Best Yellow Cake Recipe is ultra rich, moist, tender, and fluffy! Super easy, homemade, and so much better than box mix, this will become your go-to cake recipe for every celebration!
Yield:
8 servings
Prep Time:30minutes
Cook:25minutes
Tessa's Recipe Rundown...
Taste: Rich and sweet! Texture: Perfectly moist, fluffy, and tender with luscious chocolate frosting. Ease: Pretty quick & easy for a homemade cake. I won’t use box mix again with this recipe! Pros: My new go-to cake recipe. Perfect cake for any birthday! Cons: None, really. Would I make this again? Absolutely.
I have fond memories of my dad making yellow cake recipes with chocolate fudge frosting for special occasions.
That’s definitely where I get my sweet tooth from, but my dad isn’t much of a scratch baker. Those cakes were always box mixes paired with the little tub of premade frosting with who-knows-what added in to keep it shelf stable.
Still, as a kid, I loved those yellow cakes.
Now as an adult… I find them shockingly sweet and artificial tasting.
But I will say, I still like the fluffy, moist texture of those box yellow cake mixes. I wanted to create a classic yellow cake recipe that felt like those cakes I grew up with but with much better flavor. I think I’ve finally discovered it!
Honestly, it took about 7 tries to get this yellow cake recipe right over the course of 6 months. Layer cake is a hard recipe to want to test repeatedly in a short period of time. What are you supposed to do with all those mediocre leftover cake slices?!
So I went back to the drawing board and decided to start with my Best Birthday Cake as the base since that recipe is so well received. Where that cake texture is tighter and more delicate, I wanted this yellow cake to be a little looser and more moist like box mix.
I got rid of the egg separation method from that recipe, which involves whipping the egg whites, to get a richer texture and an easier process. More eggs + yolks, more butter, and a touch of sour cream help round everything out in this recipe. And of course, there is lots of chocolate frosting on top.
I hope you love it!
How to Make the BEST Homemade Yellow Cake Recipe
Classic Yellow Cake Recipe Ingredients:
Bleached cake flour – avoid using all-purpose flour or DIY cake flour substitutions. They simply don’t work as well. Check out my Cake Flour 101 article here to understand why. The best thing to use in this recipe is bleached cake flour (like the Swans Down brand).
Fine salt – just enough to balance out the sweetness of this yellow cake.
Butter – use unsalted butter to control the amount of salt used in the batter.
Granulated sugar – sweetens and moistens the cake.
Eggs – 2 large eggs and 2 large egg yolks add richness and moisture.
Pure vanilla extract – it’s not yellow cake without the aroma and flavor that vanilla provides!
Sour cream or plain full fat yogurt – tenderizes and adds flavor.
Whole milk – using whole milk will help to create a tender and moist cake as well. Whatever you do, don’t use skim milk.
How do I make MOIST & TENDER cake?
I highly advise weighing your flour when making cake. I always use my digital kitchen scale to weigh flour, but if you don’t have one use the “spoon and level” method to measure with measuring cups.
Avoid any baking substitutions! The cake flour and whole milk help create a moist and tender cake. All the whole eggs + egg yolks add richness and moisture. The sour cream also tenderizes as well as adding more flavor.
How to Properly Mix Cake Batter
A stand mixer fitted with a regular paddle attachment is definitely the easiest way to mix up this batter, though you could use a hand mixer if you prefer. Start by creaming the butter + sugar together. There are two keys here: use butter at COOL room temperature and scrape down the bowl and paddle often (even if you’re using an attachment that “scrapes” as it blends).
This batter is very rich. It uses a lot of eggs and yolks, as well as whole cream and a touch of sour cream. That means you may need to beat slightly longer after each group of ingredients to really make sure it’s all incorporated. It’s very important your refrigerated ingredients are all at room temperature.
When you beat in the last ingredient which is the sour cream, it may look a little curdled. Just scrape down the bowl and continue beating on low speed until it comes together like the batter photo above.
How Long to Cream Butter & Sugar:
Every minute matters when it comes to creaming butter and sugar for baking. Creaming butter and sugar can mean the difference between a heavy, leaden cake or a light, tender, and fluffy cake!
Perfectly creamed butter and sugar has lightened in color and has peaks and valleys in its texture, giving it that ‘fluffy’ appearance. The sugar appears to be dissolved, but when you rub the mixture between your fingers you’ll still feel the sugar granules. I’ve found perfectly creamed butter to be around 3 minutes for me and my mixer in my kitchen, but this will vary for every baker. Check out my How to Cream Butter & Sugar article for more.
What are the best cake baking pans?
Never use dark colored cake pans. They tend to overcook the edges, making them too brown and dry.
My favorite cake pans are definitely my Fat Daddio’s pans. They bake evenly and clean up easily!
Can I use a 9-inch pan instead?
This recipe calls for 8-inch pans, which is what will work best. You can also use 9-inch if that’s what you have. Your cake layers will be thinner. Just shave about 5 minutes to the baking time.
Can I make cupcakes with this recipe?
Yes, this recipe will make about 24 standard cupcakes. Bake in lined cupcake pans for about 17 to 20 minutes. Check out my full guide for how to convert cake into cupcakes!
Are there high altitude adjustments for baking cake?
If you’re baking at a high altitude, you’ll probably want to make some adjustments to this recipe. Since I live at sea level, I can only recommend following the advice in King Arthur Flour’s guide here.
BEST Frosting for Yellow Cake Recipe: Chocolate Buttercream Frosting!
For this recipe I absolutely ADORE using my Best Ever Chocolate Buttercream recipe. It’s American buttercream that literally tastes, feels, and looks as close to the more difficult Swiss Meringue Buttercream that I’ve ever experienced. It uses two secret ingredients and 1 unusual technique to get those results, so I highly recommend you check out that recipe post here.
Or use my Best Buttercream Guide to make any flavor or variation you want to accompany this yellow cake!
How can I make cake ahead of time?
Wrap unfrosted cooled cake layers completely in several layers of plastic wrap. Place inside a freezer bag. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge. Don’t defrost at room temperature or you will end up with mushy sticky cake.
How to store cake:
Cover with a cake keeper and store at room temperature for up to 8 hours then refrigerate. The buttercream acts as a kind of protective barrier to keep the cake inside soft and fresh. The sugar in the buttercream acts as a preservative to prevent the dairy from spoiling at room temperature. But after 8 hours I typically like to refrigerate layer cakes just to keep it safe. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
Best Yellow Cake Recipe is ultra rich, moist, tender, and fluffy! Super easy, homemade, and so much better than box mix, this will become your go-to cake recipe for every celebration!
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter, flour, and line two 8-inch cake pans with parchment circles.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 3 to 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and the vanilla one at a time, beating well between additions until combined. If the mixture looks separated, just keeping beating until emulsified. Beat in the sour cream until combined.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the whole milk, beginning and ending with the flour, mixing just until combined. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes in pans before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Assemble the cake:
Place one cake layer on a cake turntable or cake stand. Spread about a third of the frosting in an even layer all over, pushing it out over the edge just slightly. Place the other cake layer upside-down onto the frosting so that the top of the cake is nice and flat. With an offset spatula, spread the remaining frosting evenly all over the cake, smoothing the edges. Serve or cover and store in the fridge for up to 2 days. Let come to room temperature for an hour before serving.
Recipe Notes
This recipe makes 24 cupcakes. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown at the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
About Tessa...
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
This recipe is absolutely outstanding. Followed the directions exactly (often, I alter recipes but not this one). I made cupcakes, thought about spritzing the cupcake papers with a little cooking spray, didn’t, and regretted it (trust me, you need to spritz the cupcake papers). Instead of icing these, I just sprinkled the tops with rainbow cookie sprinkles before baking. They’re so good, that’s really enough dressing up.
The ingredients list milk but the instructions never say when to add it…so I ended up adding it at the end when I realized my batter seemed thick and not with the rest of the wet ingredients like most recipes call for.
Made exactly as stated. While it had good flavor the texture was more of a sponge cake than a layer cake and not at all like the texture of a boxed cake mix or even classic yellow cake recipe. The cake caved at center after removal from oven even though it was thoroughly baked and toothpick came out clean. If you look closely at the pictures of cake in this recipe you can see it has fallen also and is filled with the frosting which is what I did. Was looking for something a bit more moist than the classic wilton yellow cake and this isn’t it.
Hi Mike! I’m sorry this recipe didn’t turn out for you. It sounds like you may have overmixed your batter, which can result in a deflated and spongy cake. Did you substitute any ingredients, and did you use a digital scale to properly measure your ingredients? I’d love to help you figure out what went wrong!
Best damn cake I’ve ever made! Easy enough for a homemade cake recipe, moist and fluffy. I didn’t have cake flour and made with regular and 2 of the 5 eggs were still cold-ish so the cake fell a little in the middle. But I used the chocolate buttercream icing recipe and no one knew a thing! this will be my go-to recipe for many years to come!
I know this recipe said avoid diy cake flower tricks but I made it with AP flower + cornstarch trick once and cake flower the second time and my cupcakes turned out the same. I used kitchen scale for exact measurements and they came out wonderful each time. This is my go to birthday cake recipe now
Truly is the best cake ever!! The secret is in the beating after each addition of butter/sugar and then eggs. Gets rave reviews and freezes like a charm!! I bake it in a rectangular pan and after cooled cut into squares and wrap in plastic wrap and then freeze in a freezer bag.
Hi Tessa! Thanks for all your sharing! I am really eager to make this. My child is turning 6 next week so I will be giving this one a try for his birthday.
Made half the recipe in case it wasn’t a hit! I used whole milk Greek yogurt. Poured the batter into one small 1.5 liter rectangle glass baking dish. It baked up nice! Greasy from the butter! I don’t want to make the chocolate buttercream frosting called for…I will make my
favorite instead!
I used coconut milk. I know your recipe shows whole milk. But I didn’t have whole milk on hand. When I took the cake out of the oven and let cool…..it was moist because I had to cut a piece here there for assembly and put frosting on it. I put cake in a cake holder covered and wrapped cake holder in plastic and put into refrigerator overnight. I took cake out 2-3 hours before needed. It was at room temp when I served. It was a little dry. The cake dried out more the following day after initially serving. I’m thinking it was the coconut milk.
Hi. Your introduction mentions whole cream, but the recipe only has whole milk and sour cream. 8 assume you mean whole milk in the introduction, but wanted to check. I can’t wait to try making it!
Fabulous recipe. Very moist, buttery, and packed with flavor. The consistency & denseness is similar to pound cake. It’s lovely to have on its own. I combined another recipe with this & made an apple donut cake! Great to eat alone or combine with other recipes.
This was the worst cake that I have ever made. Very dense and it was dry. I followed the directions to a tee. I bake from scratch all the time and my daughter said I made way better cakes. I made this for my husband’s birthday.
So I wanted to do a trial run of them to see it this would be good for my sons birthday. I halved the recipe and did cupcakes. They came out sunken and fell apart when trying to get out of cupcake wrapping. They are yummy and the batter was! But I’m just wondering what I did wrong? I did substitute 2% lactaid bc that’s all I had in house. I would really love to use this recipe for cupcakes for my sons birthday and I love the airiness and taste.
I just made this cake and it looks very fluffy and amazing unfortunately it turned out super dry. I followed the recipe very carefully so I’m not sure went wrong. Not a fan though. I won’t be making it again.
Question, I am wanting to make a 2 tier wedding cake with your recipe but am afraid this cake may be not dense enough to be transported, however it will be made using (2) 8″ x (2) 6″ round cake pans, what do you think, will it work?
This was an amazing cake and easy to make. I topped this with strawberry cheesecake icing and topped with large white chocolate curls. I served it with vanilla bean ice cream and strawberry purée. It was outstanding.
Last night I just felt like a cake. I wanted an apple cinnamon cake, but I needed a yellow cake recipe. I looked at lot of recipes and decided to try, “best yellow cake recipe.” OMG this cake is good I cannot deny how good it is. I added diced apples and cinnamon and nutmeg. My husband had two slices before bed. When I find recipes I like they get printed and placed in my recipe folder with a smiley face. this recipe will join the others. Give it a try. My ingredients were not at room temperature because making a cake last night was not part of my plans; however room temperature makes the cake even better.
I have made this quite a few times and it is now my go to cake recipe. I have someone asking for an almond flavored cake instead. I would love to still use this recipe because I love the texture. Could I make this have an almond flavor instead?
Made this and it didn’t turnout correctly. I suspected my baking powder was to blame so I got a new container. I believe the culprit is the amount of sugar. 350 grams of sugar is a lot of sugar. ( At least I think)
This is an amazing cake recipe! I had to make a few minor adjustments because I didn’t have any cake flour (had to use all-purpose) and I misread the recipe and used milk cold out of the fridge.
I made this cake today. I substituted heavy cream for the milk. The cake sunk. It smells delicious but it looks horrible. I hope it tastes good. Is the heavy cream what made the cake sink?
You can use heavy cream with this recipe, just use half the amount and add the other half as water or thinner milk. I do this a lot and the cake turns out awesome 🙂
This cake is so incredibly moist AND delicious. The recipe is simple and easy to follow. This is my new go-to, and I highly recommend you try it. Yuuuuuummmmmmm
This cake was moist, light, fluffy, and delicious. It was perfect. I followed the cake recipe exactly and made no adjustments or substitutions whatsoever. Thank you. I did make a cooked fudge icing was the “icing on the cake.”
I made this cake for my husbands birthday. It was my first time making a cake from scratch and it was perfect! Light, airy, moist, and the buttercream was to die for! Thank you for the perfect recipe and easy step by step to help a first timer!
I made this yesterday and it was gone the same day lol.
I was trying out the recipe so I made only one layer. Yum. This will be my go to recipe for yellow cake.
Unfortunately the title is appropriate! We made it during the quarantine stage of life and I could eat all the cake! We used AP flour and full fat Greek yogurt as was all we had and was still fab.
This recipe turned out so well! I made the cake layers one night, wrapped and cooled in the fridge, and made the buttercream + finished the cake off the following night. Super easy process— the cake layers were so easy to level off and it turned out being the best layer cake I’ve ever done! The yellow cake really tastes like the boxed ones. I already loved the buttercream recipe as I tried it a few months back. I think I’ll try it with milk chocolate next time since I like things sweeter!
Hi, I’m in the middle of making this and you have baking soda in the ingredients list but don’t mention it at all in the recipe. Do I not need to add it?
Tess, can I substitute half and half for the whole milk? I always have that and would be able to make this cake on the fly. If not, I would have to plan making the cake and buy milk. Thank you
Hi Tessa
Your chocolate looks lovely I was just wondering if I cannot get cake flour what can I use instead or do you know how to make cake flour I’m in Dublin it’s hard to get that flour here
Yellow cake is my favorite, but I’m really trying to make cakes from scratch these days and avoid the boxes with all the preservatives. I’m looking forward to baking this.
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This recipe is absolutely outstanding. Followed the directions exactly (often, I alter recipes but not this one). I made cupcakes, thought about spritzing the cupcake papers with a little cooking spray, didn’t, and regretted it (trust me, you need to spritz the cupcake papers). Instead of icing these, I just sprinkled the tops with rainbow cookie sprinkles before baking. They’re so good, that’s really enough dressing up.
The ingredients list milk but the instructions never say when to add it…so I ended up adding it at the end when I realized my batter seemed thick and not with the rest of the wet ingredients like most recipes call for.
Hi Shelby! If you read the recipe, you’ll notice the whole milk is called for when adding the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.
Can you clarify the egg amount. Is it 5 total, three total and 2 additional egg whites? Or is it 3 total with 2 out of three egg whites?
You’ll need 4 eggs total. 2 eggs (yolk + whites) and 2 egg yolks (no whites). Hope that helps!
Made exactly as stated. While it had good flavor the texture was more of a sponge cake than a layer cake and not at all like the texture of a boxed cake mix or even classic yellow cake recipe. The cake caved at center after removal from oven even though it was thoroughly baked and toothpick came out clean. If you look closely at the pictures of cake in this recipe you can see it has fallen also and is filled with the frosting which is what I did. Was looking for something a bit more moist than the classic wilton yellow cake and this isn’t it.
Hi Mike! I’m sorry this recipe didn’t turn out for you. It sounds like you may have overmixed your batter, which can result in a deflated and spongy cake. Did you substitute any ingredients, and did you use a digital scale to properly measure your ingredients? I’d love to help you figure out what went wrong!
Easy to make and delicious!
Yay!
Is this as good with buttercream frosting ?
Not chocolate
Yes, absolutely! Enjoy!
does regular flour work?
No, I would recommend using cake flour! More details on why in the pink box in this recipe post.
I substituted the milk for a mixture of buttermilk and a little rum. SO GOOD!!!!
Sounds delicious!
I do not want to layer or frost. Can I use a 9×13 baking dish? I will have to substitute low fat dairy ingredients.
I made it for my birthday. Everyone said it was the best yellow cake they had ever tasted.
Happy birthday and YAY! So glad to hear that!
Can I substitute namaste GF flour in this recipe? Should I make any adjustments if I do?
I’m not sure, I don’t have experience baking gluten-free!
Best damn cake I’ve ever made! Easy enough for a homemade cake recipe, moist and fluffy. I didn’t have cake flour and made with regular and 2 of the 5 eggs were still cold-ish so the cake fell a little in the middle. But I used the chocolate buttercream icing recipe and no one knew a thing! this will be my go-to recipe for many years to come!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this cake!
I know this recipe said avoid diy cake flower tricks but I made it with AP flower + cornstarch trick once and cake flower the second time and my cupcakes turned out the same. I used kitchen scale for exact measurements and they came out wonderful each time. This is my go to birthday cake recipe now
So glad you had success with this cake recipe! Hooray!
Truly is the best cake ever!! The secret is in the beating after each addition of butter/sugar and then eggs. Gets rave reviews and freezes like a charm!! I bake it in a rectangular pan and after cooled cut into squares and wrap in plastic wrap and then freeze in a freezer bag.
I am so glad to hear you love this cake recipe!
So good. I definitely make this cake again. Highly recommend it for people who have a sweet tooth!
Thanks so much for the kind feedback, Anthony!
I’ve used this recipe several times now after experimenting with some other yellow cake recipes found on this site. So good!
So glad you love this cake recipe!
Hi Tessa! Thanks for all your sharing! I am really eager to make this. My child is turning 6 next week so I will be giving this one a try for his birthday.
Hooray! I hope she loves this cake recipe!
I would like to make this a three layer cake,what would be the new ingredients
Hello to make cake flour its easy its just all purpose flour and corn starch Google the recipe.
Can you sub coconut milk for the milk?
Made half the recipe in case it wasn’t a hit! I used whole milk Greek yogurt. Poured the batter into one small 1.5 liter rectangle glass baking dish. It baked up nice! Greasy from the butter! I don’t want to make the chocolate buttercream frosting called for…I will make my
favorite instead!
Can this cake be frozen?
I used coconut milk. I know your recipe shows whole milk. But I didn’t have whole milk on hand. When I took the cake out of the oven and let cool…..it was moist because I had to cut a piece here there for assembly and put frosting on it. I put cake in a cake holder covered and wrapped cake holder in plastic and put into refrigerator overnight. I took cake out 2-3 hours before needed. It was at room temp when I served. It was a little dry. The cake dried out more the following day after initially serving. I’m thinking it was the coconut milk.
Hi there! Can I substitute coconut sugar for the granulated sugar in the cake? I’ve read that’s it’s a good 1:1 substitute.
Hi. Your introduction mentions whole cream, but the recipe only has whole milk and sour cream. 8 assume you mean whole milk in the introduction, but wanted to check. I can’t wait to try making it!
Cake fell apart on me. Middle was sunken and edges slightly burned. I followed directions so not sure what happened. Tasted good though.
Fabulous recipe. Very moist, buttery, and packed with flavor. The consistency & denseness is similar to pound cake. It’s lovely to have on its own. I combined another recipe with this & made an apple donut cake! Great to eat alone or combine with other recipes.
This was the worst cake that I have ever made. Very dense and it was dry. I followed the directions to a tee. I bake from scratch all the time and my daughter said I made way better cakes. I made this for my husband’s birthday.
Why are my cakes always uncooked on the inside?
So I wanted to do a trial run of them to see it this would be good for my sons birthday. I halved the recipe and did cupcakes. They came out sunken and fell apart when trying to get out of cupcake wrapping. They are yummy and the batter was! But I’m just wondering what I did wrong? I did substitute 2% lactaid bc that’s all I had in house. I would really love to use this recipe for cupcakes for my sons birthday and I love the airiness and taste.
One of the best cakes I have ever made
I just made this cake and it looks very fluffy and amazing unfortunately it turned out super dry. I followed the recipe very carefully so I’m not sure went wrong. Not a fan though. I won’t be making it again.
Question, I am wanting to make a 2 tier wedding cake with your recipe but am afraid this cake may be not dense enough to be transported, however it will be made using (2) 8″ x (2) 6″ round cake pans, what do you think, will it work?
This was an amazing cake and easy to make. I topped this with strawberry cheesecake icing and topped with large white chocolate curls. I served it with vanilla bean ice cream and strawberry purée. It was outstanding.
I have made this twice now, and it’s fabulous. Everyone raves about it. Love the chocolate ganache addition
Last night I just felt like a cake. I wanted an apple cinnamon cake, but I needed a yellow cake recipe. I looked at lot of recipes and decided to try, “best yellow cake recipe.” OMG this cake is good I cannot deny how good it is. I added diced apples and cinnamon and nutmeg. My husband had two slices before bed. When I find recipes I like they get printed and placed in my recipe folder with a smiley face. this recipe will join the others. Give it a try. My ingredients were not at room temperature because making a cake last night was not part of my plans; however room temperature makes the cake even better.
I have made this quite a few times and it is now my go to cake recipe. I have someone asking for an almond flavored cake instead. I would love to still use this recipe because I love the texture. Could I make this have an almond flavor instead?
Followed the 4ecipe exactly but cake was pretty dry. I might have cooked it too long but it was not done in the middle. Disappointed in texture
Can you make this in a 9×13 pan?
One place says whole cream & sour cream but the ingredients say milk & sour cream, which is it?
My 8” cakes became too brown on the bottom and sides with a wet qspot in the middle. They were heavy and not light or fluffy. Too dense and course.
Worked it to the penny of the recipe. Can’t imagine what went wrong. A lot of trouble and time for the result.
Christi Winters
San Diego
Made this and it didn’t turnout correctly. I suspected my baking powder was to blame so I got a new container. I believe the culprit is the amount of sugar. 350 grams of sugar is a lot of sugar. ( At least I think)
Moist and tasty. Easy
This is an amazing cake recipe! I had to make a few minor adjustments because I didn’t have any cake flour (had to use all-purpose) and I misread the recipe and used milk cold out of the fridge.
Still came out amazing.
I made this cake today. I substituted heavy cream for the milk. The cake sunk. It smells delicious but it looks horrible. I hope it tastes good. Is the heavy cream what made the cake sink?
Yes, heavy cream is not a suitable substitute for the milk in this recipe. It’s far too rich!
You can use heavy cream with this recipe, just use half the amount and add the other half as water or thinner milk. I do this a lot and the cake turns out awesome 🙂
Could I add sprinkles to the batter just before baking to make a funfetti cake?
This cake is so incredibly moist AND delicious. The recipe is simple and easy to follow. This is my new go-to, and I highly recommend you try it. Yuuuuuummmmmmm
This cake was moist, light, fluffy, and delicious. It was perfect. I followed the cake recipe exactly and made no adjustments or substitutions whatsoever. Thank you. I did make a cooked fudge icing was the “icing on the cake.”
I made this cake for my husbands birthday. It was my first time making a cake from scratch and it was perfect! Light, airy, moist, and the buttercream was to die for! Thank you for the perfect recipe and easy step by step to help a first timer!
I made this yesterday and it was gone the same day lol.
I was trying out the recipe so I made only one layer. Yum. This will be my go to recipe for yellow cake.
Unfortunately the title is appropriate! We made it during the quarantine stage of life and I could eat all the cake! We used AP flour and full fat Greek yogurt as was all we had and was still fab.
Instead of sour cream how about cream cheese?
whole cream and a touch of sour cream
In Ingredients it calls for whole milk – which is it?
Hi Sharyn, I think you missed a line. The recipe uses both.
This recipe turned out so well! I made the cake layers one night, wrapped and cooled in the fridge, and made the buttercream + finished the cake off the following night. Super easy process— the cake layers were so easy to level off and it turned out being the best layer cake I’ve ever done! The yellow cake really tastes like the boxed ones. I already loved the buttercream recipe as I tried it a few months back. I think I’ll try it with milk chocolate next time since I like things sweeter!
Yay!!! I’m so glad to hear that.
Has anyone used this recipe to make a homemade Pig Pickin cake? Hubs wants that for his birthday and I don’t buy boxed cake mix or Cool Whip.
Hi, I’m in the middle of making this and you have baking soda in the ingredients list but don’t mention it at all in the recipe. Do I not need to add it?
Tess, can I substitute half and half for the whole milk? I always have that and would be able to make this cake on the fly. If not, I would have to plan making the cake and buy milk. Thank you
Hello because in my country cant find sour cream is there anything else i can use?
Hi Tessa
Your chocolate looks lovely I was just wondering if I cannot get cake flour what can I use instead or do you know how to make cake flour I’m in Dublin it’s hard to get that flour here
Patricia obrien
Bleached cake flour is what I tested this recipe with so I’m not sure how other options would work!
Hi! Bleached cake flour is not available in France.. can you tell me if l can make it?
Bleached cake flour is what I tested this recipe with so I’m not sure how other options would work!
Thanks Tessa.. l love your recipes! And hate substitutes just like you.. so l am going to make something else.. keep up your wonderful work
What can l use instead of sourcream in this recipe?
For best results, sour cream is necessary. If you do not have sour cream, maybe it is better to try a recipe that has the ingredients you do have.
I’ve used yogurt in place of sour cream and it’s worked very well.
Yellow cake is my favorite, but I’m really trying to make cakes from scratch these days and avoid the boxes with all the preservatives. I’m looking forward to baking this.