Vanilla cake is a stable when it comes to baking. In this oneHOWTO article we're going to teach you how to make homemade vanilla cake from scratch. Follow our easy instructions to make your own delicious, moist and fluffy cake!
Grease and flour the mold. You can grease it with oil or butter, and then sprinkle a little bit of flour. You can also grease the mold and cover it with parchment paper. Keep that on the side.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C for 10 minutes before baking the cake, no more, no less. If the oven is cold or very hot, the vanilla cake will not rise correctly.
Sift and mix the dry ingredients: in this case flour, baking powder (optional) and salt. In this recipe, the baking powder is not essential, because if you mix and whisk everything correctly, the cake will raise.
If you want to make a chocolate cake, you can add cocoa powder in this step.
Make the cream. This process consists in trapping air while mixing fat, sugar and some essence. To start this procedure, beat the butter with balloon rods for 3 minutes or until it's fluffy. Do it at medium speed and increase to high after the minute.
Slowly add sugar and continue to mix for about 2-4 minutes or until dissolved.
Then add the rum, the zest and the vanilla to obtain a fluffy and homogeneous yellow-white cream.
Get the cream that remains on the sides of the container with a spatula. Beat for 5 more minutes. Don't worry if the mixture looks cut, it's normal when making homemade cake.
Add the eggs little by little, continuing to beat the mix. Add them in one by one. Mix before adding a new one.
Continue incorporating the dry ingredients little by little and alternate them with a little milk, beating until integrated. Do the same until you have integrated all the ingredients, they shouldn't be any lumps in the cake batter.
Use a spatula to finish mixing. Do it with enveloping movements, slowly and gently.
Pour the vanilla cake batter over the pan. Help yourself with a spatula to use all the mixture as some will get stuck on the sides of your bowl. Tap the bottom of the pan on the worktable a couple of times to remove any air bubbles in the pan.
Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes. Bake in principle with heat below. Then, for the last 10-15 minutes, finish cooking by turning on the heat above.
Do not open the oven before the first 20-30 minutes. The baked doughs acquire their firm structure during the first 30 minutes of cooking, so if the temperature changes suddenly, they deflate. A strong aroma of homemade vanilla cake can serve as a reference to know when you can open the oven and check if it is ready.
Check if the vanilla cake is done. Prick the center of the cake with a wooden toothpick or a knife. If the toothpick comes out dry, it is ready; if it comes out wet, you should leave it on for a couple more minutes.
When you're finished, turn off the oven and let the vanilla cake rest inside for 5 more minutes. Then open the door and slowly let the heat escape for an additional 1-2 minutes before taking it out.
Before unmolding it, you should also let it cool for 10-20 minutes, this way your cake will not deflate.
Unmold and allow it to cool completely. To do this, gently tap the mold underneath, gently shake it from side to side, and finally, unmold on a plate. Once unmolded, place your fluffy vanilla cake on a wire rack (without the plate) until it cools completely. Do not put it in a very cold or drafty place.
Serve with ice cream or a hot drink. Now that you know how to make a classic homemade fluffy and moist vanilla cake, you can save this recipe for when the occasion calls.
To decorate it, you can cover it with a layer of icing sugar or prepare a delicious chocolate ganache to cover your delicious homemade vanilla cake.
If you want to read similar articles to How to Make a Vanilla Cake From Scratch, we recommend you visit our Recipes category.
- Always work with the ingredients at room temperature.
- If you are using metal molds, opt for aluminum ones.
- Cool the cake on a wire rack to prevent moisture from forming underneath.
- If you cool the cake well it will last longer and stay risen.
- Measurements must be exact or the cake will not turn out well.
- If you replace the baking powder with baking soda, you must add it at the end of the preparation, otherwise it will lose its effect.
- Use a suitable mold for the amount of mixture.
- Salt enhances the flavor of sweet ingredients.