Classic Yellow Cake

After trying several recipes this week for a good/moist yellow cake this one wins hands down. I was luckily enough to stumble upon it online and thought I would share it here. It has a melt in your mouth texture and wonderful crumb. Wonderful butter flavor.

Sour cream adds richness to classic yellow cake while whipped egg whites lighten it up.
Top with Buttercream Icing.

Ingredients

  • 2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) sweet butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 large egg whites

Instructions

    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 1 hour
    Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

    Preparation:
    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and line two 8 x 3-inch baking pans or one 12 x 3-inch pan with parchment.

    Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

    Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy and light in color, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add sugar and continue to mix until fluffy and light.

    Add egg yolks one at a time, being sure each is well incorporated before adding the next one. Add vanilla.

    Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Be sure the mixture is completely blended after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat for 1 minute.

    In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter with a rubber spatula.

    Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake in the preheated oven, 60 minutes for the 12-inch square pan or 45 to 50 minutes for the 8-inch pan. The top of the cake should be nicely browned. Test for doneness with a skewer or a toothpick; the tester should come out dry and clean.

Comments (78)

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This is an awesome receipe. I just made cupcakes - it yielded 24 cupcakes. I only put two tablespoons of batter in the cupcake liner. They are so moist, incredibly delicous - thanks so much for sharing. I baked them at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. They are just to die for!!!!

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oops, sorry I didn't reply to questions. Yes, this is Sylvia's recipe that I found online. I fell in love with it and wanted to share because I didn't see it in the recipe section. It truly is a wonderful cake and is so flavorful and moist. I have made cupcakes with it just fine. Hope everyone gives it a try!

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This is the best yellow cake recipe EVER!!!! Don't even waste your time with another yellow cake recipe. Trust me I have tried them all! Been using it for 13 years now. Love her and her loopy glasses too! Her fudge cake is also outrageous. I have her Sweet Celebrations cake decorating book from way back.

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Have you ever used this for a marble cake? If so how much cooled melted chocolate should I add? Someone told me once it made 6 cups.

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Cakeview- I had to laugh at the glasses comment. I can't stop staring at them when she is on tv. Glad you mentioned the choc fudge cake because I just got that book you are talking about and saw that recipe. I will try it out.

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lill7028212- since sheet cakes can sometimes vary in size this is all that I can share about it: Butter and line two 8 x 3-inch baking pans or one 12 x 3-inch pan with parchment.

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I just wanted to confirm - based on your response (crazyladybaker) for baking two 8" pans, I could use the batter for one - 10" and one 6"? Also has anyone froze this cake, did it hold up well? Thanks :-)

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Hello All! I tried the cake recipe yesterday. I will say that it is definitely moist and not dry. I did find that it was very buttery tasting... not sure if a bit too much? The bottom was a bit greasy... maybe b/c I lightly buttered and floured the pan before baking. Just wondering if anyone else found it a bit too buttery? This was my first time baking the cake.

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OMG!!! This is the best cake. I love everything about this cake. I really wish I would have know about then for my daughters b-day party. I made 3 different cakes that fell. I was highly upset. This is my cake now and forever!!! Thanks for this fabulous post.

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mamigrande- yes, it does hold up to fondant. I have not done anything on a large scale with it but it worked fine on the smaller cakes I have used it for. (8" & 10")

LillyCakes- I love this cake too!

toni1218- yes, it def does have a buttery taste but I found that after it had filling and frosting it was not overpowering at all. And I have frozen it on two different occasions and it was just fine.

Don't forget to rate the recipe and give feedback so others can get feedback and know what to expect. hugs!!

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Tried this cake yesterday for my son's bday. The entire family and I were sorely disappointed. Cake was very dry. Didn't taste buttery to me at all. I'll be sticking with Pillsbury. FYI it yields 7 cups of batter.

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tmelrose- I am really shocked to read this. I have made this cake many times and have always found it ..."almost" too moist and VERY buttery. Is it possible there were other contributing factors? Just curious to why you got different results. Sorry you didn't like it :-(

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tmelrose- forgot to include this in the above post. I noticed you posted on another thread about adding melted chocolate to this recipe to make a marbled cake and I was wondering if this is the same cake that turned out dry? If it was that def could have played a part in the final outcome.

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I live in the uk. We don't have cake flour (I am going to try to create this), what exactly is sweet butter ? Can someone pls tell me

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Sweet butter is just unsalted sticks of butter. I am not sure how it's sold there but it's sold in sticks here. You should be fine to just weigh out the butter though. I hope you like the cake. It is one of my favs.

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Yes I added 2 squares of cooled melted chocolate to the cake. I made the mistake of reserving a cup of the batter to add the chocolate. The chocolate batter was so thick to swirl into the yellow batter. I should have swirled the chocolate directly to the entire cake. But even the part of the cake that didn't have chocolate was extremely dry. I too was disappointed. I was so excited to try this out. Too bad I couldn't try a piece from someone who's had better luck! Sad it didn't work out for me though.

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Just a suggestion for those getting a dry cake. Recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups SIFTED cake flour, which means you sift first, then measure out 2 1/4 cups, rather than measure 2 1/4 cups, then sift. Maybe that is making a difference.

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I made this cake for my son's birthday this week and it was AMAZING. It was so moist and delicious. When I let my son lick the cake bowl he told me that he thought it was the icing bowl. You know a cake's going to be good when the batter tastes like icing! It was even better than I hoped and 2 days after the party the left overs were insanely good. I may never use another yellow cake again.

@DeeDelighful - I think you're spot on. Sifting then measuring is key to this recipe.

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So I just tried the cake for the first time. Waiting for it to finish baking. I tasted the batter and O M G! it is awesome!

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Dude this is like my one of my favorite cakes. my mom make them all the time when ever she make cakes. and i mean i am rite there when she makes them, and i make sure she save me a peice. ;)

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i tried this recipe tonight as cupcakes. unfortunately they sank and peeled away from the liners. the butter had soaked the bottom of the liners. also i thought they were a bit too sweet. it was probably the softed cake i have ever eaten though. it was really creamy like and had a melt in your mouth feel. i would almost be too scared to ice it in fear of it tearing. i followed the recipe exactly as stated.

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Ok, so my first attempt this morning - it was dry. Hmmmm.... what did I miss? Tried second time and only baked it for 45 min and its looking a lot better! Now just waiting for it to cool enough to take a sampling.

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YES! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Not baking for full hour, it didn't dry out. I used a 13X9X2 pan and 40-45 min was enough for it to spring back to the touch. And the little piece I tested (while it was still cooking) was DELICIOUS! I can't wait to frost and dive in!

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Crazyladybaker (why do I feel bad writing that! lol), can I cut down on the sugar at all without affecting the outcome?? Also do you think b/c I use butter when I greased my pan that it would have added more of a buttery flavour? Is there a better option for greasing, would PAM be ok? Thanks :-)

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I cannot wait to try this cake!!!!! It sounds delicious! I do have a question though, Crazyladybaker, the recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour, then the instructions say to sift the flour and other dry ingredients together. Am I reading that correctly? Am I supposed to sift the flour twice? Please let me know, thanks.

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Whitneyl- I see where that can be confusing so I will just share what I do. I only sift the flour once and that is with the other dry ingredients. That works for me so hopefully that will work for you too :-)

toni1218- don't feel bad about my name...it so fitting for me HA! :-) As for cutting back on the sugar I can't really say how it will affect it as I haven't done it. I "think" it would probably be ok to cut back a small amount. The cake is def buttery. Try using Baker's Secret spray or if you like to grease and flour that would be fine too.

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I made this cake this weekend and it was FABULOUS! I actually made cupcakes and did a little pull apart cake for a fall festival cake walk and the only mistake made was that I over cooked the first batch of cupcakes just a little bit but it gave them an interesting crust on top and then the inside was so incredibly soft and moist. I actually liked them that way. I frosted with regular homemade butter cream and, again, they were FABULOUS! This recipe is a keeper!

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I want to try this cake this week. Does anyone know if you need to make adjustments for altitude (5400 ft)? If so, do you know how you would adjust it?

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Hi Crazyladybaker! I made the recipe again this time for my daughters bithday as I had a recipe disaster with the chocolate cake I made. I doubled the batch in order to get two 10" round 2" high cakes.... they tasted really good, not so buttery tasting as the first one - everyone enjoyed it. You know it tastes good when your brother says... this is good what kind of cake is it? lol The only thing is that it took long to bake... or seemed to take a long time. The sides for sure cooked before the middle - I even put a flower nail in however I don't think it helped, unless I need to put more than one. I suppose I will try the bake strips, do you think the positioning in the overn makes a difference? I put it exactly in the middle but it seemed close to the top - wondering if I moved it down one rack if it would make a difference... Thanks again for posting the recipe! :-)

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if you follow the standard high altitude adjustments does the cake still bake up right or do you know what adjustments should be made for denver, little over 5000 feet?

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I have been looking for an *awesome* recipe for yellow cake and after seeing all the rave responses, this is the one I will try. I am also looking for a white cake recipe... does anyone have an idea how I could take the egg yolks out of this cake and still keep it moist? Or just guide me to a fabulous white cake recipe! lol ~Happy Baking!~

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Thank you for this post!! I just made it for my daughters birthday and it is the best yellow cake I've made! It's a keeper :-)

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Thank you so much for posting this recipe, the first time i tried it it came out perfect, however the last few times it just seems to sink in the middle. Please help me figure out what I'm doing :(

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SO last night,,I accidentally bought the choc. cake mix for WASC recipe instead of the YELLOW.. I found this recipe quickly for an alternative instead of having to make another trip to store..and it's a workout making this but YUMMMM sooo delicious tasting. I will admit though is that I WOULD not use this in place of yellow mix that ppl are more accustomed to because it's VERY MUCH LIKE a POUND CAKE taste vs yellow! It's dense and moist and a GREAT buttery flavor,,but I wouldn't personally recommend using this as a YELLOW alternative..so i did have to go to store to do the WASC recipe instead. Excellent pound cake per se" though!

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I did this in place of making another trip out to get YELLOW box mix for WASC cake recipe..and this is VERY, VERY GOOD,,,,,,BUT! ....I would NOT RECOMMEND this for a YELLOW cake version that everyone is accustomed to. IT's MORE dense and moist and tastes EXACTLY like a POUND CAKE.. VERY BUTTERY taste, however, AWESOME recipe! Prepare for some workup on this because it is a lot of work, yet the turnout is wonderful. Cake bakes levely too..does not rise really.

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Would like to know if using self rising flour instead of •* 2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour * 2 teaspoons baking powder will change the moistness of this recipe. I used a similar recipe and it came out more like pound cake.

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I have been using this recipe for about a year now. Very rich, moist and it just melts in your mouth...Perfect cake! However, recently I have been experiencing problems with my cakes...Every time i bake this cake it has a wet line at the just above the bottom crust. I bake it as i usually do, but can't figure out what is the problem....can anyone help to share what might be the problem here? Thnks

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Question I made this cake tonight for the first time and I did something wrong. While it was baking it was uneven and did not cook right. I'm thinking it had something to do with the folding the batter around the egg whites. Can someone explain the proper way to do that? I'm new to baking and decorating so still experimenting. I appreciate the feedback. ~Samantha

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This cake is so amazing. Ive always used box and decided to try a homemade cake for my niece. My whole family love it :) Thank you for posting this cake. This is now my go to cake!!!!

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Crazyladybaker, I have tried this, and let me tell you it was a total success. I made it for my father's Bday, and nobody wait until it got cold. I used unflavored yogurt instead of sour cream. I liked it too much, it is moist and fluffy. Thanks a lot. I have two questions: can I replace half of sour cream with orange juice, I would like orange flavored cake. second question : can I prepare three formulas together ? I need a bigger cake for 30-40 people.

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I am also curious if I can replace the cake flour with self rising and how to go about changing the recipe to do that.

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Has anyone else had a problem with this cake sinking in the middle? It's baked all the way through but for some reason both of my layers sank really bad in the middle while they were baking. I LOVE the flavor and totally want to use it for a birthday coming up but I had to shave so much off to get it even my cake was short :( HELP!

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This was like a little bit of heaven in my mouth, like God himself dipped his finger in the batter! Mine was not like pound cake, it was fluffy and buttery-rich. I also thought my cakes were going to sink in the middle and I made three 6-inch cakes. I don't know if I would attempt a bigger cake because of that. Does anyone know what to do to fix that?? Should I bake on a higher temp?? Or lower?? Not sure. But it sure did taste good!

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WOW! OMG!! Honestly words cannot describe how yummy this cake is. Loved my vanilla cake I was originally using except it dried out fast. Saw this & decided to try it last night. It was a slice of heaven in my mouth. I sifted my cake flour 1 st & leveled evenly with back of a butter knife the flour & sugar. Baked my 1 st batch in 3-6" rounds. Next batch in 10" square. I even put it in the fridge to see how hard it would be the next morning. Perfection, I will NEVER use another yellow recipe besides this one. Anyone know of a white cake just as good?

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I also tweek this recipe to make the following cakes: Vanilla Bean Cake: Replace the vanilla extract for vanilla bean paste. Lemon Cake: Replace the vanilla extract with lemon extract and add the zest of one whole lemon at the end when you fold in the egg whites. Almond Cake: Add 1/4 cup of almond paste to the butter and cream together before adding the sugar. Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of almond extract. Marble Cake: Once batter is completely mixed take out about 2 cups of batter and mix in 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to the 2 cups of batter. Drop batter in prepared cake pans and swirl with a knife. Enjoy!

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for those getting a dry cake. sifting is not the only key. when measuring flour, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and use a dry ingredients measuring cup. if you scoop your measuring cup into the flour you are 'packing' in the flour. if you were to weigh it, it would weigh too much. 1 cup of all-purpose flour will weigh 5 oz. 1 cup of cake flour will weigh 4 oz.

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I goofed while trying this recipe out for the first time. I thought it called for 4 cups of sour cream instead of just 1. (I know that is A LOT of sour cream, I don't know what I was thinking) I caught myself after 2 cups of sour cream. I decided to continue on with the recipe and see how it turns out. Well, I think I will continue to add that extra cup of sour cream from now on because this cake was the most delicious cake I have ever had!! This is my new yellow cake recipe for sure. Thank you for posting it!

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Who has made it as a Marble cake and was it moist. Thank you....What amount of Cocoa powder can I add...Thank you...Good day...

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All I can say is YUM! Came out nice and moist. No dome, perfectly flat top right out of the oven. Since I made a very small cake, I made a few cupcakes with the left over batter. Came out great! I started with fresh new can of baking powder. I've discovered if I don't replace it at least once a year, my cakes don't come out right. Don't do a lot of baking anymore, so I don't use it up very fast.

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I had a yellow cake recipe that I was using that was ok, but I wanted a better one. Thank you, thank you, thank you! While I love to bake and decorate cakes, I don't really care to eat cake. I ate SEVERAL slices of this one! This cake stayed moist for days after slicing it. I really don't like having to deal with egg whites, but it is TOTALLY worth it!

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I just made some cupcakes with this recipe. Let me start by saying they are the softest, fluffiest, and moistest cupcakes/cake I have ever made...and I've made a lot! They're so delicious and literally melt in your mouth! However, they are a little too sweet/rich. I will definitely use this recipe from now on, but will likely modify it just a tiny bit.

I baked them for about 30 minutes on 325 degrees and was able to make 27 cupcakes out of one batch. I even filled the liners a little too full, so I could probably get 30+ next time by not filling them as much. It was a little more work than some recipes because of folding in the egg whites, but the extra time and effort is sooo worth it!

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This cake was good but not quite what I was looking for. I found that it tasted more like a pound cake than a yellow cake. Mine was also a little dry and kind of shriveled up but it did taste good.

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I made this recipe and used it for cupcakes and they were so good. I overfilled them a bit and the edges got a little crust but they were fine. I baked them in two batches and the batter sat for the first bake time and the second batch sunk in the middle. They were still good and it just made a little spot for more frosting. I am going to make a cake for my daughters birthday this weekend and I will be using this cake. I am so excited for everyone to try it...it is just too yummy!

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I make Dominican cakes and someone asked if I can make yellow cake, I don't wanna cheat anyone and give up to settle for a box cake, I tried this recipe and OMG its so Delicious and moist and fluffy its perfect who would've thought i would love this as much as Dominican cake THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS RECIPE ACED IT ON MY FIRST TRY!!!!

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I love this recipe! It's so moist and buttery and the flavor is great. IMO @Izzylyssesweets  I would not recommend it for a sculpted cake because IMO it's too soft and the weight of fondant may cause it to crumble.

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@sugarmama1975 i ended up trying it out. Froze the cake for 1-2 hours before sculpting & it worked perfectly! I cant figure out how to post a photo here. But here is a link to the post on my Instagram page

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I baked this cake last night and found it very fluffy and flavorable.  I will definitely use it again.

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@izzylyssesweets almost a year later I just saw your reply LOL. The pumpkin cake is gorgeous! I will try your method for my next carving.