This recipe makes a delicious homemade bakery style white cake that has a great texture and is sturdy enough for stacking tiers. It’s perfect for DIY wedding cakes, fun birthday cakes, or any special occasion. This recipe can make a 6 and 8 inch cake, or a 10 inch cake.
A perfect white cake is hard to beat. Whether you are looking for a wedding cake, birthday cake or just because cake, cake has enough structure to stack tall.
It is moist, has a great texture and can stand up to multiple layers.
If you are used to baking cakes from mixes, don’t run. If you think just because this cake is from scratch that it’s not worth the effort, you are wrong!
What makes this different than a standard cake recipe?
Homemade cakes do not have to be fussy or hard. This cake is really simple, uses straight forward ingredients and there’s no steps that involve gently folding or whipping to stiff peaks.
If you are used to traditional cake recipes, this one is going to look a little strange to you. A lot of recipes start with creaming the butter and sugar.
Then you mix in the liquid. Lastly you add the flour and dry ingredients and mix as little as possible to avoid developing the gluten.
This recipe does it backwards. You mix together the dry ingredients first. Then you beat in the butter.
Coating the flour with the fat keeps the cake from getting tough. Then you can add the wet ingredients and really beat it up good.
This allows you to whip in some air without worry. Plus it results in a soft cake with plenty of moisture and a nice crumb.
The best part is the mixer does most of the work. All you have to do is add ingredients.
Filling the cake
This is the perfect recipe for fun cake fillings as well. Homemade lemon curd and seedless raspberry preserves graced the inside of the wedding cake.
I torted, or cut the layers in half horizontally, the cake. That way there were two layers of lemon curd and one layer of raspberry in each cake.
It also allowed for more of the perfect summer buttercream and a slightly taller cake with a big flavor punch.
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It is also fabulous fill with my cheater bavarian cream recipe. It’s super simple to put together and is a nice alternative to buttercream throughout.
Tips and tricks
The key to nice layers is starting with an even cake. Use wet strips of towel or bake even strips to keep the cakes from doming while baking.
If your cakes do dome, carefully trim them so you can stack them into a nice level cake. Scraps can be the baker’s bonus treat or could be made into cake balls.
If you have a six quart mixer, that would be best. I have made it in my four and a half quart mixer and it is doable, but you’ll want to be careful to add the wet ingredients just a bit at a time to avoid to much sloshing over.
Start watching your cake a few minutes early as all ovens are a bit different.
If you do overbake your cake or it looks dry, brush it with simple syrup to give it a little moisture back. Syrup should not be necessary though.
You can make the cakes ahead of time if you know time will be tight getting ready for the party. Just wrap them tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and freeze.
They are easier to stack and move when they are frozen anyway. So, it is actually helpful all the way around.
Just have fun with it! No cake is perfect and nobody will notice any imperfections but you.
Making it a 10 inch cake
If you would like to make a ten inch cake instead of six and eight inch layers, this recipe works for that as well. You can use the ingredients exactly as they are written in the recipe card to get a two layer 10-inch cake.
You can also multiply the ingredients by one and a half and make a three layer cake. Either way, it is sturdy yet delicious.
All of the Frosting
Are you looking for a fabulous new frosting recipe for your cake? Check out my collection of frosting recipes for tons of tasty inspiration.
Bakery Style White Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3½ cups all purpose flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoons salt
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons additional flavoring extract such as princess creme boquet, lemon or almond
- 1 cup egg whites
- 1½ cups milk
- 1 Tablespoon sour cream
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup butter softened
Instructions
- In a large mixer bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.3½ cups all purpose flour, 2½ teaspoons baking powder, 2 cups granulated sugar, ¾ teaspoons salt
- In a mixing bowl, stir together vegetable oil, milk, egg whites, sour cream and flavorings. Set aside.3 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup egg whites, 1½ cups milk, 1 Tablespoon sour cream, 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil, 1½ teaspoons additional flavoring extract such as princess
- With the mixer running, drop a Tablespoon or two of butter into the flour mixture at a time. Keep mixing until the mixture is crumbly.1 cup butter
- Add the wet ingredients a little bit at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Be sure to scrape the sides occasionally as you go.
- Once all of the liquid ingredients are added, beat on medium for 7 minutes.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 350°F and prepare 2 6-inch cake pans and 2 8-inch cake pans with grease and cake strips.
- Spread batter in prepared pans and bake until finished, about 45-50 minutes for the 6 inch pans and 50-55 minutes for the 8 inch pans.
- Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes and then invert them onto baking racks to cool completely.
- Frost when cooled or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until ready to use.
Notes
Video
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I need a 3 9 inch and 3 6inch can this recipe work be suitable or adjusted to work?
I think a double recipe would work nicely to get you 3 layers and the larger base.
Can you explain what you mean by “use wet strips of towel or bake even strips” to keep the cake from doming. Thanks!
You don’t have to do that step. In fact, I have been kind of moving away from it. However, the idea is that if you wrap the cake pan in strips of wet towel (otherwise companies like Wilton make specific strips for the job) it helps to slow down the baking on the side of the pan supposedly reducing browning on the edge and reducing the dome in the center.
Can I turn this cake into a Almond wedding cake, instead of the vanilla, by adding the almond extract?
I figured I could, but wanted to ask to make sure.
My daughter is wanting a white almond cake, with raspberry feeling, and almond flavored frosting for her wedding in May. I will be practicing and giving them a cake sample soon.
Yes, that should work beautifully and it sounds amazing! I’m baking my sister a wedding cake in May. So, we can bake them together. 😉
Did you put all the pans in the oven at once? Or one size, then the other size? Thanks
I bake them all at once and just kept an eye on the smaller ones to pull them when they were done. However baking one size and then the other is likely the better way to do it.
Best white cake I’ve ever made. The process is the difference. Whipping it for 7 minutes at the end puts the air in it that it needs. Most recipes say don’t over mix so I was a bit nervous till I saw batter results. I did 2 things different by happen chance. I used buttermilk in place of milk and cake flour. I dont know why I re wrote that part…but it was so good! Everyone was amazed how Fluffy, tender and (not dry) it was. I did wrap pans with moist strips for even bake. Layers were flat and I didn’t have to level or cut anything off. I filled and frosted with buttercream with powdered dehydrated strawberries…added a bit of strawberry extract. Sooo good! I sliced each layer and filled with home made strawberry jam. Thank you for this recipe. I’ll be looking at your other recipes.
Your cake sounds fabulous!! I am glad you liked the recipe so much, it is one of my favorites!
What brand of cake flour is best for the white cake?
I generally use all-purpose flour for this recipe. I am not super brand loyal, so whatever I have on hand is what goes in. Because I live in a smaller town, my options for cake flour are pretty limited. Softasilk is the only brand I have much experience with.
I am anxious to try making this cake. I usually only buy unsalted butter. I’m wondering which kind of butter you recommend for this recipe…salted or unsalted? Thanks
Unsalted butter is perfect for this recipe. Salted butter works as well, just reduce the added salt in the recipe by maybe 1/4 teaspoon. I hope you give the cake a try and love it!
Once again, Thank You.
I’ll plan accordingly.
Ohhh, thank you thank you.
How much more frosting for the 9″ cakes, I’m going to put a raspberry filling between layers, would that require more frosting if I make a damn around each layer??
Sorry for all the questions, I’m pretty new at decorating cakes.
No problem at all! It depends a bit on the design you are going with. I would use a buttercream recipe that calls for about 2 cups of butter/shortening and 2 pounds of powdered sugar. That should be plenty for a little frosting between the layers plus the dam, light crumb coat and finishing coat. If you plan to pipe a lot of borders and decorations in addition to the final coat, you may need a little bit more.