It’s important to use room-temperature butter, which will combine smoothly with the sugar. This will make your cake light and fluffy instead of dense. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times to incorporate all of the butter. Don’t worry about over-mixing—it’s really hard to do when you’re creaming your ingredients together.
Beating in room-temperature eggs will trap air in the batter so your plain cake rises in the oven.
Stop stirring as soon as the last of the dry ingredients are mixed in. If you mix the batter too much, your cake can turn out tough or dense.
Try to use a metal cake pan since this conducts heat better than glass or ceramic. If you’d like to make plain cupcakes, put muffin liners into 16 to 18 cavities of a muffin tin.
If you’re baking plain cupcakes instead of a cake, try dividing the batter using a cookie scoop.
Avoid opening the oven door while the cake is in the middle of baking. Wait to open the door and test the cake for doneness until it’s at or near the end of the baking time. You can also insert a toothpick or skewer into the center of the cake to see if it’s done. The tester should come out clean and if it doesn’t, bake the cake for a few more minutes before you check it again. If you’re making plain cupcakes, check them after 20 minutes.
You don’t need to worry about the cake sticking to the pan since the parchment is on the bottom.
You won’t need to wear oven mitts since the cake is cold at this point. You can also use a paring knife to loosen the cake and get it out of the pan.
Put leftover cake into an airtight container and keep it at room temperature for up to 2 days. While you can refrigerate the cake for up to 7 days, this can make it dry out.
Consider frosting your chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting or chocolate buttercream.
If you’re making a citrus-flavored cake, try rubbing the zest from 1 lemon, 1 orange, or 1/2 of a grapefruit into the sugar for the cake before you cream it with the butter. This will release citrus oils into the sugar.
For extra spice, stir 1 tablespoon (7 g) of grated ginger into butter and sugar mixture.
For the crunchiest texture, use toasted nuts instead of raw nuts.
To make a completely vegan plain cake, you’ll also need to use a vegan butter product and substitute alternative milk, such as almond or oat milk, for the buttermilk.
If you’d like to substitute gluten-free flour, such as almond or chickpea flour, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for baking with it. Keep in mind that the texture of your cake may be more crumbly than if you bake with all-purpose flour.
