The Perfect {Bakery Style} White cake is a beautiful, moist, and light cake with the perfect crumb. The cake has a soft, velvety texture, a subtle sweetness, and a delightful combination of vanilla and almond flavors. It is perfect for any occasion, whether it’s a birthday celebration or a simple treat for yourself! Not only is the cake delicious on its own, but it is also a wonderful base for decorating. If you prefer a sheet cake, I have a Vanilla Delight Cake you will love!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Flour: I used cake flour in this recipe. Cake flour has a lower protein content when compared to all-purpose flour. This results in a softer, more tender cake. If you don’t have any on hand, make your own cake flour to use.
Butter: As in many of my baking recipes, I use and recommend unsalted butter. If using salted butter, you may want to lessen or omit the salt in the recipe.
Extracts: Both vanilla and almond extract are added to the cake batter. If you have a nut allergy, you could replace the almond extract with the same amount of vanilla. Or, use Imitation Almond Extract which is typically not made with almonds. Be sure to check the ingredients. If you are worried about flavor, the almond extract does not make the cake taste almondy. It simply adds a freshness, a refined elegance, to the overall flavor.
Egg Whites: For a lighter and fluffier texture in the cake, only use egg whites. But, once you have separated the eggs, don’t let the yolks go to waste! Beat them and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days. Use the yolks in other recipes like my Browned Butter Toffee Cookies.
Milk: If possible, use whole milk in this cake. 2% or 1% could be used, but it may not yield the best results. I do not recommend skim milk.
Frosting: This cake is the ideal canvas for many decorating ideas. I added my American Buttercream Frosting to the cake, but you can certainly add your favorite frosting or topping!
Can I Use A Different Pan?
Sure! This recipe calls for 2, 8-inch round cake pans. You could use 9-inch round cake pans, but the layers will be a bit thinner. Or, make the cake in a 9×13-inch baking dish. This would give you one thicker cake. If using a different pan, you may need to adjust the baking time, so watch the cake closely.
How To Store White Cake
If the cake does not have a perishable frosting, store it at room temperature. It should be covered or stored in an airtight container. It will last up to 2-3 days. Refrigerating a cake can dry it out faster so I do not recommend that.
Can I Freeze This Cake?
Yes! Baking, then freezing a cake is a great way to get a head start on your dessert, saving some stress! I prefer to freeze the cake without any frosting. Before freezing the cake, be sure to let it cool completely. Next, wrap the cake in plastic wrap. Wrap it again in another layer of plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or in a freezer-safe bag. Label and date the packaging; the cake can be frozen for up to 2-3 months. When ready to decorate or enjoy, let the cake thaw at room temperature while still wrapped. After about 30 minutes, the cake will be ready to decorate.
Can I Make This Cake Into Cupcakes?
Yes! This recipe makes delicious white cupcakes! Follow the instructions for mixing the cake batter. Fill each lined muffin cup with about 1/4 cup of the batter. Bake at 350°F for 21-23 minutes. You should be able to get about 23 cupcakes.
Recipe updated July 2023.
White Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 ¾ cups (357 g) cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks / 227 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups (500 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 5 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 cup (245 g) whole milk, room temperature
Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups (250 g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 3-6 teaspoons whole milk, or as needed
- extracts and flavorings, as desired
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2, 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar, and both extracts until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer on the lowest speed, carefully add in egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer still on low, add ⅓ of the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, then half the milk, another third of the flour mixture, the remaining milk, and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until combined. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two prepared pans. Bake for 26-28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.
Buttercream Frosting
- To the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter, sugar, salt, and any added flavorings.
- Start mixing on low speed until the sugar is incorporated with the butter. Increase the mixing speed to high and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Adjust the consistency with milk as needed.
- Store unused buttercream in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to use. Bring it back to room temperature before using to pipe or frost the cooled cake.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
How many does it serve
Yummy! I made this today and it turned out pretty good. My only question is what should the flour look like when mixed with butter? After I added the wet ingredients it looked a little curdled.
Mine too! Really weird. And the cake was dried
I tried this recipe over the weekend and it was fabulous! I did a three layer cake, so I divided the recipe in half and then added that to the current recipe to have enough batter, the cake tastes great, but I believe I slightly over baked it. However, everyone still loved it. I also made the whipped vanilla buttercream with it. I thought it paired well but next time I would not add as much sugar to it.
I’m making a sheet cake for a friend in a few weeks and I wonder how this recipe would do doubled or even quadrupled?!
If anyone has any experience with this PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share!!!!!
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!!!
This looks really cool I’m going to make a zebra cake for my birthday and I couldn’t find any good white cakes but now I have and I am very happy about it!!!!!!!!!
This cake was DRY! Needs some veg oil, buttermilk or something. Super Dry!!
Dry cake can be a result of method, quality of ingredients, oven temperature, cooking time, etc. Sorry you had any issue.
You must freeze the cake layers, after only 3 minutes out of the even. Use a spring form pan to bake the cake, to make easy release. Wrap still warm layers in plastic completely and then hard freeze. Doing this prevents the loss of moisture from the cake as it sits naked and exposed, while it cools to room temp. All the moisture simply evaporates into the air, leaving a dry, horrid, cake…if you do not wrap and freeze shortly out of the oven. Further, be sure to use SIMPLE SYRUP lavishly squirted upon each cake round, while it is still frozen, shortly before building the cake up. The use of simple syrup is how professional, highly skilled, bakers produce very moist finished cakes. You can add flavoring to the simply syrup to enhance the cake, such as adding vanilla to it, or any other flavoring suited for your type of cake. Ice your layers while the cake is still frozen, and return the cake to the freezer, if it begins to be too soft, while you are constructing the cake. Freezing and Simple Syrup is the trick to ANY moist cake, or any sort. Plus, the trick to cake decoration and crumb control. Seriously.
Thanks for the advice, I’m going to try it!
Thank you! Made this cake over the weekend and the taste is really good, the cake was a little dry. Thanks for the tips.
Hi,
I would like to know what 1 1/2 sticks of butter converts to? Is 1/2 a stick 1/4 cup or is it 1/2 cup?
1 stick equals 1/2 cup or 113g 🙂
how can I have the conversions in grams?
Do you have a solution for the cake having a “rubbery” layer on the bottom? I had seen a couple other comments about that & that is how mine turned out. I would like to try the recipe again if I had a fix – the rest of the cake was great! Thank you!
Freeze the cake rounds, after wrapping in plastic, about 3 minutes after removing from oven. When the cake round is frozen, unwrap cake round and, using a large knife, cut the dome off the top of the round to level it, and then cut the bottom of the round to remove the BROWN HEAL of the cake. This way, when you build your cake, layer by layer, you do not end up with the horrid brown, crusty, strata, streaking your cake slices, on either side of every frosting layer. Ever see these brown lines in a professionally constructed cake? Freeze the cake, add simple syrup to each layer…even more than you think…, and cut off the top and bottom of the round. If you are really cool, you also take the outside circle crust off too. Working with solidly frozen cake rounds is the key to a perfect cake, of a perfect shape, and no crumbs…cutting off the brown crusts….adding simply syrup (flavored) for a delicate, moist, cake..is the only way to go. This is how we make cakes in our Walt Disney Bakery at Walt Disney World.
I made this today. It was very delicious. The only thing I’ve noticed is, on the outside my cake was soft and fluffy, not dry. But on the inside, my cake was very dense. It was cooked through, but I’ve never had that happen before. Why would it do that?
I just made this cake for my husbands birthday as he loves white cake! i followed it exactly and it turned out beautifully! One thing I would personally do to change it is I would make the 2 teaspoons of Almond Extract only 1 teaspoon as it tastes and smells a little too almondy for us. It still tastes awesome and he loves it 🙂 I made a chocolate fudge icing to top it off.
Also: I used all purpose flour instead of cake flour because that’s all I had on hand. very moist and fluffy.