This super moist white cake recipe from scratch is the best white cake I’ve ever had. It’s made with sour cream and has a deliciously soft texture. No more looking around for a homemade white cake that’s actually moist. It’s the perfect recipe for a wedding cake or a birthday cake.
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Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
It’s an age old problem. How to get a moist white cake. You try recipe after recipe and either they taste like cornbread, the texture isn’t good, or it just isn’t moist enough. So, you end up just going for a box when you really wanted to make something with that ‘scratch wedding cake taste’.
You may have seen my Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake recipe on the blog. If not, go and check it out…it’s so moist and really tasty. It’s my favorite vanilla cake, hence the name, but I wanted to see if I could get a truly ‘white’ cake that I loved just as much and I wanted to get that wedding cake flavor.
Well I think I’ve done it. This cake is actually a white cake (I’d also consider it a vanilla cake) that is actually moist, AND it’s got that wedding cake taste.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE CAKE INGREDIENTS:
Egg whites: So, when trying to get a cake as white as possible, I wanted to use only egg whites. Generally, using only egg whites can tend to dry out a cake a bit, so you have to add a bit more moisture, which I’ve done as well.
Butter & Shortening: Now, I like a buttery taste to my cake, but in the effort to try and get a ‘whiter’ cake, I lessened the amount of butter and substituted the rest with shortening. If you want an all butter cake recipe (using no shortening), you’ll want to check out my vanilla cake recipe.
All purpose flour or cake flour: Another thing to note is that you can use either all purpose flour or cake flour for this recipe. The amounts will differ and that’s noted on the printable recipe below.
Here’s the deal though: Using cake flour will give you a whiter cake. I’m not a scientist or anything, but I think it’s because the cake flour seems to be more bleached than the all purpose. I could be wrong, but regardless, you’ll get a whiter cake using cake flour.
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Vanilla Extract: First it’s the vanilla. You can always use clear extract to make sure it’s not adding any additional color to the batter, but I tend to use regular vanilla because honestly, it’s just better. If you can get it, try to use vanilla paste/emulsion (or grab it here if my shop is sold out).
Almond emulsion: Second, I added in my favorite flavor booster…almond emulsion (or get it here if my shop is sold out). You’re using just a touch of it, so you won’t really get an ‘almond taste’. It just adds to the flavor. Seriously most people won’t even know you’ve added it in there…they’ll just know it tastes amazing.
Ok, if you just can’t stand the thought of adding it, or you don’t have any handy, then don’t worry, it’ll still taste good. Oh and the emulsion is much better than the extract. The extract just does not taste good to me.
Butter Extract: Lastly I added in a bit of butter flavoring. Since I’d replaced some of the butter with shortening, I wanted to add back in some flavor. Now, that part is optional, but it really seems to give it that wedding cake flavor.
The butter flavoring you can get at the grocery store is gross to me…now that’s just my opinion. I feel like Lorann’s Butter Emulsion tastes much better.
You’ll also want to check out my vanilla bean buttercream recipe…it goes perfectly with this cake, but if you’re looking for a bright white buttercream, you’ll want to check out that recipe here: Bright White Heat Stable Buttercream.
MIXING METHOD FOR THE WHITE CAKE:
You’ll be using the reverse creaming method when mixing this cake. I like using that because it helps preven over-mixing the cake batter (which can cause problems with the texture).
The reverse creaming method is just mixing the dry ingredients in one bowl and the liquid in another. Then you’ll slowly mix in the butter and shortening to the dry mixture and let it coat the flour.
You’ll then add the liquid in two parts, mixing in between. It’s really an easier way to mix a cake in my opinion.
TIPS AND FAQS FOR THE WHITE CAKE RECIPE:
No, you don’t want to do that. These do two different things.
It’s basically just fat. I use vegetable shortening like Crisco, not lard which is animal fat. This helps get the cake moist and I use this in place of most of the butter to keep the color as white as possible.
Because I like the taste of butter. You just can’t beat butter in a cake.
I don’t recommend doing that. It could get too warm and will heat up unevenly. That could mess with the texture of your cake. Just set the butter out on your counter and let it warm up to almost room temp. It’s ok if it’s a little cooler than room temp…you just don’t want it warm.
You can, but the cake won’t be as moist and the texture and taste may be a little different than the original recipe. If you can’t find sour cream, try using full fat yogurt (not the low fat kind).
No not really. Actually regular vanilla extract or vanilla bean emulsion (or paste) tastes better, but clear will help keep the cake white if that’s really an important factor for you.
No. Some people just don’t like almond taste, but I will tell you that if you haven’t tried it, you might actually like the small hint of it. A lot of people assume they won’t like it, but honestly I think it tastes different than what most people think it would taste like. And you’ll just be adding a touch of it, just enough to add a little flavor.
No, but I think it adds a little more butter flavor and that in combination with the vanilla and almond emulsion are what gives it that classic wedding cake taste.
I’ve got links just below the recipe card for the ones that I like to use.
Anymore questions? Just let me know. I’m happy to help.
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Items & Tools Used for this cake:
- Vanilla Bean Paste – in my shop OR here if I’m sold out
- Almond Emulsion – in my shop OR here if I’m sold out
- Butter Emulsion
- KitchenAid Hand Mixer
- 8″ Round Baking Pans
Video:
Ok, I won’t talk your head off anymore…let’s get straight to the recipe!
Note About Recipe Measurements: I write recipes using volume (cups) measurements because here in the U.S., this is what people are more familiar with and I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated when baking. For metric/weight measurements, click the ‘metric’ button under the ingredients in the recipe card below. The weights are converted by a program, not me, and it’s just a best guess. I can’t guarantee that weighing the ingredients will produce the exact same results, since I test recipes using volume measurements.
Recipe:
Moist White Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or 2 ¾ cups cake flour – for an even whiter cake)
- 2 cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup shortening
- ¼ cup butter (unsalted, room temp.)
- 1 cup sour cream (full fat)
- ½ cup milk (whole milk if you can get it)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (can use clear extract)
- ½ teaspoon almond emulsion (optional)
- 1 teaspoon butter extract (or emulsion) (optional)
- 6 egg whites (large eggs)
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Grease and flour two 8 inch round (2 inch deep) cake pans. You could also use three 6 inch round pans.
- In a bowl, mix together the sour cream, milk, vanilla extract, almond emulsion, butter extract and egg whites.Whisk until smooth and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.Whisk together.
- Add the shortening and butter in chunks to the flour mixture.
- Mix until the flour is coated with the shortening and butter. The mixture will be crumbly.
- Add in half the liquid mixture and mix just until combined.
- Add in the last half of the liquid mixture and mix just until combined.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix again, only for 10-15 seconds.You want to be careful not to over-beat the batter.
- Pour into the greased and floured cake pans and bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack then cover with buttercream.
Notes
This cake can be frozen for up to a month if wrapped well in plastic wrap and foil. Nutritional values are an estimate. Make sure to check out the TIPS & FAQs for this recipe in the blog post, which may answer questions about substitutions. *This recipe card may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Buttercream Recipe Links: Vanilla Bean Buttercream Recipe Bright White Heat Stable Buttercream Recipe
Nutrition
How to Share
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OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
Katherine Bettinger
I have been trialing white cake mix after white cake mix to try and absolutely love the flavor and crumb of this one. Crazy how little tweaks can change the entire density of a cake. Any suggestions on getting this to be a tad whiter?
Kara Jane
Oh yay!! So glad you like it! Yeah I agree…little changes in ingredients make a huge difference sometimes. As far as getting it whiter, I’ve made this a couple different ways and I’ve noticed when I use cake flour instead of all purpose, that it comes out a bit whiter. It’s weird, and I don’t really know the science behind that, but that’s what I’ve discovered anyway. I like using Swan’s Down Cake Flour (in case you want to try out that theory). Also, you could probably replace the butter with more shortening, but I really like using a small amount of real butter in there…I think it helps with the flavor and I’m not sure the small amount of butter would make a huge difference in the color. If you do replace the butter with more shortening, I’d add in just a tad bit more butter flavoring to offset it. The only other thing I can think of to make it more white is to use clear vanilla extract. It’s not as tasty as real vanilla extract, but it won’t tint your batter.
April Nickloy
I plan to use this recipe with 8 minute frosting and coconut for Easter. If it were you, would you replace the almond flavoring with coconut flavoring? Or keep it as is? I usually keep recipes that I like as they are written but, I just wondered what YOU would do. 🙂
Kara Jane
Hi April, if you’re covering it with 8 minute frosting and coconut, I think I would use coconut extract instead of almond. That’ll give the cake a little coconut kick. I’d probably add in 1/2 – 1 tsp of coconut extract. That’ll give it a hint, but not over power it. If you’re interested, I have a really good coconut cake recipe on the site. Shredded coconut isn’t actually inside the cake, so it’s essentially just a white cake like this one, but I use coconut emulsion and coconut milk. It comes out very moist with a good amount of coconut flavor. Here’s a link to that recipe if you want to take a look at it: https://iscreamforbuttercream.com/coconut-cake-sour-cream-buttercream/
Rebecca
Could you use almond flour instead of cake flour? Will buttermilk make it more moist?
Kara Jane
Hi Rebecca, this cake is moist as it is. If you’re wanting to use buttermilk in place of the regular milk that the recipe calls for, that probably wouldn’t make that much of a difference, since it’s only half a cup. Try the recipe first as written and see what you think and if you’d like to try the buttermilk instead of regular milk, then just sub it out, but don’t add any extra though, or it could throw off the ratios. I haven’t tried it with almond flour, so I really don’t know if that would work, or not.
John
Hi Kara Jane,
I just ordered the vanilla and almonds emulsions (thanks for the links) and will try the cake this week. My question, and it’s not crucial, is do you have the measurements for the flour in ounces versus cups?
Kara Jane
Hi John, I’m excited to hear how it turns out. I hope you really love it. As far as the measurements go, if you click ‘metric’ under the ingredient list, it’ll convert it to grams. If you need ounces though, I just googled and the internet says that 1 cup of flour is about 4 1/2 ounces. So 2 1/2 cups of flour would be around 11.25 ounces. Here’s the deal though… I realize technically it’s best to weigh out your ingredients when baking, but on my blog I write recipes with volume measurements and not by weight. Therefore, I have not tested this out by weighing out the dry ingredients. I write the recipes by volume really because most people don’t want to deal with weighing out ingredients and it just seems easier to most to measure them out by cups. Anyway, my point is you don’t have to weigh the ingredients in this one if you don’t want to…it’s actually written for volume, so I can’t promise if you weigh them, that it’ll be perfect. I hope that made sense. Also, if you do decide to measure out by volume, just make sure to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and not to pack it in by scooping it out of the flour bag with the measuring cup. You sound like an experienced baker, so I’m sure you didn’t need me to tell you that, but I’m playing on the safe side. 🙂 Ok, I hope this helped…I can’t wait to hear what you think about the cake!
John Atchue
Hi Kara Jane,
Thank you for your reply. I will let you know how everything turns out. The almond and vanilla emulsions arrive today.
John Atchue
Okay, so I made this for the first time today but made the mistake of being a little rushed. I accidentally added a whole stick of unsalted butter versus a half stick. The result wasn’t so much that the flavor was off (it was excellent) but the crumb ended up very much like what you’d get if you baked a Duncan Hines box mix – very tight, light crumb.
Questions going forward: I assumed that you wanted the cakes baked on the middle rack, so that”s what I did. I was very careful not to overmix that batter: I used a bubble whisk to mix the wet ingredients and then I used an electric hand mixer when I added the wet to the dry, but only just to get it mixed; then I used the whisk to scrape down the sides and mix it all together one last time. I mention all this because I’m wondering if the tight crumb I ended up with was the result of doubling the butter, or was it because I may have overmixed it? And all of this is academic, really, because the cake was light and moist; but it just wouldn’t have “qualified” for wedding cake, if you know what I mean. I was looking for a larger crumb that was densely moist (if that makes any sense).
Also, I made Swiss Buttercream for this, which in retrospect was probably not the right choice. The SB tastes amazing but I think the cake is a little too heavy for this particular frosting. I ended up making a quick blueberry curd/compote (not sure – just boiled them and added sugar, lemon zest & juice, powdered tapioca) to spread in the middle. This again proved to be a slight “mistake,” in that after I made the first slice, I noticed that the knife dragged the purple color through the cake so that I ended up with white cake w/purple streaks. Not the end of the world, but not exactly what you’re looking for if you want to feature a cake that is very white. And again, it all tasted great – I just tend to obsess a bit about the details.
Al in all, I think the recipe is fantastic. I will definitely make it again and will let you know how it comes out once I follow the directions carefully! 🙂
Kara Jane
Hey John, thanks for letting me know how it turned out! First, I must say that the blueberry filling sounds amazing actually. I really should try that. I’m thinking with a cream cheese buttercream…that would be amazing. I also agree with you about swiss meringue. While it is very good, it is a little too light for this cake.
So, this cake is more dense than the texture of a box mix would be. It’s still obviously moist, but it will be a bit heavier, more dense textured than a cake mix, which isn’t real unusual for a scratch cake. The extra butter could have made it a little heavier though. It sounds like you tried very hard not to overmix, so I don’t I’m betting that wasn’t the issue. I’m guessing it was the additional butter. That could have weighed it down a bit more than usual.
I’d try it again with the correct butter amount and then see what you think and hopefully it’ll be exactly what you’re looking for. Oh and yes I bake mine on the middle rack.
By the way, you sound like me as I like to experiment and am really interested in all the details as well.
Oh and I’m glad you liked the taste of it!
Stephanie
I need to make a 2 layer quarter sheet cake… is this recipe enough for that or do I have to double it?
Kara Jane
Hi Stephanie, I believe a quarter sheet cake is 9×13. This recipe will make one 9×13 layer. If you’ll be splitting it, then you can get two thin layers, but if you want two thicker layers, then you’ll need to double the recipe and use two 9×13 inch pans, or you could just bake one at a time.
MARINA RODRIGUEZ
OMG!!! Thank you so much for sharing!! I made this cake 2 days ago and hands down the most moist cake I’ve ever tasted, I really do appreciate you sharing all your incredible recipes… From now on this is the cake I’m baking to all my BBQ’s and kids birthdays…
thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Kara Jane
Hi Marina that’s awesome and you’re so welcome! I’m really glad you loved it…that just makes my heart happy! ❤️?
Nicole
I can’t seem to find any last minute purely Butter Emulsions, would a Butter Vanilla Emulsion work? And how much should I decrease the vanilla extract if I use a Butter Vanilla Emulsion?
Kara Jane
Nicole, Amazon should have the butter emulsion. I have a link to it in the blog post, but if you can’t get it from there, the butter vanilla would probably work just fine. I’d probably go for about 2 teaspoons of the vanilla butter (maybe even 2 1/2 tsps), then I would cut the regular vanilla extract completely out, or just use 1/2 tsp or so if you want. Let me know how it goes!
Stephanie
Thank so much…. The person i made this for loved it…. I made one for the house and everyone loved it…. I made a Publix Buttercream because my friend is from Florida and he told me about that buttercream that they have at a certain grocery store where he’s from and it went together wonderfully. and just recently I looked up your red velvet cake recipe and cream cheese buttercream recipe and made that cake for my son’s birthday and everyone loves that so thank you very much I really appreciate your recipes LOL
Kara Jane
Hi Stephanie…that’s wonderful and I’m so glad you liked the cakes! Thanks for letting me know they all worked out…that just makes my heart happy! ?
Marcy
The link to the Metric version of the recipe isn’t working. Just wanted to let you know.
Kara Jane
Thanks for letting me know! I just tried it and it seemed to work for me, but maybe it was down for a bit earlier. It should be working fine now. If not, be sure and let me know!
Robin
Kara, I have tried several, probably 4 or 5, white cake recipes and this one is THE BEST! I baked it in 3 6 inch round cake pans. I followed the instructions very closely and made sure not to over mix. I also used cake flour. It’s fabulous! However, I may have over baked it because it doesn’t seem quite as crumbly and moist as yours is in the photo. What would you recommend for baking time on the 6 inch layers? When I took mine out they were golden brown on top. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe!
Kara Jane
Hi Robin, I’m so glad you liked the cake! And I think you’re right…It sounds like maybe it was overbaked a bit, but that’s an easy fix. When you use 3, 6″ pans instead of 2, 8″ pans, you’ll need to shorten the baking time, since the layers will smaller and a little thinner. I don’t have an exact time because I normally bake this with the 8″ pans, but I would start checking for doneness at about 25-30 minutes. You’ll probably need to go a bit longer, but start checking it then. It should be a light golden brown color on top and the sides will pull away from the pan just a bit. If you use the toothpick method to test it, there should be some crumbs on the toothpick still. You don’t have to keep baking until no crumbs appear, because that’s overbaking it. You just don’t want raw batter on the toothpick. I hope all that made sense. Let me know if you try it again and how it turns out!
Robin
Yes, that makes sense! I’m sure it will be perfect next time. I plan on using it to make a tiered cake for a family member’s birthday party. Thanks again!
Kara Jane
You’re welcome! Let me know how it turns out and I hope everyone loves it. ?
shelley thomas
This is a very good recipe. I have been trying to find a good white cake recipe and this is it. The cake was truly moist with a very good flavor. It tasted better than a wedding cake. It lived up to it’s claim. Every one who tasted it said how moist and flavorful it was. This will definitely be my go to recipe for a delicious white cake. Thank you so much for posting!!! I will try the yellow cake recipe next.
Kara Jane
Hi Shelley, what a wonderful comment! Thanks so much! I’m so glad everyone liked it. I work really hard to write moist cake recipes, because who wants dry cake, right? Anyway, I’m thrilled you liked it so much and I hope you love the yellow cake too! 🙂
Virginia
Would I have to make any changes to the recipe if I wanted to make it into Whoopi pies?
Kara Jane
Hi Virginia, yes…to make this into a whoopie pie recipe, it would probably take quite a bit of testing and changing. Essentially it would be a totally different recipe. It would need less liquid, less fat, less eggs and probably less sugar. The mixing method and baking time would be different as well. Honestly the best thing to do is to use a recipe made specifically for whoopie pies as I’m sure this one wouldn’t work well for that as it’s written and would take quite a bit of testing to get it to turn out with that whoopie pie texture.
Sofia
So I want to make this cake for my great grandmothers funeral. I do not have baking soda. Is that okay? I’m making a two layer cake. So the top will be vanilla cake and the bottom apple fritter cake. And since apple fritter is a little sweet instead of frosting I’m using whipped cream.
Kara Jane
Sofia, you don’t want to leave out the baking soda. It’s generally added when there is an acid in the batter (which in this case is the sour cream). Now, if you’re not able to get it at all, instead of using the 1/2 tsp baking soda plus the 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder called for in the recipe, try using 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder instead. I haven’t tested that, but essentially if you leave out the baking soda, you’ll have to add in more baking powder. So instead of the baking soda and baking powder called for in the recipe, you may be able to use 2 1/2 teaspoons of the baking powder instead. Like I said, I haven’t tested this out, so I can’t promise it’ll be perfect…it’s my best guess for a substitution. Hope this helps!
Gail Hess
Hi Kara Jane,
I will be baking the Moist White Cake for a birthday. I’ve never used the emulsion form of a flavoring. Is it equal to the extract amount? That is, 1 tsp of emulsion is the same as 1 tsp of extract? Can I use the butter emulsion in the cake batter instead of butter extract?
Kara Jane
Hi Gail, you might want to check the label of whichever brand of emulsion you’re using, but as far as LorAnn’s emulsions go, I’ve found it’s generally the same amount. So I generally use a teaspoon for a teaspoon. I’m not sure how other brands are though. Oh and a quick note, LorAnn has ‘flavored oils’ which actually ARE concentrated and not teaspoon for teaspoon, but I’ve found most of their emulsions are. And yes you can use the butter emulsion instead. Actually I find it tastes better than the extract and I need to go and put that option in the recipe.
Laurie
Can you use pasteurized egg whites from a carton?
Kara Jane
Hi Laurie, I haven’t tried it personally, but I think it would be just fine.