One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe from Scratch

This one-bowl vanilla cake recipe is a simple, easy and effortless recipe and ideal when you need a quick and easy cake. It’s baked from scratch and taste delicious on its own. Works as a great tea time treat, frost it for a quick dessert or decorate to create a celebration cake. Add flavor or fillings to create more variations of this classic.

Yes, this is one more addition to my baking from scratch series. By now you know I’m on a mission to get everyone to bake from scratch not just because it’s always better but because it’s so EASY!!

If you ever need a quick and easy cake or when you want a fuss-free cake? This is it.

About this Vanilla Cake recipe.

The simplest and easiest vanilla cake you can ever make. You really just have to add all the ingredients in a bowl and give it a good mix with a whisk. You don’t need to remove the cake mixer out but for the purpose of the video, I have used a hand mixer so it’s quicker.

The cake is delicious on its own. Very light, moist and fluffy with a tender crumb. I never usually frost this cake much and if I do, its usually a naked cake with just some frosting in between layers.

This is pretty much the basic cake formula that works every single time. This is my vanilla, I also have a One-Bowl Chocolate Cake from scratch

One Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe from Scratch

A one bowl chocolate cake recipe is a must-have recipe on hand if you love cake. This simple, easy and effortless recipe is quick and versatile. Taste delicious on its own fresh out of the oven, dress it with a little frosting for a quick dessert or decorate it for a celebration cake. Use fruit fillings or flavored frostings to create more exotic variations.

The Key to Success with one bowl baking 

As I say in the other one bowl baking recipes – The key success of baking a one-bowl recipe is the temperature of your ingredients.

• All ingredients must be at room temperature.
• If your butter is cold – it will not cream well and leave you with small butter pebbles which will bake unevenly in the cake.
• If the eggs are cold it will curdle the warm butter. So if everything is room temperature, it mixes into a smooth batter which is exactly what we want.

Let’s talk ingredients and substitutes (Save/Pin)

• All-Purpose flour – this is a simple recipe and works really well with regular plain flour or all-purpose. No need to go looking for cake flour or pastry flour.
• Butter – this is a butter-based cake and is absolutely delicious. You can also substitute with margarine in equal amounts as well. If you want, you can use about 150 grams of vegetable shortening instead of 170 grams of butter.
• Sugar – since this is a one-bowl recipe, you want to use a fine grain sugar that will cream into the butter easily.
• Eggs – You do need to use eggs in the recipe. If you can’t use eggs you can use my eggless vanilla cake recipe instead.
• Vanilla – I really like to use pure vanilla bean paste for my vanilla cakes. You can use store-bought of homemade vanilla extract, bean paste or even substitute the sugar with vanilla sugar.

The bakery-style buttercream frosting

There is a reason why I chose this frosting for this cake and that’s because this vanilla buttercream works great in hot, humid weather and can sit out for hours without any refrigeration required. The frosting takes of course just five minutes to make and I also have a video that I will share in the recipe card below.

Bakery Style Vanilla Frosting Recipe – Video Recipe

This Bakery Style Vanilla Frosting is the ultimate vanilla buttercream recipe for cupcakes, cakes, or cookies. It takes only 5 minutes to whip and is perfect for hot and humid weather. Best when you need to keep a frosted cake out for many hours or even days because it has a really long shelf life.

Useful Tips and Tools 

• A few simple mixing bowls, a whisk, and spatula are all you need for this cake recipe.
• Personally, I believe in measuring ingredients by weight, which makes my kitchen scale one of the most valuable items when baking. The same goes for my measuring cups and measuring spoons. It’s always a good idea to have these handy and use them when baking rather than trying to guess measurements.
• Personally, I like to bake three layers rather than torte my cakes and it bakes faster too. For most of my layer cake recipes on this blog I use 3 x 6-inch round pans or 2 x 8-inch round pans. 
• Once baked always invert your cakes on a cooling rack. This encourages air circulation and prevents the steam from pooling at the bottom of the pan.
• Every oven works differently. So the baking times are just guidelines. In the case of cakes, a skewer inserted in the center is a great indication. If the cake bakes too quick or too slow compared to the time given it might be a good idea to check if your oven needs calibration. An oven thermometer is a great little gadget to help keep the oven temperature in check. All you need to do then is adjust the temperature accordingly

How to Make a One Bowl Vanilla Cake (Save/Pin)

Method

For the Cake

• Preheat the oven to 160 C/ 320 F.
• Greece and line two or three 6 inch round baking pan.
• Measure all ingredient into a large bowl.
• Mix well with a whisk until well incorporated and no lumps.
• Pour into your prepared baking pans.
• Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes on the center rack or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Once baked let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then on to a rack to cool completely.

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures2

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures4

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures3

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures5

For the frosting

• Cream butter and shortening for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Add cornstarch to the hot water and add it to the creaming mixture.
• Continue to cream until it’s a smooth mixture again.
• Add vanilla and combine well.
• Finally, start adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
• Once all the sugar is in – whip the buttercream for a good three minutes until light and fluffy.
• Place in a piping bag with a star piping nozzle.

To Decorate

• Brush layers with simple syrup
• Use a spatula to frost the cake.
• Pipe any leftover frosting if desired.
• For a naked look – scrape off as much frosting off the sides of the cake.
• Decorate with seasonal fruits – we had cherries in season. 

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures7

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures9

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures8

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe Progress Pictures10

Frequently asked questions

Don’t forget to save this recipe on Pinterest for later.
You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.

One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe

Author: Veena Azmanov

5 from 16 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 7 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 37 mins

Calories: 295kcal

$15

Adjust Servings Here: 12 servings

Description

This one bowl vanilla cake recipe is a simple, easy and effortless recipe and ideal when you need a quick and easy cake. It’s baked from scratch and taste delicious on its own. Works as a great tea time treat, frost it for a quick dessert or decorate to create a celebration cake. Add flavor or fillings to create more variations of this classic.

Equipment /Tools

• 3 x 6-inch baking pans
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons
• Stainless steel mixing bowl
• Whisk
• Spatula
• Baking Tray
• Oven

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 170 grams Unsalted butter
• 200 grams White granulated sugar
• 3 Eggs large
• 220 grams All-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 60 ml Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

For the Bakery Style Buttercream Frosting

• 113 grams Butter unsalted
• 100 grams Vegetable shortening
• 310 grams Powdered sugar
• 30 ml Hot water
• 1 tbsp Cornstarch
• 1 tbsp Vanilla
• 1/8 tsp Salt

Extra

• 1/2 cup Simple Syrup
• 12 Cherries or other fruit for garnish

Metric – US customary

ADJUST SERVINGS HERE – 12 servings

Conversions – Switch between Metric & US for other measurement options

Instructions

FOR THE CAKE

• Preheat the oven to 160 C/ 320 F.
• Greece and line two or three 6 inch round baking pan.
• Measure all ingredient into a large bowl.
• Mix well with a whisk until well incorporated and no lumps.
• Pour into your prepared baking pans.
• Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes on the center rack or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Once baked let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then on to a rack to cool completely.

FOR THE FROSTING

• Cream butter and shortening for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Add cornstarch to the hot water and add it to the creaming mixture.
• Continue to cream until it’s a smooth mixture again.
• Add vanilla and combine well.
• Finally, start adding the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
• Once all the sugar is in – whip the buttercream for a good three minutes until light and fluffy.
• Place in a piping bag with a star piping nozzle.

TO DECORATE

• Brush layers with simple syrup
• Use a spatula to frost the cake.
• Pipe any leftover frosting if desired.
• For a naked look – scrape off as much frosting off the sides of the cake.
• Decorate with seasonal fruits – we had cherries in season.

Recipe Video

About Videos – most recipes has two videos – a quick version in the post & longer detailed version on this recipe card. Sometimes a similar recipe video may be used. Please do subscribe to my channel if you like my videos

Nutrition Information

Calories: 295kcal | Carbohydrates: 36.4g | Protein: 3.1g | Fat: 15.6g | Saturated Fat: 9.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0g | Trans Fat: 0.6g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 94mg | Potassium: 0mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 25.4g | Vitamin A: 0IU | Vitamin C: 0mg | Calcium: 0mg | Iron: 0mg

The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you

Keywords – baking, baking from scratch, cake, easy, one-bowl, vanilla, vanilla cake

Did you make this recipe? I’d love to hear how it was.Mention @veenaazmanov or tag me on Instagram #veenaazmanov

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