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.
Found this recipe about 2yrs ago and this is the ONLY yellow cake we ever make now! And just in case any one is wondering BC of allergies in my house I sub coconut oil for the butter and make buttermilk w coconut milk and a lemon and use gluten free flour! And it is perfect every time!!! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Can I sub yogurt for the buttermilk? Urgent!!
Thanks
I’ve never done it with this recipes so I’m not sure how the outcome would be.
I’ve actually sub’d out sour cream for Buttermilk one time. You just have to make sure you do a 50/50 split between sour cream and water to equal the amount of Buttermilk the recipe calls for. Just make sure you wisk the mixture together until it’s all combined. It came out delicious. Hope that helps! =)
So sorry…just re-read that post and realized they asked about yogurt and I gave a response about sour cream, my bad! I never used yogurt as a substitute. ..sorry!
Can I make cupcakes with this recipe?
I actually made cupcakes from this recipe and they were the most amazing cupcakes I ever eaten in my entire life!! I’m not even kidding, they were RIDICULOUS!!!!
The only thing I changed was the cooking time from 30 minutes to 20. But every oven is different, so check around 16-18 minutes. I also like mine slightly underdone so go with what you like but they came out INSANELY DELICIOUS!!! Hope this helps!! =)
Thanks so much. I will be trying them out this weekend!!!!
Thank you!!!! Going to try them now!!!
I made it twice and it fell apart. It taste delish!
I made this cake and it’s just yummmm! Thank you!!
Hi. My cake after i invertertd it,it broke into pieces. The tastes yumm.. But i would not be able to do icing on it. What should be done for it not to be broken?
you have to wait until your cake has COMPLETELY COOLED DOWN , you should feel that the cake is cold at some point not just room temperature. It cracked because you inverted it when it was still hot or not yet cold.
Another reason would be that you didn’t inverted it properly — as in the technique, try holding a big plate on top of the cake mold and flip it quickly but gently remove the mold so that the cake doesn’t tear apart — however this shouldn’t be a problem when your cake is completely cooled down and ready for icing.
I hope your cake works out next time 🙂
I baked the cake 2 times and it was the best tasting cake I think I’ve ever tasted. The first time I baked it, it did fall in the middle, but the second time I made it, I beat the egg whites to soft peaks, and it did better. I think the cake has so much flavor that adding icing is almost a distraction. I also used some of the cake as strawberry short cake. Again, the strawberries overwhelmed the flavor of the amazing cake. There are two people living in this house and we ate about half of the cake in a day by just snatching a bite every time we wondered into the kitchen. I’m going to make one today, and I plan on sharing it with others, but I’m not sure i will be able to.