Try this Easy Vanilla Cake In A Skillet made with simple ingredients and baked in a cast-iron skillet with a crispy golden-brown crust and a tender vanilla cake on the inside.
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If you love vanilla flavor, you will find this cake filled with lots of vanilla bean seeds that create such a glorious flavor. Add a delicate sprinkling of powdered sugar and cinnamon, and top for some added sweetness.
I learned to bake in my grandmother’s farmhouse kitchen. She was busy, so recipes had to be easy and tasty. Her cast iron skillet had a permanent place on the stove. Needless to say, her Vanilla Cinnamon Skillet Cake was a staple, and I think it is the best recipe for a simple vanilla cake ever. It wasn’t fancy, but it was oh-so-good.
This small cake recipe is easy enough to bake midweek for a quick dessert; no layering or frosting is required, and you get six delicious slices.
Table of contents
Why use a cast-iron skillet for baking cakes?
- Cast-iron skillets hold and retain heat very well and allows for even baking, no matter if it is a cake, cobbler, brownie, or even bread. You will find the center of your baked goods is baked evenly throughout.
- Many times you can use the cast-iron skillet to melt or saute ingredients first before adding more toppings. No extra bowls or pans are needed. Just think of melting the butter and brown sugar for a pineapple upside-down cake.
- Nothing is better than a well-seasoned iron skillet that creates deliciously crispy bottoms and edges, not hard as a rock crispy, but a nice delicate crispy that adds a caramelized flavor to your baked goods, like the perfect crispy edges on brownies.
Check out this post on How To Season An Iron Skillet, just in case you need to get your cast iron back in shape or are buying a new one.
Lodge Skillets are my favorite, and this pre-seasoned 8-inch Cast-Iron Skillet is exactly what you need for baking this skillet cake. You don’t need a lid for cake baking, but for cooking in a cast-iron skillet, I would recommend the lid.
I hear you saying, ” What if I don’t have a cast-iron skillet? That’s ok because a lot of people don’t have them; after all, they are heavy pieces of kitchen equipment, so instead of a cast-iron, just use a 10′ cake pan, and you are good to go.
Simple ingredients
- Butter – Adds a depth of flavor
- Sugar – With the butter and sugar creamed together, you will get a nice buttery, tender crumb
- Milk – Acts as a sweetener; it adds moistness to the cake and creates a nice golden brown crust
- Flour – this builds structure to the cake
- Baking powder – makes the cake rise
- Salt – this adds flavor
- Egg whites – this will make your cake fluffy
- Vanilla Bean – flavor, flavor, and more flavor
- Powdered Sugar & Cinnamon – a little sprinkling on top of the cake for a sweet flavor
How to bake a vanilla skillet cake: Step by step
Step 1. The most important ingredient in this cake is the vanilla bean, and my favorite baking trick is to flavor the sugar. First, you need to cut the vanilla bean in half longways, splitting it into two pieces, and scrape the seeds with a knife.
Madagascar Vanilla Beans
Step 2. Next, measure out 1 1/4 cups of sugar, put it into a bowl, and add all the scraped vanilla bean seeds. Gently stir the sugar and seeds until the seeds are evenly distributed. Doing this helps release the oils in the seeds and evenly distribute them.
Step 3. In a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer, add the room-temperature butter and beat for a minute, then add the sugar mixture and beat for two more minutes until it is nice and fluffy.
Step 4. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Step 5. Add 1/4 cup of milk to the butter/sugar mixture, and then add 1/2 cup of the flour mixture. Keep adding the milk and flour, scraping the sides of the bowl.
Step 6. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. For this recipe, we are just using egg whites. Lightly beat the egg whites to break them up, add them to the mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
Step 7. Prepare a 10″ cast iron skillet or a 10″ cake pan. Next, pour the batter into the skillet/pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Begin watching the cake at 30 minutes for over-browning and doneness.
Step 8. Let the cake cool, then with a fine-mesh sifter, add the powdered sugar and cinnamon and dust over the top of the cake.
Cake baking and ingredient tips
- Why flavor the sugar? I use this technique when making my Lemon Bundt Cake, and Orange Bundt Cake and now use it when using nonliquid flavorings like vanilla beans, citrus zest, and lavender, for instance.
- Simply add the flavorings to the sugar and mix with a spoon or your fingers. Doing this releases the oil in the flavorings and flavors the sugar and it also incorporates the flavoring in a batter more evenly. I also used this technique to make a sweet topping for my Orange Cranberry Scones.
- Beating the sugar and room temperature butter until light and fluffy actually creates bubbles in the butter. This happens when the sugar is beaten into the butter and aerates the butter. These bubbles help make a baked product have a lighter texture with a more tender crumb.
- Do not overmix cake batter– Overmixing leads to a dense and chewy texture that isn’t delightful in cakes. This also applies to muffin batter, pie crusts, biscuits, and scones. These are items you do not want any of the elastic gluten development; that’s what you want in bread dough.
- When buying vanilla beans, look for shiny, plump, and moist beans. Here is a guide all about vanilla so you can learn about this amazing flavoring.
- How to store a vanilla bean: Wrap the bean in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 6 months.
- How to scrape a vanilla bean: Cut the bean open lengthwise, then split it to expose the seeds inside. Using the flat side of a paring knife, scrape the pod lengthwise to remove the seeds.
- What if I don’t have a vanilla bean – Vanilla beans are expensive and are not used in a lot of recipes so there are options. 1 vanilla bean = 2 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla or 1 vanilla bean = 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. You can read about the different types of vanilla for other options.
Next time you crave a simple, delicious dessert, bake this luscious cake that lets the vanilla bean’s flavor and aroma shine. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
And if you like cake and ice cream, add a scoop of this Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream for a fall favorite dessert.
More skillet recipes
- Another delicious skillet cake is this Maple Apple Cake, filled with fresh apples and baked to a golden brown. It’s such a delicious fall treat.
- Bake this Cheddar Cheese Cornbread in an iron skillet to pair with soups and salads.
- Bake our favorite Upside Down Cake made with cherries and apricots.
Don’t forget to Pin it to your favorite dessert board.
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Recipe
Easy Vanilla Cake in a Skillet
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 2 cups AP flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 4 tsp. Baking powder
- 4 egg whites
- 1 Vanilla bean, seeded
- 1/4 cup Powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray a 10" cast iron skillet with cooking spray and dust with flour. Optionally you can use a 9" or 10" cake pan.
- Measure the sugar into a bowl. Next, cut the vanilla bean in half longwise then open it up and scrape the seeds out with the flat side of the knife. Add the seeds to the sugar and thoroughly mix together. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl add the room temperature butter and beat for one minute on medium speed.
- Add the sugar mixture to the bowl and beat for two minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together.
- Add a 1/4 cup of milk to the butter/sugar mixture then add 1/2 cup of the flour. Keep alternating adding the milk and flour; scrape the bowl occasionally.
- Put the egg whites in a bowl and lightly beat to break up the whites. Add the beaten egg whites to the bowl and mix until combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cast-iron skillet or baking pan. Bake for 35 minutes. If the top of the cake is getting too brown cover the cake with aluminum foil. The cake is done when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely.
- In a small sifter or fine-meshed strainer add the powdered sugar and cinnamon in layers then sift over the cooled cake.
- Cover any leftover cake with plastic wrap and keep on the counter for up to two days.
Notes
Want to try another skillet cake?
Maple Apple Skillet Cake features a moist vanilla cake topped with sweet apples that bake into the cake batter. This cake is moist and sweetly delicious.As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition
Have you ever run out of an ingredient while making a recipe? It happens all the time. Save this valuable guide on Recipe Ingredient Substitution so you never have to run to the store mid-recipe again.
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About Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven, sharing both sweet and savory recipes with all my baking friends.
So quick and easy to make! I made this cake twice in one week, I doubled the recipe as I have a big family. We love it very much. Thanks for the recipe!
This cake seems so easy and sounds delicious. I’ll make it as soon as I invest in a real vanilla bean. I hear it is so superior to the extract.
This cake is stunning! Love that it was made in a skillet.
I don’t bake often, often too many tools and fussy ingredients. I really like how simple this recipe is, and the use of vanilla bean makes it a must make for me
I like unfussy cakes and this is always a favorite.
I love the idea of midweek baking without needing so many tools and that I can also use my skillet. Will give this a try.
This is a simple to prepare cake that is so delicious – perfect served with some whipped cream and berries.
This looks absolutely amazing! Skillet cakes are my favorite and so easy to make!
Love how easy this cake is to make! I really enjoy cooking in a cast-iron skillet, so this will be super fun to implement.
Cast-iron is amazing, I just leave my skillets out on the stove since I use them daily.
I love using my cast iron- this cake was perfect!
Thanks so much for this vanilla skillet cake. I bake a lot but I’ve never tried using my cast iron skillet for baking, so this is a really interesting post. The cake itself looks amazing and I love the vanilla and powdered sugar. I’ll be trying this out soon!
Such a great recipe, really flavourful and so simple to prep!