White layer cake slices on plates with white and blue marbled frosting

1234 Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe is: dairy free

1234 cake gets its name from the amounts of its ingredients, making it super simple to make and easy to remember, but the thing you’ll remember most is its flavor.

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Close up of a layered dessert with blue and white frosting, being sliced and removed from the platter.

What makes this recipe so special to me

It’s hard to believe that exactly a year ago today, I was sitting in our apartment in Angers debating whether or not to publish my very first post – cranberry chicken salad, but it’s been an amazing and eventful year since then. I’ve traveled around France and Europe with my husband, made some really great new friends, cooked my heart out and saw my sister and a best friend get married.

I taught myself how to use a DSLR camera, Wordpress and a lot of other technical stuff that goes along with blogging. Sure there have been some ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change anything. And, I’m looking forward to continuing this blog to share my favorite recipes and my latest adventures with you for years to come.

Three plates each with a slice of white layered cake with blue and white marble frosting.

Thank you for your support!

I’m so grateful to the readers who have followed me from day one – especially my family and friends – and to my new readers who are just beginning to support me in my cooking endeavors. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I would love to know what you guys would like to see more of (or less of…) on Simply Whisked, because it’s your opinions that matter to me. And without you, I would be writing for no one.

To celebrate this big occasion, I thought nothing would be more appropriate than the exact birthday cake my mom used to make for us growing up – 1234 Cake with cream cheese frosting. It’s the perfect birthday cake, just sweet enough with – what I think is hands down the best frosting in the world – cream cheese frosting.

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A cake on a cake stand with a slice removed.

Here’s what you’ll need to make it

How to make 1234 cake with cream cheese frosting

Preheat the oven. Set your oven to bake at 350˚F. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans, this is important because it will prevent the cake from sticking to the pan and allow for easy removal. You can use parchment rounds if you like as well.

Mix the dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and whisk until distributed evenly. In a small bowl mix vanilla extract and milk, set aside.

Cream the butter. In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar – beat until light and fluffy, this should take about a minute or two. Add eggs, one at at time, continuing to beat until well incorporated.

Alternate dry mixture with milk. When that is well combined, add about ½ cup of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, then about ½ cup of milk – continuing to alternate until everything is mixed into the batter.

Bake the 1234 cake. Pour batter into cake pans, splitting the batter evenly between the two. Place in preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched gently. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cakes from their pans. Set the cakes on a wire cooling rack to cool fully before frosting.

Whip up the frosting. Add butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract to the electric mixing bowl. Beat until well combined, then begin adding powdered sugar slowly until it is fully incorporated.

Frost the cake. Spread a layer of frosting over one cake then place the second cake on top. Fully frost the entire cake, filling areas between the layers as needed.

A slice of white cake with blue and white frosting being lifted off a cake plate to be served.

This recipe would be great served with

More delicious dairy free cakes

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1234 Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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1234 cake gets its name from the amounts of its ingredients, making it super simple to make and easy to remember, but the thing you’ll remember most is its flavor.

  • Author: Melissa Belanger
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Cook Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 80 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the cake

  • 1 cup dairy free butter (softened)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground mace (optional)

For the frosting

  • 1 cup vegan cream cheese (softened)
  • 1/2 cup dairy free butter (softened)
  • 5 – 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C) and grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, mace and baking powder together – set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together the vanilla and milk – set aside.
  4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs – one at a time and beat until incorporated.
  6. Alternate between adding some of the flour mixture and some of the milk mixture, beating on low until combined.
  7. Pour batter evenly into cake pans.
  8. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until cakes are golden and centers spring back when touched.
  9. Cool for 5 minutes and remove from pans.
  10. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
  11. Slowly add the powdered sugar until completely incorporated.
  12. Spread frosting over the first layer of cake at a medium thickness.
  13. Place the second layer of cake on top of the frosting layer.
  14. Fill the space between the layer sides with frosting.
  15. Continue frosting the cake until completely covered.
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Slice
  • Calories: 643
  • Sugar: 82.5 g
  • Sodium: 303.2 mg
  • Fat: 18.8 g
  • Saturated Fat: 7.9 g
  • Carbohydrates: 111.1 g
  • Fiber: 0.9 g
  • Protein: 6.1 g
  • Cholesterol: 62 mg

Keywords: 1234 cake, cream cheese frosting, cake with cream cheese frosting, vanilla cake, easy cake recipe, vanilla cake easy

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Published: July 26, 2013. Updated: October 19, 2023.

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