Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I love a beautiful layer cake for any occasion. Bonus points if it also comes together quickly and easily. My Strawberry Cream Cake, Easy Carrot Cake, Nutella Cake, Strawberry Crunch Cake and Matildas Chocolate Cake are all easy and stunning layer cakes. I am so excited to add this vanilla cake with chocolate frosting recipe to the blog.  

• Layers of flavors and textures: From the soft, moist and buttery vanilla cake, to the rich and creamy chocolate buttercream frosting, this vanilla cake with chocolate frosting recipe is an absolute textural and flavor filled dream. 
• Easy to make with simple ingredients.  This old fashioned chocolate frosted vanilla cake is made with simple ingredients that come together quickly and easily making it the perfect cake for any occasion, especially as a birthday cake.

Before I show you how to make this homemade vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, make sure you have these ingredients ready to go.

Vanilla Cake

• Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
• Wet Ingredients: Gather butter, milk, granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Gather butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, milk and salt.

Here are my recommended substitutions to make this vanilla and chocolate frosting cake  as easy as possible. 

• All purpose flour: To make this vanilla sponge cake gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Measure using weight in grams (240 g) versus cup for cup. 
• Baking Powder: This recipe has not been tested using baking soda. Make sure to double check the baking powder is fresh. 
• Unsalted Butter: Feel free to use an equal amount of salted butter in place of the unsalted butter. Just make sure to omit the added salt. 
• Milk: This is an essential ingredient for any hot milk vanilla cake. I prefer to use a full fat milk for the most flavor and the best texture. 
• Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs. 
• Granulated Sugar: This moist and fluffy vanilla cake calls for granulated sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make this refined sugar free. 
• Vanilla Extract: This brings a lovely flavor to the cake. Feel free to use vanilla bean paste in place of the vanilla extract. 
• Cocoa Powder for the Frosting: Use unsweetened cocoa powder if needed. Black cocoa powder would also be a delicious swap for a deeply dark chocolate frosting.

Variations

• Classic Vanilla Cake Recipe: This recipe uses hot milk to create a lusciously velvety vanilla cake. However, if you prefer to make a more traditional vanilla cake, you can use the vanilla cake recipe in my Strawberry Cream Cake recipe and top with the chocolate frosting listed in this recipe. 
• Vanilla Cake Sheet Cake: Make this cake as a 9 x 13. Follow the recipe as written through the ingredient steps. Pour the batter into a lightly greased and lined 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake the cake for 25 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs. Fully cool the cake in the pan. Top with the chocolate icing and sprinkles.
• 3 Layer 8-inch Cake: Prepare the recipe as written. Pour the batter into the prepared 8 inch pans. The baking time will be a bit shorter. Bake the 3 layers for 25 - 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. 
• 4 Layer 8-inch Cake: Prepare the recipe as written. Pour the batter into the prepared 8 inch pans. Bake as directed in the recipe. Fully cool and chill the 2 cake layers for 1 hour. Slice each cake layer in half to make 2 thin, fully circular cake layers. Follow the rest of the recipe as written. You may need to double the chocolate buttercream recipe to account for the extra layers.

Make the Vanilla Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Lightly grease and line the bottom of (2) 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk in the eggs together on medium-high for 2 - 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the sugar to the egg mixture. Once all the sugar has been added, increased the mixing speed to medium-high for an additional 1 - 2 minutes to reach the ribbon stage. While the eggs are mixing together add the butter and milk to a microwave safe bowl. Heat the butter and milk in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients to the eggs and sugar ¼ at a time. Slowly add the warm milk and butter mixture to the cake batter. Go slowly to allow the eggs to temper. Continue to mix the cake batter on low until all the milk has been added. Finally, mix in the vanilla extract.

Bake the Cake

3. Evenly pour the vanilla cake batter into the prepared pans (the weight of cake batter per pan is about 565 g). Bake the cakes for 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the cakes in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pan to cool completely on a cooling rack. Loosely wrap the cakes in plastic wrap to chill in the fridge for an hour. The cakes must be completely cooled before applying the chocolate buttercream frosting. 
4. While the cakes cool, make the chocolate frosting. Cream the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Mix in the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon milk and salt. Mix on low until mostly combined. Increase the speed to medium for 1 minute. If needed, mix in up to 2 teaspoons additional milk. Mix well to combine.

Frost the Cake

5. Place the first vanilla cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate. Apply a layer of frosting to the first layer of vanilla cake. Evenly smooth the frosting across the top, onto the side. Top the frosting with the second layer of vanilla cake. Apply another layer of frosting to the top, smoothing it out along the sides. This is the crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge to set for about 20 - 30 minutes. 
6. Once the crumb coat has set, apply the rest of the frosting to the cake, making sure to fully frost the crumb coat. Using the back of a spoon, create some decorative swirls on top of the cake, followed by sprinkles around the edge of the top of the cake.

Other Vanilla Cake Recipes To Try

• Vanilla Mug Cake
• Vanilla Pound Cake
• Hot Milk Cake
• Donut Cake
• Strawberry Cream Cake

If you try this Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M