I have been searching for this cake for about two years now. In my experience, making white cake at home is just never as good as the bakery. (Sorry! I know some of you just cringed reading that.)
Until now.
I am not kidding when I tell you that this recipe is it. The flavor is fantastic and the texture is truly perfection. Even the-pickiest-dessert-eater-ever, aka my hubby, loved it.
And I know you will too. As I noted in the recipe I found this cake on epicurious who got it from Cooks Illustrated. I have never been led astray with either of those sources so I am confident you will find the same success I did!
One major adaptation I did was using 8-in cake pans. The original recipe calls for 9-in and about 5 minutes less cooking time. If you plan on using 9-in plans please do consult the original recipe. The first time I made it I used 8-in cake pans with no time adaptation and was not as successful.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 cup milk at room temperature
- 6 large egg whites at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 8-inch cake pans.
- Make sure milk and eggs are room temperature.
- Pour milk (I used skim) , egg whites, and extracts into medium bowl and mix with fork until blended.
- Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter, cut into cubes and continue beating on low for about 1-2 minutes.
- Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to flour mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat for about 1 minute.
- Pour batter evenly between two prepared cake pans.
- Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 27 to 30 minutes.
- Allow cake to cool to room temperature.
- Frost cakes with favorite frosting.
- Just barely adapted from epicurious, taken from Cooks Illustrated.
Do you have a perfect white cake in your life?
Looks delicious! I’m seeing your HTML version of the post in my reader. Very strange. It happened the other day too…?
Love the frosting technique you used. So pretty!
Beautiful cake! I’m interested in trying it, since I usually think cake mixes make better cakes than homemade. :-O
that is sad.
I’ll be trying this soon! I have always been a modified-box baker, but with the big push for less processed foods, I want to learn scratch. But the few I’ve tried weren’t very good. Thanks for sharing! I wonder if you can replace both extracts with another one for a different flavor. Hmm, I may have to try that at some point too.
I agree, love that bakery white cake. Pinned!
This definitely looks perfect! I love the almond – it’s a must for me in cakes! Totally stunning, my friend!
Lovely – I have a go to white wedding cake recipe that I love. I may have to try this one just to shake things up some
This cake is BEAUTIFUL and it looks perfect!
I wish I had your frosting skills! This looks amazing.
Amanda, do you sift your dry ingredients together?
I did not.
Perfection! I can’t wait to make this cake!
Oh yay Amanda!!! I hear you on the white cake. There is something about it that DOES make it so hard making it at home & NOT from a box. But oh my gosh- there are times when I simply must have some. I’m glad you posted this. My mom has made cakes professionally for most of my life & I know that white cake is the one thing she still struggles with. She has never been able to give me a perfect recipe for it- so I am looking forward to trying this one.
Only 1 day late…lol. I was looking high and low for a new white cake recipe, but gave up and just made a vanilla cake. I will definitely try this one out for my next one, thanks!!
This is beautiful!!!
White cake is my absolute favorite. Gorgeous!
Woah. This cake looks AMAZING. And I have to say that I’m with you on the whole bakery white cake thing. I’ve only had success that comes a little close to the store-bought version when I make an oil cake instead of a butter cake – the texture is right but the flavor isn’t always. I can’t wait to try this version! LOVE that shot of the single piece…
This cake is a stunner, Amanda! I don’t even know how many times I needed the perfect white cake recipe. Pinning!
I get all giddy about good scratch-made white cakes, so I’m very excited about this! I’m a funfetti/confetti cake lover and sprinkles always show up best in white cake. Can’t wait to try!
I am so glad you *bolded* the at room temperature directions. No use in creaming all that delightful butter and sugar together only to pour in 40F milk and have it all seize up again. All ingredients at room temp assure easier incorporation and the highest rise possible.
Enough with the science–the cake looks lovely! I really admire the way you choose to creatively ice your cakes, Amanda. Beautiful!
PS–Duh. Just realized this cake calls for the two-stage method. Still, the room temp decree holds.
I’m a big fan of Duncan Hines French Vanilla cake mix……..but I’d LOVE to give this a try – sound so delicious!
This looks awesome! Can’t wait to try it! I’m always looking for a better white cake recipe!
This is funny because just this morning I was thinking about some cupcakes that I want to make, but my white cakes never turn out right. And then I saw this! I might have to give it a try. I love how you decorated this cake, too. So pretty!
Looks delicious! Do you use bake-even strips or have an opinion on them? Do they work?
I did not use bake strips, but I have an like them!
Can you post the icing recipe too <3
I used this recipe http://iambaker.net/marshmallow-buttercream/
I’m more of a chocolate kind of girl, but I will give this a try soon!
My whole pregnancy I have been too… kinda hope it doenst change after the baby. Chocolate is good!
I love Cooks Illustrated too. They test everything so extensively how could you not trust it. This cake is gorgeous of course!
It’s my daughter-in-law’s birthday today and she wants white cake. What luck to find this post! I’m new at decorating but would like to try to copy yours. What tip did you use?
I’ve always liked your white “cake mix” recipe, but now I’ll need to try this. My sister makes a pretty good white cake, too. Thanks, Amanda, for sharing. And that frosting job and that color are really cool!
As always, your cakes are gorgeous. Love the hint of green frosting. I’ve got to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
The cake looks incredible! I absolutely love white cake. I have to say, I’m not sure if since I began baking seriously I have ever found that I like something better from a bakery. I always find that I’m disappointed in bakery treats.
Ohhh I like your star tip ruffles! What an interesting twist!
Yay! Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait to try it.
Do you have the recipe for the frosting you used? Can’t wait to try this.
This cake is gorgeous! Do you think this would make good cupcakes?
Sure!
I have found this recipe to be too soft and tender for cupcakes – they tend to fall apart when you try to eat them! If you use 4 whole eggs in place of the whites, with the exact same mixing method, you get fantastic cupcakes with enough structure from the yolks to hold them together, but still super light and fluffy.
Beautiful!! I need a slice right now. Maybe with a shot of frosting too
I found Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe for white cake about a hear ago, and it is definitely the best ever! I live at high altitude, though, and found that I needed to modify it for that. Adding 1 egg yolk and reducing baking powder to 1 tablespoon did the trick (after trying to adjust every other aspect unsuccessfully). So, if you have readers interested in a high altitude modification, that’s it!
What elevation are you? I’m just under 4800 feet and sometimes this gets the best of me. I’ll have to try your modifications.
Look amazing Amanda. I’ll be saving this recipe for later. I love what you did with the frosting too.
Gorgeous cake.
I love the look of the cake and I imagine it could be adapted to make a lovely rainbow cake as well.
I’m in Australia – How much is a “stick” of butter by weight?
Thanks.
8 tablespoons
I saw the outside of the cake on G+ a day or so ago, but I think it’s the sliced piece that really drew my eye. I know what you mean about searching for “that” cake. I’ve certainly never made it myself, but you’ve given me inspiration to try. My daughter will be SO happy!
The inside and outside looks perfect.
Well thanks beautiful!
What if you want to make a larger cake like 12 in. or 14 in?
I would start watching the cake much sooner and definitely use bake strips… but since I have not tried that as of yet I cant say for certain it will work!
Sounds wonderful.
Eres una artista! no te podría haber quedado una cobertura más perfecta, y la foto es tan bonita que enamora. Yo no podría cortar esa tarta, tendría un remordimiento por estar destrozando algo tan bonito y supongo que tambien extraordinariamente rico!
Me encantan las tartas que publicas en el blog con esas coberturas soñadas. Realmente impresionada y encantada
*gasp*
lovely & yummy…think I have found my birthday cake
how did you do the piping…I love it
This cake looks sooo delicious and yes perfect im going to try this recipe. B
Pray mine come out just like yours.
Since my mom lost her perfect white cake recipe, I’ve been searching for one. Thank you!
I can’t believe how perfect the timing was for this recipe to pop up on my news feed! I have been searching and searching for a fluffy, moist, and tender white cake and needed one right away. I nearly settled for the whiteout cake by the boys at baked but I’m so glad I trusted my gut and went with this one! It really is the perfect white cake! And I’ve tried many recipes so that’s saying a lot. Thank you, amanda! <3
Thank you for taking on the task of finding and creating a perfect white cake. I have a yellow-vanilla cake recipe I love and a chocolate one. I’ve always been disappointed in white cakes, I can’t wait to try your recipe!
Amanda! I am so glad you found this exceptional white cake recipe! (I’m celebrating for you!) I’ve been making it ever since Cook’s Illustrated first published it. It is THE ONE. (They featured the perfect yellow cake as well. If you have not tried that one yet, it is a must.) This is the only go-to recipe for white cake one would ever need in life. It is a component in an upcoming featured recipe of mine. LOVE that you used 8-inch cake pans for good height for the layers. Your photo? GORG! Pinning… xo
Will totally try the yellow cake.. thanks for the suggestion!!
white cake has been the bane of my existence as a baker, and i’m still on the hunt! i think this method is definitely the way to go, as opposed to whipping the egg whites separately. i’ll try your proportions of ingredients!
Oops, that was meant for Liz, who asked what to do with the egg yolks!
I have been looking for a white cake recipe for my mother for ages. She’s not a sweets person (I know!) and her absolute favorite is boxed white cake. I try to make everything from scratch and have tested at least a dozen white cake recipes that she’s deemed, “too sweet.” Two questions for you – would you consider this a sweet cake? Can you taste the almond extract? I love the amaretto flavor but I’m sure my mom would find a reason to complain if she could taste it.
I am so… gonna try this recipe. I’ll post how it turns out. X crossing fingers. Thank you.
Your picture took my breath away – so beautiful. I have been looking for a good white cake recipe, too. Thank you so much for sharing this one.
No more half-hazy photos? I loved those. I’ve been trying to figure out – unsuccessfully – how to do that in Photoshop for a while now, having seen something similar on other websites. Would you share how to do it? xo
Yes, I just didnt do one for this post. Will try and figure out a tutorial at some point!
Gorgeous cake!!! Can you share what piping tip you used to decorate this cake? I simply adore the look of it. Thanks.
I was just going to ask which tip you used as well!:) Looks like a star tip??? PLus, can you please post a photo of the TOP of your cake!? Would like to try that pattern but looks like you have a center circle on the top??
The cake looks delicious and delightful!!
Love Your Site!!!!
Wow, that cake looks gorgeous. That frosting technique is SO perfect! And the cake… I want it now!
With the size of cake mix boxes shrinking and modified recipes from the manufacturers, this homemade from scratch will be so much better. Thanks for posting!
This is one of my favorite white cake recipes as well. Love the way you decorated this cake!
What a beautiful cake and if you say it’s perfect, I completely believe you! I’ve actually run into quite a few recipes that call for 8″ pans and I think the taller cake layers always look prettier too. I need to invest in some.
Love the cake!! How did you get the icing in that fantastic zig zag pattern? What size tip did you use?!
oh, wow, the crumb looks amazing!
Thank you!! Since you are an expert and all… thats a huge compliment!
I made this cake last week for my family and used little heart shaped pas. I adjusted the bake time slightly. They loved the little layered hearts and especially loved the icing! Thank you for finding what I have always wanted, a moist, amazing white cake recipe!
YAY!!! SO glad you liked it!!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made it for my cake decorating class, and my family devoured it shortly afterward. I’m usually a chocoholic, but this was superb
Hi,
I am very excited to try this recipe for my daughters birthday but being an amature Canadian baker can you please tell me how many cups 1 1/2 sticks of butter would be equal to? I buy my butter in big 2 cup blocks and I really doubt you mean 3 cups of butter for one cake. Thank you!
Nearly all US sticks of butter are 1/2 cup so I would assume that is what they mean.
1 1/2 sticks would be 3/4 cup or 6 ounces
I made your recipe today and it turn out more like a sponge cake, which I figure isn’t the intended result. Any idea what I might have done wrong?
I’ve been looking for a white cake recipe so I’ll try it this weekend.
Lovely cake done toperfection
I’ve been on the hunt for a good white cake too. I’m wondering what to do with all the yolks? I don’t want to waste them and still too novice to know what to use them for. Thanks!
Make a lemon curd.
Hey I just made you amazing white cake and was dissapointed. I think I did something wrong! It was VERY dense. It baked well but was more like a pound cake and more suitable for carving. From you description I was thinking it would be a bit more fluffy—do you have any idea what I could have done wrong? I am pretty sure I followed the recipe to a tee… =-)
No, sorry, I have no idea what went wrong Amy. My apologies. This recipe is just barely adapted from a very reputable source, and I have never encountered any issues when I have made it. I feel awful that yours wasnt perfect as well!
Hi can I have the ingredients in UK measurements please
I am wondering if I could add lemon zest and juice to make it into a lemon cake? Thoughts?
Used this to make vanilla cupcakes, I switched out the extract for vanilla, cut it in half and added half a vanilla bean (I halved the whole recipe, or I would have used a whole) It’s AMAZING! I was surprised it was so good without creaming the butter and sugar or whipping the whites and no yolks, but it’s perfect for perfume-y vanilla. Little dry but I think some buttercream will fix that
Made your cake and frosted it with my sour cream coconut frosting; tastes wonderful!
Thanks, Amanda. Love your work.
thank you for sharing this. i was asked to bake a white cake for a birthday party and used this recipe! it was quite the hit and my faith in cake flour has been restored
Could this be adapted to a 13×9? If so, how would I do that? Thank-you!
I so want to try out this recipe!
But my husband is allergic to almonds… How can I substitute the almond extract ?
You can replace it with vanilla or any other extract that suits you. I love using orange, coconut, or lemon extract.
Rum or maple extracts are some other options. You may need to increase how many teaspoons you use of these other extracts to get a noticeable flavor, though. If you want to do orange or lemon, adding some zest would help increase the flavor. Almond extract packs more of a punch than most.
You know what would be really tasty (though a bit exotic), is rosewater. For rosewater, I would replace some of the milk with it (up to 1/4 cup) and maybe add cardamom powder (maybe a Tablespoon.) That sort of flavoring for cake is a popular Persian dessert. It probably would work well, but I haven’t actually tested it with this recipe.
Absolutely gorgeous cake from the frosting to the fluffy white interior. I love the frosting technique, too. I am always at a loss for ideas when it comes to decorating. I know about 3 tricks, and I just refer back to them each and every time.
Girl, you can cook better than most chefs on TV. If you were a cake decorator too I would have to punch you in the neck.
I just baked this recipe, (cooks illustrated) added jimmies to do the confetti version. My cake totally sank in the center. It is still usable, I will just fill with swiss meringue buttercream. I googled the problem, seems common with white cake. Do you have any idea why this happened. (it was baked all the way) Thank you.
I must say I love your site and your cake ideas. I am decorating like your pink confetti version.
Oh dear! So sorry Barb. I have actually not had that problem with this recipe… but certainly have with other white cakes! In my experience it could have been a number of things… the acidic balance being off, the size pan vs. the cooking length and temperature, even expired baking powder. There are so many factors that can contribute it is hard to pinpoint. So glad you are a quick thinker and was able to improvise though!
I LOVE white bakery cake, I’ve used this recipe 4 times now in the past month with excellent results every time. It is delicious and tastes just like bakery cake…only moister. Thanks for the extra 5 lbs I’ve probably put on! It is my go to white cake recipe!
is there a tutorial on how to do the frosting , please
Another request for frosting tutorial!
I just made this white cake and i just have to say it turned out fantastic. Here in Greece we have no white cake box mix and no cake flour
. i made my own cake flour from a link i found and i followed this white cake recipe that you gave us and I just have to say FANTASTIC THANK YOU SO MUCH . It turned out very moist and was delicious . First time I tried it and it turned out great. i finally found my white cake recipe 
thank you again
Can you please post/email a picture of the top of the cake?
Was wondering how much of the butter you needed.. Not sure what is ment by one and a half sticks?? What would it be in grams or ounces? Thank you
1 stick of butter is 4oz so this recipe requires 6 oz of butter. I just had to work it out as I am English and all this cups/sticks/cake flour stuff used to confuse me a lot! Just trying this cake, as I am making a wedding cake this summer and the bride is from the US so I want to impress her! It’s in the oven right now…smells good…
Why did you choose to use an 8 in round pan? What difference did it make? Is the cake taller (rise more) with an 8 in round pan? What did you mean you were unsuccessful when you didn’t increase the time using the 8 in pan; was the cake not done?
Thank you
Amanda, could you please tell me what tip you used to make the sides. Thanks so much
I think it was a #17 tip. Doing a tutorial soon!
I made this cake for mothersday yesterday, I liked it but I agree with two of the comments above, my cake was not light& fluffy, it was more of a spongecake consistancy. Followed exactly as recipe said, but not sure how to change anything as I did like how it rose and overall a delicious cake. Will definitely make again
I was wondering if this recipe would work in a bundt pan?
I have never used it in a bundt so couldnt say for certain.
I want to make this as cupcakes how would I adjust the baking time?
If i used the amount of batter the recipe calls for to make cupcakes, do you think that there would be too many?
This was a wonderful cake recipe! Thanks for sharing, my family raved about it
this cake was just so moist and delicious, this has to be by far the best white cake i’ve tasted from scratch. the only thing is that i’m not and almond extract fan so the next time i make this i will be using all vanilla.
would this cake be alright to use in the roses cake recipe?
I made this cake last weekend and it came out very dense. What could have went wrong? Should the recipe have baking soda as well?
used almond milk instead of the skim milk as well as flax seed meal instead of eggs (6 tbsp flax meal to 18 tbsp water; or 1 tbsp flax meal to 3 tbsp water per egg). It’s turning out pretty good!
OMG!!! This is indeed the perfect white cake i have ever seen. So tempting.
Say, do you have the recipe for that beautiful icing? It almost looks neon?
This just came out of the oven…it smells heavenly! I’m going to frost with cotton candy buttercream at my 5 year olds request. I’m looking forward to tasting it!
Amanda, Did you refrigerate your icing before piping – to help “set up”? If so, for how long? Did you refrigerate cake after you placed icing? What tool did you use for piping the icing? The swirls are so pretty. Can you offer a beginner tutorial? My daughter asked for a vanilla cake for her birthday and this looks so stunning and sounds equally delicious that I know she’ll be thrilled! Awaiting your responses! Thanks. S <
I would love the answer to Sheryl’s question as well as I am making my daughter’s first birthday cake in the hot month of July. I plan on baking the cake in advance. Freezing it, then slice into layers, add in the icing layer and crumb icing layer then re-freeze. Defrost the day before ice and decorate the cake and then put back in the fridge only to pull out the cake a few hours before the party. Does that sound like a good plan?
Hi! What a beautiful cake! I love your frosting technique what tip did u use???
Beautiful cake Amanda! Any chance of a tutorial on how you decorated it. Can I ask you what tip you used? Thanks!
I have a nut allergy, so i can’t use the almond extract. Is there anything else I can use to substitute? Extra vanilla extract?
You could probably just use vanilla… but I wouldnt use too much.