I usually frost the cake right in the pan but you can double this recipe using two cake pans for a double-layer cake. Only line the pan with parchment if you plan to remove the cake from the pan. It’s best to have all your ingredients at room temperature and I highly recommend using a cake strip. Be sure to aerate your flour before measuring.- Jenny Jones
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Makes: 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup sugar (the recipe also works using 2/3 cup sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk (low fat or whole milk)
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Grease an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan.
- With an electric mixer on high, beat sugar, eggs, & vanilla for one minute to thicken.
- On low speed add remaining ingredients (in the order listed) but do not over-mix. This should take less than a minute.
- Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I like to frost it with my 2-minute chocolate frosting.
Note: Based on some comments, if the cake seems bland feel free to add a little salt, although I prefer it the original way.
A cake strip will keep the edges from over baking and will keep the cake from being domed or rounded in the center. For info on cake strips click here.
For more on this recipe in my blog click here.
I can’t believe how easy and how mine turned out just like the picture. I topped mine with a peanutbutter icing .
Very good.
I will make the next one with almond flour and see how it goes. Thank you
I have made this cake two times absolutely delicious. I am wondering if I could make the batter and put on top of a prepared strawberry rhubarb mixture in tbe bottom of the pan.?
Thank you
Jenny
This receipe was easy to make and delicious. We used 2/3 cups of sugar and topped with strawberries and blueberries. Everyone went back for more!
Hi Jenny,
I just made this one bowl yellow cake last night and I was so excited! It is just the right size for a few people and I like not always having a 2 layer cake to have to eat up. This was perfect. Such a great texture and perfect flavor to dress up or eat just as it is.
I did have some left over pineapple rings and maraschino cherries in the fridge and immediately thought of Pineapple Upside down cake. So this time I used 1/4 C of almond milk – we are dairy free here – mixed with 1/4 C of pineapple juice and that was the only tweak to the cake because I wanted pineapple flavor in the cake. No butter melted in the pan first. I lined it with parchment paper and just popped in 1/3 C of light brown sugar and spread it out and laid the pineapple rings and a cherry in the middle of each one on top of the sugar then poured that lovely batter on top. I baked the cake at 350 for 30 minutes and it was golden brown and baked to perfection. I inverted the cake on a plate, removed the parchment, and let it cool about 20 minutes. We cut into it and it was perfection.
Thanks for the yummy recipes and the entertaining and easy to follow videos. You are such fun to watch! I have tried several of your recipes and I haven’t ever been disappointed.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
I mixed it all by hand and used self rising flour and omitted baking powder. I also used butter and nut extract like my Grandmother did in her yellow cakes. I also used FF milk. Just used what I had on hand and it turned out great. I will use this as my go to snack cake since I just eat mine plain. Thank you so much.
Hello, and thank you so much for this recipe. I baked it once and it came up awesomely delicious. No need for frosting, nor fruit or anything. I like my cake plain. I used it for a treat to accompany my mid-afternoon coffee. I was surprised it was so yummy, so I had to bake another one to make sure the first one wasn’t a fluke. Lol. I don’t have the gift of baking😁 …but your recipe is that amazing! Once again, such a simple recipe made my cake come out extraordinarily! Now I’m PMS-ing big time, and I’m craving chocolate. Do you have another simple recipe for a chocolate cake ( no frosting) or how do I convert this cake into a chocolate cake without ruining the recipe please? Thanks a million 😊
See my Quick & Easy Chocolate Cake.
Excellent quick cake recipe. I’ve made this recipe three times using an 8-inch square pan lined with parchment on the bottom. It’s very easy to hand-mix the batter because the recipe uses oil not butter, no need to use a mixer. I made a lemon cake by substituting lemon extract instead of the vanilla extract and topped the cake with a light glaze of confectioners sugar mixed with fresh lemon juice. Really great summer cake served with vanilla ice cream and slices of fresh fruit.
Wow, a food blog that gets right to the recipe without the unnecessary novel preceding it like on every other ad-riddled blog. Well, looks like I’ll be trying your recipe!
Lol on the novel…. yup, i agree….how pleasant to JUST get the recipe!!
I couldn’t agree more, I really don’t want to read someone’s life story just to get a recipe 🙂
Do you think I could replace the sugar with raw honey? If so would I need to alter any of the other ingredients???
I have made this cake about 5-6 times. It has come out great each time. I tried something different. I found a can of pineapple in the cabinet so I made it into a pineapple upside down cake. I baked it about 10-15 longer until cake sprung back. It came out really good. I will make it again both plain and gussied up. Thanks Jenny
came out perfectly & I added cherries 🍒
Delicious 😋
I’ve made this cake 5 times and all but 2 came out great. I tried to double the recipe and my guess is that i didn’t add enough of something like baking powder or flour. It came out horrible, it wasn’t cooked and it was clean when i stuck the tooth pick in but when i ate a piece it tasted like egg and flour. The other 3 times it came out great. It wasn’t to sugary or bland it was just the perfect amount of sugar for my sisters.
This cake is perfect! The ease of prep and delicious end result have definitely crossed boxed mixes off my shopping list! I made it with the reduced recommended 2/3 cup sugar, and it was sufficiently sweet. Thank you for posting this “keeper” recipe!!
my cake turned out LITERALLY like cornbread… dry and dense also. anyone else?
If you can send me an exact list of each ingredient you used (be specific) including the size of the pan, and your method of mixing & how long you preheated the oven, I will try to help figure it out.
I’m trying the recipe today I’ll get back with you how it turns out looks very simple and it did only take 10 minutes thanks
Perfect for the use of creating a cake for Strawberry Shortcake. It sliced easily through the middle to create a pocket for the fresh, crushed strawberries & powered sugar. I baked it in an 8 inch square pan.
However, I wouldn’t bake this as a traditional cake with icing. While it was perfect for my purposes, the texture was too dense to be considered a regular cake.
Definitely easy to make and I like that it’s just for one pan! However for us, it came out a bit dense, dry, and bland. I used less sugar — next time I think I would use the higher amount. Maybe I didn’t beat the eggs “thick” enough?
Using this cake recipe to make a peach dump cake tonight. Excited – will let you know how it turns out. Thank you.
Made this cake twice so far. Used butter both times instead of olive oil. First time it seemed like it didn’t rise very much. Wife also said it was pretty dry. Could have fooled me. She ate 2 pieces, as did my son and we had it two-thirds done before too long. Then I noticed both my baking powder containers said they were expired – one expired in 2012! Who’da thunk baking powder expires? So the second cake, without question, was much better.
Look on Internet how to test yeast, baking soda, baking powder for baking. I have used all well outside of expiration dates , IF they still test active.
I made this cake today. Did not add salt and used the lesser amount of sugar. I split my piece in two and spread it with black raspberry “Simply Fruit” in place of frosting. Enjoyed it a lot and want to thank you for all of your healthier recipes.
What if u don’t havebaking power!!!?
WHAT if u don’t have baking power!!!?
They’re many substitutes for baking powder. One of my favorite substitutes is a mix of 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt.
I forgot to mention that the whole half a cup of yogurt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda makes up for the 1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder. It sounds like a lot, but it really works.
I made the cake today and it turned out so good. I followed your recipe exactly–mixing time and all. The texture is fine and light and will be wonderful to serve with this season’s new strawberries and whipped cream. Thank you, Jenny, for the recipe
Wat if i dont have any vanilla
You can use almond extract or another extract because the vanilla is for flavor. Hope this helps!!
Great cake!!!!
There is NO-THING more to say!!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!
Yo! This recipe is dope. I’m very pointedly ignoring my adult responsibilities and I wanted to make some yellow cake bc I made a yellow mug cake the other night and loved it — and google showed me to this page and DANG. This is a good recipe. I did add some salt (mostly bc I bought myself a $5 thing of pink himalayan salt, not that I’ve noticed a huge difference vs other salt) and I went with slightly less than 2/3 cup of sugar, and it still tastes amazing. I also made them into cupcakes bc I don’t have a cake tin. They puffed up so much!
If anyone wants to make cupcakes out of these, they’re done after 13 minutes on 350 🙂
hi jen, have been trying your recipes and so far everyone of them are so delicious and easy. my friend is a polish girl and is enjoying this site also. thanks again.
Just found this site. Awesome. Making bread, pizza and this yellow cake. Thank you, Jenny
Would it work to double recipe and put in 9 x13 inch pan?
What if I can’t use milk??
Hi,
I also have a milk problem and was hoping for an answer for a substitute for the milk.
I used lactose free milk and the cake turned out great as my daughter is lactose intolerant and does not like the almond or soy.
Is this cake sodium free?
Essentially, it is sodium free although milk and eggs do contain small amounts of sodium (about 200 mg in this recipe). It’s not much for an entire cake, about 25 mg. of sodium per serving. Of course you would not add any salt as some people have done per my bottom note.
Thank you for replying. It is so very hard to shop, cook, bake, and eat sodium-free. I was happy to find your recipe for my son’s birthday tomorrow. It is in the oven now. I hope I didn’t goof on the baking powder…I found it sodium free today and used it in same measurement as regular…not sure if I needed to adjust it. Shall see. I will appreciate any s.f. baking recipes you could offer. Thanks
I put a pack of wht vanilla pudding mix in mine. It helps make the cake real moist and helps the cake have more taste thank u for the recipe
Did you use the pudding in place of an ingredient?
Nice cake in a pinch. Followed this recipe, but used whole milk. Used it to make caramel poke cake and it turned out well. Definitely will make this again!
Making it now in my air fryer.. it’s looking good
Jenny
Why does the chocolate cake uses baking soda and the vanilla use baking powder?
I just looked at the chocolate cake recipe, it doesn’t use egg, and uses either lemon juice or vinegar which when combined with the baking soda does the same thing as baking powder.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I baked this cake yesterday for my niece’s birthday. Everybody loved it.It was a huge hit.
Just made this cake to go with my ice cream. I follow the recipe except I added 1/4 tsp salt & whole milk. This taste pretty good . This is an easy recipe to follow. I’ll make this again
Such an easy, yummy cake! I’ve made it probably a dozen times. I vary the frosting between fudge, lemon, and peanut butter, or whatever sounds good on a given day…and it’s always delicious. Thanks, Jenny, love your recipes.
1 minute is not long enough to beat the eggs and sugar for this type of cake. I used to make this all the time when I lived in England and the key to success is to beat until you can leave trails in the mix if that makes sense. At least 3 anyway. You need to build air into this mixture otherwise your cake will be flat. My cake turned out perfect so otherwise this is an excellent recipe. Oh and I did add salt.
I have been into home made Goodie’s latley. Gonna try this cake home it turn out good. Gonna make double layer frost it with home made chocolate butter cream frosting
I just made this cake. I added cinnamon and pinch of salt. It is delicious! I made a vanilla glaze to go over it. YUM!!! Tastes like a coffee cake!
How me CH cinnamin did u used?
This is my second recipe trying from this website – the first being the no butter chocolate chip cookies which are a must try! This recipe was very easy to make. I did have only extra virgin olive oil on hand and I was worried about the taste making my cupcakes taste bad but it’s very subtle once it’s baked. I do have to agree with others that the flavor of these cakes is bland but for a simple breakfast it’ll go great with some tea. I’m going to put icing on my cupcakes since I’m making them for my boyfriends coworkers. This recipe is very adaptable so next time I will use it as a guide line and add a pinch of salt. Will make again.
I just used it to make cupcakes they turned out very well thank you
Loved the simplicity and taste of this moist and tasty cake. Recognizing that the point of this site is no-salt/no-butter recipes, I nevertheless added salt (1/2 tsp kosher salt) and used melted butter. I do think that for people who found the taste flat, probably the relevant factor was the lack of salt in the recipe as given. However, I can imagine it would still taste good with no salt, if that is desired for someone’s specific diet.
The reason I sought out this recipe, even though I love salt and butter in my recipes, is because I wanted a one-layer cake recipe (rather than halving a standard 2-layer recipe, which usually seems to call for 3 eggs, and I wasn’t sure whether it would be better to go with one egg or two when halving the recipe). Also, I needed a recipe that I could whip up by hand since I’m in someone else’s home who has no electric beater, so an oil-based recipe worked well.
But what really astonished me was the sheer EASE of making this cake! After I’d made the first layer, I decided I really did need two layers after for various reasons. With a more typical recipe, I would have dreaded the prospect – but it was SO quick and simple that I just did it, lickety-split!
Thank you so much for this tasty, quick and easy cake recipe!
Forgot to mention – FYI: I used full-fat buttermilk in place of low-fat milk.
After the cake came out of the oven I poked holes in it with end of a wooden spoon and then poured liquid jello over and refrigerated it. frosted with whipped cream
I just made this left out vanilla because I didn’t have it. I added salt and cinnamon. It’s in the oven now! Fingers crossed
This cake was moist fluffy and delucious! Not to mention Easy!!
I used the recipe as base and used cashew chocolate milk instead of normal milk and coconut oil instead of olive oil. It tastes great and I was out of baking soda😂 still came out as cake.
Thanks for the easy recipe!
The cake exploded in my oven and was to dry
Hello,
This looks like a great recipe, thank you for sharing. I would like to know how I would be able to adapt this recipe to bake in a 13*9*2 inch rectangular baking dish? Would I need to double this recipe?
Typically, recipes say the amount of batter for two layers = the amount of batter for a 9″x13″ pan. So yes, you would double the recipe.
I made this cake today and doubled the recipe. It fit perfectly into a 9×13 pan. I did not use light olive oil because I had only the regular kind. I used vegetable oil instead. I love things sweet so I added 1/2 cup more of sugar, and it was fine. What I did do was add 2 tsp ( remember I doubled everything) of MAPLE extract. That makes everything pop. I used a cooked icing that I have had the recipe for, , for almost 40 years. It is a great icing. I added 1 tsp.
Of maple extract to that, too, which turned a brown sugar type caramel icing into a maple icing and I added walnuts on the top. The cake was ok ( cooking time was 30 minutes.) I forgot to add salt which would have made it better. Right now I have it covered and in the fridge which keeps it moist.
This was wonderful. I used buttermilk instead of milk and topped with a strawberry buttercream. Exactly what I was looking for.
I absolutely thought it was a lovely website until my cupcakes turned out horribly!
This is not a cupcake recipe.
Sounds like user error… I have tried this and many of her recipes and they always come out perfect even when I’m feeling lazy and eye ball the ingredients.
You must add salt to this cake – 1/2 teaspoon. Leaving it out will cause the cake to peak in the center and taste flat.
This cake is very quick and easy to make, however, it doesn’t have much flavor. I guess it would be better iced, but I don’t make iced cakes because of the calories. So…I think I’ll add the zest of an orange and just dust with icing sugar. Hopefully that will help pump up the flavor a bit.
As the owner of a Gluten Free baking company I can say this is the easiest, least technical, consistent recipe for a great tasting base for any flavor or style cake. AND it is xtremely easy to make gluten free. Great job.
I substituted Bailey’s Irish Cream in place of the milk and added 1/4 tsp salt. I topped it with a glaze made with 1 jar marshmallow cream, 1.5 cups powdered sugar and 3Tbsp Bailey’s. Yummy!
I made this and I used wesson oil. It wasn’t as sweet as I would have liked it but my brother loved it. Can I add 1/4 more sugar with the same amount of ingredients or do I need to increase all ingredients especially the flour?
Very easy cake I did not use a mixer came out great. Thank you for sharing.
I was wondering if I could make it successfully without a mixer – thanks, very helpful to know!
I used a lemon infused olive oil I got from Trader Joe’s. It gave the cake a light lemony flavor that was really good. I plan on doing this again and then topping the cake with sliced strawberries and whipped cream. 😊
I serve this with strawberries and lightly sweetened whipped cream. Add a grating of orange zest – it really lifts the flavor of a simple dessert.
Can we reduce the measures by half and try the same recipe ?
You would also need a pan that’s about half the size.
Thank you so much , I made this cake my husband loved it.
Finally , I found a cook trying to convert everything to healthy.
I also made cream puff with oil . Try it it is great.
Please keep trying recipes for deserts .
This is a great basic recipe. I used as a guide to make a gluten free cake that came out great. (Maybe don’t do that unless you understand gluten free baking). I used melted and browned butter in place of the oil and brown sugar for some added flavor. So no I did not make this cake, but the simple method makes it a great recipe to tweak if that is what you are looking for.
Just a tip…I added an eighth teaspoon molasses to brown sugar, and it made the cake just a tad more moist.
Super easy recipe and turned out amazing! I was honestly expecting meh cake but came out fab! I’m practicing different recipes for my daughters 2’nd birthday and I think this is hands down the winner 🤗 So excited! Thank you for shearing
I’ve made this cake twice now, and have a comment and two suggestions.
The crumb is good, it is moist, and it really couldn’t be easier to put together. Unfortunately, as baked from the recipe, it is flat in taste. Just doesn’t have the delicious flavor that freshly baked “scratch” cake should have. The oil flavor was quite noticeable.
The second time I doubled the recipe for a birthday cake and added salt. 1 tsp for the doubled recipe. And I used a neutral flavor oil, canola, so the oil flavor wasn’t as strong. So much better and tastier. Thank you for the super easy yellow cake recipe.
Nice I will try thx for the tip!
No way, there is no taste of oil. Try to forget the butter 😊
Salt was going to be my suggestion. I was looking for a cake to use for fresh fruit upside down cake and this worked great. Love the substantial texture.
If you use extra light olive oil, there will be no discernible taste.
Does this cake rely on the electric beater and egg aeration to rise, or do you think it would work with thorough hand-mixing and have enough baking powder to rise?
I forgot to add in my post that I added 1/2 tsp. of salt to the recipe. I think salt brings out the flavor of the cake.
Fabulous, quick cake! I needed a recipe for a small cake and wanted one that used oil, not butter. This recipe took no time at all to put together and is my new go-to yellow cake. I frosted it in the pan with fresh lemon buttercream (I had to use butter somewhere :?) and it’s amazing. I’m serving it to my company this weekend, and I’m confident they’ll love it too.
This is an awesome recipe. I did add approximately 1/2 teaspoon of fine grain sea salt, and I also put a generous amount of simple syrup on the cake right after I removed it from the pan. I will be making this again and again, as it couldn’t be easier, and oil-based cakes are always very moist (this being so exception).
Delicious cake! This will be my go to vanilla cake from now on. I’ve made it twice in the last month for different occasions and it has turned out great. I use whole milk and it seems just fine. Thank you!
This cake was amazing! Very easy to make and it tastes good too. I only had EVOO and worried it would over power the flavors, but it didn’t. Thanks for sharing!
I also used a glass pan and cooked perfectly.
Amazing cake.thx so much.used it to do a faux boston creme poke cake.turned out moist and fluffy.perfect.I’ll be saving this one
What adjustments in temp and or time if I used a glass load pan instead of a round or square pan? Thank you.
Just made a triple batch to use for a birthday cake. I used the baking non stick spray and baked in 2 3″ deep 8″ round pans. They came right out while still hot and are a great texture for cutting into thinner layers. Great, easy, no fuss recipe. Thanks!
I was searching for a quick 1 bowl yellow cake recipe to make a one layer cake to use up a little over a cup of Tres Leche milk without having to go to the trouble of making a 3 bowl, 5 egg sponge cake. This recipe worked. Do flour or put parchment paper in the bottom. The cake had a hunk come out of the bottom, but I was rushing the cooling in the pan process. I made a simple chocolate ganache that covered the area. I recommend cooling completely before eating but our thoughts turned to food during a winter ice storm and we didn’t want to wait. Cake was better the next day. I added 1/4 teaspoon salt, will add 1/2 teaspoon next time. Food needs some salt, improves the flavor. I also added 3 drops of real almond extract, usually reserved for my white cakes. Was a nice touch.
Hi, Jenny. I’m fairly new to baking and was just noticing that the recipe says to grease the pan but doesn’t say to flour it. What is this anarchy? Does that really work???
Yes it does I used non stick spray😀
Thank you!
I made this recipe but I put thinly sliced apples and a caramel sauce in the pan first then the cake mixture on top and it was mighty fine!!! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
My family loved the cake and it was super easy – just what i need. Thanks for another winner!