Vanilla Birthday Cake with Old-Fashioned Vanilla Buttercream
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This moist and delicious birthday cake recipe is adapted from one of my favorite baking books, Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri.
My daughter is turning eight years old this week, and she’s been begging me for two things: a puppy and her favorite vanilla birthday cake. The puppy is definitely not going to happen – we already have one crazy dog – but the cake’s easy. I’ve been making this simple vanilla cake every year on her birthday since she was two. The cake portion of recipe is adapted from one of my favorite baking books, Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri, and the frosting recipe was handed down from my great-grandmother.
What you’ll need to make vanilla birthday cake
Step-by-Step Instructions
To begin, combine the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Whisk well to combine.
Next, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together the egg whites and milk. 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. When the butter and sugar are creamed, 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 batter will look like this.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and smooth the tops.
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.
While the cake cools, make the frosting. Begin by combining the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Beat 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 1-2 tablespoons of milk or cream.
When the layers are cool, frost the cake.
You can spread the frosting smooth, or swirl it casually with a butter knife. Since it’s an all white cake, 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
This moist and delicious birthday cake recipe is adapted from one of my favorite baking books, Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri.
Ingredients
For the Cake Layers
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons (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
- 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
For the Cake
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray two 8-inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Cut two 8-inch 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 1-2 tablespoons of milk or cream.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cake layers can be frozen, without frosting, for up to 3 months. After they are completely cooled, double-wrap them securely with aluminum foil or plastic freezer wrap, or place in heavy-duty freezer bag. Thaw overnight on the countertop and then frost before serving.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (12 - 14 servings)
- Calories: 571
- Fat: 23 g
- Saturated fat: 14 g
- Carbohydrates: 88g
- Sugar: 73 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Sodium: 167 mg
- Cholesterol: 63 mg
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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Hi, I’d to make this for my daughter’s 7th birthday. I’m looking at the recipe for the frosting, and it says 6 cups of sugar which seems to be a lot of sugar to me. Is the measurement correct? Thx
Hi Jenn, I want to make an ice cream cake and was wondering if you think this cake will hold up? I’m wondering if this cake would be too moist? Thanks!
Hi Renee, I think it will hold up, but I’m not sure how good the cake will taste frozen.
I have never made a cake from scratch before. These cakes are so moist – I mean shockingly so. I had cut off a bit of the tops before I started to ice them and my husband came in and tasted them and declared the cake to be the best he’s ever had. Mind you, he hasn’t even had a piece yet with the frosting. He is a desert fanatic so this is high, high praise. If you are thinking about making this cake, you must do it immediately – like right this very minute!! Then prepare to reap the compliments. Jenn, this is amazing. Thanks for making me look so good.
Hi,
This recipe looks great! Can I half the recipe to make 12 cupcakes and have the same quality? Thank you!
Hi, I am making this for kids b-day party tomorrow. Can I frost the cake the night before the party? I am never sure about cream cheese frosting. Does the cake need to be refrigerated? thanks!
Can you add cocoa to the frosting? My son wants chocolate frosting?
I’m looking for an ice cream cake recipe. It seems that though this cake freezes well, the frosting doesn’t. Would you suggest frosting just before serving, or is there another frosting you’d suggest?
Thanks much!
The recipe sounds wonderful!
I so want to try this recipe. I adore a good white cake and icing. Unfortunately, as a GA gal living in CO, I struggle big time with baking at high altitude. Cakes that used to be light and moist at sea level are dense, dry, and flat here. I am so envious.
Hi Leslie, I’ve heard the high altitude can be a significant challenge. Here are some tips that may help a little bit!
Hi. Im also a ga girl in colorado. 1 year down! Just made this cake. Its amazing. I usually just up the temperature and cut bake time by a cpl minutes and that does the trick. This time, i just followed as is because im layering fresh whipped cream and it hided any falling areas. So delicious. It does not matter if it falls some or is dense 😉
Hi
Will be making my daughter’s first birthday cake this weekend and its my first ever cake. From the reviews I’m definitely going to make this cake. Got all the ingredients except all-purpose flour. There doesn’t seem to be any in my country. There is however pastry flour and cake wheat flour. Which is best as a replacement for the all purpose flour in your recipe and what measurement do I use? Please don’t say you cannot help me because I really need you to. Thanks!
Hi Doris, Happy birthday to your daughter! I’ve never made this cake with anything but all purpose flour, so I’m not certain how it will turn out, but I would opt for the cake flour and increase the amount by a few tablespoons. Please let me know how it comes out.
I definitely will. One other question please. You didn’t mention sifting/sieving the flour or sugar. Is that on purpose? Must I seive the flour, granulated sugar and icing sugar or not?
Hi Doris, You don’t need to sift the flour or the sugar for this recipe. And in response to your other question. If you’re using a one cup measuring cup, it should be leveled off at the top. I guess if it’s larger than one cup, it would be challenging to do that. I would just get as close to 1 cup as possible.
So made the cake yesterday. Used the cake flour but used same measurement as the all purpose flour you have in your recipe. Found out the cake flour I had was imported from south Africa and had protein content of 12%, similar to that of all purpose flour. Cake turned out fine. It was much sweeter than I had anticipated. The icing was also way too sweet even though I used 4 and half cups instead of 6. The cake by itself was nice and the almond definitely gave it a distinct taste. For the icing and cake to work together would definitely need less sugar for cake or way less sugar for icing. Next time I’ll play around with it and see what works best for me. I decorated the edges of the cake with some rainbow confetti sugar and it was beautiful. Also it wasn’t as white as yours in the picture. Wonder why.
Hello.
I will be making cupcakes for my daughters teacher this Friday. I was wondering if this recipe would this work for cupcakes as well? What temperature and for how long would I bake?
LOVE your site!
Thank!
Hi Alison, So sorry for the late reply! This recipe works well as cupcakes — temp will be the same; bake for about 20 minutes.
Thanks. I followed the time for baking and they came out beautifully. Definitely my new favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. I got 21 cupcakes!
Hi
It’s my daughter’s first birthday and I really want to make this cake but I only have cake flour. Unable to get all purpose flour. How many cups of the cake flour do I need to get similar cake results.
Hi Doris, I’ve never tried this cake with cake flour so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. If you do decide to make this with cake flour, I would increase the amount you use by a few tablespoons. Let me know how it turns out!