The Best Yellow Cake Recipe, Homemade from Scratch
The Best Yellow Cake Recipe, Homemade from Scratch. A moist, delicious, beautifully textured cake, paired in a classic combination with chocolate frosting.
Originally published April 2015.
A great yellow cake recipe is one of the most searched for among dedicated baking enthusiasts. I'm no different and have been experimenting with different recipes that I've found online for years.
For some reason that's probably stuck in my psyche since childhood, I always envision yellow cake as in an impressive three layers that just looks like one of the simplest but most inviting cakes ever.
It's part of the reason that I was never quite satisfied with a lot of recipes I'd tried. Many of the firmer textured cakes that were suitable for stacking were too dry.
A couple of the moister recipes were too soft and became too compressed under the weight. In developing this recipe I believe that I have finally struck the proper balance.
What makes a great yellow cake?
Butter and egg yolks are what gives a good yellow cake it's colour. The fresher your eggs the better the colour.
If you can buy free range organic eggs, you will see that the colour of the yolks is quite different. They are much more intense than commercially produced eggs from chickens that are raised indoors.
Finally, you should note that although it is shown in 3 layers in the photo, this recipe is written for a two layer cake, baked in 8 inch round pans.
If you want a 3 layer 8 inch cake, multiply the ingredients by 1 ½. If you want a 3 layer nine inch cake, which is a perfect birthday cake for large parties, double the recipe.
Frosting the cake.
Use your favourite fudge frosting on the cake or you can use the silky smooth chocolate buttercream frosting from this recipe or a simpler icing sugar based chocolate frosting found here.
Larger cakes will need about 1 ½ to 2 times times the frosting.
Love Scratch Cake Recipes?
If you love homemade cakes from scratch we have a great selection of soft textured, moist cakes ion our Velvet Cake Collection.
Note:
My son Noah, makes this cake all the time but his favourite is to make these as cupcakes with chocolate frosting. That's a great idea for parties and get togethers. Everyone loves homemade cupcakes!
In paper lined cupcake pans, thes should take 13-15 minutes to bake at 325 degrees F. Again, always let the toothpick test be your guide.
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The Best Yellow Cake Recipe, Homemade from Scratch
The Best Yellow Cake Recipe, Homemade from Scratch - a moist, delicious, beautifully textured cake, paired in a classic combination with chocolate frosting.
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour, sifted
- 1½ cups cake flour, sifted
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ cups sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, good quality
- 2 extra large eggs
- 2 extra large egg yolks
- 1½ cups buttermilk, or soured milk
Instructions
- Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Grease and flour 2 eight inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the sugar, vegetable oil, butter and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Beat the eggs in one at a time, then beat in the 2 egg yolks.
- Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.
- I always add dry ingredients in three divisions and liquid ingredients in 2 divisions. It is very important to begin and end the additions with the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter. As soon as it has no lumps in the batter, pour into the two prepared 8 inch cake pans.
- Bake at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
NOTE that although it is shown in 3 layers in the photo, this recipe is written for a two layer cake, baked in 8 inch round pans. If you want a 3 layer 8 inch cake, multiply the ingredients by 1 ½ and if you want a 3 layer nine inch cake (which is a perfect birthday cake for large parties) double the recipe.
NOTE: If you don't have buttermilk and want to use soured milk instead, just add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice or white vinegar to the measuring cup and top up to the 1 ½ cups mark with regular milk.
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Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 303Total Fat 14gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 81mgSodium 349mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 0gSugar 20gProtein 5g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
I noticed it calls for extra large eggs. If we only have large eggs, do I add one extra egg?
Great recipe. Others I've tried were either to eggy, or to dry. Here's a tip for those without cake flour: replace two tablespoons in a cup of regular flour with cornstarch and whisk together.
Help!! I was sooo excited to try this recipe. Tried it tonight, and both my pans overflowed all over the oven. I used (2) 8" inch circular pans which are 1-1/4" deep. What did I do wrong? 🙁
Those are quite shallow pans. Mine are 2 inches tall.
Hi Barry! Your cake recipes are so good. I was just wondering if you have ever tried the reverse creaming method and if you have any opinion on using the creaming method versus reverse. I'm used to some recipes doing that but i did not want to mess up your cake if I tried it
I've never seen much difference the few times I've tried it.
About how many people does this cake serve?
Up to 16.
Is there a demonstration video On how to make the Cake.
You didnt' see it in the post?
Do you have the recipe in metric units? Or at least for the all purpose and cake flour?
There are many metric convertors available online. like this one from King Arthur FlourKING ARTHUR FLOUR.
What adjustments would you make to use two 6” pans?
Calculate the area of the pans and divide the ingredient amounts accordingly.
I wanted to make a three layer cake and had only 9 inch pans, so I doubled the recipe as suggested. I think that makes a wee bit too much - I probably should have made a few cupcakes with the extra batter - I went ahead and poured it in the pans and they got little muffin tops - easily dealt with with a serrated knife. I also added a little bit more vanilla extract than the recipe called for - but otherwise followed the recipe closely including getting cake flour and the cake is moist and the flavor is terrific. Next time I will just 1.5x the recipe. This recipe is really quite easy to put together and gives you the home-made flavor and texture I wanted. Thanks!
I made this cake for my granddaughters birthday. When she visited this past summer she made it all on her own for her dad. It's so light and fluffy and oh so moist. Best yellow cake recipe I've ever made a big thumbs up.
I just left a review, but, I’ll comment, too. This is absolutely THE BEST yellow cake EVER. And I don’t even care for yellow cake at all! My husband requested a yellow cake with vanilla buttercream icing. Oh my gosh. I can’t stress enough how delicious, moist, and fabulous this cake is. I have found my forever yellow cake recipe! Thank you for sharing your recipe with the world!
That is awesome! Thanks so much.
I want to make ‘this recipe for a tiered cake, will it hold up under fondant ?