Hi,
Thanks for sharing this beautiful receipe. The cake tasted divine. Can l add coco powder to this receipe for a chocolate version and if yes, how much do I add for half the receipe? I am planning to make a marble cake.
Thank you
I’m so glad you like the cake! To make a marble cake, you could add maybe about a 1/3 cup of cocoa powder to half the batter, then swirl that into the vanilla cake batter. That should work just fine. 🙂
Thanks heaps for replying so quickly. You are awesome 😊
Hi! I’m planning on making this cake for a birthday party this weekend. Can I make the cake and buttercream on Thursday and then assemble Friday? Also, I have to drive the cake 3 hours away… should it be kept cool during the drive?
Thanks in advance and can’t wait to try this recipe!
Yes, you can make the cake and buttercream on Thursday and it will be fine for several days. Just make sure it’s covered very well. You don’t have to keep it chilled, but you can if you want to keep it fresh longer, just make sure it’s wrapped very well so it doesn’t dry out in the fridge. Cakes are better eaten at room temp, so you don’t want to serve a chilled cake though.
When you’re traveling, it doesn’t necessarily need to be chilled, room temp is fine as long as it’s not warm. If it’s warm in the vehicle, the buttercream will melt.
I hope this helps!
Hi, Kara! I have a question about making this same recipe but for three 9″ pans…. Would I need to make more batter, change the temperature and time, etc.? I am making this next weekend for my nephews birthday and I want it to be a tall, large cake. Thanks!
Hi there, you probably won’t need to change the temperature and time much. That should be pretty close to the original…maybe a couple minutes longer. You will need to increase the batter amount if you want to bake three, 9″ pans though. You would probably need to mix up about two recipes (essentially you would double the recipe). You can fill your cake pans about 2/3 of the way full and then you might have a bit of extra batter left over, but you can always make cupcakes out of that extra batter. Hope this helps!
Hi Kara, I will like to try out your recipe as I’ve seen a lot of positive feedbacks but I’m not sure the conversion of the flour is right can you pls look it up. The metric conversion says 3cups of flour is 375g while 2cups of sugar is 400g. Thanks
Hi Christiana, I went to a converter online to double check the conversions and I got the same thing. The sugar is coming out a higher amount because it weighs more than flour.
Now I will say that my metric conversion button on the recipe is just a program that converts the measurements from cups to grams and since I write the recipes based on cups (volume measurements), the conversions are just an estimate on what the exact weights of those volume measurements would be. I hope that makes sense? Anyway, I did go to a conversion site and double checked those conversions and it came out the same. Let me know if you have any issues and I hope you really like the cake!
I’m having issues with the cakes over flowing and sinking in the middle. What am I doing wrong. I’ve made 4 batches and only 1 came out right. I have no idea what is going on, please help!
Hey Shawna, I’m not sure why they would overflow like that. I haven’t had that issue. What size pans are you using? I’m wondering if maybe they are smaller or maybe thinner and that’s what happened. I’m using two, 8″ round cake pans that are 2 inches deep. Also be very careful that you aren’t over mixing. You just want to mix until its just combined. Over mixing can make a cake sink in the middle. Now, these cakes will bake up pretty flat on top because of the mixing method that’s used, but they shouldn’t sink. I do have a video on real time mixing if you want to check it out: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/how-to-mix-cake-batter/
I’m so sorry you’re having these issues though! Four batches is a lot and I know that took time and money. You might also check your oven with an oven thermometer. It could be overheating and that would cause it to rise very quickly and then fall.
So, check the pan sizes, be really careful when mixing and check the oven temp. If anything else occurs to me, I will holler back. Please let me know if you have any questions!
I used the same size pans, but I also used bake even strips. One batch did come out dense and the rest just a mess. I followed steps exactly and I am just at a lose haha. Also I do have an oven thermometer and have checked, it is fine. I’m so annoyed cause I’m usually a very good baker haha.
Oh my goodness…I’m so sorry it’s caused you trouble! I can’t think of anything else it could be. I’ve made this a ton of times fine, but I just can’t figure out what is happening for you although I know something is causing it. Ugh I know that’s frustrating.
It is frustrating cause it should not be hard to make a simple vanilla cake haha.
Shawna, you’re right, it shouldn’t and I so wish I knew what was happening so I could help! 😔
So last night I tried again. The first batch spilled a little but was saveable, but I was watching them bake to see where it goes wrong and it seemed like to much batter. My pans are 8in round 2in tall. So I decided to split it to 3 pans instead of 2 and it worked great! So I’m not sure why it works for you and not me but I finally found a solution lol
Hey Shawna I’m so glad you found a solution! That is so interesting…I haven’t had the problem of it being too much batter, but so glad you were able to figure out what was happening!
Maybe you are at different altitude. I bake at 8500 ft and I have to make adjustments in almost every recipe
Can this be made into a marble cake?
Hi Ashley, to make this a marble cake, you could add maybe about a 1/3 cup of cocoa powder to 1/3 – half the batter, then swirl that into the vanilla cake batter. I haven’t tested that out, but it should work. 🙂
Thank you! I will let you know how it turns out!
I’m wanting to try to make this recipe in a Bundt pan. Do you have an idea on cooking time?
I’m thinking about 55-60 minutes, but honestly I’d start checking at about 50 minutes, just in case. This cake has a delicate texture so be sure to grease and flour the bundt pan really well, or it’ll stick.
Hi Kara, thank you so much for this amazing cake recipe. I’m baking a cake for my daughter’s first birthday next week and I’m super happy that I’ve found your blog. This is gona be my first try on fondant as well. I really liked the idea that uses almond emulsion to bring that vanilla flavour up, but the question here I have is, here in UK we dont get the almond emulsion. well, I can get one from amazon but that comes from US and its gona take few weeks pro’ly to arrive. So, can I replace that with almond extract? Would it still taste the same? or atleast close to that?
Hi there! A first birthday party is so exciting! Yes, you can just use a bit of the almond extract. It won’t taste exactly the same, but it will still lend a little extra flavoring. The thing I’ve found with the regular extract though is that it’s really easy to add too much and the flavor is just not as good, so I might only add maybe a 1/4 teaspoon or maybe somewhere between a 1/4 and a 1/2 teaspoon. That should be good. Also, if you want to skip it completely, you can do that too. I’ve heard from many people who skip it and just add the vanilla and they love it that way. I hope everything goes perfectly for your daughter’s first birthday party!
Turned out great! I didn’t have almond emulsion so I used 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. Couldn’t taste the almond, but the vanilla was definitely heightened. I filled it with canolli filling and topped with whipped ganache. People commented it would make a perfect wedding cake. Thanks for a great recipe!
Oh I’m so happy it all worked out! Yay! And the cannoli filling with whipped ganache sounds amazing…I will definitely have to try that with this cake. 😍
Hi Kara,
Thank you so much for the recipe! I was tasked by a friend to make a carved cake for the first time — and quite a challenging shape!
The second and third pans came out perfect and the first was passable too. I’m very pleased with the result and found it was perfect for carving. I did re-chill it once or twice during the process, but a sharp serrated knife did the trick and it was so fun to do!
Oh good! I’m so glad it worked out!
Question. I’m use to Korean bakery items. They are extra light and extra fluffy some with fully packs flavor and some with a mild, light, flavor to complement the lightness of all of the baked goods. Most of the technique is in meringuing the egg whites seperatly and incorporate into last. I was wondering if it would make the cake lighter without taking any of the moisture from the cake or if I would have to compensate for that beforehand?
Hi Jaimie, thanks for your question. This cake is not a super light cake. It’s more on the dense side. It’s definitely moist, but it’s a denser cake. Using all egg whites and no egg yolks can make the cake dry, but I’m not sure adding in any extra liquid would be beneficial, since that could throw off the ingredients. You could try separating the egg whites and yolks, then adding in the yolks with the other liquid ingredients and then whipping up the egg whites then folding them into the batter once it’s mixed. I have no idea how that turn out though as I’ve never tried it that way. It may not make that much of a difference. If you wanted to go with all egg whites, then you might want to add six egg whites (since you’d need to use double the amount of eggs). I’m not sure how that would turn out either, but it might be worth experimenting though!
I made this cake for my daughters christening and it was beautiful. I used it to make four 7inch round cakes (I had a little bit of batter left over with the two batters that I made, as I didn’t want each layer to be too thick). I made it in advance, froze the cakes and then defrosted them in fridge the night before putting the cake together. It was so easy to work with. The cakes held their shape really well and stacked on top of one another beautifully. The flavor and texture were just beautiful and the cake was nice and moist (I have to admit that I omitted the almond flavor as all I had was essence and don’t particularly like it). Everyone loved it- I had rave reviews. I will definitely be using this recipe from now on!! Thank you so much xo
Mary, I’m so happy it worked out and that everyone liked it! Thanks so much for commenting and reviewing it…this has made my day. 😊
Hi there, I was wondering if it would affect the cake consistency if i added food coloring to the batter, being that you would have to mix the batter a bit more than normal? I was thinking of doing either a marbled look or each layer a different color. Thanks!
If you add gel food coloring it should be fine. It will affect the cake texture though if you over mix the batter. If you’re just going to do a swirl with another color, then it might be fine because you’ll only be adding the gel coloring to a small amount of the batter.
Hi Kara, I’m going to bake this cake for my baby’s first birthday. Can you please tell me if I can use nonpareils in the batter? If yes, how much should I use? If not, what sprinkles can I use and how much? There are other funfetti cake recipes online but my heart only yearns to make this one for my baby, so I hope you’ll reply as soon as you can. Thank you so much.
I wouldn’t use nonpareils. To make a funfetti cake, I like to use rainbow jimmies. I find that those tiny round sprinkles tend to bleed color, but the rainbow jimmies seem to work better. I will give you a quick heads-up though that this cake isn’t a white cake. It will have a yellow/cream tint to it because there are whole eggs and butter in the ingredients. Some people want a really white cake when they’re making a funfetti cake, so if that’s what you’re going for, you might try my Moist White Cake recipe here: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/moist-white-cake/
And 2/3 – 3/4 cup should be plenty of jimmies.
Thank you so much for your quick reply Kara! I’m definitely going to try out the white cake recipe but for now, for my baby’s birthday this vanilla cake recipe is what I want my baby to smash and enjoy. I was looking for a yellow cake so this is perfect. Thank you so so muchhhhh, i know she will love it! I love your blog!!
Also, Kara, I have 3 6 inch pans, how long should I bake for? Thanks so much again! Hope you reply.
For 6 inch pans, I’d start checking at about 25-30 minutes. You’ll probably need to bake longer than that, but start checking then to be sure.
Thank you Kara! I baked it today and it turned out great! I will be tasting it tomorrow. I also put some cake strips on so it took a little longer to bake. Next time I won’t reduce the temperature to 325 F if I put cake strips but that’s the only mistake I made. I’m a newbie baker so I’m bound to make a few mistakes but I learnt so much! And your blog makes me want to try out everything!! Thank you so much!!!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad it turned out for you!! 💖
I made this cake for my brothers birthday, using a bavarian cream filling and vanilla bean buttercream, and a white chocolate ganache to decorate as a glaze on top- I bake for him all the time, but this was his favorite cake flavor recipe so far! It was such a soft and delicate cake that I made the batter again and made some petite cakes with it. The petite cakes were so moist and flavorful, I just topped them with a vanilla bean glaze and they were perfect. Thanks so much for the recipe, it’s my new go-to for yellow cake!
Rachel, this is so great to hear! Thanks for the wonderful review. The bavarian cream filling and white chocolate glaze sound amazing! 😍
Hello! Thanks for this recipe, it’s delicious and light, I am going to use it with white chocolate ganache for my niece’s 4th birthday. I just tried it as cupcakes and although they tasted great and were super fluffy, I found the cake stuck to the casing, and broke up as I tried the take it out of the case? I wouldn’t usually grease my cupcake cases, so you think that would help? 🧁 🧁 🧁
Hi Rebecca, thanks so much for the wonderful review of the recipe. If the cupcakes are sticking, you might try spraying the cupcake liners with a light spray of Pam or some other cooking spray, but just spray a light amount. I do find that some cupcake liners are worse than others at sticking. You might also try a different brand of liners and see what happens. I hope this helps!
Thank you for the advice!!! That makes sense, I don’t make cupcakes often, so didn’t think it could be the cases 😌
You’re welcome! I hope they work out next time!
Hi! Would love to try this recipe! Could I use this with 4inch pans? If so, what temp and how long would you recommend I bake the pans for?
I’m interested in making a 4inch cake which is quite tall (with 6 layers). Would love any tips 🙂
Hi Tanya, I’m more experienced baking 2 inch tall layers. I would try still baking at 325 degrees. If it’s 8 inch round pans, I’d bake for the same amount of time to start off with and at that point, just start checking for doneness. You may have to bake longer, since the cakes will be thicker, so make sure to test with a toothpick and it’ll be ready when the toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. I’ve not tested 4 inch deep pans, but I’d suspect you’d need to bake them for a bit longer because they’re thicker. I would not raise them temperature though because then the outside might brown too much before the middle is done. Let me know how it goes!
I’m So sorry! I should have been more specific. I meant 4 inch round pans!! So I’m planning on creating a small cake with stack them so it is tall!
Oh!! Lol…Ok gotcha…Let me change my advice then. 😉 So, if they are 2 inch tall pans, but 4 inches around, you could bake at 350 or 325 degrees. Either would be fine. I’d start checking at about 20 minutes or so. If they are thicker pans (thicker than 2 inches), I’d probably bake at 325 degrees, so they’ll bake through. I hope that helps!