BEST Vanilla Birthday Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
Calories: 36
Adjust Servings Here: 15 servings
Description
A moist butter-based vanilla cake paired with a silky, smooth bakery-style vanilla buttercream. It makes for a perfect homemade vanilla birthday cake. Baked from scratch, this cake is surprisingly simple and easy to make from baking to frosting. And a few sprinkles make this a celebration cake for any occasion whether you are five or fifty.
Ingredients
Vanilla cake (makes 9 dessert servings or 15 wedding cake servings)
- 375 g (3 cups) Cake flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 280 g (1¼ cups) Butter
- 400 g (2 cups) White sugar
- 4 large Eggs
- 240 g (1 cup) Buttermilk
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract or bean paste
Bakery style vanilla frosting
- 180 g (¾ cup) Unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 g (½ cup) Vegetable shortening
- 600 g (5 cups) Powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp Hot water
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
- 2 tbsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
Plus
- ½ cup Sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
Cake
- Oven & Pans - Preheat the oven to 325 °F/ 165 °C/ Gas Mark 3. Grease and line 3 x 8-inch round cake pans or 2 x 9-inch round cake pans.
- Dry ingredients - In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.375 g Cake flour, 2 tsp Baking powder, ½ tsp Baking soda, ½ tsp Kosher salt
- Wet ingredients - In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next, add the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.280 g Butter, 400 g White sugar, 4 large Eggs, 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- Combine - add the flour mixture and buttermilk in three batches. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure you have a smooth batter.240 g Buttermilk
- Pans - Divide the batter equally between the prepared baking pans. Pro tip - I like to use cake strips to ensure my layer cakes bake flat.
- Bake - Place the pan on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Cool in the baking pan for 5 minutes. Invert and cool on a cooling rack completely before you decorate.
Bakery Vanilla Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter and shortening for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Next, add cornstarch to the hot water and the creaming mixture. Continue to cream until it’s a smooth mixture again. Then, add vanilla extract and combine well.180 g Unsalted butter, 100 g Vegetable shortening, 2 tbsp Hot water, 1 tbsp Cornstarch, 2 tbsp Vanilla extract
- 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.600 g Powdered sugar, ¼ tsp Kosher salt
Assemble
- Once cooled, cut the domes off the cake layers using a serrated knife. Brush each layer with the cooled, simple syrup. Place a cake layer on the cake board or cake stand.
- Top with a big dollop of buttercream – spread evenly using a straight-edge spatula. Then, top the second cake layer, followed by buttercream and the last cake. Place the cake in the fridge to chill for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Spread the remaining buttercream around and on top of the cake. A straight-edge spatula for the top, an off-set spatula, and a bench scraper for the sides work better.
- Place the remaining frosting in a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe swirls on top of the cake.½ cup Sprinkles
- Decorate with sprinkles or as desired.
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
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