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!!)
I must try this and see how different it is from my Japanese sponge cake. I will let you know.
Hi mum – the crumb is more tender than the traditional Japanese sponge and also less eggy!!
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!
Hi Alyssa, please follow the recipe as it is!! Can you find normal wheat flour there??
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
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. ❤️
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
😘
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! 😍😍
WHAT? OK, heading over right now to see if you have the recipe on your site! N xx
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!
So. Much. CREAM! ❤️
Hi. With this cake can I make them 3 days before the party? And can I cover it with fondant?
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
You don’t post many desserts, Nagi. So when you do, as a dessert lover/maker, I take notice! Saving this for sure. Can’t wait to see you next month!
ME TOO!!! 😂
Another winner! Looks awesome but do you really wear silettos?
Hangover from my old days in corporate…..there are just some shoes I can’t get let go of! 😂
This looks so delicious!! I also have a soft spot for simple, old fashioned baked goods (my grandmother’s molasses ginger cookies, YUMMMMM!!!). This cake is definitely a must try for me, maybe even tonight!! Thanks for posting.
Oooh! I hope you do try it, love to know what you think! N x
Hi, Nagi-san. A simple vanilla sponge cake with strawberries always brings back my childhood memories. I always used to ask for as my birthday cakes. I noticed that you wrote “baking powder” in the recipe but “baking soda” in the video. I’m always looking forward your new creations. Thank you.
FIXED the video! Thank you so much again for picking that up 🙂 N x
😭😭😭 THANK YOU for picking that up Junchan, it is baking POWDER not baking soda. I will fix the video now! N xx
This looks amazing! I must try 🙂 Thank you for posting 🙂
Hope you do try it Catherine! Cook’s Illustrated recipes are always no fail 🙂 N x
Why are you teasing the poor dog, that’s not fair.
I was practicing the “STAY” command!!! 😂
Hi Nagi! What a simply lovely cake! I like the whipped cream instead of frosting; I think frosting would detract from the cake. This cake says “summer” to me. Dozer was quite patient when you were teasing him, my dogs would have snatched it the first time it got near!
I was practicing his “stay” command!!! 😂
You are the very best Nagi, everything you cook is so good! I have tried so many.
Thank you so much for the kind words Diana! N xx
This looks incredible! Yum!
Thank you! N xx