perfect 8-inch vanilla cake with brown butter frosting

8-Inch Cake is the perfect, customizable cake recipe to have in your back pocket for all occasions! Three tender & fluffy vanilla cake layers are frosted in a luscious brown butter cream cheese frosting. Add any flavor of filling you like (caramel! chocolate! jam!) or swap in a chocolate frosting to customize this absolutely irresistible cake.

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Why you’ll love this 8-Inch Cake:

• Buttery Vanilla Cake – This vanilla layer cake tastes like the perfect bakery vanilla cake – it has a rich, buttery flavor and fluffy, moist cake layers.
• Unique Frosting Flavor – A silky brown butter cream cheese frosting is ultra creamy with warm, caramelly notes from the brown butter.
• Perfect Blank Canvas – This vanilla cake is the perfect blank canvas! Keep the flavors as is, or dress it up for special occasions by adding a fruit filling (try my orange curd!) between the layers, or by swapping the frosting for chocolate. See a complete list of filling & frosting options in the recipe variation sections farther down in this post.

Ingredient Overview:

• Butter – I prefer salted, but you can use unsalted butter if that’s your preference.
• Vegetable Oil – Using a combination of oil and butter gives this cake the best of both worlds – oil keeps the cake tender and moist, while butter adds flavor.
• Eggs – Use large eggs, at room temperature, for best results. We’re using whole eggs rather than just egg whites to add extra flavor & tender texture to this cake.
• Milk – I used 2% milk. I think skim and whole milk are fine as well. Lactose-free works beautifully also.
• Sour Cream – Use full-fat sour cream at room temperature.
• Cake Flour – Cake flour produces a lighter crumb in cakes, and I highly recommend using it! Spoon & level your flour for best results, or use a scale. Scooping the measuring cup directly in will lead to too much flour. 1 cup of cake flour weighs 110 grams, whereas 1 cup all-purpose flour weighs 130 grams. (Some people standardize at 120, 125, or 130 – I’ve chosen 130.) See a substitute for cake flour below, in ingredient substitutions.
• Vanilla Extract – Since the flavor in this cake comes from simple quality ingredients, be sure to use real vanilla instead of imitation vanilla for the best flavor.

Recipe Substitutions:

• Cake Flour Substitute – Make your own cake flour by spooning & leveling 1 cup of flour into a measuring cup, using a flat edge to level it off. Add to a mixing bowl, then remove two tablespoons (scoop & level them off). Add two tablespoons of corn starch, then sift this mixture twice. This is important to evenly mix the ingredients and to give the same light texture as cake flour.

How to Make this 8-Inch Vanilla Cake:

Step 1: Mix the Wet Ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter & oil with a hand mixer (or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) on high speed. Then, add the sugar & beat. Beat in the eggs, then the sour cream and vanilla.

Step 2: Add Dry Ingredients. Add half of the flour mixture, then begin mixing on low, then add the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Mix just until a few streaks of flour remain. Stop the mixer and fold in the last few dry bits with a spatula – a few lumps are fine!

Step 3: Bake the Cake Layers. Divide batter between three prepared pans & bake as directed in the recipe card below. Let cool for 10 minutes before inverting to cool completely on a wire rack.

Step 4: Make the Frosting. Cream together butter, powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, a splash of milk, and cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

Step 5: Frost the Cake. Use a cake turntable with your cake stand placed on top of it. Frost the first cake layer. Place the second layer on top and chill for 10-15 minutes before repeating.

Crumb coat then frost the cake, creating swirls on top of the cake with the back of a spoon.

Serving + Storing:

Place the frosted cake in the fridge for 10-30 minutes so the frosting can firm up a bit before serving. Once the frosting is completely set in the fridge, you can cover the cake in plastic wrap. Or, keep the cake in a cake carrier.

If the cake has been in the fridge overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before slicing, so everything isn’t so solid from the fridge. Store sliced cake in the fridge for 2-3 days, in an airtight container (such as the cake carrier) with plastic wrap covering the cut portion of the cake.

Wrapping individual slices in plastic wrap and storing in an airtight container works, too! You can also freeze slices this way.

Make-Ahead Tips:

• Cake Layers – Cake layers can be baked, cooled at room temperature, and placed on dinner plates. Wrap well in plastic wrap and frost & assemble within 24 hours of doing this, for maximum freshness.
• Frosting – The frosting can be made up to 2 days ahead and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Let sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes before using, then mix with your mixer to get it back to a spreadable consistency before using.

Expert Success Tips:

• Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
• Kitchen Scale – A food scale is the best way to make sure your flour is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
• Not-too-sweet Frosting – I have a little trick to keep frosting from being too sweet (you know, that annoying tooth-ache that often comes from frosting?). I always add cream cheese to my frostings – this doesn’t make all my frostings true cream cheese frostings, since the quantity of butter still surpasses the amount of cream cheese.

FAQs:

Filling & Frosting Variations:

• Frosting – If you want to skip the brown butter, you can – although it’s incredibly delicious! You can also use a more traditional cream cheese forward frosting, like this cream cheese frosting from my Pineapple Carrot Cake (omit the cinnamon if desired.). The creamy chocolate frosting from my Tuxedo Cake would be delicious here as well!
• Fillings – If you want to add a filling to this cake, you’ll need to pipe a border on each frosted layer before adding the filling in the center, and then the next cake layer on top. If using a filling, use 1/3 to 1/2 cup between each layer. If you use more than this, it may be too much for the cake to contain. Try the strawberry filling from my Strawberry Chocolate Cake or 10-Minute Salted Caramel Sauce as well. Any store-bought or homemade jams (strawberry, blueberry, etc.) will work as a filling, as long as you use no more than 1/2 cup between layers, and as long as it’s not runny.

Special Tools:

Affiliate links.

• Offset Spatula – Offset spatulas make assembling this delicious dessert so easy! They can also be used for spreading cake and brownie batters evenly in your pan.
• Cake Turntable – If you make at least a few cakes a year, a cake turntable makes the process a breeze!

More Perfect Cake Recipes:

• Salted Butterscotch Crunch Cake
• German Chocolate Cake
• Raspberry Chocolate Cake
• Mojito Cake
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake
• Better-Than-Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes

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