White Velvet Cake
White Velvet Cake. Developed from an outstanding Red Velvet Cake recipe, this white cake is a perfectly moist and tender crumbed cake that would make an ideal birthday cake.
Originally published October 2012.
Many people search for the perfect white cake and this White Velvet Cake is a cousin to our incredibly popular Red Velvet Cake recipe. As a reader recently pointed out, many people are sensitive to artificial colours.
A great buttermilk cake without the added dye is not only a great idea but a completely delicious one too. I've been wanting to develop a great white cake recipe anyway.
I always think a bakery bought birthday cake when I think of white cake, probably with colourful candy sprinkles on top. Any kid, young or old would love to have this one as their next birthday cake.
This turned out to be an outstandingly moist white cake recipe and was perfectly paired with sweet fluffy marshmallow frosting. It is really a cooked meringue frosting that my kids absolutely love.
I've frosted this cake with Marshmallow Frosting but any good vanilla frosting is great on this cake. Find the frosting recipe with our Black and White Cake. 
A very popular White Velvet Cake.
As with many of my baking experiments, I brought this one to the office, where I was the Pied Piper of gateau. People literally followed me down the hall to our break room as I carried it in.
I think this one now holds the office record for devouring speed. It disappeared in mere minutes.
If you like this recipe be sure to check out our incredibly popular recipe for Yellow Cake too. It gets rave reviews every time. People say it's the best homemade yellow cake they've ever tried. Check out the comments on the recipe post.
Can't get enough velvet cake?
Be sure to check out our very popular Velvet Cake Collection.
Like this White Velvet Cake recipe?
You'll find hundreds of other delicious ideas in our Cakes & Pies Category and in our Desserts Category.
It's easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram.
Plus you'll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too.
You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You'll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly meals and desserts too!
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.
White Velvet Cake
White Velvet Cake - developed from an outstanding Red Velvet Cake recipe, this white cake is a perfectly moist and tender crumbed cake that would make an ideal birthday cake.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups sifted all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups sifted cake flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons good quality vanilla extract, if you want pure white use clear vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Set aside.
- Grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans and line the bottom with 2 circles of parchment paper.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, shortening and vanilla. Beat well at high speed with whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Beat the eggs in one at a time.
- 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 9 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.
- I've frosted this cake with Marshmallow Frosting but any good vanilla frosting is great on this cake. Find the frosting recipe with our Black and White Cake.
Notes
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.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1 sliceAmount Per Serving Calories 298Total Fat 15gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 11gCholesterol 38mgSodium 275mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 0gSugar 20gProtein 4g
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.
Hello I really loved your recipe and will try it out soon but what is buttermilk? is it that type of liquid yogurt that is sold in bottles?
No, It actually is the liquid from milk left over from butter making. You should be able to find it in the dairy case but if not, add a tablespoon of lemon juice to skim milk as a substitute.
I don't bake with shortening (except adding to pie crusts). Does the oil add moistness while butter (which I would use instead of shortening) add richness?
It is more of a textural thing. Shortening will soften the texture.
Can this recipe be doubled for a sheet cake? How long would it take to bake?
The same recipe should fit in a 9x13 inch pan without doubling. Baking time would be approximately the same. Use the toothpick test to be absolutely sure.
Hi Barry, why do you use both all purpose and cake flour? What makes the cake moist, shortening?
The combination of shortening and oil plus the combination of the two flours gives it a unique moist, soft texture.
I love this recipe (and the lemon) and use it for all of my cakes. It's always very moist (and stays moist for several days) and has a great texture. It also stacks really well. Have you tried to make this into a chocolate cake? I tried adding 3/4 cup cocoa, but it didn't work. The cake was a bit on the dry side and was a lot more fluffy than the original. I'm wondering if melted baking chocolate would work better? Any ideas? I'm on the hunt for a yummy chocolate cake. I really want to make your recipe work because it is so moist, yummy and always turns out for me.
I must put that on my to do list. Cocoa acts like flour in this sort of recipe, so some adjustment of the flour amount would be necessary, I think.
Is the batter supposed to be pretty thin? Mine came out really thin. It's in the oven now, fingers crossed!
I'd say pour-ably thin but not watery.
I was looking at a similar recipe and it asked for 5 eggs,what makes the difference??
I wouldn't be able to hazard a guess without knowing the other recipe.
Barry what is all purpose flour?
Just regular flour. Shortening is a solid vegetable fat for baking, sold in blocks like butter. Used mostly in pie crust but you can buy it in any supermarket. It's sometimes in the baking aisle and sometimes in the refrigerated section with butter.
Hi! Do you think i can cover this cake with fondant or will it be too light to support it?
I dont't work with fondant but I would not recommend adding a lot of weight to this cake. It is very light.
I ganache mine and then covered with fondant. Worked great.
Made this cake for a frie
nds b-day and loved it. I know need to make this in cupcakes. Anyone can tell me how long to bake these and how my cupcakes it will make?
This may be a little soft for cupcakes but you can try it. Should get 2 dozen. Barry.
Tried this today and it's delicious!
Tried it and it was amazing, wish I could post the pics
If you got em you can email me barrycparsons@gmail.com I'd love to see them.
Thankyou so much for this recipe! One son is growing out of a milk allergy and can have baked milk but not butter yet, and the other is intolerant to flavours and colours, and this cake is the best recipe I've found that they both love! I recently made it for my mother-in-law's 70th birthday and it was devoured by all - not like your usual allergy cake. We iced it with the vanilla frosting from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World since the egg white in the frosting is no good for us.
One question - I'm in Australia and the temperature conversion is apparently 160oC but it took forever at that low temp. Even at 170oC it took much longer than specified. Can you clarify the temperature and time?
So glad you enjoyed it. Could be a slight difference in oven temps from oven to oven. I'd try it at 170 or 175 next time.
Hi Barry,
I want to try this for cupcakes. I see that someone else also was going to do that, but didn't post anything about the results. Any specific way that you might direct me in tweaking the recipe so they don't come out too soft? I'm assuming if they are too soft they'll stick to the liners.
Thanks so much and I just wanted to say it was so pleasant to stumble on a blog from Newfoundland (I'm from the rock myself) while searching from half way around the world for a great recipe.
Hi Irene,
Glad you've found my little corner of the web, Irene. I'm not sure what to tell you about the cupcakes because I haven't used the recipe for cupcakes before. With people asking about them, I'm going to try it soon and post my results. You are right, I am a little concerned about it sticking to the wrappers and that it is such a soft, tender cake. If it works it should be quite nice.
I'm thinking the balance of all purpose and cake flour might have to be adjusted but without experimenting I can't say for sure. I'd try switching about 1/3 of a cup of the cake four for all purpose to see if that gives a bit more structure to the cupcakes.
Tell me where in the world you find yourself these days and where you hail from here in NL. It's great to hear from expats. I've connected with many through Rock Recipes over the years. All the best, Barry.
Holy Cow!!! The most amazing white cake I have EVER had. I always considered myself a diehard chocolate cake kind of girl...boy was I missing out. Tried this recipe for a co-worker's birthday and it was an immediate hit! Just snuck down to the kitchen for a 2nd piece and those vulchers have already eaten it! Have bookmarked the recipe and am seriously considering making another one tonight for home!
Great to hear! I love the texture of all the Velvet Cakes on Rock Recipes. It's perfect.