If you are looking to make a 10-inch vanilla cake for an event, this is the recipe for you. The cake is rich, flavorful, and sturdy enough for tiered cake. You can use this recipe to make a 6 – and 8-inch cake as well, making a delicious 3-tier cake.
When feeding a crowd, a large cake is the perfect thing. This 10-inch vanilla cake can feed about 40 people.
It features two layers of moist cake that is loaded with vanilla flavor and sour cream goodness. The crumb is perfect, and it is just begging you to take a second slice.
This works well as a wedding cake if you aren’t married to using a bakery style white cake. The egg yolks and sour cream help to keep the cake tender while still being sturdy enough to stack.
In fact, these cake layers are still soft and delicious after several days of sitting out at room temperature. My coworkers were astounded and quite happy to be my taste-testers to confirm this.
Perfect For Wedding Cake
My cousin asked me to make her wedding cake. She wanted a tiered cake decorated like birch.
She requested a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and no filling. While that sounds simple enough, I wanted to make sure I had a recipe that was sturdy enough to tier but still tasted good without any help from fillings.
After playing with several recipes, I settled on this one, which is an adaptation from Baran Bakery’s 10-inch cake. It stayed delicious even after several days.
The cake has a great texture that was soft but a little bit dense.
With a full pound of sour cream baked in, it is almost like a pound cake, but softer. It bakes pretty flat, so there isn’t a lot of waste in trimmings either.
I baked a couple of extra 10-inch vanilla cake for easy cutting and serving. I also used this recipe to make an 8-inch and a 6-inch cake for the wedding cake.
Each cake was coated in a recipe of perfect buttercream. The combination was tasty, and it held up well for the outdoor wedding.
We thought it would be fun to do a birch look groom’s cake as well. It was a 10-inch chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a raspberry filling.
I don’t have the best pictures of them. I was too nervous to get them set and ready to go!
But, I think they both turned out kind of cute and I heard lots of compliments on how they tasted.
Tips and Tricks
I like baking the cakes ahead of time. Once they are lukewarm, I wrap them in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze them until I am ready to decorate them.
The frozen cakes are easier to work with as they are much more sturdy than fresh cake. Plus, the cold cake helps to set the frosting quicker.
If you want more layers, you can always cut these cake layers in half across the equator. Torting cakes will give you will have four layers to fill and stack.
I use all-purpose flour in most of my cake recipes, and this recipe is no different. That way, you don’t have to buy specialty flour just to make the cake.
Using both butter and oil in this cake gives you the flavor of butter with the springy texture oil gives you.
The sour cream helps to give the cake its fabulous texture and keeps it from being too sweet. You can use Greek yogurt if you prefer.
Using whole eggs makes this cake a little bit yellow instead of bright white. However, they also give the batter richness, and I think the flavor is worth the trade-off.
The sugar in the recipe not only makes it sweet, but it also provides moisture and structure. Don’t try to cut too much out of the recipe, or the texture will be completely different.
Using This Recipe to Make 8-inch and 6-inch Cakes
If you need tiers, this recipe works great for that. Use the exact same measurements as for the 10-inch cake.
Prepare two six inch round cake pans and two eight inch pans. Put about 2.5-3 cups of batter in the 6-inch pans and about 5.5 cups in the 8-inch pans.
The six inch cakes will take about 35 minutes to make, and the 8-inch cakes will be done after about 45 minutes.
Be sure to add support if you are stacking the cakes. It will take about 6 cups of buttercream to frost both cakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you keep the cake from sticking to the pans?
I spray my 10-inch pans with baking spray (the kind with the flour in it). Then, I put a piece of round parchment paper in the bottom to ensure an easy release.
How do I cut a 10 inch cake?
To get maximum servings out of the cake without getting pieces that are all frosting, you will want to start by cutting a 6-inch circle in the center of the cake. Then, cut the outer ring into quarters.
Cut each of those quarters into three or four pieces depending on how many servings you are planning to get out of the cake. Finally, cut the 6-inch cake into wedges.
You can get the idea in the diagram. You can easily get 40 small pieces from the cake or 30 larger ones.
How do you store a 10-inch cake?
Store the frosted cake covered at room temperature for up to 5 days. If you have a big cake dome, that will work well.
I bought extra large cake carriers to keep them fresh. For longer storage, freeze individual slices for an easy treat later.
If you are storing unfrosted cake layers, you can wrap them in plastic wrap and keep them at room temperature for 1 day. Any longer than that, wrap them and freeze them until you are ready to decorate the cake.
Do I have to use almond extract?
No, you can leave out the almond extract. But, the mix of vanilla and almond extracts is what gives this the traditional wedding cake flavor.
If you like cake as much as we do, you are in luck. I have a lot of great recipes. Check out my collection of cake recipes for more tasty inspiration.
10 Inch Vanilla Cake
Ingredients
- 4½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 6 eggs large
- 16 ounces sour cream
- 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and prepare two 10-inch cake pans.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.4½ cups all purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- In your mixer, cream together butter and sugar.½ cup unsalted butter, 3 cups granulated sugar
- Add vegetable oil and beat on high for 1 minute. The mixture should be white and fluffy.1 cup vegetable oil
- Add eggs, one at a time. Mixing after each addition.6 eggs
- Stir in sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract.16 ounces sour cream, 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons almond extract
- Add half of the flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Then stir in the milk, followed by the remaining flour mixture.1 cup whole milk
- When the batter is uniform, spoon it into the prepared cake pans. Bang them on the counter a couple of times to remove any large air bubbles.
- Bake for 42-47 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with just a couple of wet crumbs.
- Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Either frost or wrap in plastic wrap once cooled. If not decorating within 1 day, freeze until ready to decorate.