HOW TO MAKE VANILLA CAKE

This cake can come together faster than your oven will preheat. So go set it to 350°F and then come back here to learn how to make this universal cake. It can be as simple or as stunning as you choose, and it will bake up at least a dozen different ways — all of them buttery, fragrant, and delicious.

Here are three tiny swaps that make this cake even better.

Use cake flour. I don't always keep cake flour on hand, but when I do and I bake this cake, the crumb is finer and the cake is more tender. Use cake flour if you really want to turn this cake into a celebration cake.

Swap butter for oil. Melting and cooling butter adds about five minutes of prep time to this cake, but it does make a more flavorful cake. Use butter when you want all the flavors of a rich yellow cake from this cake mix.

Use whatever milk you've got. I have made this cake several times with almond milk to great success. I've used half-and-half in a pinch and 2% on a whim, so feel free to swap the whole milk for a milk alternative or whatever you have on hand.

Avoid Overmixing

This one bowl vanilla cake skips the creaming; the dry ingredients are mixed with the wet ingredients, much like a muffin batter. Like a muffin batter, we also want to avoid overmixing.

Overmixing results in tunneling and toughness in the final cake, which is also why I prefer hand mixing this cake as opposed to using a hand mixer.
Bake This Cake in Whatever Pan You'd Like

Here's the magic of this one bowl vanilla cake: You can bake it in two 9-inch cake pans, in a 9x13-inch baking dish, a rimmed baking sheet, as cupcakes, or even in a Bundt pan. We've used all of these with great success, creating everything from an upside-down banana cake to playful fun cupcakes.

What You Need

Ingredients

Cooking spray

3 cups cake or all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

3/4 cup canola oil, or melted and cooled unsalted butter

1 cup milk or milk alternative

1 tablespoon vanilla extract


EquipmentMixing bowls and spoons

Parchment paper

2 (9-inch) round cake pans, or 1 (9x13-inch) baking pan

Large bowl

Whisk

Wire cooling rack
Instructions

Heat the oven and prepare the baking pan(s): Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Line the bottoms of 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with parchment paper rounds. (Alternatively, you can use one 9x13-inch) baking pan; no need to line with parchment.) Coat with cooking spray; set aside.

Whisk the dry ingredients, then add the remaining ingredients: Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.

Bake the cake(s): Divide the batter between the 2 round pans or pour all of it into the 9x13-inch pan.

Bake until lightly browned and the top of the cake springs back when tapped gingerly, 25 to 30 minutes for the 2 round cakes, or 40 to 50 minutes for the 9x13-inch pan.

Cool the cake(s): Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from the round cake pans. (No need to remove the 9x13-inch cake from the pan.) Cool completely before frosting.