29 January 202028 February 2023 / 54 comments

Velvety Vanilla Cake

Name: Velvety Vanilla Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 120 min
Ingredients: 425 g Caster Sugar; 425 g Unsalted Butter or Stork; 425 g Self-Raising Flour; 8 Large Eggs; 1 tsp Vanilla Extract; 1 tsp Baking Powder; 150 g Icing Sugar; 375 g Unsalted Butter; 1 tsp Vanilla Extract; 1-3 tsp Whole Milk; Sprinkles

This Vanilla Cake Recipe was the first cake recipe I posted on my blog so I thought it was time for an update. This Vanilla…

by aspoonfulofvanilla

This Vanilla Cake Recipe was the first cake recipe I posted on my blog so I thought it was time for an update. This Vanilla Cake has three layers of soft vanilla sponge, vanilla buttercream and is decorated with rainbow sprinkles.

Since this recipe was posted there are lots more cake recipes on my blog including this Chocolate and Strawberry Cake and this Rainbow Drip Cake.

Before You Start Baking

Before you start baking you need to preheat your oven. This is such an important step and ensures that the cupcakes bake correctly and you don’t end up with them burning on the outside and raw on the inside or just completely raw.

I would also recommend lining your baking tins before you start to and just leaving them to one side.

For this recipe I used 3 8 inch loose bottomed baking tins. I lightly grease them with butter and then add the baking parchment to the bottom and sides.

Finally, if you are using Unsalted Butter you need to take it out the fridge to come to room temperature. If you are using a baking spread like Stork I don’t tend to bother, but you need to use unsalted butter in your buttercream so you want it to be soft so you can mix it into your icing sugar.

To Make the Vanilla Cake

To start making the vanilla cake cream together the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until they are combined. You don’t need to mix for very long only until they are combined and smooth. If you have a stand mixer I wouldn’t recommend putting the mixer on and then leaving it. If you overbeat the mixture it can cause lots of problems.

In this recipe I used Neilson Massey Vanilla Bean Paste because I love the flavour it gives to the cake. Most of my ingredients I use are supermarket own brand. Except for the Vanilla Extract and I always use Silver Spoon sugar.

Spoon the mixture into your cake tins and pop them into the oven for 35-40 minutes.

How Do I Know the Cakes Are Baked?

You will know the cakes are baked when they are golden in colour. There are a few ways to test whether or not a cake is baked. You can use a cake tester and test the thickest part of the cake if the skewer comes out clean then the cake is baked. If there is still batter on the tester then pop them back into the oven for 3-4 minutes. Repeat until the cake tester comes out clean.

You can also gently press the top of the cake and if it springs back then it is ready. If not pop it back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and test again. Repeat until the cake is baked.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes

Vanilla Flower Cupcakes

I would recommend testing each individual cake, depending on where they are in the oven they might not bake at the same speed. If you find one of your cakes is ready and the other isn’t put the unbaked cake back into the oven for 3-4 minutes and check, repeat until it is baked.

Once the cakes are baked, leave them to cool for 15-20 minutes in the cake tin. If you remove them and they are still really warm they will most likely just break. Leave them to cool fully on a wire cake rack.

If your cakes have a slight dome if you put them on the wire rack upside down the weight of the cake will flatten the dome. Meaning you don’t need to level them.

Buttercream

Crumb Coat

Once your cakes have cooled fully, you can make the buttercream.

Buttercream is super simple to make all you need to do is mix together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until it is thick and creamy. If you find the mixture is too thick add in 1tsp of milk at a time and mix repeat until it is the desired consistency.

I find the easiest way to decorate the cake it to put the buttercream into a piping bag with a large round nozzle.

Put the first cake on your plate or cake board and pipe the buttercream on top. Smooth it with an angled palette knife. Don’t worry if it splodges out the side. Repeat until all your cakes are stacked.

With your cake smoother go around the sides and smooth any of the buttercream that has splodged out the side. If there are any gaps pipe the buttercream onto them and smooth again.

This doesn’t need to be a thick layer of buttercream as this is just our crumb coat. Once there are no gaps pop the cake into the fridge for 30 minutes until the buttercream has set.

Top Layer of Buttercream

Once the buttercream crumb coat has set, pipe the remaining buttercream onto the sides and top of the cake.

Go around with your cake smoother and smooth the buttercream. If there are any gaps or bumps just fill these in with the remaining buttercream. If I scrape any buttercream off when I am smoothing I just pop this back into my bowl and use it to decorate the top.

Once your cake is completely smooth, add the sprinkle decorations to the bottom. I did this at this point so they will stick to the buttercream.

The easiest way, I found, to add the sprinkles was by hand. I poured the sprinkles into my hand and then pressed them into the bottom of the cake.

Pop the cake back into the fridge for 30 minutes until the buttercream has set.

Decoration

For the decoration on the top I used my left over buttercream and a Wilton 1M Piping Nozzle to Pipe some swirls on top. I finished it off by adding some more sprinkles.

Equipment

Large Round Piping Tip

Piping Bag

Turntable

Cake Board

Wilton 1M Piping Nozzle

Sprinkles

*I earn a small amount of money if you buy any of these products. You will not be charged anything extra for this. Thank you for supporting A Spoonful of Vanilla.

Alternatives

You can decorate this cake any way you like. All decorations are always optional.

You could also make this chocolate cake instead of vanilla. In the cake just use 375g of Self-Raising Flour and 50g of cocoa powder. In the buttercream use 700g Icing Sugar and 50g Cocoa Powder.

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5 from 3 votes