This 8 inch vanilla cake is made with 3 layers of tender, fluffy, and moist vanilla cake layers, topped and filled with a decadent vanilla buttercream that makes the perfect cake.
This cake has a few secret ingredients that make this the moistest and the most fluffy cake. Make sure that you follow the instruction and read our tips to make this cake perfect and delish!
If you like making layer cake as much as we do, check out our black forest cake, best ever chocolate cake, super moist carrot cake, lotus biscoff cake, and our Nutella cake!
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Why this recipe works
- Is made with sour cream, butter, vegetable oil, and vinegar which makes this cake super moist and tender.
- Is made with delicious and creamy vanilla buttercream.
- Can be topped with any frosting that you like most!
- Is really simple to make and uses simple ingredients that you probably have laying around in your kitchen.
Ingredients
Before you start to make this recipe, measure and prepare your ingredients so the cooking process will go smoothly and efficiently.
For the cake:
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of these delicious cookies.
Eggs- you will need 4 large eggs for this recipe. Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe. cake flour will work great as well.
Baking powder– baking powder allows the cake to rise. Make sure that your baking powder is not expired.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
Milk– gives the cake extra moisture. Use whole milk for this recipe.
Vegetable oil – we used vegetable oil for this recipe. canola oil will work great for this recipe.
Vinegar- is the secret ingredient that makes this cake extra moist and tender. You will need two teaspoon of vinegar for this recipe.
Sour cream- use either sour cream or Greek yogurt. Both will work great.
Kosher salt- you will need about ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt for this recipe.
For the vanilla buttercream:
Butter- use unsalted butter for this recipe. Only butter will work for this recipe, no margarine, and no coconut oil. Margarine has a weird taste and can ruin the flavor of these delicious cookies.
Powder sugar- you will need powder sugar for this recipe. you don’t have to buy powder sugar, you can make it at home by blending granulated sugar in a blender or food processor.
Vanilla extract- adds extra flavor.
Kosher salt- we like to use kosher salt.
Milk- use whole milk.
How to make even cake layers
Our biggest tip to make even cake layers is to use a scale and cake strips. Weigh the chocolate cake batter and divide it into two even pans. Then use cake strips to make sure your cake layers bake evenly and don’t develop a dome on top.
Cake strips give you an evenly baked cake with a flat top.
Instructions
Step 1: Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare 3 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper.
Step 2: Into a big mixing bowl, add the soft butter, and sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer until creamy and smooth for about 3 minutes.
Step 3: Add the vanilla extract, vinegar, vegetable oil, sour cream, and kosher salt, and mix until creamy.
Step 4: Add the eggs one at a time mixing constantly until a creamy mixture forms.
Step 5: Then into a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, and baking powder. Mix with a whisk until combined.
Step 6: Add ½ of the dry mixture and the milk and mix it until almost combined.
Step 7: Add the other half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Step 8: Divide the batter into 3 8-inch baking pans and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick is inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Let the cakes cool to room temperature and remove them from the pans.
Make the vanilla buttercream
Into a big mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, powder sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes until the buttercream is light in color and creamy.
Assemble the cake:
Pipe a small dollop of the vanilla buttercream on the surface that you will frost on. Lay the first cake layer over the frosting dot.
Top the first cake layer with ⅓ of the buttercream and spread an even layer of the buttercream with a spatula.
Top the cake with the second cake layer. Repeat adding the buttercream and top with the third cake layer.
Frost the cake with the remaining vanilla buttercream and make a wave pattern with an offset spatula.
Top the cake with sprinkles if desired.
Faq's
We use all-purpose flour for this cake, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.
This cake is made with butter, vegetable oil, sour cream, and vinegar which makes this cake extra moist and fluffy. I couldn't believe how moist and tender this cake is.
This cake will last up to 4 days stored in the fridge. Cover the cake with plastic wrap or foil to prevent it from drying out. This cake tastes amazing for 4 days.
Yes! You can use any kind of your favorite frosting on this cake, this cake is very versatile so you can turn it into whatever you want! You can use chocolate frosting, vanilla frosting, caramel frosting, etc.
Expert tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Use cake strips! Cake strips give you even and perfectly baked cake layers. Click here for the amazon link.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your loaf cake will release easily from the pan.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least 1 hour so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
Freezing
Freeze this cake after it cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months, some people find the cake tastes better after freezing it.
our tip is not to freeze it decorated or covered with frosting, because it can ruin the decorating on the cake, we suggest freezing the cake and decorating it when you defrost it.
If you’re not looking to impress anyone with your decorating skills, it’s absolutely okay to freeze the cake with the frosting on.
Substitutions
There are a few substitutions that may be helpful for your diet:
- Gluten-free - if you want to make this recipe gluten-free, replace the flour with gluten-free flour.
- Dairy-free - you can make this cake dairy-free by replacing the butter with vegan butter and replacing the buttermilk with vegan buttermilk. Also, replace the heavy cream with vegan heavy cream or coconut milk.
More cake recipes:
Carrot cake- This carrot cake is moist, soft, perfectly spiced, and every carrot cake and fall lover’s dream. This carrot cake is made with grated carrots, brown sugar, fall spices, topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting.
Chocolate cake- This is the best ever chocolate cake ever. I’ve been searching for the best one bowl chocolate cake recipe for so long and found it and can’t wait to share it with you!
Dark chocolate sheet cake- This dark chocolate sheet cake is super moist, made in one bowl chocolate cake that is topped with dark chocolate buttercream frosting. This cake was made for us chocolate lovers.
Marble loaf cake- This marble loaf cake is moist and flavorful and topped with a layer of chocolate ganache. Marble loaf cake is one of our favorite desserts to make because it's so beautiful and so delicious and we love the chocolate and vanilla combination!
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8 Inch Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups Flour
- 3 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 115 g Butter
- 2 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vinegar
- ⅓ cup Sour cream
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- 4 Eggs
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
Vanilla buttercream:
- 350 g Butter soften
- 5 cups Powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup Heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prepare 3 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper.
- Into a big mixing bowl, add the soft butter, and sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer until creamy and smooth for about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract, vinegar, vegetable oil, sour cream, and kosher salt, and mix until creamy.
- Add the eggs one at a time mixing constantly until a creamy mixture forms.
- Then into a medium mixing bowl, add the flour, and baking powder. Mix with a whisk until combined.
- Add ½ of the dry mixture and the milk and mix it until almost combined.
- Add the other half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Divide the batter into 3 8-inch baking pans and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick is inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool to room temperature and remove them from the pans.
Make the vanilla buttercream
- Into a big mixing bowl, add the room temperature butter, powder sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes until the buttercream is light in color and creamy.
Assemble the cake:
- Pipe a small dollop of the vanilla buttercream on the surface that you will frost on. Lay the first cake layer over the frosting dot.
- Top the first cake layer with ⅓ of the buttercream and spread an even layer of the buttercream with a spatula.
- Top the cake with the second cake layer. Repeat adding the buttercream and top with the third cake layer.
- Frost the cake with the remaining vanilla buttercream and make a wave pattern with an offset spatula.
- Top the cake with sprinkles if desired.
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Use cake strips! Cake strips give you even and perfectly baked cake layers. Click here for the amazon link.
- Line your baking pan with parchment paper! This step helps the cake to bake evenly, and it makes sure that your loaf cake will release easily from the pan.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cookies, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost this cake as it is pulled out of the oven, but let the cake cool for at least 1 hour so it will be more firm and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
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