Best Homemade Yellow Cake Recipe Ever
A tried-and-true recipe for a classic yellow cake recipe that really is the best yellow cake! Made from scratch, it is tender and so fluffy and moist!
Well, the day is finally here. As many of you know, I’ve been on a quest to perfect the best yellow cake on the planet.
And this is it.
While this post is a bit involved (I couldn’t help but share the testing results with you!), the truth is, the actual best yellow cake recipe is super simple so don’t let the explanations scare you.
If you follow the recommendations thoroughly, you’ll end up with the fluffiest, most delicious yellow cake ever.
The Evolution of Testing the Perfect Yellow Cake
When I first set out to perfect the best yellow cake, I started with three recipes popular online (David’s Yellow Cake from allrecipes.com, Deb’s yellow birthday cake from smittenkitchen.com and Cook’s Illustrated Yellow Layer Cake).
I made each of them as is. While I am a fan of each of these sites and resources, respectively, the cakes were all lacking to me.
David’s Yellow Cake was a little dry with kind of a weird, spongy texture, the cake from Smitten Kitchen was reminiscent of cornbread and the Cook’s Illustrated yellow cake was by far the driest of them all.
I set about modifying ingredients and amounts and methods and while someone smarter than I probably could have pared the testing down to just a couple of cakes, what can I say, it took me a while.
Ok, let’s talk…
I’ve jotted down all the details of why the type of ingredients/method matters for this cake. Read on, read on!
The Butter
- I’ve mentioned it before, but I rarely use unsalted butter.
- I tested this cake with both unsalted and salted and adjusted the salt amount accordingly. In the end, there wasn’t a difference in outcome, so I stuck with my go-to: salted butter.
- I use the Land o’ Lakes brand mostly (sometimes the Sam’s Club brand). If you want to use unsalted butter, increase the salt to 1 teaspoon.
- Also, butter temperature really matters. It should be soft enough to gently slide a finger through with a bit of pressure but not sludgy, greasy or overly soft.
- The time I accidentally used overly soft butter (uh, it somehow stayed on the counter for, like, 12 hours because even though I love baking, my five kids still take precedence over making a yellow cake), it resulted in a greasy, weirdly spongy cake.
- I did not test this cake with margarine, coconut oil, shortening or the like so you’ll have to experiment with those if desired.
- Also, whipping that butter for a good 1-2 minutes is extra important. And beating the heck out of it and the sugar for another 4-5 is non-negotiable. Doing this creates air which helps create fluffiness in the baked cake.
- The cake(s) that I tested where the butter was minimally whipped were not nearly as fluffy. And fluffy = greatness.
The Eggs
I know, I know. Using room temperature eggs is a total pain in the behind.
I’m right there with you! I hate recipes that require it. And so when I first started testing cakes, I refused to do it.
And my cakes were looking like this:
- So I crumbled, no pun intended, and used room temperature eggs the next time I made a cake and the difference was remarkable.
- Light and fluffy…where before the cake was slightly dense and a bit crumbly.
- There may have been other factors at play, but as I messed around with the recipe, it was very, very clear that room temperature eggs are important.
- If you are like me and often forget to plan in advance, don’t fret – place those chilled eggs in a bowl or liquid measure filled with very slightly warm water for 15-ish minutes and you’ll be good to go.
- Speaking of the eggs, in my testing, I ended up scaling down the whole eggs from four to three and adding an egg yolk or two to replace the missing whole egg – two egg yolks managed to be the perfect answer.
- Egg whites add structure but can take away moisture from baked goods, hence the three whole eggs + two egg yolks in the recipe.
- Don’t be like me and get tempted to sub a whole egg for the two egg yolks. You’ll get a pretty decent cake but not a fantastic, best-ever cake.
- However, when I used all egg yolks and no whites, the cake was slightly gummy and not as fluffer-fluffy as I wanted.
The Milk + Sour Cream
- I was sure that plain old milk was the only liquid I needed in my cake.
- At about cake #10, I was fairly positive it needed to be one cup of whole milk, even though the thought made me cringe since I never have whole milk on hand.
- I was befuddled why I was getting a really, really good cake that was still just so, very slightly dry.
- In the end, it wasn’t necessarily dryness but a lack of tenderness I was noticing.
- And the adjustment of sour cream to compensate for the reduced milk did just the trick (plus adding baking soda in for the acidity in combination with the already present baking powder, which took a couple rounds because I misjudged the amount of baking soda at first and there was so much leavening power in the cake that it sank in the middle…badly…however, once the baking powder and soda were adjusted accordingly, the cake was magnificent).
- The real plus was that after I added sour cream, I used 1% milk instead of whole without sacrificing any moisture or tenderness.
The Flour
- As much as my heart wanted a fabulous yellow cake without having to use cake flour, it didn’t happen.
- The cakes I made with all-purpose flour were dry and dense with a much coarser crumb, slightly reminiscent of dry cornbread.
- Cake flour is lower protein than all-purpose flour and also has a finer texture (thanks to the starch in it) which results in a much finer crumb in a baked cake. The good news is that even though the recipe requires cake flour, you can make your own (my kitchen tip from yesterday gives you two super easy methods).
- If you have a kitchen scale, use it. You’ll get very precise results.
- If you don’t have a kitchen scale, buy one. Ok, just joking. Kind of. I know not everyone can do that (but you should really put it on your wish list). If you are measuring using cups, measure with a light hand. Spoon the cake flour into the cup and gently level off with a flat edge.
- For this recipe, if you are making your own cake flour, don’t mess with making one cup at a time, instead, I’ve done the math for you: you’ll need 210 grams of all-purpose flour and 45 grams of cornstarch. Sift it twice. Then add the baking powder, baking soda, salt and sift once more. Make sense?
- Also, for high altitude, I’ve got your back. Ok, actually, my friend, Lisa, has your back. She tested this recipe for me – she lives at 5,400 feet elevation.
- She made the cake twice, the first time it fell significantly. She added an additional 2 1/2 tablespoons cake flour (if using a homemade cake flour substitute, that would be about 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch) and the cake baked up perfectly (along with a slight increase in baking time and buttering the heck out of the pans).
Sifting
- This sifting action, called for in the recipe, is in addition to any sifting you may have done if you are making your own cake flour.
- You don’t need to sift twice, just give the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda a quick sift through a fine mesh strainer.
- This was one of the last variables to add to the best yellow cake recipe. The last few cakes I made were so good. But just not quite there.
- Once I sifted the dry ingredients prior to incorporating into the batter, the results were far superior – lighter and fluffier (let’s see how many times I can use those two descriptors in this post).
The Batter
- Ah, the gorgeous batter. It may look just slightly curdled and that’s ok.
- Spread it evenly in the pan, and give it a quick tap or light drop on the counter.
- When I didn’t do this, there were significant air bubbles in the baked cake. You don’t want to drop it from the rooftop like a crazy egg-drop challenge and you don’t need to tap more than once, just a quick light drop will suffice.
- I only ever baked the cake in two 9-inch pans to keep testing criteria similar, however, I think it could also be made in three 8-inch pans.
- Cupcakes and sheet cakes will have to be an experiment until someone reports back. I have them on my radar also, but it may be a little while before I actually try them.
- As for the cake pans, significant greasing (with butter and cooking spray and possibly flour, too) is needed for the cake not to stick. I also line the bottom of the greased pan with a parchment round that I’ve cut out and then grease the top of it.
- My magic number for baking was right at 27 minutes; however, keep in mind that all ovens vary slightly.
- Lisa, my awesome friend who tested high altitude baking for me, needed more like 30 minutes for her cakes (she made the recipe twice).
One Year Ago: Six Recipes the World Forgot {Part 3}
Two Years Ago: Paprika Chicken Stroganoff
Three Years Ago: Naan – Indian Flatbread
Perfected Yellow Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups (371 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups (255 g) cake flour, lightly measured, see note for high altitude adjustments
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda, see note
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk, 1% or above, room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream, light or regular, room temperature
Instructions
- To prep, whisk together the milk and sour cream together in a liquid measure and let come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and make sure an oven rack is placed in the middle of the oven.
- In a large bowl of an electric stand mixer or with a handheld electric mixer, whip the butter on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat for 4-5 minutes on medium speed. Mix in the vanilla.
- One at a time, add the eggs and egg yolks, mixing just until combined in between additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Combine the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift them together through a fine mesh strainer.
- Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add 1/2 of the milk/sour cream mixture and mix. Add another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add the last 1/2 of the milk/sour cream mixture and beat until just combined. Add the final 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Give the batter one good, final stir with the rubber spatula.
- Grease the cake pans and line the bottoms with a parchment round. Grease the parchment and sides of the pan again very well. I use regular cooking spray but you can also use butter or cooking spray with flour. If your cake pans tend to cause sticking, consider also flouring the pans.
- Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Drop each pan from about 3-inches onto the counter to minimize air bubbles while baking.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes (high altitude: 28-30 minutes) until lightly golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Resist the urge to open and close the oven to check on the cake – this can cause the center of the cake to fall and never recover. And as with all cakes, don’t overbake or the cake will be dry.
- Let the cakes rest in the pans for 5-10 minutes before gently turning them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recipe Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Special Thanks To…
A special, super, huge thank you to two very important people (I kind of feel like I’m giving an acceptance speech at The National Convention for Best Yellow Cakes here):
Nicole, a wonderful friend of mine, was the one who finally gave me the insight I needed for the last step in perfecting this cake (a huge blessing because I didn’t know if I honestly had another yellow cake in me and her advice resulted in the.perfect.cake) and Lisa, sweetest sweetie ever, who willingly tested this cake for me (multiple times) in order to provide all you high altitude dwellers with essential tips for success.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hello Mel. Could I set aside some of this batter and add a good baking chocolate or unsweetend coco to make marble cupcakes?
You could definitely try, Terri – I’ve haven’t tried converting this particular recipe to chocolate so I don’t know how that would affect the consistency and texture.
Hello. This is really the best recipe ever. I made this into 24 cupcakes. I do have a question. If i wanted to make these into alcohol cupcakes what would i have to change? I want the moistness and bite, everything the same just would like to make alcohol cupcakes! Please help me.
Hi Terri – I’m not help here since I’ve never tried that. Sorry!
This was the best homemade yellow cake I have ever tasted! I made it and it came out perfectly and everyone loved it. Thank you for your last 16 plus attempts at perfection and thank you for sharing your experiments of what worked and what didn’t. Your recipe is a keeper and will be used by for years to come. Thanks! Diane
Thank you, Diane!
Is low-fat buttermilk a suitable substitute for the milk and sour cream?
I think others have tried it – I’ve only ever used the sour cream/milk mixture because it seems to work the best for a fluffy cake.
I made this recipe today, but did cupcakes instead of baking cakes. They came out great! They are very moist and have a great taste. I went to culinary school, and in my one baking class, we literally made yellow cake every week. It was awful. Very dry, bland, and crumbled apart. So I was a little nervous to see how this recipe would turn out. I needed a good yellow cake recipe and this is definitely the best I’ve come across so far! I followed the recipe exactly. Make sure you do this, or you will not get the results you want. The only thing I will say is they didn’t rise that well for me. I did do 1/2 tsp of baking powder. But maybe next time I’ll try 3/4 tsp. There is definitely a science to baking, and this recipe proves that.
Thanks for the report, Kristen!
How long did you cook them?
Ok Mel– tell me what you think of my idea. My birthday is on Sunday and I like making my own birthday cake. I have a wild idea to use this cake recipe for a version of Boston Cream Pie… using your Bavarian Cream as the filling. Toying with the idea of making it into mini Boston cream cupcakes… I haven’t made this cake yet, but it’s been on my list for a while. What do you think– would the cake be the right texture to hold up the cream? In my head it’s a blue ribbon combination…
I think it would be perfect! Happy early birthday!
For the record– it was delish. I used one cake round, split it, and used about half of the Bavarian cream layered in between. And of course topped it all with ganache. It was a very happy birthday! And now I have another cake in the freezer for another time! Win win!
I have done exactly what you want to do and they are amazing!!
Hi Mel awesome job. This is one of my favorite recipes. I made it for my mom and she loved it. Question…Can it be used to stack say as a 10 inch bottom tier? Or is it possible to carve it?
I haven’t carved it, but I have stacked it in a layer cake and it held up just fine.
Bless you , you sweet thing. I’ve been looking for THE perfect yellow cake recipe for some time. I grew up on boxed mixes but can’t bear to use one in my kitchen. Somehow all the cakes I make from scratch end up so dense and dry so I get discouraged easily. I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you for testing 16 recipes or I don’t have to!
Um YOU ARE SO AWESOME! Such a fun post to read, I can’t wait to actually make this cake. My son has a birthday at the end of the month, maybe he can be convinced? Your perfect chocolate cake has been my go to for a while now. Every time you mention having something in your freezer I get a hankering to see it…. is that weird? Will you show us? But seriously.
Haha. You would be scared if you saw my freezer! Maybe someday I’ll be brave enough to share. It’s glorious and frightening at the same time. 🙂
Hi Mel
Ive made this for a second time now and again it turned out absolutely perfect, pairing with your magical vanilla frosting which is indeed magical. I think when someone says this recipes fails for them (excluding high altituders which I have no experience of) my personal feeling is that they do not realise that while this is a very innocent looking recipe with measurements etc – this is an incredibly scientific cake. The butter – has to be exactly as you have described – the ingredients have to be exactly room temperature – I use a thermapen to check they’re at 21 degrees, the eggs need to weigh exactly 50grams each and yolks 16 grams each as you have stated on your page all about eggs.
I have not baked for 40 years, only about 2, but I expect those very experienced bakers are cutting very, ver,y slight corners which this cake will not allow.
So yes, its an unforgiving cake recipe, but if you follow the instructions EXACTly, by jove is she amazing!
Thank you for all the hard work on this recipe. Im no longer going to order birthday cakes now, simply make this one from scratch myself.
I agree completely with what you say! I’m so happy this cake has worked out well for you, thanks for your comment!
No worries! Id love for you to try this with ducks eggs – the yolks are richer and the whites have a slightly higher protein content giving better structure. Ive only made it with duck eggs so far and it has come out amazing, but I would love to know if you think theres any difference.
I have been baking for over 40 years, and decided to try this recipe for my son-in-laws birthday. I followed the instructions exactly as they are written, and it was an absolute disaster. The surface was extremely bumpy while cooking and when it finished baking, the layers were sunk in the center. I used 1/2 teaspoon baking soda as was suggested to try to keep that from happening. I had to throw the cake out and quickly make a boxed yellow cake. I love making things from scratch and normally have great results, but unfortunately, this was a total fail.
I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you, Donna!
I have been making the same chocolate birthday cake for 14 years until suddenly this year my youngest (7-year-old) announced that she doesn’t like chocolate anymore (where did I go wrong!?) and she wants a white cake with white frosting. Spent about 2 hours reading and dithering on the internet until I decided to go with this cake. Followed your instructions to the T and it came out amazing! First time making a yellow cake and it came out soooo delicious. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain everything and in such detail!
Yay!
I bake.. a LOT so not like I’m unfamiliar with the kitchen. wanted to try something different for my son’s birthday. Added the extra soda and the cake didn’t fall or anything.. looked quite nice but defintly not a high rising cake. Just letting ya’ll no that in my opinion ithat is closer to a pound cake. Very very dense.
Mel- I’m thinking of baking up the layers for this cake today but I don’t need it until Sunday (busy weekend though). Could I bake it and freeze the layers, and then just pull them out Sunday and frost it fresh?
Absolutely!
I have also been trying to perfect a yellow cake recipe and thought I had a good one. It uses double the flour and double the milk, same sugar, same eggs. Your recipe is definitely fluffier. I am curious, you use 1/2 S sour cream and 1/2 milk, where did you get when using all buttermilk? I would think the acid level and texture would be similar.
Have you engaged in a similar experiment for icings? I have been trying to perfect vanilla and chocolate buttercreams. I have found that different shortenings provide different results. For vanilla, I find CK high yield provides a better flavor than sweetex. I am at a out 2/3 butter to shortening. For chocolate, I find the sweetex is better, as the flavor is more neutral. However, I am having a very hard time with a choc buttercream recipe. I have upgraded to Valhrona cocoa, but cant seem to get the right balance of sweet to chocolate to texture. I am at about 1.25x sugar to fat. Any suggestions? want to trade notes? I too have made about a dozen cakes/icings the past couple months. Feel free to email me. Thanks
Do you think you can add instant pudding to ensue it’s moist?
I haven’t tried that…you could definitely experiment, though. 🙂
One other question, do you think this would hold up with a 3 layer cake with buttercream frosting? Wasn’t sure if it would hold up good or not.. also, I tried this recipe this weekend in cupcakes and oh my goodness, AMAZING!!! Thank you for a great go to recipe. They were a hit!
Yes, I think it would work jut fine as a three layer cake!
Thank you thank you thank you I! For two decades I have attempted to duplicate a yellow cake that I ate while living in Jamaica that had a wonderful sturdy body but a special open crumb which gave it lightness. The cake had been prepared by a non-measuring baker who did all the mixing by hand. i just never have been able to create it UNTIL NOW!
with this perfect yellow cake!! I baked your recipe with all organic ingredients (except corn starch which is non-GMO) in a 9 x 13 for 30 minutes. I will not even frost this one, just serve with some chocolate ice cream to my family.
I am so grateful to you for allowing me to end my search!
So happy to hear this, Rosemary!
I made this recipe exactly as stated only increasing the baking powder by an additional quarter teaspoon. It was the best yellow cake I ever tasted!! Thank you so much!
Taste good but the texture is like corn bread.
Wow! Like, Oh. My. Gawd!!! I am super particular about cakes and if it doesn’t meet my standards the first time, it’s dead to me. This cake turned out better than I could have imagined! I’ve tried SO many yellow cake recipes over the years, and I’ve always been disappointed due to density and dryness. I even had myself convinced that boxed yellow cake mix was the way to go, which is embarrassing to admit because I’m a full-blown, homemade kinda girl. I made this cake earlier today and followed the instructions exactly and it produced the most perfect, tender, moist, flavorful yellow cake I’ve EVER tried. I will be putting this recipe down as my go-to yellow cake recipe! Also, I’m a registered dietitian and totally LOVE food science, so reading your blog was a blast! I loved your story of what worked and what didn’t and why! A thousand kudos to you for working so diligently so the rest of us can simply pull a card from the recipe box and have a masterpiece every time! Thank you!!! <3
Yay! So happy to hear it, Anna…thank you!
If you are making three 8-inch layers, what would be the baking time?
Probably just a few minutes less than the recipe states – each oven differs in exact temperature so check closely so the cake doesn’t overbake.
I just tried this recipe and my cake came out AWESOME!! I have been on the hunt for the perfect layer cake recipe from scratch. One failed attempt after another had me so discouraged. I stumbled upon this recipe and decided I’ve it shot. It came out exceptionally well. Unbelievably moist and tasty. Family is giving it 2 thumbs up!! Thanks for sharing and for all the tips and explanations for each step.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing all of your trials and lessons learned. Yellow cake is my favorite, and before today, I’d only attempted to make it once…to a disastrous end, so I’ve been too nervous to try it again (since I only tend to bake when we’re having company). But due a family request, I decided to give it another try today…and thanks to you (pretty sure it was not letting eggs come to room temp that did me in before), I now have no fear and the best recipe I could ever hope for! Sooooo delicious! Thanks!
This cake is moist and very tasty. I will stop looking. thank you so much for all of your research. too delicious. ThAnka Mel!!!
I made this the other night and it turned out perfect! I had to sub plain yogurt for the sour cream and it still turned out great. Thanks!
This cake turned out perfect! It took forever to bake and was very brown on top, but the taste was amazing! I added a lot of raspberry jam to the batter to make it raspberry cake. I used whipped cream frosting instead of chocolate. It turned out great!
How do you think I should adjust this if I am making a rectangular sheet cake?
Are you talking about a rimmed baking sheet (like 11X18-inches or similar)? I’d probably 1 1/2 the recipe for a pan like that.
Quite possibly the best yellow cake I ever made. The layers were near perfect. Thanks
The Naked Baker.
I made this cake today and it was delicious, thanks for a great recipe.
This cake was too sweet. I should of gone with my instinct and cut the sugar down to one cup. If you don’t like sugary desserts I would cut the sugar almost by half
Hi Mel,
Do you ever put your granulated sugar in a food processor to make this cake, so that the sugar is finer?
No, I don’t do that.
I’ve only left comments on blog recipes a few times in my life. This recipe definitely deserves it! This yellow cake is indeed perfection. My daughter always requests a yellow cake for her birthday, and every year I try a different recipe that leaves a lot to be desired…though she doesn’t care 🙂 This year I felt that the cake was so good, that it was almost a shame to frost it! I used your chocolate buttercream frosting which was lovely, but I think I’ll go with vanilla buttercream or white frosting next time so the cake’s incredible taste can come through. It really is so good that it doesn’t *need* frosting and I’m thinking of making it as a sheet cake and serving with whipped cream and berries in the near future…Thank you for taking the time and effort to create this masterpiece!
Wonderful cake. Used 1/2 tsp. Of baking soda. Baked for 10 minutes longer. Followed everything else. I was looking for a great yellow cake recipe. Thanks!!!
How many cups of batter does this make? I’m trying to figure out how many batches to make for this wedding cake I’m making and need to go buy the right amount of supplies.
I’ve never measured the exact cup amount (for total batter) but just adding up ingredients, it’s probably right around 6.5 to 7 cups.
A few mods:
1) separate yolk from white, add yolk to batter when recipe says but then beat the whites into fluff and fold in as your last step in batter construction.
2) NEVER bake a cake at 350. This is cake suicide… i preheated to 335 and left em go for 25 minutes never opening the oven. After that, knock it back to 300 and bake BY EYE. if you start to see any harsh browning (which you shouldn’t at that temp) just set a piece of LIGHTLY greased foil or parchment paper on top to deflect the dry heat. if you give a shimmy and see NO movement pull them IMMEDIATELY it might be too late.
3) Toothpick inserted should come out WITH some moist crum. clean toothpick=dry cake. add moisture back to it with a misting of simple syrup.
I see that you say others have reported back about cupcakes, but I cannot seem to find those comments. I have looked multiple times. I am planning on making cupcakes from this later this week and would like to know that they turned out good for others. If not, maybe someone could point me to a good yellow cupcake recipe? 🙂
Here are a few of the comments that have made cupcakes:
This was the first time I ever baked a cake from scratch and it turned out delicious…I made cupcakes with the recipe and I followed the directions to the T. On my first batch of cupcakes, I filled the cupcakes with too much batter, the middle sank in, and the edges were sugary/crystalized, sort of like creme brulee — “which was actually a yummy twist”. They were still yummy and my fiance loved it.The second batch, I filled perfectly with batter, the middle didnt sink in, and I haven’t tasted them to know if the edges are crystalized – it doesnt look like it though! . The next time I use this recipe, I will bake it in a cake pan. Thanks for the recipe!
I have made this cake 3 times now. It is delicious. I even made cupcakes using the same batter (17 min cook time). Thanks for your hard work to find the perfect recipe.
I followed the recipe exactly but the cake was not done at 30 minutes. I’m at an hour now and ended up raising the temp for high alt according to another article that said higher heat, not longer time. But it’s still not done. I’m at 5000 ft but I thought this was a high alt recipe so no clue what I did wrong.
If I use the whole milk can I skip the sour cream and still get great results? I always have whole milk on hand.
You need the acidity in the sour cream, so I wouldn’t leave it out.
Hi again. Just noticed that the flour is stated as 9 ounces, which doesn’t equate to 2 & 1/4 cups. Wouldn’t it be more like 9 1/2 ounces??
Usually, 1 cup equals 4.25 ounces.
Please advise. Thanks
I explain this in the post but I always use 5 ounces per cup of flour.
Well, to be honest, I’m still searching. Tried this out, followed everything to a “T”. I have baked about a million cakes in my lifetime, this one was just ok, certainly not perfect. Taste was very bland, cakes fell horribly HORRIBLY in the middle, Managed to salvage that with frosting, but then there’s a huge mound of frosting in the middle. Also, you state can be made for 2-9″ rounds or 3-8″? only enough batter for two 8″ and they turned out small and thin. If you’re looking for the “Perfect” yellow cake, keep on looking!
Did anyone ever use 9/13 pan. How long to bake?
Hi- I baked it today in a 9 x 13 shiny aluminum pan for 30 min. at 350. It was ‘just’ done at 30 min. It could have gone to maybe 32 and been just fine too.
Thanks, Mel, for this delicious recipe! My husband said it tasted like Nilla Wafers and my kids and I couldn’t stop eating it! Used high altitude adjustments and it still sank a little but it was so good that I didn’t care what it looked like. This will be our yellow cake recipe from now on!
Hello. I was wondering if anyone had tried making cupcakes with this recipe yet? If so, how did it turn out? If not so great, what did you do to ‘perfect’ it?
I believe several people have reported back after making cupcakes up in the comment thread. 🙂
Mel, just wanted to say thank you so much for taking the time to perfect this recipe, I just made it this w/e and it is the best yellow cake I have ever had !
The only changes I made were using greek yogurt instead of sour cream as I can’t find that easily where I live + adding a bit more salt as I used unsalted butter…
The cake was delicious, fluffy, moist, tender…just Perfect =)
What is your recipe for the chocolate frosting? Did I miss the link somewhere? Thanks!
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/whipped-chocolate-buttercream-frosting/
Also, could you tell me how many sticks is a cup of butter ?
Thanks !!
One cup of butter = 2 sticks.
Thank you
And also is it Vanilla extract you use ?
Yes.
Sorry, this may be a silly question but when you say “2 teaspoons vanilla”, is it vanilla extract ?
Have you had anyone experiment and double the recipe and try baking in a 12 by 18 sheet?
I don’t recall anyone making it like that and reporting back yet, Kassie.
I just made your vanilla cake recipe as a 10″x 15″ sheet cake, using a Fat Daddio pan. It worked fine..
I set my oven temperature to 340 degrees. Yes, 340 degrees.
Used cake strips as an “insurance policy” to make sure it baked evenly.
Stuck a flower nail in the center to further insure doneness in the center, however, I really don’t think it was needed.
It was perfectly done in 36 minutes (which may vary depending on oven variables. Looks great!
Here’s a postscript with a question for Mel. I made this cake again, this time, using 9″ round pans and the texture was quite different than the sheetcake vesion. It was kind of “cornbread” like. Any thoughts on why the consistency was different than the nice close grained velvety cake I made last time?
Hmmm, Sandi, that’s odd but it’s kind of intriguing to me. I wonder why the texture would have changed? To be honest, I don’t know, but let me do a little sleuthing and perhaps some experimenting and if I figure anything out, I’ll let you know.
Oh! Another question regarding the flour. Perhaps your flour weight is based on using bleached cake flour which weighs a little less per cup than unbleached cake flour(as in King Arthur brand which weighs 4.25oz per cup!). Does this mean the recipe can be thrown off by not using bleached flour??
No, I don’t use bleached flour. I use unbleached all-purpose flour – and for this recipe, I use it in combination with the cornstarch. There’s no real standard for what a cup of flour should weigh – Cook’s Illustrated (a highly reputed source) says 5 ounces whereas King Arthur Flour (another good resource) has it in the range of 4 ounces. And all that can change depending on the type of flour. For my own personal standard, I use 5 ounces per cup of unbleached all-purpose flour for recipes like cookies and things like that. This yellow cake recipe was tested and perfected using weight measures so I’d stick with that if you have a kitchen scale for a more reliable outcome. You can see for the overall weight of the cake flour, it’s less than 5 ounces per cup for this recipe. I wouldn’t get hung up on what the flour weight is based off of – I settled on the weight of the flour for this recipe based on how the cake turned out and not necessarily by the standards set by other recipes. Does that help?
Thanks. I appreciate your clarification on what flour you use. I only use King Arthur unbleached cake flour even though it’s more expensive than all purpose! I did adhere to the 9 ounce weight in your recipe and I always use a scale!
I have made this cake several times, always as a sheet cake (that’s how my husband likes cake) and it has turned out perfectly every time! Also I used regular all-purpose flour every time.
Thank you for all your hard work! What do you think about Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
I haven’t tried it with Greek yogurt but I believe others up in the comment thread have (sorry I can’t remember the specific details of how it came out).
I love this cake and everyone loves it. But sometimes it comes out really dense. Please help!
Overmixing the batter at the very end can cause a dense cake so keep an eye on that.
I am successful with every cake I bake EXCEPT a yellow cake. A friend requested one for her birthday so I was stuck. I read over your wonderful, very detailed instructions & followed it perfectly, or so I thought. I haven’t even iced it yet. Your yummy chocolate buttercream is sitting on the counter waiting to be administered to my sad looking cake.
I cooked it for 27 mins. The center had a nice crown though looked a little loose. The sides had pulled away & I didn’t want to overbake. After 10 minutes the middle of the cakes had collapsed. The sides stayed put. I really don’t want to fill the depression with buttercream. I’m going to vertically half the cake, build up the indentation with the other half. My friend will get a nice half of a cake.
350 is WAY too much dry heat for a delicate cake to handle. start off with 345 for 10 minutes. drop to 335 for next 10 minutes. < without opening the oven. after that, knock the heat back to 300 to finish and DO NOT STEP AWAY from the oven. cakes need to cook without drying out or browning too much. so lean on the low and slow side. lightly oil some foil or parchment and perch atop the cakes if need be.