An exceptional, yet simple Vanilla Butter Cake. Adapted from a master Cook’s Illustrated recipe, this sponge cake is made with pantry staples, has a velvety, tender crumb and keeps well for 3 days. An essential addition to every recipe collection!
Want to step it up? Try my ultimate Perfect Vanilla Cake.
Moist and tender Vanilla Sponge Cake
I call this a plain-jane Vanilla Sponge Cake, but it’s really anything but that. Everyone should have a classic vanilla sponge cake in their repertoire, and it took me many years to find the “perfect” one.
This is a classic, simple Vanilla Sponge Cake that is made with basic ingredients – eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and salt. That’s it. No sour cream, no buttermilk – these are not pantry staples in my world – or any other schmancy ingredients. Yes adding sour cream and/or buttermilk makes an even more tender, more moist cake. But I wanted to share a truly great Vanilla Sponge Cake that is made with just pantry staples.
I have a soft spot for old fashioned Vanilla sponge cakes. I am pretty sure the Women’s Weekly Best Ever Sponge was the first cake I ever (attempted?) to make. 🙂 Freshly made, they are lovely, albeit a wee bit dry for my taste. But the biggest issue I’ve always had is that after 12 hours, the sponge is incredibly dry. Even slathered with copious amounts of cream and frosting can’t hide it.
This recipe I’m sharing today is made with the same ingredients as old fashioned Vanilla Sponge Cakes, but there’s one very important step that you won’t see in any Women’s Weekly recipe books from the 1980’s: beating softened butter into the dry ingredients. THIS is the secret to a moist, tender sponge cake made without sour cream or buttermilk.
How do I know this?
Because this is a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. 🙂 They’ve gone and done all the hard work with the recipe testing for us.
Regular readers know I’m never going to win any awards in the cake decorating category. I’m much more focussed on the body of the cake – getting that sponge right. So I kept this simple and just slathered on lots of cream and and sandwiched it with strawberries. In addition to adding some lovely fresh juicy flavours into the cake, the strawberries also stop the cream from oozing out of the cake when you cut into it.
You’ll see in the video. 🙂
Happy weekend everyone! Hope you have a lovely one. I’m off to a festival of some sort – for a friends’ birthday. I’m not really a festival-type gal, so it will be an experience. I don’t even know what the festival is for – music, I’m guessing. Guess I should probably leave my stilettos behind. 😉 – Nagi x
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe video!
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Butter Cake (Vanilla Sponge Cak)
Ingredients
- 225 g / 2 sticks unsalted butter , cut into 8 pieces and softened
Wet:
- 4 large eggs (55 - 65g / 2 - 2.5 oz each), at room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup / 125 ml milk (whole or low fat, not no fat), room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Dry:
- 1 3/4 cups / 265g plain flour (all purpose flour, 7 oz) (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup cornflour / cornstarch (Note 1)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups / 330g caster sugar / superfine sugar (normal white sugar also ok)
- 3/4 tsp salt
Strawberries & Cream:
- 2 1/2 cups / 625 ml whipping cream
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 400 g/ 14 oz strawberries , halved (1 1/2 punnets)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan / convection). Put the rack in the middle of the oven.
- Butter 2 x 20cm / 8" cake pans (Note 2). Line the base with baking paper.
- Place Wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
- Place Dry ingredients in a bowl and use a handheld beater on speed 1 (slowest) to quickly whisk.
- Add 1/3 of the butter, then put the beater whisk in the butter, and mix using speed 1. Once the butter is incorporated a bit, speed up to 5 and whisk for 10 seconds.
- Add another 1/3 of the butter then repeat, then add remaining butter and repeat again. It should look like wet sand (see video / photos in post).
- Add half the Wet mixture, beat until incorporated. Add remaining Wet mixture, then beat on speed 5 (medium) until almost completely smooth.
- Divide between cake pans, smooth surface (it levels out in the oven), then bake for 25 minutes.
- A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean but moist.
- Cool on cooling rack for at least 15 minutes then remove cake from pan.
Frosting / Decorating with Strawberries & Cream:
- Optional: Use a serrated knife (I use a bread knife) to cut the top off each cake to make it completely flat. This makes neat layers when you cut into the cake.
- Place cream, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Beat on high with a handheld beater or stand mixer until firm peaks form.
- If piping little swirls around the edge like in the photos, transfer 1 cup of cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
- Place a cake on a serving platter. Spread a thin layer of cream over the top.
- Cover with strawberries, cut side down.
- Top with 1/3 of the cream.
- Place 2nd cake on top. Cover top and sides with remaining cream. Pipe cream around the edge.
- Decorate with remaining strawberries, as desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More cake goodness
LIFE OF DOZER
You do not want to know how big the puddle on the floor was….EEEEWWWW!!!! (watch me teasing him with this in the video!!)
shaz says
hi in your video you didnt add cornflour but in the recipe it says cornflour? 🤔
Nagi says
Hi Shaz! You’re right, I sifted them together then just added them in one go and labelled it “flour” 🙂
Sasha says
Just made this cake for my birthday and it taste absolutely amazing!!! Everyone was asking about the recipe. It’s classic. The cake tastes a bit like Madeline cookies. Thank you for sharing!
Nagi says
LOVE hearing that Sasha!!! So glad you enjoyed it! N x
Jen says
This is excellent!!! I doubled it as I used (3) 11×17 jelly roll pans to make a 3 layer birthday cake. The only adjustment I made was I used 6 eggs instead of 8. I have never made a cake where it called for mixing the butter in with the dry ingredients. It came out incredibly moist. I used a buttercream frosting with it. This is now my go-to Vanilla Sponge cake.
Nagi says
So glad you enjoyed this Jen! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 N x
Kathy says
Hi!
I’m trying to make the vanilla sponge cake and the recipe calls for corn flour/corn starch, but I think those two are different things? Please help!
Anuva Biswas says
Hi Nagi ! love your recipe. I have a pan size 14.5*10*2 incs.I am planning to make this vanilla sponge cake on my son’s birthday. I want to know is this mentioned measurement is fine for my pan ?? or i should increase the measurement?? if you are suggesting me to increase it then how much i have to increase? Looking for your help.
p.s.: I just start learning baking. thanks in advance . 🙂
Shilpa says
Hello Nagi, if I were to double the recipe as you suggested here, do I need to change the heating and will the cake rise the same way with double ingredients in a larger pan? TIA
Nagi says
Hi Shilpa! You’ll need to use a much larger pan to double the recipe, what size do you intend to use?? 🙂 N x
Nagi says
Hi Anuva! That pan is quite a bit larger than mine, I wold double the recipe 🙂 N x
Karlie Aldred says
Do you think this cake would make a good Swiss rolls if spread thin enough? Or would it just crack when worked with?
Nagi says
Hi Karlie! Unfortunately this one isn’t suitable for a swiss roll, I’ll share a recipe next year! N x
Nagi says
Hi JD – cornflour doesn’t have a flavour, are you sure it was cornflour / cornstarch you used?? It is what makes this so tender, it doesn’t affect flavour! 🙂 N x
Dan says
Hi Nagi! I do have Cake Flour on hand. Do I need to add in the other “Dry” ingredients?
Nagi says
Yep that’s exactly right Dan! Sub the normal flour 🙂
jane says
hi nagi, can i use this cake and cover with fondant… im going to make a wedding cake for my sister, and would like to try other recipe but chocolate cakes..tnx
Nagi says
Yes definitely!!! Congratulations to your sister! N x
Arvi says
I tried your recipe . The cake came out excellent . I didn’t use cornflour as I didn’t have it but I added yogurt to make it more tender as you mentioned here. We all loved it ! Thank you.
A request , can we achieve similar cake in a vegan way ? Please share the recipe if you have I will definitely try.
Thank you. Happy Baking ! 🙂
Anita says
Hi Nagi. Used your wonderful sponge recipe to make a big cake for my husband’s 70th. I used the whole mixture and baked it in a swiss roll tin (23 x 33cm), a bit bigger than a lamington tin, and I made it twice, baked separately, so I got two really good perfectly baked rectangle cakes. I froze them until the night before the party, then sandwiched them together and covered with marscapone, mixed with whipped cream and lemon butter. Decorated with blueberries. The thing I loved was how well it sliced up and held together to serve. The cake received compliments from everyone. Thanks again.
Nagi says
That’s great Anita! So pleased to hear that, thanks for letting me know! N xx
Luisa says
Hello dear, I really want to give a try to this yummy cake!
However, I’m quite confused regarding the weights of the ingridients…..if 1/2 cup of milk is 125 gr, it means that 1 cup is gr250.
Therefore how can (please see below):
1 3/4 cups /=265g plain flour ???
and how much is 1/4 cup cornflour ?
I’m not sure regarding the quantity of flour and cornflour……
Thanks a lot!
Nagi says
Hi Luisa! Not all ingredients weight the same 🙂 For example, 1 cup flour weighs less than 1 cup water!
Svetlana says
Hi Nagi,
Quick question, would Half and Half be ok to use instead of milk? We’re not big milk drinkers but always have half n half handy for coffee.
Nagi says
Sure thing Svetlana!
celine says
Hi Nagi! Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe. I am not too good at making cakes but still cannot resist giving it a try. Will surely go for this delicious vanilla cake 🙂
Nagi says
Hope you love it Celine! N xx
Yumiko says
I must try this and see how different it is from my Japanese sponge cake. I will let you know.
Nagi says
Hi mum – the crumb is more tender than the traditional Japanese sponge and also less eggy!!
Alyssa Tantri says
Can I substitute some of the eggs with egg yolks only? I heard and experienced that that makes it moist. Because the flour here in Indonesia is a bit different 🙁 Thanks and looks so good anyway!
Nagi says
Hi Alyssa, please follow the recipe as it is!! Can you find normal wheat flour there??
Anita says
Hi Nagi. The cake was a great success! Couldn’t use strawberries due to an allergy in the family, but took on the suggestion from another comment and beat mascarpone cheese with lemon butter, plus some whipped cream, decorated with blueberries. Yum, yum. The only query in a very easy recipe to follow was how long to beat the wet and dry ingredients, because I had to use my Kitchenaid – no hand held beaters. Just hoped that I gauged the “almost smooth” right! Must have done, because second helpings all round.
It was a Nagi kind of weekend: sponge cake – devoured; parmesan cauliflower – disappeared; chicken meatballs – disappeared!!
Cheers Anita
Nagi says
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed this! I will update the recipe with a better description of beating time, you are absolutely right, beat until smooth, doesn’t take much more than 20 seconds or so in a stand mixer. ❤️
Anna @ shenANNAgans says
When one indulges in a sponge cake, it has to have a vanilla flavour with loads of cream and strawberries, think this fits the bill beautifully
Nagi says
😘
Helen @ Scrummy Lane says
Hi Nagi, I’ve recently got into vanilla sponge cakes too but I just chuck my ingredients into a food processor then sandwich with mascarpone mixed with lemon curd. Yum.
My husband would much rather I made your version though, with cream and strawberries 🍓 (Maybe I’ll treat him for his birthday, even though I’m not a cream gal).
You’re so right- everyone needs a stellar plain Jane cake in their repertoire! 😍😍
Nagi says
WHAT? OK, heading over right now to see if you have the recipe on your site! N xx
Trish @ Spoonful of Butter says
You make me crave for a strawberry shortcake! I love that you placed a thick layer of cream in between the two sponge cakes. Yummy!
Nagi says
So. Much. CREAM! ❤️
Mirasol Arenas says
Hi. With this cake can I make them 3 days before the party? And can I cover it with fondant?
Nagi says
Hi Mirasol! They will be fine for 3 days as long as you store them in a very airtight container. With the fondant, please ensure it’s not too thick and heavy, that’s all! N x