Moist Yellow Cake Recipe (Old Fashioned)
Why does yellow cakes give folks such a hard time? It’s one of those cakes that if you find a great yellow cake recipe, you stick with it! I’ve been testing out yellow cake recipes off and on for awhile now.
The problem with homemade yellow cake is:
1.) It’s hard to find a from scratch yellow cake recipe that has the texture of a fluffy box yellow cake but that buttery, homemade taste of a scratch-made yellow cake. I can’t tell you how many dry, crumbly and/or eggy tasting yellow cakes I’ve had in the past.
2.) Um…I can’t think of anything else right now.
I’m here to tell you that YES YOU CAN have a scratch made fluffy, moist, yellow cake with a beautiful crumb texture. YES YOU CAN have that classic buttery-vanilla taste of a homemade yellow cake WITH simple ingredients. YES. YOU.CAN!!! YES. YOU. CAN!!! Sorry I’m literally sitting on the couch watching Nutty Professor while I write this blog post. Remember that part?
Anyways, I’ve been fortunate to come across some really good yellow cake recipes, but something in me just can’t seem to stop searching, kinda like with macaroni and cheese. Never satisfied even when you’re satisfied. Well today I want to share the homemade yellow cake recipe I’ve been making for years.
It’s that classic, old fashioned yellow cake recipe with simple pure ingredients. No butter flavored shortening (which I normally put in cakes) or sour cream or yogurt (which I also love to put in cakes). It’s the kind of yellow cake I grew up eating, with homemade chocolate butter cream frosting, sprinkles and candles (yes yellow cake taste best with candles. I don’t know why but it just does!)
This yellow cake recipe is the stuff old school birthdays were made of. You know, when most moms actually made every birthday cake from scratch. Wait, am I telling my age?? I digress…
This yellow cake recipe bakes up super moist, fluffy and velvety soft without the eggy taste that really irks me. My grandmother occasionally adds in butter flavoring to take the buttery taste over the edge, but I never seem to have that stuff on hand so I don’t add it in. I think it taste great without it. Although, if you really like the taste of boxed yellow cake, you may want to add that butter-flavored extract to replicate the taste.
Watch me make this moist, homemade yellow cake from start to finish!
Get the Recipe: Fluffy, Moist Homemade Yellow Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened, room temperature (do not microwave)
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs, separated, room temperature
- 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325. F.
- Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
- Add in egg yolks and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. Set aside.
- In a seperate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add dry ingredients into wet ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk.
- Mix until batter is fluffy but be careful not to over mix.
- Beat egg whites until stiff and thick. (holds a nice peak)
- Very gently fold egg whites into batter and mix JUST until incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared pans and spread into even layers.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cake cool in pans until pans are warm to the touch.
- Carefully remove cakes from pan and place on a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- When cakes are completely cooled frost with chocolate buttercream frosting.
Video
Did This Yellow Cake Sink In the Middle?
*NOTE** Hey guys!! I see ya down there in the comments section (waving) and I see this cake is giving a lot of you a hard time with sinking in the middle (so sorry). Yellow cakes are notorious for giving folks a hard time and I was so sure this one would be a breeze for everyone. Ok let’s look into this.
I’ve tried to troubleshoot this cake so many times to see what could be causing the sinking but it comes out great for me each time. Go figure! I thought about removing the recipe and adding another in it’s place but so many have equally told me that it’s the best yellow cake recipe they’ve ever had.
It really is a GREAT cake and I’d love for you to experience it so I’ve listed some tips below that may help. Meanwhile I’ll also post my grandmothers yellow cake recipe as well (although I prefer this one).
What causes a yellow cake to sink in the middle:
1.) BEAT EGG WHITES CORRECTLY AND GENTLY FOLD THEM IN THOROUGHLY. I’m not yelling at you, I just want you to understand the importance of beating those whites until they are thick AND gently folding them in completely. It’s crucial for any cake that requires this method. If not, it could cause the cake to sink in the middle.
2.) Fresh baking powder. Make sure your baking powder is not expired. No seriously go check right now, you might be surprised.
3.) Don’t open the oven while the cake it cooking. Use the oven light if you want to peek at the cake.
4.) Don’t overbeat. Once you add in the flour be very careful about mixing to long. You just want the flour incorporated. I think this is the main reason cakes tend to sink.
5.) Increase baking time. If your cake looks like it’s still uncooked in the center let it cook a bit longer until the top springs back when touched. Keep a close eye on it.
Question..
This cake flour..is it the same with all purpose flour or it is the self raising flour-?
I actually wanna try and bake this cake but that flour part is a lil bit confusing.. ????????
I was really nervous about making this, mostly because I’d never made a cake from scratch before. I lived up to the whole “go big or go home” philosophy and tried a layer cake.
First of all, the cake was deliciously moist and the perfect type of crumbly for mixing with ice cream. Secondly, there is way too much sugar in this cake. It tasted more like a sugar cookie and less like a yellow cake. The person I made it for really likes both yellow cake and sugar cookies, so he was satisfied with the end product. Thirdly, I used crus I to grease the pan, and had a little bit of sticking, but not enough to cause me any grief. Finally, I only had square pans, and I wanted a round cake, so I cut the corners and tried to frost it like that. I should have left it a square. The crumbly nature of the cake made the exposed areas where I had cut difficult to frost. I managed it, but it was difficult.
Overall, I would make this cake again, but I would use 1 cup – 1 1/4 cups sugar.
Monique, thank you for such an outstanding recipe. I just finished baking the cake, and it is awesome! Moist, tender, fluffy, buttery, and might I add – delicious! I sometimes tweak recipes based on my own preferences. However, I followed your recipe precisely, and I am so glad I did. Nothing else is needed. I’ve tried several yellow cake recipes in the past. My search for the perfect yellow cake has ended. Thank you again.
Oh. Forgot to mention I ate some of the cake without frosting.
Hi i want some help. When ever i baked a cake of any like simple choclate, vanila, butter cake, it remained hard from sides and aoft in the center. And after cooling, cake had very very hard texture like the sugar crisp that it had very tough to cut a piece. Please anyone can tell me how can i bake the good soft cake that woukd be not hard and what would be the right time for beating? For how much time i should beat the cake better? And how the cakes would not be hard?
I do a lot of baking and I would suggest you invest in a oven thermometer. Sounds like your oven temperature is off and to high. Plus, watch you’re not over mixing because that cause the rise & fall.
Hi,
Is it possible to make this without cake flour? I am in Germany and while they have many kinds of flour, they do not have cake flour.
The cake was so light and airy. I am sure it was something I did wrong. It was cooked perfect all the way through but the parts touching the pan were crystalized. I did grease the pan. Did anyone else have this problem? I love the flavor and have never had a cake with such a great flavour and texture.