This vanilla wedding cake recipe ticks all the boxes – it’s made with half butter which amps up the flavor and half oil which ensures it’s light and moist. The oil also helps keep its “just-baked” freshness for longer. And the big advantage with vanilla cake is that it can be paired with a myriad of different flavor filling and frostings. Everything works with vanilla!
Vanilla cake, yellow cake, butter cake – what’s the difference? This vanilla cake recipe is a yellow cake because it uses whole eggs instead of egg whites. But it’s also a butter cake, just a lighter version because it uses equal parts butter and oil instead of all butter.
For fillings with which to pair your vanilla cake, check out our Frosting & Fillings page for inspiration. Plus, there’s another great bonus in having a vanilla wedding cake, you can mix and match by choosing a different flavor filling for each tier!
There are two sets of vanilla wedding cake recipes below. The first set makes two x 2″ deep cakes for each tier, while the second set is for two x 3″ deep cakes for each tier.
We would highly recommend using baking strips on your cake pans when going into the oven also. This prevents your cake from “doming” in the middle which has to be cut off before filling and frosting your cakes leading to a lot of wastage and your cake tiers being flatter as a result. They are well worth the investment but if you are in a pinch you can use old towels soaked in water and wrapped around your cake pans before putting them in the oven.
(Note: one stick of butter = half a cup. All quantities in cups unless otherwise stated.)
Vanilla Wedding Cake Recipe/Vanilla Cake Recipes for Different Pan Sizes (2 pans x 2″ deep)
Cups | 6" | 7" | 8" | 9" | 10" | 11" | 12" | 13" | 14" |
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Unsalted Butter | 1/3 | 1/2 | 5/8 | 3/4 | 1 | 1 1/8 | 1 3/8 | 1 1/2 | 1 7/8 |
Oil | 1/3 | 1/2 | 5/8 | 3/4 | 1 | 1 1/8 | 1 3/8 | 1 1/2 | 1 7/8 |
Sugar | 1 | 1 3/8 | 1 3/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 3/4 | 3 3/8 | 4 | 4 3/4 | 5 1/2 |
Eggs | 1/2 | 3/4 | 1 | 1 1/4 | 1 1/2 | 1 3/4 | 2 1/8 | 2 1/2 | 3 |
Vanilla Extract (tbsp) | 1/3 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 3/4 | 1 | 1 1/2 | 1 1/2 | 1 1/2 | 2 |
All-Purpose Flour | 2 | 2 3/4 | 3 1/2 | 4 1/2 | 5 1/2 | 6 3/4 | 8 | 9 1/2 | 11 |
Baking Powder (tbsp) | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 1/2 | 2 | 2 1/4 | 2 3/4 | 3 1/4 | 3 3/4 |
Salt (tsp) | 1/3 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 3/4 | 1 | 1 1/2 | 1 1/2 | 1 1/2 | 2 |
Buttermilk | 3/4 | 1 1/8 | 1 1/2 | 1 7/8 | 2 3/8 | 2 3/4 | 3 3/8 | 4 | 4 1/2 |
Oven Temp | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 325F | 325F |
Baking Time (mins.) | 25-30 | 25-30 | 30-35 | 30-35 | 35-40 | 35-40 | 45-50 | 45-50 | 50-55 |
Vanilla Wedding Cake Recipe/Vanilla Cake Recipes for Different Pan Sizes (2 pans x 3″ deep)
Cups | 6" | 7" | 8" | 9" | 10" | 11" | 12" | 13" | 14" |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unsalted Butter | 1/2 | 5/8 | 7/8 | 1 1/8 | 1 3/8 | 1 5/8 | 2 | 2 3/8 | 2 3/4 |
Oil | 1/2 | 5/8 | 7/8 | 1 1/8 | 1 3/8 | 1 5/8 | 2 | 2 3/8 | 2 3/4 |
Sugar | 1 1/2 | 2 | 2 3/4 | 3 3/8 | 4 1/4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 1/4 |
Eggs | 7/8 | 1 | 1 1/2 | 1 3/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 5/8 | 3 1/4 | 3 3/4 | 4 1/2 |
Vanilla Extract | 1 | 1 1/2 | 2 | 2 | 2 1/2 | 3 | 4 | 4 1/2 | 5 1/2 |
All Purpose Flour | 3 | 4 | 5 1/2 | 6 3/4 | 8 1/2 | 10 | 12 1/8 | 14 3/8 | 16 5/8 |
Baking Powder | 1 | 1 1/3 | 1 3/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 3/4 | 3 1/3 | 4 | 4 3/4 | 5 1/2 |
Salt | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 1/2 | 1 1/2 | 2 | 2 | 2 1/2 |
Buttermilk | 1 1/4 | 1 3/4 | 2 1/4 | 2 3/4 | 3 1/2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Temp. | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 350F | 325F | 325F |
Baking Time (mins) | 30-40 | 30-40 | 35-45 | 35-45 | 40-50 | 40-50 | 45-55 | 55-65 | 65-75 |
Vanilla Cake/Yellow Wedding Cake Recipe: Method
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Preheat your oven to 350F.
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Grease and line your cake pans.
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Start by beating the butter, oil and sugar.
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Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix through.
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In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder. Add the salt and mix the three ingredients until well combined.
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With your mixer on low speed, alternate adding small amounts of flour and buttermilk to your wet mixture (the butter, oil and sugar) until well combined. But do not overbeat (which would “toughen” your cake texture).
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Pour the cake batter into the two cake pans and bake at 350F for 30 minutes approximately. Because ovens vary so much you will need to check your cake for “done-ness” by inserting a cocktail stick/toothpick into the center of the cake. If there’s any “wet” cake batter still on the cocktail stick it needs to cook some more. The cocktail stick should just have a few cooked crumbs attached to it when you take it out.
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Leave the cakes to cool for 30 minutes before turning them out onto a cool rack to cool completely.
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