Vanilla Birthday Cake with Old-Fashioned Vanilla Buttercream
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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.
You may also like
- Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Kentucky Butter Cake
- Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Chocolate Frosting
- Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Cake
- Vanilla Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
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
Powered by 
- 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.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Hey! I’m going to make this cake in the morning for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. I want to make a #2 cake so I’m using two 9″ and two 9×13 pans. What should I do to the recipe to cook the 9x13s? Double the recipe? Thanks in advance!
Yes Ashley, I think you’d need to double the recipe if you’re using two 9 x 13 pans.
Hi, I made this cake for my mom’s birthday and it was delicious! ! I loved everything about this cake and so did my mom. It worked out wonderful especially with the frosting. Thanks so much and I will definitely make this cake again.
I am excited to make this cake with assistance from my little one. I am thinking about replacing the vanilla extract with a vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste. I would also skip the almond extract. Would you recommend using vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste, or is there a reason to prefer the vanilla extract?
Hi, I think you could get away with using either the bean or the paste! Hope you enjoy.
I’m really want to make this cake, but I have no idea what temperature you should bake this cake at. It looks pretty promising and all I need is the temp. Maybe I didn’t look carefully, but I don’t know.
Leah, the cake gets baked at 350 degrees. Hope you enjoy it!
Loved this recipe! I made the recipe 3 times dividing each batch into 2 and dyed the batter. It made a beautiful and moist rainbow 6 layered cake. I leveled the tops and trimmed the edges, the colors were so bright and vibrant. Your recipe was perfection for this idea, Thank you so much! My daughter and all of our party guests loved this cake!!
Hi Julia. What did you use to dye the batter? I’m planning to make a rainbow layers cake for my daughter’s birthday and I’m considering either jello powder or food colouring. Thanks so much! ~Sarah
I have made this cake before and it was amazing. I now want to make 24 mini cupcakes, what temp and for how long should I bake them? I’m in California.
Hi Dulcey, you can keep the temperature the same and start checking them for doneness at about 10 minutes. Also, make sure to spray the pan and cupcake liners with nonstick cooking spray.
Thank you, I was wondering if I should spray the liners. I made them last night and they are delicious. This is the second time I have used this recipe and I love it. I am also making them this week for my daughter’s kindergarten class. Do you have a frosting recipe that doesn’t call for so much powdered sugar or will it be just as good if I reduce it to three cups? 🙂
Glad they turned out well! You can reduce the sugar but you’ll probably need more than 3 cups to make the frosting stiffen up.
Hi I found this recipe while looking for a white cake recipe. I need to make (3) 10″ cakes. Should I bake them at 350 and how long should I bake the cakesin the oven? I am looking forward to making this for my daughter’s 5th birthday this weekend.
Destiny
Hi Destiny, happy birthday to your daughter! For two 10-inch pans, I would multiply the recipe by 1.5 so you have enough batter to give the cake a normal height. Bake them at 350 and start checking them for doneness after about 25 minutes.
I bake a lot (3+ times a week) so from experience just a couple of thoughts …
Recipe is for 8″ cake. An 8″ cake will serve 24; a 10″ cake will serve 38 people. You can find cutting charts by googling “cake serving and cutting charts.” Information is useful too if ever you need to purchase a custom cake.
For each 8″ layer estimate 3 1/2 cups batter.
For each 10″ layer estimate 6 cups of batter.
Usually don’t need to adjust temperature unless your pans are,anodized (coated, dark in color). Reduce temperature to prevent over baking.
Hi Jen! How many people would you say this cake is good for? I’m planning my son’s bday and have no idea of how much cake I should have. Thanks!
Hi Ana Luisa, I’d say it serves 14 easily.
I made a test cake today and it’s amazing, for the party I might make a 3 layer cake to serve more people. Thanks once again for fool proof recipes Jenn!! I love your site!
Hello, should the dry ingredients be sifted??
Hi Tristian, It’s not necessary for the dry ingredients to be sifted. Enjoy!
I made this Sunday for my Moms birthday after having read the reviews and searched all over for what seemed the best cake recipe. I don’t know what happened bc I followed the recipe exactly. The only difference was using a hand mixer and I had read someone else did as well and that didn’t seem to be an issue. But it turned out horrible. I was so disappointed and embarrassed. I doubt my family will be open to me making another birthday cake. The cake was very dense and as one review had mentioned, seemed similar to cornbread. I had ignored that review with so many great reviews and just knew this was gonna be a hit. There’s something that lady did that I also did that created that effect without knowing where we went wrong. The flavor was horrible and that really stumps me. If I’d over cooked, undercooked, not used correct amount of baking powder, anything really…it shouldn’t have affected the taste so negatively. Good luck to future users. Didn’t do well at all for me.
Hi Wanda, I’m so sorry to hear you didn’t get a great result from the recipe– definitely disappointing! I’m wondering if perhaps you measured something incorrectly. Did you use the spoon and level method for measuring the flour?