Description
Moist vanilla cake delights taste buds with classic simplicity and rich flavor. Homemade comfort shines through balanced ingredients that welcome you to enjoy each delectable slice.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups (330 grams) cake flour
- 1 cup (240 milliliters/8 fl oz) whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ tsps baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Oven Preparation: Calibrate oven to 350F (175C) and meticulously coat two 9-inch round cake pans or a 9×13-inch rectangular pan with grease and flour, ensuring seamless cake release.
- Butter Creaming: Utilize an electric mixer to whip softened butter and granulated sugar into a voluminous, cloud-like consistency, creating a pale and ethereal mixture that takes approximately 4-5 minutes.
- Egg and Flavor Integration: Gently fold eggs into the creamed mixture one at a time, ensuring complete incorporation. Introduce vanilla extract, blending until the aromatic essence permeates the batter uniformly.
- Dry Ingredient Composition: Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt together, creating a light and airy dry ingredient foundation with minimal lumps and maximum smoothness.
- Batter Consolidation: Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to the butter-sugar base in three and two stages respectively, beginning and concluding with dry ingredients. Fold gently to maintain batter structure, avoiding aggressive mixing that could compromise cake texture.
- Pan Distribution and Baking: Evenly spread batter across prepared pans, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, confirming doneness by inserting a toothpick that emerges clean and free of raw batter.
- Cooling Protocol: Allow cakes to rest in pans for 10 minutes, then delicately transfer to a wire cooling rack. Permit complete temperature reduction before proceeding with frosting or serving.
Notes
- Butter Temperature Matters: Ensure butter is softened at room temperature, not melted or cold, for the perfect creamy texture and even mixing.
- Gentle Mixing Technique: Avoid overmixing the batter to prevent a tough, dense cake – mix just until ingredients are combined to maintain a light, tender crumb.
- Accurate Measuring is Key: Use precise measuring cups for flour and level them off with a straight edge to guarantee the right flour-to-liquid ratio.
- Pan Preparation Tricks: Create a non-stick surface by using parchment paper in addition to greasing and flouring the pan for easy cake removal.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 9
- Calories: 360
- Sugar: 33 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 11 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 48 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Cholesterol: 100 mg