This homemade vanilla cake mix is easy to make with a few ingredients and stash away in your pantry for those days you want to bake a vanilla cake for dessert!
Homemade Vanilla Cake Mix Recipe
With my big family and busy life, I am always looking for ways that I can plan ahead when it comes to preparing food. I’m a big fan of things that are easy and convenient! When I have some of this vanilla cake mix waiting for me in the cupboard, it’s a good day.
It’s not only a convenient alternative to store-bought mixes, but it’s also a healthier option. I can control what goes into my cake mix from scratch without the addition of any industrial ingredients you often find in the boxed kind.
When you have a few spare moments, whisk together the dry ingredients and store them in your pantry until you need them. When you’re ready to bake a delicious homemade vanilla cake, you just pick up where you left off and add your wet ingredients to make a cake batter from scratch. It’s that simple!
If you like this homemade vanilla cake mix recipe, don’t stop there! Try making your own pancake mix at home. You’ll love it.
Ingredients Needed
You only need 4 pantry staples to make this easy vanilla cake mix recipe and a few extras to make the batter.
Find the full printable recipe below.
- Cake flour: I like to use this type of flour in my cakes because it results in a soft and tender crumb. If you don’t have any, you can substitute it for all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder: Make sure your baking powder is fresh before adding it to your dry mix. To check this, add a teaspoon of powder to a small bowl of hot water to see if it fizzes. If you don’t see any action, then you know it’s time to replace it!
- Granulated sugar: Plain granulated sugar or cane sugar will both work.
- Salt: I prefer fine sea salt, but table salt is good, too!
- To make cake from vanilla cake mix: You’ll need buttermilk, softened butter, a quality pure vanilla extract, whole eggs and egg whites.
How to Make Vanilla Cake Mix from Scratch
- Measure and whisk. Carefully measure out all of the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together making sure you get rid of any lumps. It’s important to measure the correct amount as it affects the texture of your cake. Check out these tips for how to measure flour accurately.
- Store. Spoon the mix into a quart-sized jar with a sealed lid. Keep in your pantry to use when making your next vanilla cake!
Baking with the Cake Mix
Now that you have your homemade vanilla cake mix, you can whip up a dessert in a flash! Using your mix couldn’t be easier. Also, this recipe makes about twice as much mix as the boxes from the store contain.
This batter is enough to make:
- One 9×13-inch baking dish (bake 45 to 50 minutes)
- 24 cupcakes (bake 30 to 35 minutes)
- Three 8-inch round cake pans (25 to 30 minutes)
- Combine butter with cake mix. Pour the mix from the jar into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the butter. You can also do this step by hand using either a handheld whisk or wooden spoon.
- Add wet ingredients. Once you add the wet ingredients, beat the batter until everything is just combined. You don’t want to overbeat the batter, or your cake could turn out to be tough.
- Bake. Check that your cakes are baked throughout by inserting a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean.
Recipe Tips
Here are a few simple tips I’ve discovered from making my own dry ingredient blend for a while that will help make sure the cakes you make from your own homemade version will turn out great every time.
- Baking powder should be as fresh as possible. Opened baking powder will keep for about 6 months in your cupboard. Because you’re storing the cake mix, you want to make sure your baking soda isn’t nearing or past its expiry date.
- Remove lumps. Whisk or sift your cake mix ingredients to make sure there are no lumps before storing.
- Cake mix add-ins. You can have some fun by adding some sprinkles, chocolate chips, or nuts into your batter just before baking.
- Room temperature. Once you’re ready to bake, make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. Check out my guide on how to soften butter quickly!
Frosting Ideas
When it comes to frosting ideas for your vanilla cake, there are so many delicious options! A few of my favorites are classic buttercream frosting, vanilla frosting and chocolate buttercream frosting.
I use an offset spatula or knife for easy frosting. If you have the time, you can freeze the cake layers for 30 minutes before frosting to make it easier to spread without losing a lot of the crumb. This step is optional!
They Make Great Gifts!
Wrap a little bow on it with some simple instructions and hand them out to your friends and family! You could even type up the instructions to tie onto a tag.
Recipes Using Vanilla Cake Mix
Now that you have your white cake mix ready to go, there are so many delicious cake recipes you can make from birthday cakes to cupcakes, and more!
Recipe FAQs
I recommend storing your mix in a quart-sized mason jar with a tight-fitting lid. You can keep it in your pantry.
If you don’t have a quart-sized jar, you can use another airtight container or a zip-top bag.
Keep your vanilla cake mix in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place, like your pantry, for up to 3 months. You could also store it in the freezer up to a year.
It’s important to follow the recipe instructions exactly and to measure ingredients accurately. Adding too much or too little of any one ingredient can affect the rise of your cake.
Also, make sure your baking powder hasn’t expired before you add it to your cake mix. The expired powder will reduce the shelf life of your homemade cake mix.
More Cake Recipes
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Vanilla Cake Mix
Ingredients
Cake Mix
- 3 ¾ cups (390 grams) cake flour , or 3 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
To Bake
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (340 grams) buttermilk , at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs , at room temperature
- 2 large egg whites , at room temperature
Instructions
Cake Mix
- In a large bowl, combine 3 3/4 cups cake flour, 2 cups sugar, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
- Transfer flour mixture to a quart-sized jar and seal until ready to use.
To Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line bottom of cake pans with parchment paper and spray only the parchment with nonstick cooking spray. Do not spray the sides of the pans.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the jarred vanilla cake mix mixture. Beat in 1 cup softened butter on medium 1 minute, or until the butter is combined and coarse in texture.
- Mix in 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and 1 Tablespoon vanilla on low 1 minute, or until combined. Beat the batter on medium 30 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl
- Turn the mixer to low, and add 1 egg at a time until all 3 eggs in total are mixed in. Pour in two egg whites and mix on medium-high 30 seconds, or until the batter is smooth and a little runny. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and smooth out the tops.
- Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes in the pans before transferring the cakes to a rack to cool completely.
Notes
- 1 9×13-inch baking dish (bake 45 to 50 minutes)
- 24 cupcakes (bake 30 to 35 minutes)
- 3 8-inch round cake pans (25 to 30 minutes)
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Cake + Cupcakes, Desserts, Nut-Free, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Yes, did not have the consistency of cake mix. Even creaming butter it did not mix well.
Sorry to hear this did not turn out as intended. To ensure success, your butter must be softened to room temperature.
If I wanted to use this base recipe to make chocolate and then strawberry flavored cake mix cookies, what would I add for each? Thank you.
I would just use 3 1/2 cups of this mix and follow the cake mix cookie recipe accordingly. Unfortunately I haven’t tested for strawberry and chocolate, but you could add cocoa powder to make it chocolate.
For how many days can I store cake mix ?
Hi Asma, keep your vanilla cake mix in an airtight jar in a cool, dry place, like your pantry, for up to 3 months. You could also store it in the freezer up to a year.
Here’s what I did:
Make the mix but only used 1.5 c sugar. Mixed in 1/2 can of condensed milk, 1 c butter (melted), three eggs (beaten), 1 T vanilla, and two 20oz cans of crushed pineapple, one drained and one with juice.
Baked at 350 til done.
Delicious..more like a pound cake.
I love the simple goodness of this cake. It bakes up tender and delicious every time!
So happy to hear you loved it! Thanks for your comment and review :)
I was looking for a recipe like this, thank you for sharing! I can’t wait to try it soon!
You are so welcome! Enjoy :)