Okay, let’s cut to the chase…You can put anything together with vanilla cake. So any list is going to be a partial list of ideas, but I hope that these flavor combinations will give you some inspiration to come up with your own ideas.
I’ll start with the basics then move on to more complicated combinations.
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The basic flavor combinations
Classic vanilla
Vanilla cake with vanilla fillings, usually vanilla buttercream or a custard. A basic choice, but it usually makes everyone happy.
White chocolate raspberry
Vanilla cake with raspberry filling and white chocolate truffle filling. This combo can be on the sweet side, but if you use seedless raspberry preserves the tartness can cut some of that.
Vanilla and chocolate
Vanilla cake with chocolate filling of any variety is good. You can do a truffle filling or a fudge filling, or use a chocolate Italian meringue buttercream.
Vanilla with basically any fruit filling
Vanilla cake goes well with any fruit filling, whether it’s citrus or berries. You can do flavored Italian meringue buttercream or fruit preserves, depending on how tart or sweet you want it to be.
Vanilla almond
Vanilla cake with amaretto buttercream filling. This is another basic, classic combination that a lot of people are used to. It’s also used a lot for weddings if you add a little almond extract to the vanilla cake, but then it’s really an almond cake, not a vanilla cake.
it’s a pretty basic flavor, but you do have to be careful for people who have nut allergies, because they might eat it without realizing that there’s almond in it.
Vanilla cake combinations with berries and citrus.
Vanilla cake goes well with berry and citrus flavors because the neutral flavor of the cake lets the fruit flavors shine. You can go as sweet or as tart as you want to, and some of my favorite combinations used lemon and lime curds, or more unusual flavors like pomegranate buttercream.
Lemon berry
For this combination, you can pair vanilla cake with lemon curd or a lemon infused buttercream and berries like raspberry or strawberry.
This is a nice, fresh flavor that goes well during a springtime wedding or for a birthday cake for adults. A lot of times little kids don’t like this as much because the lemon curd and berries aren’t what they expect in a cake, so watch out for that.
Strawberry shortcake
If you pair a vanilla cake with fresh strawberries or strawberry buttercream, you can do a pretty good approximation of a strawberry shortcake in cake form.
I used to do this but I would also add a layer of a shortbread cookie on the inside of the cake on top of a layer of strawberry buttercream. The shortbread would soften up, and when the cake was cut people were able to eat a layer of the shortbread along with the vanilla cake and all of the fillings.
Raspberry white chocolate
White chocolate filling like a truffle filling or white chocolate Italian meringue buttercream is delicious with a vanilla cake that also has raspberry filling included.
Peaches and cream
Vanilla cake can be layered with plain vanilla Italian meringue buttercream and a layer of peach buttercream to make a peach cobbler type flavor.
If you leave the flavor of the buttercream neutral it will give you that creamy texture that will contrast with the peach filling. You can make the filling by pureeing peaches and adding it into the Italian meringue buttercream.
Key lime cake
You can do a key lime cake with either a vanilla cake layered with lime curd and lime buttercream, or with a lime flavored cake with the same fillings.
Using the vanilla cake as the base will give you a more neutral flavor, where the fillings will really be the part that gives you that citrus burst. If you decide to go with a lime cake, you might want to go with the vanilla buttercream and lime curd instead of having so much lime in there that it’s overwhelming.
Orange cream
Layering a vanilla cake with Grand Marnier buttercream alternating with regular vanilla buttercream will give you a subtle orange flavor that’s not too overwhelming.
You can get a stronger orange flavor by adding a little orange oil into the cake batter, but if you’re using a good quality orange oil a little goes a long way, so be careful if you do that.
Pomegranate vanilla
I mentioned the pomegranate buttercream that I used to make, and wow, it was really good. It was a nice tart flavor but it wasn’t something that people could really pinpoint what exactly it was until you told them what it was.
To make it, I used a little Amoretti pomegranate concentrate in Italian meringue buttercream, but you could also use pomegranate juice. It probably won’t have as strong a flavor as the concentrate would, but it would still work.
Layering a couple of layers of that in a torted vanilla cake was really all that you needed to do to get a really nice flavor that wasn’t super strong, but was very interesting.
Vanilla passion fruit
Passionfruit was another kind of unusual fruit flavor that I used to use, and to be completely honest, I don’t even know if it tasted like a real passionfruit did.
I have a feeling that the concentrate that I used wasn’t really what a real passionfruit tasted like, because most concentrates just don’t really taste like the real thing.
It doesn’t matter though, because it was still delicious when it was layered with a plain vanilla cake.
Tropical vanilla
Adding pineapple and coconut to a vanilla cake is a fun way to dress it up. You could alternate layers of pineapple and coconut buttercreams, or even throw in a layer of lime to make it even more citrusy.
For a list of chocolate cake flavor combinations, click here!
Vanilla and chocolate combinations.
Vanilla with chocolate and fresh fruit
Chocolate and fresh fruit, especially fruit that has a tart flavor, is a nice combination with sweet vanilla cake and icing. Chocoalte fudge and whole raspberries gives you a good contrast to sweet American buttercream, and it cuts the overwhelming sweetness of the entire cake.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Vanilla cake with cookie dough filling and chocolate buttercream…Need I say more? You can get pasteurized cookie dough now, too, so you can add it into the buttercream without worrying about the raw eggs in the cookie dough.
Or if you don’t want to do that, just use a layer of vanilla buttercream with mini chocolte chips sprinkled on it on the inside of the cake layers.
Vanilla peanut butter cup
Vanilla cake, peanut butter buttercream (you can do that) and chocolate fudge makes a rich cake that people will really like.
Mint chocolate vanilla
Alternate layers of mint buttercream with chocolate fudge filling for a chocolate mint combination that won’t be too rich.
Watch the amount of mint that you add to the icing, though. Too much will make your icing really overwhelming. Start with a little and work your way up until it’s where you like it.
Vanilla cake and nut-flavored buttercreams
Vanilla cake pairs nicely with hazelnut buttercream. Make it by adding Frangelico liquer to Italian meringue buttercream, and layer it in a torted vanilla cake.
The salty and spicy flavors of vanilla cake…
These combinations might be a little different, but they’re all delicious.
Salted Caramel Vanilla
Vanilla cake with salted caramel filling and caramel buttercream. You can make caramel buttercream using caramel ice cream topping in Italian meringue buttercream. Add a little sea salt to it to give it the salty flavor, but start with a little on this one. You want to give the person eating the cake a hint of sale, not a full-on salt experience.
Chai Latte
Chai translates to “tea,” but in the US it’s used to refer to the flavor profile of ginger, cardamom, and the other spices in chai tea.
You can get chai tea latte mix that can be used to flavor the icing, and when it’s added to a vanilla cake it will be a little sweet and a little spicy and really good.
Maple Pecan
Vanilla cake with cinnamon in it, layered with maple syrup flavored buttercream, and chopped pecans will give you a cinnamon roll flavor.
Add a sweet American buttercream to it and you’ll get the full experience of the cinnamon roll in your cake.
