An oil based super simple vanilla cake using kitchen staple ingredients. This cake is soft, moist, supremely soft & fluffy and can be made with just a bowl and whisk!
Calling all cake lovers. Today’s recipe is one of the best! A simple and flavourful oil-based vanilla cake that uses basic kitchen staple ingredients and is failproof. This is one of the first recipes that I shared on my Facebook page. It was and still is one of the most popular recipes. So many of you have made it, both as cakes and cupcakes, and given rave reviews.
I’ve been making this vanilla cake for years. It’s one of the first recipes I learned how to make and I still use it when I have a sudden vanilla cake craving. Top it with literally any frosting and you have yourself a delicious treat.
The cake is so easy to make, requiring minimal, basic ingredients and is so insanely light and soft. More times that not, I find myself missing ingredients that a moist and fluffy cake requires like butter or sour cream. This recipe is a life saver because it can be made with the simplest ingredients. You don’t even need a stand mixer or a hand mixer as the batter can be made using a regular whisk. The result is just as delicious.
How to make an easy vanilla cake
- Beat eggs & sugar until fluffy: this is a trick I use to lighten the batter and give the cake a fluffy crumb. You only need to whisk them together for a minute or so but it makes a difference.
- Oil: Although we’re using oil, you can substitute half of the amount with melted butter. The flavour and texture of the crumb will be slightly different.
- Baking powder: needed for a nice lift for the cake. Since we’re not using any acids like sour cream, we only need baking powder to react with the rest of the ingredients.
- Large eggs: make sure you’re using good quality large sized eggs.
- Vanilla extract: you can add other flavours to the batter such as lemon or orange zest but don’t leave out the vanilla. Add a good amount as that’s the star flavour.
- Whole milk: since we’re not using other fats like butter or sour cream, the cake really needs whole milk to ensure moisture and structure. You can use yoghurt or buttermilk in the place of milk but the texture may be slightly more dense.
Another thing to love about this cake recipe is that it can be frosted and topped with anything. It’s so practical and delicious, you can pair it with any flavour frosting like strawberry, peanut butter, caramel etc. For an all vanilla cake, I like it best with my favourite vanilla frosting. It doesn’t have to be a fluffy frosting, you can top with just glazes and icings, top with nuts or cake crumbs.
Tips for success
- Use good quality ingredients. There’s not many ingredients going into this cake so you really need to make sure that each ingredient used is fresh.
- Use room temperature ingredients. This makes a difference in mixing the batter as the ingredients will emulsify better. This is essential for the eggs because room temperature eggs will mix best with the sugar becoming nice and fluffy.
- Fresh ingredients always. Again, there’s not many ingredients in this cake so the flavour will shine through according to the ingredients used. Fresh eggs, baking powder and milk are a must.
Substitutions
This is a very simple recipe so there is plenty of room to play around. Adapt the recipe to your liking and have fun creating different flavours and textures.
- Oil: you can use butter instead. Experiment using melted butter or softened butter and creaming it with the sugar.
- Sugar: substitute some of the white sugar with soft brown sugar. Add about 1/4 teaspoon baking soda if you plan to use brown sugar.
- Whole eggs: have fun switching a whole egg with egg yolks or egg whites for a variation in the crumb.
- Milk: replace the milk with sour cream, buttermilk or Greek yoghurt. Alternatively you can use some citrus in place of some of the milk such as orange juice. Remember to add some baking soda if you use any of these substitutions as it will be needed to react with the acids.
Have and fun enjoy!
If you make this or any of my other recipes, tag me @dutchbakerblog or hashtag #dutchbakerblog on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook so I can see your dutchbaker bakes 💙
Supremely Soft And Fluffy Vanilla Cake
8 – 12
servings20
minutes25
minutes45
minutesThis recipe yields enough batter for a layered 8 or 9 inch layer cake, 24 cupcakes or a 9 x 13 inch cake. Recipe can be easily halved.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
3 cups (375gms) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (250mls) oil
1 1/2 cups (300gms) sugar
4 Large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (250mls) whole milk
- Top with vanilla frosting
Directions
- Grease and flour or line with baking paper two 9 inch cake tins. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt until combined. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Whisk for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes on medium speed until the mix has slightly thickened and lightened in colour. Whisk in the oil.
- Add the flour mix and milk to the eggs/sugar mix in alternating batches, starting and ending with flour mix. Be careful not to over mix.
- Divide batter evenly between pans and bake at for about 25 – 28 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Do not over bake. Cool completely in an airtight container before frosting.
Notes
- If you are using a smaller size cake tin such as three 8 inch, start checking for doneness at around 18 – 19 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @dutchbakerblog on Instagram
This cake tastes delicious and was easy to bake. But, for some reason, mine turned out a little dry, despite following the directions. I used cake flour instead of AP flour and I baked the batter in two 8×8 heart-shaped foil pants. I needed to bake it longer as the batter wasn’t cooked fully after the special note regarding 8×8 pans.
Could the issue be the flour I used?
Hi, thank you for trying out the recipe. I’m unsure why the cake turned out dry for you, it could be the cake flour because cake flour has a lower protein content so you might need to change the ratios of flour to liquid. You could try it again and use buttermilk instead of regular milk and see if it makes a difference. Sorry I can’t be more helpful, I’ve never tried this recipe using cake flour.
Ok, this is good info! This was my first time making a cake from scratch and using cake flour. I erroneously assumed the ratios would be the same.
I’ll try it again with AP flour and follow your steps to see if my results differ. Thanks for responding!
Adding the oil is no in the directions?
When do you add the milk too?
Hi, the milk should be added at the end as mentioned in the recipe card. Alternate with the flour mix. Add about a third of flour mix, half the milk, another third of the flour mix then the remaining milk and last of the flour mix.
Hi Gina, the oil is added in step 2. After you whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla for about 2 minutes, you can add in the oil and whisk again until incorporated.
How much buttercream should I use? I split this cake into 2 circular layers.
Hi Rachel, this depends on personal preference. I like about 1/2 cup buttercream in between the layers and 1 1/2 cups on the top and sides of the cake. If you use the buttercream recipe mentioned in the post, it will be enough to fill and frost the cake.
This recipe is amazing
Thank you so much! 😊
This cake was lovely and so easy too! I used it to make a pineapple gateau and it was to die for!
Thank you 🙏
Hi Shaf, thank you so much for your lovely comment! Pineapple cake sounds delicious! I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe 😊
Hi! So excited to try this as a base for my brother’s birthday cake. Have you ever tried to bake it in a larger pan (13×18)? Do you think that would bake well or would you recommend two smaller pans?
Hi Morgan, I have never made it in a 13×18 but there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work. You would need to keep an eye on the baking time as it will be a thinner cake. If you try it please do let me know, I’d love to hear how it turned out.
I may be in love with this recipe! 🥰 I’ve tried so many vanilla sponge recipes in my time, & this is perfect! Fluffy, moist, the crumb holds together well & it’s delicious! I was making a sheet celebration cake, & added sprinkles to the sponge…I had spare layers so took the plain sponge to my work, everyone loved it! It was perfect in a layer cake too, the layers were so stable! It’s an absolute hit with me! (I used cake self-raising flour, & found I only needed to add one rounded teaspoon of baking powder to get a lovely rise!)
Hi Susan, thank you so much for your lovely comment, I’m so happy that you enjoyed the cake! 😍 good to hear that it works with self raising flour as well!
Lovely recipe, it will be my go-to. I used spelt flour and a mix of maple/rapadura sugar; the cake came out lighter than anticipated. Thanks for sharing
Hi Marina, thank you so much for trying the recipe. Good to know it works with spelt flour and maple sugar! Glad to hear that you enjoyed the cake 😃
When I made the cake, the batter became pretty thick.
Not sure if it was supposed to be more runny
It ended up not rising very well either. 🙁
Other than that it was tasty!
Hi Annette, thank you for trying out the recipe. Sorry to hear that you had some trouble. The batter should be more on the runny side than a thick batter, which is what gives the fluffy and moist texture. I would suggest to ensure you use the correct amount of flour, you can sift as well so that it’s not too compact, and large size eggs (not less than 50 gms each).