- Hey everybody. It's Natasha
of natashaskitchen.com. And today I'm gonna teach you how to make the perfect vanilla cake. This recipe is easy peasy, soft and moist and perfect for just about any occasion. It's the ultimate birthday
cake, and I want some cake, So let's get started. (bell chimes)
(table whirring) Make sure you preheat your
oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the rack in the center of the oven. Now we're gonna butter two
nine inch non-stick cake pans. Using your pastry brush or
your hands, butter the sides and bottom of the pans. Next dust, the insides of the pans with flour tapping out the excess. (soft upbeat music) Buttering and flouring
the pans will ensure that the cake layers release
easily once they're baked Set your prepared pans aside
and onto the cake batter. In a medium bowl, whisk
together 2 1/2 cups of flour, one tablespoon of baking powder
and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. Set those aside. Now in a large mixing
bowl, beat together one cup of unsalted butter with 1
1/2 cups of granulated sugar. (mixer whirring) Beat that on medium high
speed for five minutes or until the mixture is thick and fluffy and scrape down the bowl as needed. (soft upbeat music) Next add the eggs one
at a time beating well with each addition. We're gonna add a total of four
large room temperature eggs. Just make sure each egg
is well incorporated before adding the next one. (mixer whirring) Next, add four teaspoons
of real vanilla extract, and we're using a homemade vanilla. I will link to this in the notes. It's super easy to make
with just two ingredients. Beat just until the vanilla is combined, then reduce the mixer to medium speed and add your flour mixture in thirds, alternating with the one cup
of room temperature buttermilk. (soft upbeat music)
(mixer whirring) You wanna a mix to
incorporate with each addition and scrape down the bowl as needed then beat until everything
is just combined and smooth. (soft upbeat music)
(mixer hummer) If you used room temperature ingredients, the butter should be thick and smooth. If it looks grainy, continue
beating for another 30 seconds or until it's smooth. Now divide your butter evenly between your prepared cake pans. And I like to use a kitchen scale to ensure that my layers are even. Our kitchen scale is one
of our best use tools for baking and I will link to
the one I have in the notes. I like to get every drop
of that yummy butter. Now spread it evenly in the cake pans. (soft upbeat music) We're gonna bake this in the center of a preheated oven at
350 degrees Fahrenheit for 28 to 30 minutes. (soft upbeat music) The cakes should be
lightly golden in color and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let the cakes rust in the cake pans for 10 minutes before removing them. You'll notice when it
comes out of the oven, there'll be a slight dome at the top, but once the cakes have
rested, they'll flatten out. (soft upbeat music) Run a knife or a thin spatula
around the edges of the cake. Now invert it onto a wire rack and let it cool completely
to room temperature before applying frosting. You never wanna frost a warm cake, or it will melt your frosting. Once your vanilla cake layers
are at room temperature, you can start your frosting. To make a vanilla butter cream frosting, you'll need a stand mixer fitted
with the whisk attachment, and you can also use
an electric hand mixer. (soft upbeat music) Beat 1 1/2 cups of unsalted
room temperature butter for five minutes on high speed. It should be lightened
in color and creamy. (soft upbeat music) Scrape down the bowl as needed to make sure your butter
is evenly blending. (soft upbeat music) After five minutes, you can see the frosting is
definitely lighter in color and has a whipped appearance.
(mixer whirring) While the mixer is going, I'll sift together 4 1/2 to
5 cups of powdered sugar. (mixer whirring) Reduce the mixer to medium low speed so you don't end up in a
cloud of powdered sugar and add that powdered sugar, one heaping tablespoon at a time. Let the powdered sugar incorporate between each addition, scraping
down the bowl as needed. You can add the powdered
sugar to taste adding more if you like a sweeter frosting. Now add 1/4 teaspoon of fine salt and four teaspoons of
real vanilla extract. The frosting should be
pretty thick at this point, depending on how much sugar you added. To make it easier to pipe and spread, we're gonna add three to four tablespoons of heavy whipping cream or milk, adding it one tablespoon at a time until you've reached
your desired consistency. The finished frosting
will be whipped and fluffy with great vanilla flavor. Now we're ready to frost that cake and you can make this frosting
ahead in the cake layers if you want to. Check out the notes in the
recipe post on how to do that. Place your first room
temperature cake layer onto a cake platter. Add a generous layer of frosting. I love a lot of frosting in the middle because it gives height to the cake and every bite will have a
little bit of frosting on it. Cover that with your second cake layer and I like to place the bottom side up to ensure a perfectly even surface. Clear away any extra crumbs
that are on your cake platter so they don't get stuck to the frosting. Now we're going to decorate the cake. There are so many ways that
you can change up this frosting with different flavors
and different colors, and I'll have notes in the
recipe post on how to do that. This buttercream frosting
is also really stable, so it pipes beautifully, but we're gonna keep it simple today and just make waves in the frosting. (soft upbeat music) My taste tester back here
is getting very eager for a slice of cake and I'm
excited for her to try this one. Frost the top and sides of your cake and make sure you're using a
generous amount of frosting in order to create those waves later. (soft upbeat music) Use a paper towel to wipe
away any excess frosting from the cake platter. Now I'm just using an offset spatula. You can also use the back of a teaspoon to create waves in the
top and sides of the cake. I love this vintage style of decorating, and now all we need is a
little bit of sprinkles around the edge. Sprinkles are always fun, especially if you're making
a vanilla birthday cake. (soft upbeat music) Here's a quick tip. Since buttercream is quite soft, if you refrigerate the
cake for about 30 minutes, it'll make it easier to slice. (soft upbeat music) (laughs) Who's excited? (chuckles) Me. (chuckles) Okay, we are gonna do the taste test. I can't wait any longer and I have got some serious
cake cravings right now, but look at how pretty this is. Nice, and then, because it's
been setting in the fridge for just a little bit, you don't want it to get completely firm because the buttercream
will get hard in the fridge. So you wanna let it soften a little bit when it comes out of the fridge, but it's just cool enough where it's gonna be easy to slice and that's what we're gonna do. All right, here we go. Ho, ho, it is so soft going through. Ho, ho, yum, yum, here we go. (soft upbeat music) Okay, now take a look at these layers. Yum, super soft and moist cake and that frosting, (chuckles) it's a winner. Mmmh, yum. (Natasha laughs) Okay, I'm gonna bring it down
so I can do this taste test. I'm pretty excited. Okay, here we go. Good bite and that's the frost. (soft upbeat music) Mmm, mmm, mmmh. Yum. (laughs) You can really taste the
vanilla in here in the cake and in the frosting. That buttercream, I mean, it's sweet, but it's not overly
sweet, it is just right and so enjoyable, so satisfying. Also, you could take this entire cake and you can freeze it, seriously. (laughs) Perfect make ahead dessert. So good and this frosting is
stable at room temperature so it keeps really well. Great for parties. Really, this is the
ultimate birthday cake. It is so, so yummy. And you can decorate it all kinds of ways. You can change this frosting,
add different flavorings, different food colorings because it takes those
things on really well and it's easy to pipe. It stays stable. This cake is a winner. I hope it becomes a new favorite for you. One of those go-to recipes, and that's what this is. (chuckles) Oh, before we go, we
have another taste tester who loves cake and is
super excited to get in on this taste test. Come on over. Let's go, let's go, let's go. (chuckles) You want cake? Big piece or a little piece? - Big piece.
- Big piece. That's a silly question, huh? Oh, you wanna do it yourself, huh? - How?
- Go ahead. - How?
- Go ahead. Oh, you got it, you got it, look at that. (chuckles) It's a really big. She really wants that cake. (laughs) Okay, go for it, honey, go for it. (soft upbeat music) The thumb is up. Did you notice you have
frosting on your thumb? (Natasha laughs) Was that good, you love it? (laughs) Two thumbs up or one thumbs up? Show it to me, show it to me. One? Where's the other one? Come on.
- No one. - Aw. - Two. (Natasha laughs) - Oh, I hope this cake becomes
a new favorite for you. It's one of those go-to recipes. It's gonna be perfect for every occasion and we'll see you in our next video. Say bye. What's happening there? - Bye. - Were are you eating without... Oh, my goodness. (laughs) Things just got real. Honey, you're... (Natasha laughs) Let's go clean you up. (both laughs)
