Soft and fluffy, this vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream is the perfect treat for your next celebration, or just because! It’s moist, flavorful and super easy to make!
Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Around here we don’t feel you need an occasion to bake a cake. In fact just yesterday we made 3 full cakes, including this baby, because like…why not? We’re embracing the cake lifestyle with this perfectly tender vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. And let me tell you, we do NOT regret the 3 cakes.
Those other two cakes will be on the blog soon, but today we get to celebrate Monday with this chocolate frosted cake topped with a little peek at Spring.
If you’re a vanilla cake person, you’re probably going to– nay GUARANTEED– to like this cake. Vanilla has always been, and will always be the cake I request on my birthday and you better believe it’s going to be smothered in homemade chocolate buttercream. Duh.
Growing up my mom was known for making the best vanilla cake ever. She seemed to make every celebration cake for every child I knew, so you could say she was kind of a big deal. But when my birthday rolled around I had something different in mind. For my 7th birthday when my mom asked what kind of cake I’d like her to make, I replied with all the tact of second grader:
“I don’t like your cake.”
Okay. That was rude, Sofi.
To make matters worse, I then demanded a specific cake baked by someone else, which was probably a knife to my poor mother’s heart. Especially because this cake I raved about was from Shaw’s, as in the grocery store.
Clearly I had a very refined palette.
While this recipe ain’t no Shaw’s cake, this vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream is the new cake I’m asking for on my birthday this year. The combination of creamy, rich chocolate buttercream and tender vanilla cake with the perfect crumb are a match made in heaven. It’s a no brainer.
How to make the best vanilla cake?
Vanilla cake is notoriously hard to make. It has a long history of being labelled, “flavorless,” “dry,” “gummy,” “bready,” “or heavy.” Which pretty much describes the exact opposite of this cake which is actually flavorful, moist, tender, and fluffy. You can head on over to our vanilla cake recipe to experience the magic with your own tastebuds.
You’ll find a step by step break down outlining how to make the best vanilla cake here. All you have to do is bring the butter to room temp, and follow our instructions and you’ll be golden. No pun intended. If you’re new to making homemade cakes, or frustrated by them (we’ve all been there) you’ll find this super helpful!
Life is short. Don’t wait for a birthday to roll around to make cake. And while I do stand my ground on grocery store cake (don’t judge me plz), I might just prefer this vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream.
1 recipe of the best vanilla cake ever (if you want a 4 layer cake like we have here X the recipe by 1.5 for thin layers, or 2, for thick layers, and divide into 4 pans!)
for the frosting
1 1/2cups unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2cups powdered sugar (about 1 box)
1cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
for the cake
Make the best vanilla cake ever. Turn the cakes out of their pans and allow to cool completely before frosting*
for the frosting
Cream the butter and cocoa powder for 2-3 minutes, until the cocoa powder begins to lighten in color. Add in the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt, beating until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
Place first cake on a cake stand, then top with generous amount of frosting. Layer second and third layers, frosting the same amount in between each. Frost edges of cake with remaining frosting. Top with flowers, sprinkles, or whatever your heart desires. Enjoy any day!
*TIP: We like to freeze or refrigerate our cakes before frosting. This make the frosting process much easier and sturdier and can help prevent getting crumbs in your buttercream!
Can you tell us what size pan you used? And if I have 6” pans to make a 4 layer cake what multiple should I use?
Last question… as a novice baker do you decorate with real flowers??
In these photos we did 1.5x the recipe and divided them between 4 9 inch pans! If you want a 4 layer cake in 6 inch pans you can just do 1 x the recipe and divide the batter evenly between 4 pans! We do decorate with real flowers but you should make sure that they are nontoxic first!
I’m doing my friend’s wedding cake and was wondering if this recipe is suitable? Would the cakes from this recipe be stackable? I’m doing a 3-tier and 3 layers wedding cake
Hi Cali! It depends on how thick you want your frosting. I think you could probably get away with just 1 of the recipe, but if you want thick layers of frosting I’d do 1.5! Better to have some left over in my opinion!
While this recipe ain’t no Shaw’s cake, this vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream is the new cake I’m asking for on my birthday this year. The combination of creamy, rich chocolate buttercream and tender vanilla cake with the perfect crumb are a match made in heaven. It’s a no brainer.
Leave a comment and rate this recipe!
Made this cake for my mother in laws birthday party and everyone loved it! The frosting was soooo good!
★★★★★
Can you tell us what size pan you used? And if I have 6” pans to make a 4 layer cake what multiple should I use?
Last question… as a novice baker do you decorate with real flowers??
In these photos we did 1.5x the recipe and divided them between 4 9 inch pans! If you want a 4 layer cake in 6 inch pans you can just do 1 x the recipe and divide the batter evenly between 4 pans! We do decorate with real flowers but you should make sure that they are nontoxic first!
I’m doing my friend’s wedding cake and was wondering if this recipe is suitable? Would the cakes from this recipe be stackable? I’m doing a 3-tier and 3 layers wedding cake
Absolutely! I would probably use dowels to reinforce it, but its a solid cake!
If I’m 1.5x the recipe for 4 thin layers, do I 1.5x the recipe for frosting too?
Hi Cali! It depends on how thick you want your frosting. I think you could probably get away with just 1 of the recipe, but if you want thick layers of frosting I’d do 1.5! Better to have some left over in my opinion!
If I double the cake recipe, should I double the frosting recipe also? Thanks!
Hi Katie! I would 🙂