That is the PERFECT white cake with a smooth texture, moist crumb, and great vanilla taste; plus, it tastes unimaginable with creamy vanilla buttercream. Cake flour, egg whites, and bitter cream are the secrets and techniques to one of the best texture. The cake batter is my gold commonplace and I exploit it as the bottom for a lot of different cake flavors together with strawberry cake, coconut cake, pistachio cake, burnt sugar caramel cake, and extra.
I initially printed this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photographs and some extra success ideas.
Why This Is My Finest White Cake Recipe
This white cake recipe is customized from my good vanilla cupcakes, a longtime reader favourite. The cake is my definition of *cake perfection* and has turn into one of the vital well-liked cake recipes on my web site. I’m even publishing it in my 2025 cookbook. Right here’s why:
- Comfortable & ethereal crumb
- Fluffy, however not eggy
- Pure candy taste
- Stick-to-your-fork moist & tender
- Fully from scratch
- Simple & approachable dessert recipe
I really like this cake a lot that I used it as the bottom for a number of different cake recipes I’ve printed together with espresso chocolate chip cake, pineapple coconut cake, cookies and cream cake, plus extra listed beneath. I even diminished the amount of cake batter right down to make the right 1-layer pineapple the wrong way up cake.
It’s my flagship cake recipe, and I crown it with the smoothest, creamiest vanilla buttercream. Rainbow sprinkles add a bit glitz and glamour as a result of… what’s cake with out sprinkles?
Previously 7 years, I’ve made this cake so ceaselessly that I’ve the recipe memorized. I’m speaking birthday events, child showers, summer time events, anniversaries, and even a pair bake gross sales. There are a number of success ideas I’ve picked up alongside the best way, and I’m thrilled to share them with you so you possibly can take pleasure in cake perfection in your 1st strive.
White Cake Success Ideas
- Cream the Butter: To attain a great rise, correctly cream the butter and sugar collectively. You could have the crutch of baking powder and baking soda, however the cake’s crumb really sings when that creaming course of steps in.
- Use Solely Egg Whites: Don’t use egg yolks. Utilizing solely egg whites not solely offers you a pristine white cake, but additionally it ensures that the crumb will not be weighed down by the fats in egg yolks. Give it some thought: lighter confections resembling marshmallows and angel meals cake require solely the egg whites. It’s the identical story right here. You want 5 massive egg whites on this cake.
- Use Pure Vanilla: You want pure vanilla extract for this cake, and a full Tablespoon within the cake batter. You’ll actually style it, so don’t skimp on the quantity. When you’ve got a vanilla bean, go forward and scrape the beans from half of it into the batter for additional taste, or you possibly can swap the extract for a similar quantity of vanilla bean paste.
- Bitter Cream As a substitute of Egg Yolks: Bitter cream is the cake’s safety blanket. Whereas it incorporates fats just like the egg yolks would, it doesn’t actually crush the crumb. It’s pure moisture and provides essentially the most creamy, tender texture to each chew. It performs the identical vital function in espresso cake, too.
- You Want Cake Flour: Cake flour is sort of 30x finer than all-purpose flour. Utilizing it’s a surefire method to obtain a fragile, soft-as-a-pillow texture. It’s bought within the baking aisle and you need to use the remainder of the field in any of those recipes that use cake flour together with my well-liked confetti cake.
- Room Temperature: Be certain your whole elements are at room temperature. When elements are the identical temperature, they bind collectively extra readily than if you happen to had some chilly and a few hotter elements. Colder elements, particularly egg whites, will produce a thicker batter and, because it’s chilly, will take longer to bake. This adjustments every thing.
Room Temperature Components
If a recipe requires room-temperature eggs or another ingredient resembling milk or bitter cream, ensure you comply with swimsuit. Recipes don’t do this for enjoyable—room-temperature elements emulsify a lot simpler into batter, which creates a uniform texture all through your baked good. Consider chilly, arduous butter. It’s unattainable to cream chilly butter right into a smooth consistency. Similar goes for eggs—they add far more quantity to the batter once they’re at room temperature. Place your eggs in a glass of heat water for 10 minutes, and you may briefly heat the milk and bitter cream (individually) on the range or within the microwave to deliver up the temperature. Right here’s my trick for bringing butter to room temperature shortly.
This Is a 2-Layer 9-Inch Cake
You want two 9-inch spherical cake pans for this batter. This batter doesn’t match into two 8-inch cake pans (it’s an excessive amount of). Three 8-inch pans work, as seen right here in my recent berry cream cake, however the layers are skinny. If you wish to make a 6-inch cake, use this 6-inch cake recipe, which is scaled down from right this moment’s batter. Be happy to go to my cake pans & conversions web page when you’ve got any questions on altering the pan measurement.
Ensure you line your cake pans with parchment paper rounds, to assist the truffles seamlessly launch from the pan. Should you want suggestions for spherical cake pans, I actually like Fats Daddio’s pans and these Wilton cake pans.
9×13-inch pan: Need to bake a sheet cake as a substitute? Observe my recipe Be aware. A single-layer white cake is less complicated to organize, adorn, and serve!
White Cake Ornament
Whereas the elements within the cake batter don’t depart any room for substitutions, we will have some enjoyable with quite a lot of frostings. I want vanilla frosting, which I embrace within the recipe beneath. However I encourage you to mess around with chocolate buttercream, rainbow chip frosting, or chocolate cream cheese frosting. For a lighter, much less candy possibility, I really like pairing this cake with whipped frosting. Every of those frostings are completely exceptional on this pretty cake. The vanilla frosting makes lots, so count on a thick layer between the truffles.
*Crumb Coat Particulars*
To make sure the layer cake is secure, it’s vital to use a crumb coat. A crumb coat is a skinny layer of frosting on the outside of the cake that locks in any unfastened crumbs and helps stabilize the layers. After you stack the two layers with frosting in between, cowl the highest and sides of the layered cake with a really skinny layer of frosting (about 1 cup). If desired, run a bench scraper across the cake to assist clean out the frosting. Refrigerate the uncovered cake for at the least 20 minutes and as much as 1 hour to “set” the crumb coat. Then cowl the highest and sides with the remaining frosting.
Right here Are All of the Cake Flavors Made From This Excellent Batter
It’s spectacular that this mixture of elements can produce so many truffles. I’ll ALWAYS flip to this recipe.
The Excellent White Cake
Prep Time: half-hour
Prepare dinner Time: 24 minutes
Complete Time: 4 hours
Yield: serves 10-12
Class: Dessert
Technique: Baking
Delicacies: American
Description
That is the PERFECT white cake with a smooth texture, moist crumb, and great vanilla taste; plus, it tastes unimaginable with creamy vanilla buttercream. By following the recipe beneath and all of my success ideas, you’ll take pleasure in an ultra-light cake, identical to the sort you discover at a bakery or from a field combine. But it surely’s all made out of scratch in your very personal kitchen. See varied flavors above and all of my recipe Notes beneath.
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease two 9-inch spherical cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the truffles seamlessly launch from the pans. (If it’s useful, see this parchment paper rounds for truffles video & publish.)
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt collectively. Put aside.
- Utilizing a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on excessive pace till clean and creamy—about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on excessive pace for two minutes till creamed collectively. Scrape down the edges and up the underside of the bowl with a silicone spatula as wanted. Add the egg whites. Beat on excessive pace till mixed, about 2 minutes. Then beat within the bitter cream and vanilla extract. Scrape down the edges and backside of the bowl as wanted. Add the dry elements and blend on low pace till simply integrated. With the mixer nonetheless working on low, slowly pour within the milk till mixed. Don’t overmix. It’s possible you’ll have to whisk all of it by hand to ensure there aren’t any lumps on the backside of the bowl. The batter will likely be barely thick.
- Pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake for round 24–25 minutes or till the truffles are baked by way of. To check for doneness, insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clear, it’s accomplished. Enable truffles to chill utterly within the pans set on a wire rack. The truffles should be utterly cool earlier than frosting and assembling.
- Make the frosting: In a big bowl utilizing a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium pace till creamy—about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer working on low pace. Enhance to excessive pace and beat for 3 full minutes. Add extra confectioners’ sugar if frosting is just too skinny, extra cream if frosting is just too thick, or a pinch extra salt if frosting is just too candy.
- Assemble and frost: First, utilizing a big serrated knife, slice a skinny layer off the tops of the truffles to create a flat floor. Discard (or crumble over ice cream!). Place one cake layer in your cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Cowl the highest evenly with frosting. Prime with second cake layer and unfold the remaining frosting everywhere in the prime and sides. Enhance prime of cake with sprinkles, if desired. Slice, serve, take pleasure in!
- Cowl leftover cake tightly and retailer within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
Notes
- Make Forward & Freezing Directions: The cake layers will be baked, cooled, and coated tightly at room temperature in a single day. Likewise, the frosting will be ready after which coated and refrigerated in a single day. Assemble and frost the cake the following day if you find yourself able to serve. Frosted cake will be frozen as much as 2 months when you’ve got room within the freezer. Thaw in a single day within the fridge and convey to room temperature earlier than serving.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): 9-inch Spherical Fats Daddio’s Cake Pans or Wilton Cake Pans | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Cake Turntable | Straight Spatula (for frosting) | Spherical Cake Service (for storage)
- Quantity of Batter: If it’s useful for utilizing totally different measurement cake pan sizes and conversions, this recipe yields about 7 cups of cake batter.
- Cake Flour: Should you can’t discover cake flour, here’s a DIY do-it-yourself cake flour substitute you need to use as a substitute.
- Complete milk and bitter cream are strongly really useful for one of the best style and texture. A full-fat plain yogurt would work as a substitute, although the cake will not be as mild. Similar goes for a lower-fat milk.
- 9×13-inch Pan: Merely pour the batter right into a greased and flippantly floured 9×13-inch pan and bake for 40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted within the middle comes out clear.
- Cupcakes: My vanilla cupcakes recipe is basically this identical recipe, solely halved. If you would like extra cupcakes, you possibly can comply with this white cake batter recipe and use the baking directions for the cupcakes.
