Vanilla Cake Recipe
My take on the ultimate classic cake - vanilla cake…but with vanilla beans! Soft, moist, packed with vanilla bean flavor that will make you come back for seconds.
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Equipment
- stand mixer or hand mixer with whisk attachment
- mixing bowls
- 8x8 baking pan
- silicone spatula
- kitchen scale optional but recommended
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup cake flour, sifted 218 g
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 168 g
- 1 cup sugar 200 g
- 3 ea egg whites, room temperature
- ½ cup kefir, room temperature 110 g
- ¼ c + 2 tbsp canola oil, or vegetable oil 83 g
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and then flour 8x8 baking pan. Set aside.
- Combine cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and fine sea salt and whisk until well dispersed. Set aside.
- Combine butter and sugar in separate bowl and cream butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes on medium high.
- With mixer running on low, slowly drizzle in oil and mix until well combined - about 1 minute.
- Add egg whites one at a time mixing well between each.
- Add vanilla bean extract and mix on low until well dispersed.
- Add ½ of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk on low until just combined.
- Add kefir and mix on low until just combined.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low until only some flour streaks remain.
- Use a spatula to fold in the remaining dry ingredients to the batter.
- Pour batter into buttered and floured pan and use spatula to help spread batter evenly.
- Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs or clean from the middle. You will also see the cake pulling away from the sides of the baking pan.
- Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing from baking pan and allowing to continue cooling on rack.
Notes
Room Temperature Ingredients. This is probably the most important for this recipe because your cake will not come out as intended if you are using cold ingredients. Don't melt your butter either - that will not yield the same cake within this recipe. Take your cold ingredients out at least 30 minutes to 1 hour prior. I recommend cutting the butter into large 1" cubes to help speed along the process. You can place your eggs in warm water to help cut down on time as well.
Weigh Your Ingredients. You will have a better chance of success with this recipe if you weigh your ingredients.
Use An Oven Thermometer. I just purchased a new oven thermometer for $6 from Amazon. Our ovens can run hot or colder than what is shown, so I highly recommend an oven thermometer so you can ensure the recipe you are baking is not under or over baked.
Flour Clumps In Batter. Leading cause of this is that the cake flour was not sifted prior to mixing with wet ingredients. Use a sifter to help sift dry ingredients together prior to adding to the wet ingredients.
Over Mixing. Unfortunately over mixing is an easy mistake to make. The trick is to mix your ingredients until what you are mixing in is 'just' combined. So if mixing in the egg whites you want to mix only until you see the batter smooth and no egg white residue remaining. When mixing in the flour you want to only mix until the last bits of flour are no longer visible.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
