Vanilla Cake Recipe

Hello! As promised, I am back with my vanilla cake recipe! Aren't you excited?? Now you can go make (and eat!) some delicious, out of this world, vanilla cake!

Before I get to the recipe, let me talk about just a couple of things. First, I use what is known as the reverse creaming method, or 2-stage method, in all of my cakes. You will see that reflected in the recipe below. This is by far the easiest method to baking cakes from scratch. I always start by weighing each of my dry ingredients directly in the bowl of my stand mixer, making little piles of each ingredient, somewhat separated from each other, just in case I add to much and need to remove a bit. This eliminates a lot of potential baking errors. Did you know that a single cup of flour measured into a dry measuring cup can differ in weight by up to 1 or 2 ounces depending on who is measuring and how they are putting the flour into the cup? This can lead to a very dry cake and inconsistent results. So, always weigh your ingredients! It really does make all the difference in the world. And it's easier, too! Can't beat that!

While I'm on the subject of flour, in this recipe I use both cake flour and all purpose flour. The cake flour, with its lower protein level, is what will ultimately give the cake it's fine, tender crumb, which in my opinion is the sign of an excellent cake. All purpose flour strengthens the cake a bit, making it easier to stack, carve, and otherwise manipulate into a fabulous decorated cake. You can use only all purpose flour (keep the weights the same), but the crumb of your finished cake won't be quite as nice. You can also use only cake flour, which I often do. My favorite is King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour that I buy at my local Meijer grocery store. You can also order it online directly from King Arthur Flour.

After you mix the dry ingredients together, you add the butter. The butter gets broken up into little pieces and coats the flour, which in turn keeps the flour from creating protein bonds, the gluten, that toughen the cake. Of course, some gluten will develop and you do want this so that the cake holds together. But the butter added to the flour first keeps the batter from developing too much gluten. It helps to protect the batter from being overworked. You add your liquids next and then the eggs.

This batter comes together super fast. It bakes up perfectly moist with a nice, tender crumb and lovely soft vanilla flavor.  If you want to make it a "rainbow" cake, like I did for Kate's birthday, just mix about 1/2 cup of rainbow-colored jimmies or other sprinkles into the batter before putting it in the pans.

Let me know if you try this cake and what you think!  Enjoy!

Velvety Vanilla Cake

1-1/2 cups (5-1/4 ounces) cake flour

1-1/2 cups (5-1/4 ounces) all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cups (10-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

3 large eggs*

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1/2 cup (4 ounces) buttermilk

1/4 cup (2-1/8 ounces) crème fraiche**, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare two 2-inch tall 8-inch round pans by greasing the bottoms and sides with shortening or butter, then lining the bottom of each pan with a greased round of parchment paper. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Mix on low for at least 30 seconds.  Add the butter and mix on low until combined and butter is broken up into pea-sized pieces.  Add the buttermilk and crème fraiche.  Mix on low until dry ingredients are moistened, then mix on medium-high for 1-1/2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. 

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract.  Add the egg mixture to the butter mixture in three parts, adding each part on low speed and then mixing on high speed for 20 seconds.  Scrape down the sides and pour into prepared cake pans.  Bake until top springs back when touched with a finger and toothpick inserted in the center comes back with moist crumbs clinging to it, about 35-40 minutes.

*This makes a vanilla cake that is somewhat yellow in color because of the butter and whole eggs.  If you prefer a cake that is lighter in color, substitute 6 eggs whites (6 ounces) for the whole eggs.  If you would like a more traditional yellow cake, substitute 6 egg yolks for the whole eggs.

**Crème fraiche is wonderful in this recipe and I recommend making the effort to use it.  You can easily make your own crème fraiche by adding 4 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk (homemade or store-bought) to 2 cups of heavy cream.  Mix well and cover.  Let sit at room temperature for 6-8 hours, or up to overnight, until it has thickened.  Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Birthday Pie

My husband's birthday was in April and he requested pie instead of cake this year. Can you believe it? The nerve. Ha - just kidding. I love a good pie sometimes too! I pointed him to a couple of my cookbooks and he chose the pie he wanted. This pie is seriously drool-worthy and it tasted every bit as good as it sounds and looks!

This is Martha Stewart's Chocolate Caramel Cream pie. Oh my. So good. The recipe is in her Pies & Tarts cookbook, which I highly recommend, or online here. So, you can make it yourself! Yay for homemade chocolate pie!

I was just going to serve the pie sans decorations, but at the last minute, I decided to add a little happy birthday banner. I cut little triangles from scrapbook paper, stamped them and threaded a bit of string through the corners, then tied the ends of the strings to lollipop sticks. Straws would have worked even better. I love how it turned out. Just the right amount of dressing up for this cute little dessert.

I like to think that my pie made Andy's day. Well, that and my winning smile!

I have made a lot of pies, but before this one, I had never made a chocolate pie dough before. Besides the crushed oreo kind! This was the best pie crust. So filled with chocolate flavor. Make this pie just for the crust alone! Or just make the crust and bake it as cookies sprinkled with a little sugar. Fabulous!

Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes

Here's another little taste of spring for you all.

These little cuties are just as delicious as they look!




I made these in a great pan with 4 mini-bundt cake molds. It is great because each cake is different and oh-so-cute. Perfect to give away, too!

Check out the details, which you can see a little better before the glaze covered them.




I think this little one is my favorite.




A lightly-lemon glaze was the perfect finish!




It fits perfectly on my little DIY cake stand! You can read about how I made the cake stand in this post.


And, so you can all make these for yourself, here is the recipe! If you don't have the mini pan, this recipe will also work in a full-size bundt pan or 2 8-inch round cake pans. Enjoy!


Lightly-Lemon Bundt Cake
(makes approximately 6 cups batter)

For the Cake:
3 cups (12 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon potato starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (14 ounces) granulated sugar
3 whole large eggs
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1-2 teaspoons freshly-grated lemon zest
3/4 cup (6 liquid ounces) buttermilk
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare bundt pan by spraying thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray or greasing with shortening, making sure that all the nooks and crannies are well-greased.

Whisk together the flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, lemon zest and a splash of the buttermilk. Set aside.

Add the rest of the buttermilk and the butter to the flour mixture and mix with the paddle attachment on low speed until moistened, then on medium speed for 90 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Whisk the lemon juice into the egg mixture, then add in three parts to the flour/butter mixture. Add each part on low speed, then mix on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition.

Divide evenly into the prepared pans and bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes for mini-cakes or 40 to 45 minutes for a full-size bundt cake, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. Cool in pan on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely. After the cake(s) are completely cool, drizzle with the glaze, below.

For the Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Heavy whipping cream

Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl and add the lemon juice (the amount you use will depend on your own taste). Whisk in the heavy cream a teaspoon at a time until you have a glaze that falls in ribbons from your whisk or a spoon. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the cooled cakes.

Darkest Chocolate Cake

I know I have been promising more recipes for awhile now. So, here is one of my favorites. It may seem a tad fussy and complicated, but it actually comes together really easily and it is oh so good! This is my own chocolate cake recipe. It is very dark, very moist, and full of chocolate flavor!

It is this recipe that I used to make the cupcakes that were on my treat table, paired with Chambord buttercream.

I have given you a chocolate cake recipe before. This is my newer and better version. It is also slimmed down a bit. An added bonus! As always, I recommend that you weigh your ingredients to get the most consistent results. If you do not have a kitchen scale or just don't want to weigh, please sift your flour into the measuring cup. Otherwise you will end up with too much flour and the recipe might not work for you.

Now with that word of caution, on to the good stuff! If you try making this cake yourself, let me know if you like it!

Darkest Chocolate Cake

1-3/4 cup (7 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (2-1/4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa, Dutched or a mix of Dutched and Natural (I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1 cup (7-3/4 ounces) packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons espresso powder
3/4 cup (6 liquid ounces) hot water (not boiling, hot tap water is fine)
1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces) canola oil
4 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, melted and cooled
3 whole large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces) buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare one 8X3-inch round cake pan or two 8X2-inch round cake pans by greasing the bottom and sides with shortening and lining the bottom with a greased parchment paper round. Set the pan(s) aside.

Combine the flour, cocoa, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and espresso powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment for at least 30 seconds. Add the hot water and the canola oil. Mix on low until moistened, then on medium for 1-1/2 minutes. Add the melted and cooled chocolate and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, extracts, and buttermilk. Add in three parts to the flour mixture, mixing after each addition first on low then on medium for 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. The batter will be thin.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 45 to 55 minutes (35 to 40 minutes for 2-inch high pans) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Remove from oven and cool in pan(s) for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Cinnamon Cake Recipe

I thought I would share with you the final version of my cinnamon cake. This is the recipe that I've been testing lately. I made my last two cakes using this recipe. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Cake

10.5 ounces cake flour (3 cups lightly sifted into the measuring cup, but I weigh mine)
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cup super-fine granulated sugar (just pulse regular granulated sugar in a food processor)
3 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature (8 tablespoons or 1 stick)
1-1/2 cup heavy cream, divided
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 drops cinnamon oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 eight-inch cake pans by greasing with shortening, lining with greased parchment rounds, and coating with flour. Combine cake flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low for at least 10 seconds. Add butter and 3/4 cup of the cream and mix on low until moistened. Turn to medium speed and mix for an additional one and a half minutes. If using a hand mixer, switch it to high speed for this step.

Whisk together in a medium bowl 1/4 cup cream, the eggs, the egg yolks, vanilla, and the cinnamon oil. Add to the flour mixture in three portions, mixing first on low then on medium (or high if using a hand mixer) for 20 seconds after each addition.

In a separate glass or metal bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the batter until fully incorporated.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/4 cup of the batter. Mix well and fold into the remaining batter until it is streaked throughout the batter. Pour gently into prepared pans and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top springs back when touched gently with a finger and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it. The cake should NOT pull away from the sides of the pan before you take it out of the oven. If it does, you have baked it too long.

This cake is excellent with vanilla buttercream. I was also thinking that it would be very good with caramel buttercream, too. If you don't have cinnamon oil, it will still be excellent. The cinnamon flavor won't be quite as pronounced and you could add another teaspoon or two of ground cinnamon instead. It still won't be quite the same, but it will still be delicious! Keep in mind also that if you scoop out the flour or even spoon and level, you will likely get more than 10.5 ounces, so if you try this recipe and the cake is dry, try using a little less flour next time. I know not everyone has a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients!

If you substitute all-purpose flour, know that your cake will not be as tender and may be more dry. All-purpose flour weighs more than cake flour, so 3 cups may be a bit too much. I encourage you to try cake flour, though, as it does make a difference in cakes. You will be amazed at how tender your cake can be!

I hope you all enjoy this cake as much as I have!!