Spray two 8” round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray (I like the kind that has flour in it) and line the inside bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, beat together butter, granulated sugar and vegetable oil together on high speed with an electric hand mixer (or in a stand mixer) until combined well.
Beat eggs and vanilla extract into the mixture until combined.
On low speed, beat half of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Do not overmix – mix just until you no longer see streaks of white flour in the batter.
Mix in (on low speed) all of the milk just until combined.
Mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Again, do not overmix.
Pour cake batter evenly between both prepared cake pans.
Bake for 32 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in pans for 15 minutes before removing then place on wire racks to finish cooling. Be sure to let cakes cool completely before the next step.
Once cakes have completely cooled, use a large serrated knife to cut the dome tops off both cakes so they both have a flat top.
Before frosting, cover cakes completely in food-safe plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours. You’ll want the cakes to be firm before frosting so that they don’t crumble or tear while spreading frosting.
To make the frosting: In a large bowl beat the confectioners’ sugar, butter and vanilla extract on high speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). If the frosting seems too thick to spread smoothly onto the cake, beat in a tablespoon of heavy cream.
Place a bit of frosting (about 2 tablespoons spread thin) on a cake board or cake plate then place one cake (cut side facing up) on top of that frosting. This thin layer of frosting helps prevent the cake from sliding off the cake board or cake plate while you’re decorating it.
Add a generous layer of frosting on top of that first layer then place the second layer (bottom facing up) on top of the first layer. You’ll now have a two-layer cake.
Frost a thin layer of frosting around the top and sides of cake. This first layer of frosting is called the “crumb coat”. This crumb coat is meant to secure all the crumbs to the cake so you don’t have crumbs showing in your final layer.
Place the lightly frosted cake in the freezer for 10 minutes so the crumb coat hardens up a bit before frosting the final layer.
Remove cake from freezer and frost the cake with the final layer of frosting. Decorate the cake as you like. I added a little pink food coloring to some of my frosting then piped swirls around the top cake border. I used a Wilton 1M tip.
Notes
Use the spoon and level method or a kitchen scale when measuring your flour.
Refrigerating the cake helps prevent it from crumbling.
Use a cake scraper when you want to smooth out your icing.
You can use canned frosting if desired. Be sure to whip it first so it's easier to smooth out over the cake. You may need more than one can.
Use room temperature ingredients for best results.