Moist Vanilla Cake Recipe: Ingredients, Method and Baking Tips

Name: Moist Vanilla Cake Recipe
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 28 min
Total time: 1 h 53 min
Yield: Two 20 cm layers, about 12 to 16 slices
Ingredients: 300 g cake flour; 2½ tsp (about 12 g) baking powder; ¼ tsp fine salt; 225 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature; 250 g castor sugar; 4 large eggs, at room temperature; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 240 ml milk, at room temperature

By Kukies Cakes · Published 23 October 2026

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This is a classic butter cake: tender crumb, gentle vanilla flavour and a sturdy enough structure to fill, stack and decorate. It is the kind of vanilla sponge that works as a birthday cake base, a cupcake-sized treat or a canvas for buttercream.

It uses the creaming method, where softened butter and sugar are beaten together to trap air before the eggs, flour and milk go in. Take your time over that first step and the rest is simple.

Moist Vanilla Cake Recipe

Prep25 min
Bake28 min
Cool1 hr
Total1 hr 53 min
MakesTwo 20 cm layers, about 12 to 16 slices

Tin:Two 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tins, 5 cm deep or deeper, greased and lined with baking paper.
Oven:175 °C conventional (top and bottom heat), or 160 °C fan-assisted. Rack in the middle of the oven.

Ingredients

Equipment

Two 20 cm round cake tins and baking paper
Electric mixer (or a strong arm and a wooden spoon)
Mixing bowls, sieve and spatula
Kitchen scale and measuring spoons
Wire cooling rack

Method

Heat the oven to 175 °C (160 °C fan). Grease the tins and line the bases with baking paper.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
Beat the butter and sugar together for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale, light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl halfway.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the vanilla. If the mixture looks slightly curdled, carry on; it will come together when the flour goes in.
Add the flour mixture in three batches and the milk in two, starting and ending with flour (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). Mix on low speed, only until no dry flour is visible.
Divide the batter evenly between the tins (weigh them if you can) and level the tops with a spatula.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The cakes are done when the tops spring back lightly and a skewer in the centre comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs. Do not open the oven door before 20 minutes.
Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely, about 1 hour, before filling or frosting.

Storage

Once completely cool, wrap unfrosted layers well in cling film and keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 2 months and thaw wrapped. A cake covered in buttercream keeps best in a cool spot out of the sun; if your kitchen is hot, or the filling contains fresh cream, custard or cream cheese, keep it in the fridge. See our guide to storing a birthday cake.

What makes this vanilla cake moist and tender

A moist cake comes from a few things working together rather than one secret ingredient. Butter coats the flour proteins and keeps the crumb tender, eggs and milk provide moisture and structure, and sugar holds on to water as the cake bakes. The remaining factor is the one bakers control most: how long the cake stays in the oven.

Tips for a better result

Weigh your ingredients. Cups vary a lot between bakers, especially for flour. A kitchen scale makes the result repeatable.
Use room-temperature butter, eggs and milk. Cold ingredients make the batter split and bake unevenly. Butter should dent easily under a finger but not be greasy or melting.
Cream properly. Four to five minutes of beating is what gives the cake its lift and fine crumb.
Stop mixing early. Once the flour goes in, beat only until you can’t see dry streaks. Over-mixing develops gluten and makes the cake tougher.
Know your oven. Home ovens often run hotter or cooler than their dial. An inexpensive oven thermometer is worth having.
Check early. Start testing at 25 minutes. A cake that is overbaked by even a few minutes dries out noticeably.
Cool completely before frosting. A warm cake will melt buttercream and can tear when you try to level it.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Problem	Likely cause	What to try next time
Dense, heavy crumb	Butter and sugar not creamed long enough, cold ingredients, over-mixing	Cream for the full 4 to 5 minutes, use room-temperature ingredients, mix flour in only until combined
Dry cake	Overbaking, oven too hot	Check at 25 minutes, verify the temperature with an oven thermometer
Domed or cracked tops	Oven too hot, tins too deep or too full	Lower the heat slightly, level the batter, bake on the middle rack
Sunken centre	Door opened early, underbaked, too much raising agent	See our guide to why cakes sink in the middle
Sticking to the tin	Tin not lined	Grease, line the base with baking paper and run a knife round the edge before turning out

Every oven, tin and brand of flour behaves a little differently, so use these as a starting point and adjust to what you see.

Substitutions

Milk or buttermilk. Either works here because the cake is raised with baking powder. Buttermilk gives a slightly tangier, softer crumb.
Salted butter. You can use it; leave out the added salt.
Self-raising flour. We haven’t written this recipe for self-raising flour. Use cake flour with the baking powder as listed.

Turn it into a layer cake

Let the layers cool fully, then level and stack them with a generous layer of classic buttercream frosting. Our guide to levelling and stacking cake layers walks through the process. To keep the crumb moist, see how to keep a cake moist without making it dense.

Prefer cupcakes? Try our soft vanilla cupcake recipe.

Published by Kukies Cakes. Ovens, tins and ingredients vary, so treat baking times as a guide and use the doneness checks in the method. We're still adding our own kitchen notes and photos to this recipe.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bake this as one deeper cake?

It is written for two 20 cm tins. A single deeper tin changes the bake time and the way the middle sets, so we recommend sticking to two tins for this recipe.

Can I make it ahead?

Yes. Bake and cool the layers, wrap them airtight and freeze. Thaw wrapped so condensation stays on the wrapping, not the cake.

Why is my cake dense?

Common causes are under-creaming the butter and sugar, cold ingredients, over-mixing once the flour is in, or too little raising agent. See why cakes sink in the middle for more detail.