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Hello, my name is Madison Pacanontavivat.

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Cake recipe

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This is my best vanilla cake recipe. A classic butter cake but with Japanese techniques applied for the most plush, soft and moist yellow cake like you've never had before. This professional bakery style cake stays fresh and moist for 4 days - that's unheard of!

Fluffier, more tender and less greasy than the typical vanilla cakes, much more moist than traditional sponge cakes, safer to make - and the same batter makes perfect Vanilla Cupcakes. For chocolate cake, see this recipe.

My best Vanilla Cake recipe is.....

Plush, moist, fluffy crumb without being freakishly unnaturally so (as some store bought can be). No more dense cakes!

Lovely vanilla and butter flavour without a greasy mouthfeel;

Even, elegant crumb - no large tunnels or irregular, crumbly holes;

Bakes perfectly flat - no levelling required!

Not overly sweet; and

As tender as it can be but still be stable enough to make a large layered cake smothered with frosting or piles of cream and berries. In contrast, Chiffon Cakes and Japanese Sponges which, while lighter still, cannot actually hold up to much extra weight - the bottom layer gets quite squished.

So if all that appeals to you too, then I dare say this might become YOUR favourite vanilla cake recipe too! And here's a little preview to show you how soft and fluffy it still is after 4 days:

Freshness preview - this cake is 4 days old!

Origins of this vanilla cake

This vanilla cake is the result of bringing together the best of Japanese sponge cakes and Western butter based cakes. It has the world renowned very soft, fluffy crumb of Japanese cakes and uses the Japanese baking method, combined with the buttery goodness and sweetness of Western cakes.

But it's more sturdy than Japanese cakes which are so delicate, they can really only be decorated with cream. Anything heavier and the bottom layer gets squished!

Also, importantly, this cake incorporates my cake shelf-life requirement to stay perfectly fresh for at least 2 days after it's made. (This lasts perfectly for 4 days.) Because who bakes cakes on the day they are intended to be served??

Interestingly, baking experts will recognise the method and ingredients in this cake to be very similar to what is called a Hot Milk Cake in America - albeit strangely it's often described as a "dense" cake, presumably because they don't preserve the egg aeration to the extent I insist we do and also because sometimes it's baked in bundt pans which takes far longer to bake (= dense cake).

The words "best served on the day" on a cake recipe is never a good sign - it means it drastically degrades overnight. But THIS cake recipe is near perfect for 4 days - even 5 days!

I don't want to get too cake nerdy with you... but one sign of a well made cake is an even crumb. No large tunnels or lots of irregular size holes. It looks and tastes velvety - a similar plush texture to Red Velvet Cake.

There's a widely held misconception that cake flour is the secret to a better cake. That's only true for certain cakes. For this one, plain / all purpose flour yields better results.

Ingredients in my Best Vanilla Cake recipe

Here's what you need to make this plush, soft vanilla cake. No cake flour, no buttermilk, no sour cream. Tried them all - this cake is better with plain / all purpose flour and just milk.

Eggs - whipped to aerate, these are key to make the cake extraordinarily light and fluffy. You don't get an eggy flavour;

Baking powder - not baking soda (bi-carb), it doesn't rise as well. This is our safety net, extra helping hand to make the cake rise.

Milk, full fat - just plain cow milk. Low fat works as well but rises marginally less. Do not substitute with non dairy milk or buttermilk;

Sugar - best to use caster / superfine sugar if you can because it dissolves better in the eggs. But regular / granulated sugar works just fine too - you may just end up with some little brown spots on the base;

Why this is safer than typical "cream butter and sugar" cakes

Making a really good cake that starts with "cream butter and sugar until fluffy...." is actually harder than you think. The butter has to be at the perfect temperature, and you can't have chilly mixing bowls.

If the butter is too soft, the cake will be greasy and dense - sound familiar? If it's too hard, you'll never manage to cream it and you'll end up with grease pockets. If you beat butter too long, you break the air pockets.

There's more room for error with cookies and some other types of baked goods. But the butter temperature needs to be near perfect for cakes and cupcakes. (17°C/63°F is the perfect temperature for "softened butter").

And even if you nail it, the cake rapidly loses freshness. Even the next day it's noticeably drier. I've tried dozens and dozens over the years, to compare to this Vanilla Cake. This recipe puts all to shame in terms of fresh shelf life.

Heads up - this is a long step by step explanation post, to ensure those who are new to baking are armed with everything they need to make this cake perfectly, first time and every time!

Why is vanilla cake "so hard"? It seems hard to find the perfect cake because there is nothing to hide behind, it is one of the purest forms of baking. And the "cream butter and sugar" step is the biggest cause of problems, setting up the cake for success or failure from the very start (read above).

This Vanilla Cake recipe is much more foolproof!

Vanilla Sponge Cake used to make a Victoria sponge - spread with strawberry jam, top with whipped cream.

How to make my best Vanilla Cake

A stand mixer makes this vanilla cake a breeze to make, though it can be made with a handheld electric beater. While it takes time to beat the eggs to make a lovely fluffy cake, this recipe is more fail-proof than the usual "cream butter and sugar until fluffy" recipes - read the above box for why.

The unique plush, fluffy crumb of this cake is from double lifting power - whipped eggs PLUS baking powder!

1. Whip the eggs and sugar - Beat the eggs with sugar for a whole 7 minutes until thick and glossy, it changes from yellow to white, and tripled in volume (just over double depth in the bowl).

The aeration created during this step is key for a soft, fluffy crumb. This is a technique borrowed from Japanese sponge cakes.
TOP TIP: After this step, keep beating to a minimum otherwise you'll knock the air out. Just follow my time and beater speeds and you can't go wrong!
Here's what it looks like before and after beating:

After 7 minutes of beating, the egg-sugar mixture will triple in volume (double in height in the mixing bowl).

2. Gradually add flour - Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Then add into egg mixture in 3 lots, mixing for just 5 seconds on Speed 1 in between. This should make the flour just incorporated - don't worry if there are some bits not mixed in.

3. Hot melted butter in milk - use a microwave or stove to heat milk with the butter until it melts. Believe it or not, HOT milk helps with aeration in this cake. I doubted it, so I tried with cooled melted butter in milk and found it did not rise as well.

The use of hot milk with melted butter in a cake batter is another technique used in some types of Japanese sponge cakes (such as this one from Chopstick Chronicles, a Japanese food blog). Interestingly, I recently discovered it is also used in a traditional Southern cake called Hot Milk Cakes.

4. Mix some batter into hot milk - this serves two purposes: a) bring down the temperature of the hot milk so it won't "cook" the eggs (ie. tempering); and b) it lightens up the density of the hot milk (see above - it becomes foamy) so it blends together faster when added to the rest of the whipped egg mixture. Remember, minimal beating is key so we don't knock out the cake-rising-bubbles we created in Step 1.

The melted butter in hot milk infuses this cake with beautiful subtle buttery flavour without the greasy mouthfeel inherent with butter cakes.

5. Slowly pour milk mixture back into whipped eggs over 20 seconds on Speed 1. Scrape down sides of bowls, then mix for 10 seconds on Speed 1 - the batter should now be smooth;

6. Pour into 2 cake pans lined with parchment/baking paper.

This cake can be made in various pan sizes, bundt pans and also makes perfect cupcakes. Click here for a handy table of different sizes, bake times and cake height (including 3 layer cakes).

7. {Optional} Knock out big air bubbles by dropping the cake pans on the counter 3 times. This won't affect the cake-rising bubbles created in Step 1. But it makes large bubbles in the batter rise to the surface and burst.

If you don't do this, you end up with maybe 6 or so large bubbles on the cake surface that go brown, and more unsightly large air pockets in the crumb. The surface blemishes don't really matter if you are frosting. But if you're not frosting the cake (eg just dusting with icing sugar / powdered sugar), you may care.

8. Bake 30 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. The cake will have a slight dome but it flattens when it cools.

You may get the faintest cracks on the surface, like you can see in the middle of the left cake in the photo above. That can occur if your oven doesn't distribute heat evenly (my left front is hotter). But don't fret - once the cake cools and the slight dome flattens, the cracks will disappear.

9. COOL upside down for level cakes (so you have neat, straight layers in a layer cake) on a cooling rack. If you don't mind a slight dome surface / specifically want to show the beautiful golden brown surface (eg if making a cake dusted with icing sugar / powdered sugar, or a glaze), then cool it right side up; and

10. Decorate! Frost with your favourite frosting, smother with cream, fresh berries, swirl with chocolate fudge frosting or simply dust with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of yogurt or cream!

Day 4 - still super moist and fresh

The photos below are my attempt to show you how incredibly soft the cake still is four days after it's made! If it were dry like typical butter cakes that start with "cream butter and sugar until fluffy", the crumb would break when I jabbed it, and it would never spring back.

Tips for Vanilla Cake success

You'll love that this list is a lot less stern than many other cake recipes!

Eggs at room temperature - these will fluff better and faster. It's easy to warm up fridge cold eggs - just leave in warm water for 5 minutes. What's a room temperature egg? Pick up the egg. Fridge cold? Too cold. Cool but not cold? That's ok. Very warm? I would be worried they might be off! (Note: fridge cold eggs will still fluff just fine, but it takes a couple of minutes longer. Just more consistent results with room temp eggs).

Make sure your baking powder is still good - if you do everything right and the batter looks like it does in my video, but your cupcakes don't rise, the culprit is probably your baking powder. Even if it's not past the expiry date, if not stored in a cool dry place, or if "someone" left the lid off for days, it can lose rising power. See here for how to check if your baking powder is still good.

Make sure the milk and butter are hot when you mix in the batter. I don't understand the science, all I know is that when I melted the butter in the milk ahead of starting the batter, then let it cool to lukewarm while I faffed around getting everything else ready, the cake didn't rise as well.

Follow steps in the order per recipe - I've written out the steps very specifically in the most efficient order for the best result. Don't try to do things ahead like melting the butter in hot milk then leave it sitting around while you do everything else - it will either cool (cake doesn't rise as well) or it gets a skin on it (this doesn't dissolve in batter).

Cake pan WITHOUT loose base is best - the batter is quite thin so it can leak a bit if using springform pan or loose base sandwich pans. Not much, but a bit. Not the end of the world - you can prevent this by greasing the base extra well and "plugging" the gap with butter.

Different cake pan sizes and bake times

Click here for a handy table of different cake pan sizes, bake times and cake height. This Vanilla cake will work with the following cake pan sizes:

2 x 20cm / 8″ cake pan - my base recipe (I like the cake height, slightly tall), 30 minutes

3 x 20cm / 8″ cake pan - 21 minutes (if all one one shelf). Otherwise, put 2 on middle shelf and 1 pan on shelf underneath. Bake top 2 pans for 21 minutes, remove from oven. Move bottom pan up and bake for another 2 minutes then remove.

2 x 23 cm / 9″ cake pans - 27 minutes

2 x 15.25cm / 6″ cake pans - 25 - 27 minutes, only make half a batch

Halve the recipe for a single round cake, 20 - 23cm / 8 - 9″

12 cup tube pan or bundt pan (grease & dust with flour) - bake 1 hour, but note cake is not quite as fluffy as pictured and described. Still soft, but it's slightly more dense (still delicious and thoroughly enjoyable, just different to intended)

23 x 33 cm / 13 x 9″ rectangle pan - 30 minutes (large single layer sheet cake, excellent for large groups)

CUPCAKES! 24 perfectly domed, golden cupcakes - or halve the recipe to make 12. Here's the Vanilla Cupcakes recipe.

Ideas for frosting and decorating Vanilla Cake

Here are a few ideas for finishing this Vanilla Cake.

1. Vanilla buttercream (pictured in this post) - the white on white(ish) looks pretty and of course, driving home the vanilla flavour. Classic buttercream is loved for its rich, buttery, sweet flavour and creamy texture;

2. Chocolate Mirror Glaze - for the ultimate professional touch! You will need to use the Vanilla Buttercream suggested above to create the supported frosting, and follow all directions in the Mirror Glaze recipe concerning flat and even surface etc.

3. My Secret Less-Sweet Fluffy Vanilla Frosting - 100% silky smooth, fluffier and way less sweet than buttercream, this magical frosting pipes like a dream! It looks just like Vanilla Buttercream. Used in another incarnation of this Vanilla Cake in Lemon Cake with Fluffy Lemon Frosting;

4. Sprinkles for an easy cheerful, birthday appropriate decorating option;

5. Chocolate Buttercream for a classic Birthday Cake or pastel-coloured buttercream like this Easter Cake;

6. Rich Chocolate Fudge - frost it with Chocolate Fudge Frosting made with melted chocolate. Double the frosting so you have enough for the inside, top and sides. Bonus: No electric beater required for this one!

7. Jam and cream for Victoria Sponge (photo above, halfway down) - spread the upside-down base with strawberry jam, top with lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream. Place top sponge on then dust with icing sugar / powdered sugar. Note: this cake is a fluffier (and I dare say, better!) version of traditional Victoria sponge cakes which are actually very dense;

8. Strawberry Shortcake - essentially, the Classic Japanese Shortcake (on my mother's Japanese recipes website) but instead of using a Japanese sponge cake, using this Vanilla Cake instead;

9. Glaze it with a semi-see-through glaze that drips elegantly down the sides, like the Lemon Glaze in this Lemon Yogurt Cake. Make it 2 x single layer cakes (or halve the recipe); and

10. PLAIN - do not underestimate the power of this cake. It's so moist with such a lovely vanilla and buttery flavour, it is sensational eaten plain. Though if serving to company, I do think it's nice to at least finish it with a dusting of icing sugar / powdered sugar, and perhaps add a dollop of cream on the side and a fresh strawberry (or two)!

Clockwise from top left: Vanilla Cake frosted with vanilla buttercream, my Secret Less-Sweet Fluffy Vanilla Frosting topped with fresh flowers, Chocolate Buttercream and Lemon Glaze.

And with all that - I'm finally done. Finally happy. This is THE Vanilla Cake recipe that is my best all rounder. For birthday cakes, special occasions, to make to impress the pants off your family and friends.

And now it's all over to you - tell me what you think! - Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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My best Vanilla Cake - stays moist 4 days!

Recipe video above. Your classic vanilla butter cake but with Japanese techniques applied for the most plush, soft and moist yellow cake like you've never had before. This professional bakery style cake stays fresh and moist for 4 days - that's unheard of!

This is THE Vanilla Cake recipe for all occasions - from layer cakes to birthday cakes, Victoria Sponge to strawberry shortcake ... the possibilities are endless.....

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan) for 20 minutes before starting the batter (Note 8). Place shelf in the middle of the oven.

Grease 2 x 20cm / 8" cake pans with butter, then line with parchment / baking paper. (Note 9 more pan sizes) Best to use cake pan without loose base, if you can.

Frosting - classic vanilla buttercream provided, see here for my secret Less-Sweet Fluffy Frosting. Different pan sizes - Note 9. Cupcakes - see Vanilla Cupcakes recipe. Metric/weights - click button above ingredients. Sweetness - Note 11. Cake flour - no need, better with plain flour. Guarantee success - read top 5 points in Notes below. For chocolate cake - see this recipe.

Preparation:

Beat eggs for 30 seconds on speed 6 of a Stand Mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or hand beater.

With the beater still going, pour the sugar in over 45 seconds.

Then beat for 7 minutes on speed 8, or until tripled in volume and white.

Combine Dry Ingredients

Remove from oven. Cool in cake pans for 15 minutes, then gently turn out onto cooling racks. If using as layer cakes, cool upside down - slight dome will flatten perfectly. Level cake = neat layers.

Frost with frosting of choice, or cream and fresh berries or jam. See list of ideas in post!

Beat eggs until aerated:

Beat butter with whisk attachment in stand mixer for 1 minute until creamy. Add icing sugar / powdered sugar in 3 lots, beating slowly (to avoid a powder storm) then once mostly incorporated, beat on high for a full 3 minutes until fluffy.

Add vanilla and milk, then beat for a further 30 seconds. Use milk to make it lovely and soft but still holds it's form (eg for piping). Use immediately. (If you make ahead, refrigerate then beat to re-fluff).

Cool & frost:

Vanilla Buttercream:

1. Read recipe from start to finish before starting;

2. Make sure your baking powder is not past its expiry - here's how to check;

3. Fresh eggs make the cake rise properly (old eggs don't aerate as well);

4. Work in order of steps per recipe;

5. Don't incorporate add-ins like funfetti or blueberry (they sink); and

6. Once you start, keep going until it's in the oven. Do not at any point leave batter sitting around - bubbles will subside!

Stand Mixer speeds are for a Kitchen Aid which has 10 speed settings. Hand beater works for same times and speeds (though not as powerful, I have found that the ability to move around bowl makes it just as effective).
1. Cake flour works just fine with this recipe, but butter and vanilla flavour, and crumb is ever so slightly better using plain / all purpose flour. Also, cake flour makes the cake surface sweaty and sticky the next day.

2. Caster / superfine sugar are finer grains than regular / granulated sugar so it dissolves when whipped with the eggs. Granulated / regular sugar sometimes doesn't fully dissolve which doesn't affect the cake rise or texture but can leave some very brown sugar specks on the surface / sides. Not a big deal - just visual if serving undecorated.

3. Eggs - important to be at room temp as they fluff better when whipped which is key to the fluffy texture of this cake. Also, fresher eggs aerate better = better rise. Old eggs don't fluff as well.

Quick way to warm up fridge cold eggs - place in a large bowl, cover with warm tap water (just warm, not hot), leave for 5 minutes. Wipe dry (to avoid residual water dripping into bowl), then use per recipe.

Large eggs - 50 - 55g / 2 oz per egg this is the industry standard of egg sizes sold as "large eggs" in Australia and the US. If your eggs are significantly larger or smaller in size, just weigh your eggs and use 200 - 220g / 8 oz in total (including shell) or 180 - 200g / 7.3 oz in total excluding shell (this is useful if you need to use a partial egg to make up the total required weight. Just crack eggs, whisk THEN pour into a bowl to measure out what you need).

4. Baking powder - dead baking powder is a common problem with cake fails, even if not past the expiry date. Here's how to check yours is still good.

Baking soda (bi-carb) won't make the cake rise quite as well. If you have no choice, then use 3/4 teaspoons of baking soda.

5. Milk - if you sub with lower fat milk then the texture of the crumb becomes a little less tender. Do not substitute with non-dairy milk, such as soy or almond milk.

6. Vanilla come in all sorts of qualities. I use Vanilla Extract. Better quality (more expensive) = better flavour, but I think vanilla bean paste is wasted in cakes.

7. Oil - just 3 teaspoons makes a noticeable difference to the tenderness of the crumb AND keeps the crumb moist for days.

8. Oven preheating - 30 minutes preheat is recommended to ensure no loss of heat when the oven door is opened. Never use the rapid heat function on your oven for baking, no matter how fancy your oven is!

9. Cake pans - the batter is quite thin so to ensure no leakage, best not to use a cake pan with a loose base or a springform pan. If that's all you've got, then use butter to firmly fill the gap (this should be enough - I had no leakage when I did this) and for extra insurance, try to cut the paper for the base slightly larger so it goes slightly up the wall.

Cake pan sizes - click here for a useful table of different cake pan sizes, cake height and bake times.

2 x 20cm / 8″ cake pans- per base recipe above, bake 30 minutes

3 x 20cm / 8″ cake pans - 23 minutes at temp per recipe. If they don't all fit, put 2 on the middle shelf and one on shelf below. Take out top 2 at 23 minutes, then move bottom one up and bake for further 2 minutes.

2 x 23 cm / 9″ cake pans - 27 minutes

3 x 23 cm / 9″ cake pans - 20 minutes

2 x 15cm / 6″ cake pans - halve the recipe, I haven't made this size yet but expect will be 25 - 27 min bake time.

12 cup tube pan or bundt pan (grease & dust with flour) - bake 1 hour, but note cake will not be as fluffy as pictured and described

23 x 33 cm / 13 x 9″ rectangle cake - 30 minutes

Cupcakes - refer to Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

Chocolate cake - different batter recipe works better, see this recipe

Perfect golden sides and base can be achieved by greasing generously with butter then flour dusting base and sides. However, it's not my base recipe because very occasionally, the base will stick a bit and some of the golden skin comes off. Safer to use paper!
10. Knock out big bubbles - banging cake pans on counter will knock out big air bubbles in the batter that causes unsightly bubble brown spots on the surface and irregular holes in the crumb. It does not burst the tiny bubbles that make the cake rise - they are too small to bang out!

sweeter than Asian cakes, less sweet than typical Western butter cakes. 11. Sweetness note - Please do not reduce sugar - 1 1/2 cups is minimum required to make the eggs foamy enough to rise.

12. Different measures in different countries - tablespoon and cup sizes differ slightly from country to country. In most recipes, the difference is not enough to affect the outcome of the recipe, but for baking recipes, you do need to be careful.

This cake recipe has been specifically tested using both US and Australian cups (the two countries with the greatest size variance) and the cakes were exactly the same. So you can have confidence that this recipe can be used no matter which country you are in - only exception is Japan (cup sizes are considerably smaller (200ml) so please use weights provided).

For absolutely certainty, opt to use the weights provided (click Metric toggle button above ingredients). Professional kitchens only use weights.

13. Storage - if not frosting immediately once cooled, cover surface with baking paper (so it doesn't stick to cling wrap) then wrap in cling wrap immediately then place in an airtight container. Do not leave it sitting around for hours once cooled, cakes go stale quite quickly. Leave out rather than in fridge, unless it's super hot where you live. Keeps in freezer for 3 months.

Frosted or wrapped unfrosted cake keeps perfectly for 4 days (as in, practically like freshly made). Still good on Day 7 but a bit less moist. Keeps better if frosted because it seals the moisture in. If frosted with buttercream, it can stay out on counter and is better stored this way unless it's hot where you are (in which case refrigerate but take out of fridge a good hour before serving. Nobody likes cold buttercream frosting or cake!) Avoid pre slicing - the area most prone to drying cake out is the cut sides.

14. Nutrition per slice, assuming 10 servings. Cake only.

Keywords: Cheesecake recipe, sponge cake, vanilla cake

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Life of Dozer

Dozer on the job (and doing it a little too well, as you will see. 😂)

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My very best Vanilla Cake - stays moist 4 days!

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This is my best vanilla cake recipe. A classic butter cake but with Japanese techniques applied for the most plush, soft and moist yellow cake like you've never had before. This professional bakery style cake stays fresh and moist for 4 days - that's unheard of!

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Transcultural Nursing

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This morning I parked in gate 6. When I got out of my car I walked to the other side and picked up my bookbag and jacket. It was cold this morning. I could see my breathe in the air. I saw a lot of cars and people rushing to find a parking spot. When walking away from my car I saw the stairs and walked down. Walking out of the parking lot I saw a gray car getting written up by public safety. The man was taking a picture of the car with his ipad and writing something on it. The car was in a handicap spot with no handicap sign visible so I guessed that is what he was writing. I then saw a man picking up trash of the grass with a long clamp and throwing it away into big garbage bags on his golf cart. I continued to walk and saw a girl with brown hair and honey highlights. I thought her hair looks really good but she was walking too slow so I walked past her and her perfume had a floral scent which was pleasant being that soem people don't really care about hygiene. I walking into Mirallac and ordered dunkin. I walked with my matcha late and breakfast sandwich to the St. Vincent Health Center in which I have my transcultural nursing class in. I saw many students in different colored scrubs studying in the lobby and basement. I sat down and ate my breakfast. I think it is deffinately a privlege to be able to go to St. Johns especially the health programs because courses, textbooks, school supplies, and lab supplies is not cheap. I love how diverse the campus is and the ony thing I would say about my nursing classes is that there are majority female students and not much male representation.