Lesson 1 of 5 · Cake Baking & Decorating

Mixing a vanilla butter cake batter

  • Free video
  • Beginner
  • Cakes & Cupcakes
  • 5 min
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Video by The Cooking Foodie on YouTube: “Classic Vanilla Cake Recipe | How to Make Birthday Cake” Watch on YouTube ↗

What you'll learn

Lesson 1 of 5

Mix a moist vanilla birthday cake batter that bakes up tender, using butter for flavor and oil for moistness, and finish it with vanilla cream cheese frosting.

  • Room-temperature ingredients emulsify into a smooth batter
  • Alternate dry and wet ingredients and stop mixing once combined
  • Real vanilla is the main flavor, so use the best you can

Ingredients for this lesson

Madagascar Vanilla Extract, 4 oz BottleVanillaGoods$19.00
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Madagascar Vanilla Beans, Grade A, 5 BeansVanillaGoods$15.00
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Tahitian Vanilla Extract, 2 oz BottleVanillaGoods$16.00
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Shop all vanilla extracts →

Lesson notes from VanillaGoods

Before you start

Bring eggs, butter and milk to room temperature, about 65–70°F, and line two cake pans with parchment. Weigh the flour if you can; this recipe uses about 290 g for 2 1/3 cups.

Mixing method

  • Cream the butter and sugar until pale, then beat in the oil
  • Add eggs one at a time, then the vanilla
  • Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the liquid, starting and ending with dry
  • Mix on low only until no streaks of flour remain; overmixing makes a tough, tunneled cake

VanillaGoods tip

Vanilla is the star of a vanilla cake. Use 1–2 tsp pure vanilla extract, or scrape the seeds of one vanilla bean into the butter and sugar for visible specks and a deeper flavor (one bean is roughly equal to 1 tablespoon of extract).

Next: Baking flat, even layers →

Tools for this lesson

The equipment that makes this easier. VanillaGoods vanilla is always our own; these tools are from Amazon.

As an Amazon Associate, VanillaGoods earns from qualifying purchases. We only suggest tools that fit what you're learning.

Put it into practice

Bake along with a VanillaGoods recipe that uses this technique.

Find vanilla cake recipes

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