Fluffy and moist, and easy to throw together, you’ll love this Mini 6-Inch Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream. This cake is easy to customize and perfect for so many occasions.

a small slice of vanilla cake with pink and purple sprinkles on a pink glass plate

Easy Mini Vanilla Cake

This is my beloved vanilla cake, made into a mini 6-inch version and topped with my favorite vanilla buttercream. The crumb is so moist and spongy, and it stays that way for several days. It’s an oil-based cake, so it’s quick and easy to throw it together.

Sometimes you don’t need a whole cake if there’s just a couple of you. This will serve 2-4 people. It would be perfect for a smash cake, an anniversary dinner or for Valentine’s Day dessert. This is the cutest little cake, and there are endless ways to make it your own.

Looking for the chocolate version? I made one of those too.

a decorated vanilla cake on a teal cake stand, pink napkin and gold forks

You’ll Love This Cake

Quick to throw together- less than 30 minutes!
Easy to assemble
Moist and tender crumb- it will stay fresh for several days
Packed with vanilla flavor
Ideal for when you want a dessert but don’t want a lot of leftovers

Ingredients You’ll Need

The cake and frosting ingredients are simple pantry staples. I’ve suggested some substitutions below if needed.

For the cake

Granulated sugar
Vegetable oil
Eggs
Pure vanilla extract
Sour cream- you can substitute this with Greek or plain yogurt
All-purpose flour, baking powder, salt
Milk

For the frosting

Unsalted butter– butter should be cold
Powdered sugar
Heavy whipping cream– you can substitute with milk
Pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

a small slice of vanilla cake with sprinkles on a pink glass plate

How to Make a 6-Inch Cake

Prepare: Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and flour two 6-inch pans. I like to line my pans with parchment paper. I also use bake-even stripes for nice, flat-even layers.

Mix the sugar with the wet ingredients: First, you’ll combine the sugar with the oil, eggs, and vanilla. Once that is well mixed, add in the sour cream and beat until all the ingredients are well combined.

Combine and the dry ingredients: You’ll alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk slowly so that you don’t overmix the batter. Once all the ingredients are added, be sure it’s well mixed and stir with a spatula.

a glass mixing bowl with cake batter, flour and milk being poured in

a glass mixing bowl with vanilla cake batter

Fill the pans & bake: Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. It’s about 1 ¼ cups give or take. Then bake these for 20-23 minutes in a preheated oven. If you have hot spots in the oven, I recommend rotating the pans in the oven halfway through baking so they’ll bake more evenly. Once baked, let these cool completely prior to decorating.

The Best Vanilla Buttercream

I won’t go into great detail about my vanilla buttercream because I’ve covered this process in a very detailed tutorial. I will tell you that this buttercream is utterly delicious and is the perfect texture for decorating cakes.

The secret to my frosting is to start with cold butter and let your mixture do the softening. It takes several minutes at high speed, but it will work if you follow all my tips.

Beat the butter until it’s super light and fluffy
Alternate adding: the powdered sugar and liquid ingredients, and with each addition, make sure it’s well incorporated. The more you mix it, the better it gets.
One final mix: Once all the ingredients have been added, spend another minute or two beating the butter until it’s light and fluffy. If the frosting seems too stiff, you can slowly add more heavy cream or continuing beating until it reaches your desired consistency.

a teal spatula with whipped butter over a mixing bowl

a teal spatula with vanilla frosting over a mixing bowl

Assemble and Decorate

Decorating a mini cake is so much faster than a 3-layer cake. You can choose to decorate this any way you’d like. You might want to color the buttercream or add some crushed cookies, or toasted coconut. I opted for some colorful sprinkles instead.

Level the cake layers: It doesn’t matter if you’re making a two-layer cake or a 6 layer cake, you need to start with even flat layers to prevent the cake from tilting or sliding.

Pipe a layer of frosting: I find it easiest to use a piping bag, you can cut off the tip or use a large open round piping tip. Work your way from the outside edge into the middle then spread it evenly with an angled spatula.

a layer of vanilla cake with the top dome cut off, inside view of the cake

a small teal cake stand with two layers of vanilla cake with frosting in between

Add the top layer & decorate: I recommend inverting the top layer, so you have a nice flat top to decorate. Use the piping bag to fill in any gaps between the layers and then work your way from the bottom to the top. Use a scraper to remove excess frosting. Use a large French star tip to pipe a border around the outside edge and decorate with sprinkles.

a teal cake stand with an small cake being frosted with vanilla buttercream

a small frosted cake on a teal cake stand

Variation Ideas- How to Customize This Cake

Swap out the vanilla frosting for cream cheese or chocolate frosting. Don’t like buttercream? This is also amazing with a mascarpone whipped cream.
Make it gluten free– you can use a measure for measure gluten-free flour to make this cake gluten free. Here’s my cupcake version.
Color the frosting– This frosting holds color beautifully. I recommend using concentrated gel colors. Here’s a helpful tutorial for you on how to color buttercream.
Change the flavor- You can easily change this to a different flavor by changing the vanilla extrac to almond, lemon or even peppermint. Try adding a little fruit zest to amplify the flavor.
Add a fresh fruit- Use fruit for decoration or make a small batch of my strawberry filling.

overhead view of a decorated cake with pink and purple sprinkles

The Best Way to Store a Frosted Cake

Cakes are best kept in airtight containers. This can be stored at room temperature for 3 days. If you live in a warm or humid climate, then I would recommend refrigerating. It’s best stored at room temperature. I love my cake carrier; it holds cakes big and small and keeps my cakes fresh.

Tips For Freezing

It’s always my preference to serve freshly baked cakes, but I understand that maybe you need to prepare this ahead of time. You have two options, freezing cake layers to assemble at a later time or freezing finished cakes.

To freeze cake layers, allow them to cool completely. Place a piece of parchment paper on the top and bottom of the cake and double wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw to room temperature prior to assembling.

To freeze a finished cake, I recommend placing it on a cake board inside of a cardboard cake box. Tightly wrap the box at least twice in plastic wrap. Freeze for up to 1 month. Save the garnishes for when the cake is thawed. To thaw the cake, place it in the refrigerator overnight to prevent condensation and then transfer it to the counter at least 2 hours ahead of time to serve at room temperature.