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.
My daughter requested this for cupcakes for her birthday – any suggestions for how to adapt this recipe? thanks!
This turned out fantastic, made with no changes. I was a little nervous given the reports of the cake sinking, so read and made sure to follow the recommendations in the recipe notes and everything turned out great with not even a little sinking. I was recently reading The Baking Bible which mentions that using all-purpose flour when cake flour is called for leads the center of a cake to sink — maybe this accounts for some people’s experiences if they were trying to substitute AP flour? Anyway, my boyfriend and I both loved this moist, delicious cake and this will be my new go-to yellow cake recipe. I think next time I will make in 8″ rather than 9″ pans because I would have preferred the layers to be a tad thicker. Thanks!
I am so happy with this recipe! I’ve never cared much for plain vanilla cake but it seems to be a favorite of a lot in my family, especially my husband. He wanted me to make a cake tonight and I found this recipe, made exactly as written, and wow! It is so good! I find most yellow vanilla cake to be so flavorless and boring, dry and crumbly. This cake is fluffy without being airy, full of buttery vanilla flavor, and melts in your mouth. I have never separated the yokes and folded in fluffy egg whites before, I was a little nervous, but it was easier than I thought! No sinking middle! I will definitely be using this recipe again, thank you!
I did only have 10″ pans, and they were done at exactly 30 minutes.
Absolutely perfect. Came out looking exactly like the video and photos here. Moist and lovely.
The sinking cakes… Might be due to higher altitude. I live west of denver which means im well above the ‘mile high’ and my grandparents moved here in the 70’s from the south. All of the family recipes for sweets (mostly cakes) have clear later written alteration measurements from after they moved here. Most just have a smidge more flour. Like a few TBPS or maybe 1/4 cup more than what is called for. Its not a myth. Its a bitch baking at altitude. But not impossible. Hope this helps. Im an avid baker come from a long line of bakers who make Martha Stewart look like a beginner. No offense to her but we dont mess around when it comes to sweets in my house. Regular sugar and flour also usually bake up better. My best efforts were when i did 6parts regular flour to 1 part bakers (while still following the general add nore flour rule) If this dont work then go back to sea level cuz im out ideas. Lol.
I loved this recipe. After reading about the issues with cakes sinking, I decided to make a half recipe. Everything came out beautifully- everything you could want in a cake- fluffy, moist, and soft. I did make two little tweaks: I used an 8″ round pan since I didn’t have a 9″ pan. I also reduced the sugar by 25%. The cake was still very sweet, but not overwhelming. I baked it for 30 minutes and I had no issues with the cake sinking. I would recommend using parchment paper on the bottom- my cake stuck to the bottom a little. This is my new go to recipe- no need to try any other yellow cake recipes.
What is meant by… BEAT until fluffy…. also, until just combined is stated. Which is it?