Moist Vanilla Cake

By vealam

This perfectly Moist Vanilla Cake Recipe is a more dense cake with a tight crumb. Instead of light and fluffy this is more like a sponge cake. It’s packed full of vanilla and after the first bite, you know it’s homemade.

Ingredients

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 40mins
Adapted from beyondfrosting.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until the eggs and oil are well incorporated and the batter is lighter in color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
Next mix in the sour cream and beat until well combined.
Add half the flour followed by the baking powder and salt, and beat on low speed while pouring in half of the milk and mix just until the flour starts to incorporate.
Finally add the remaining flour, mixing on low speed while pouring in the remaining milk and beating until all of the ingredients are well combined.
Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir the batter from the bottom to the top to ensure it’s well mixed.
Pour the batter in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan and bake at 350°F for 28-32 minutes, keeping a careful eye on the baking during the last few minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
Test the cake for doness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, you cake is done.

NOTES

This cake is topped with a half batch of my Perfect Vanilla Frosting.
The batter will be quite thin. It’s important that you stir the batter after mixing, to ensure everything on the bottom of the bowl is well mixed.
This cake will not produce a very high rise but that’s okay!
This can easily be made into 24 cupcakes by using a large (3 tablespoon) cookie scoop. Bake for 16-20 minutes at 350°F
This cake can also be made without the sour cream, it will still be very tasty but it will not be as moist after 2 days.
If you’re making a more “wet” cake such as a poke cake, I would suggest eliminating the sour cream to produce a lighter and fluffy cake.
I used an aluminum pan. Baking times will vary by pan type and true internal oven temperatures.