Mini 6 Inch Vanilla Cake Recipe

Vanilla mini cake decorated with slice out of it.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: vanilla mini cake

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Servings: slices

Calories: 1052kcal

Author: Kara @I Scream for Buttercream

A moist scratch mini 6 inch vanilla cake recipe you can make as a small layer cake for yourself, a small birthday party, or dessert for two.

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US Customary - Metric

Ingredients

For the vanilla cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (1 ½ sticks)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or canola oil)
2 large eggs
¾ cup sour cream (or plain yogurt)
⅓ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)

For the vanilla buttercream:

1 ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature (3 sticks)
4 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk (may add in another tablespoon if needed)

Instructions

For the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour (or spray) two, 6 inch round cake pans that are 2 inches deep.
Set the butter out, cut it into chunks and allow it to come to room temperature. Don't microwave it, it needs to come to room temperature on its own.
In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and whisk together.
In another bowl, add the liquid ingredients (oil, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla) and whisk together until smooth.
Add the chunks of butter to the dry mixture slowly and mix with an electric mixer on medium speed as you add the butter. Mix until the mixture resembles a coarse, sand-like texture.
Add half the liquid to the dry mixture and mix on medium until well combined.
Add the second half of the liquid mixture and mix on medium until well combined.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix again just until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Be very careful not to over-mix. (Mixing for a minute or more is too long.) Batter will be a little thick.
Pour into prepared pans and smooth level. Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 40-45 minutes. The cake layers are baked when they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of each layer comes out with a few moist crumbs on it, or clean, but not raw batter.
Cool on a wire rack, in the pans, for about 10-15 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the racks and allow them to cool completely before covering with buttercream.
The tops of these cake layers will flatten out as they cool, but the tops can be leveled with a knife if needed in order to decorate.

For the buttercream:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the confectioner's, salt, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of milk and mix on low until combined, then on medium to medium-high until well mixed.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
Check the consistency. If it's too thick add another tablespoon of milk and mix well.
Spread buttercream onto completely cooled cake and decorate as desired.

Notes

This cake can be stored, covered, at room temperature for 2-3 days. After that, to prolong freshness, it can be stored in the refrigerator, well covered, for another 2-3 days.

This cake is a butter cake and will firm up in the fridge. It's best served at room temperature though, so if cold, pop a slice in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds.
Nutritional values are an estimate.

Piping tip used: Wilton 4B

Make sure to check out the TIPS & FAQs for this recipe in the blog post, which may answer questions you may have.

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