I use this white cake as the base for many other cake flavors. It’s the PERFECT cake with a soft texture, wonderful vanilla flavor, and tastes incredible with creamy vanilla buttercream on top. Cake flour, egg whites, and sour cream are the secrets to the best texture. This cake recipe is the base for my burnt sugar caramel cake, coconut cake, strawberry cake and pistachio cake, too!
Let’s start the day the only way we know how: with a buttery white cake.
Why This is my Best White Cake Recipe
This white cake recipe is adapted from my perfect vanilla cupcakes, a reader favorite. The cake is my definition of *cake perfection* and has become one of the most popular cake recipes on my website. Here’s why:
- Soft & airy crumb
- Moist, but not eggy
- Pure sweet flavor
- Stick-to-your-fork tender
- Completely from scratch
- Easy & approachable recipe
I love this cake so much that I used it as the base for several other cake recipes I have published including espresso chocolate chip cake, pineapple coconut cake, cookies and cream cake, and the others mentioned above. I even reduced the quantity of cake batter down to make the perfect 1 layer pineapple upside down cake.
White Cake Success Tips
- Cream the Butter: To achieve a good rise, properly cream the butter and sugar together. We have a crutch of baking powder and soda, but the recipe begins with that very first and imperative step: beating the butter and sugar together until creamy.
- Egg Whites: Use ONLY egg whites. No yolks. Not only will using only egg whites give us a pristine white cake, it will ensure that the crumb is not weighed down by the fat in egg yolks. Think about it: lighter confections such as marshmallows and angel food cakes only require egg whites. Same story here.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is the cake’s security blanket; it keeps everything moist. It plays the same important role in coffee cake, too.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour is almost 30x finer than all-purpose flour. Using it is a surefire way to achieve a delicate and delicious texture. It’s sold in the baking aisle and you can use the rest of the box in any of these recipes that use cake flour including this popular confetti cake.
- Room Temperature: Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature. When ingredients are the same temperature, they bind together more readily than if you had some cold and some warmer ingredients. Colder ingredients, especially egg whites, will produce a thicker batter and, since it’s cold, will take longer to bake. This changes everything.
To summarize, make sure you’re creaming the butter and sugar together properly, all your ingredients are the same temperature and you use egg whites, sour cream, and cake flour. The result is an ultra-light cake with buttery vanilla flavor, just like the kind you find at a bakery or from a box mix. But it’s all made from scratch in your very own kitchen. ♥
White Cake Decoration
While the ingredients in the cake batter don’t leave any room for substitutions, we can have some fun with a variety of frostings and cake pans. I prefer vanilla frosting, which I include in the recipe below. But I encourage you to play around with chocolate buttercream, rainbow chip frosting, or chocolate cream cheese frosting. For a lighter, less sweet option, I love pairing this cake with whipped frosting (pictured below). Each of these frostings are absolutely remarkable on this lovely cake. The vanilla frosting makes a lot, so expect a thick layer between the cakes.
9×13-inch pan: Want to bake a sheet cake instead? Follow my recipe note. A single layer white cake is easier to prepare, decorate, and serve!
I even used this exact cake recipe for Elmo cake and added chocolate chips for Cookie Monster cake! It’s such a versatile cake and always receives compliments from taste testers and party goers.
You can also frost this cake with whipped frosting:
PrintFavorite White Layer Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 10-12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This white cake recipe is buttery and moist with the fluffiest crumb and creamiest vanilla buttercream. The tricks are to use cake flour, egg whites, and sour cream.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (295g) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream, at room temperature*
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (yes, Tbsp!)
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, at room temperature*
Vanilla Frosting
- 1 and 1/4 cups (282g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 5 cups (600g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
- 2Â teaspoons pure vanilla extract (or use clear imitation vanilla extract for stark white frosting)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- sprinkles for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper rounds, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the cakes seamlessly release from the pans. (If it’s helpful, see this parchment paper rounds for cakes video & post.)
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy—about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamed together. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Add the egg whites. Beat on high speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Then beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients until just incorporated. With the mixer still running on low, slowly pour in the milk until combined. Do not overmix. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Pour batter evenly into cake pans. Bake for around 24-25 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is done. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy—about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla extract, and salt with the mixer running on low. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin, more cream if frosting is too thick, or a pinch more of salt if frosting is way too sweet.
- Assemble and frost:Â First, using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Discard (or crumble over ice cream!). Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Evenly cover the top with frosting. Top with 2nd layer and spread the remaining frosting all over the top and sides. Decorate top of cake with sprinkles, if desired. Slice, serve, enjoy!
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions:Â The cake layers can be baked, cooled, and covered tightly at room temperature overnight. Likewise, the frosting can be prepared then covered and refrigerated overnight. Assemble and frost the cake the next day when you are ready to serve. Frosted cake can be frozen up to 2 months if you have room in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-Inch Round Cake Pans | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Cake Turntable | Straight Spatula (for frosting) | Round Cake Carrier (for storage)
- Amount of Batter: If it’s helpful for using different size cake pan sizes and conversions, this recipe yields about 7 cups of cake batter.
- Whole milk and sour cream are strongly recommended for the best taste and texture. A full fat plain yogurt would work instead, though the cake may not be as light. Same goes with a lower fat milk.
- 9×13-inch Pan: Simply pour the batter into a greased and lightly floured 9×13-inch pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cupcakes: My vanilla cupcakes recipe is essentially this same recipe, only halved. If you want more cupcakes, you can follow this white cake batter recipe and use the baking instructions for the cupcakes.
Here are my perfect vanilla cupcakes. Today’s white cake is just as soft & fluffy.
Hi! Would I be able to used boxed egg whites?
Thank you!
Hi JE, yes, you can use carton egg whites. The carton should give measurements for substituting for fresh egg whites.
Hello, Will this cake hold up under fondant? Keen to do a 2 layer cake decorated with fondant.
Hi Kylie, This cake will hold up under fondant. Hope you love it!
Can I stir in confetti without changing the taste/ crumb? Thanks!
Hi Diane, You can fold in 1/2 -2/3 cup of sprinkles (jimmies, not nonpareils) to this batter for a confetti cake. Enjoy!
Question.. why not use buttermilk or veg oil at all?
Hi Shreya, if you wanted to use buttermilk, the best way to do so is to have it replace both the sour cream AND milk in this recipe. Use 1 and 1/2 cups of buttermilk, then leave out the sour cream and whole milk. For the best flavor, we recommend sticking with butter, but you can try coconut oil as you need a solid to cream with the sugar.
Seriously the best cake I’ve ever made. All of my guests loved it!! I made the icing with 3 cups of powdered sugar instead of 5 and it was the perfect sweetness. I will definitely make this recipe again.!
I’m wanting to make this cake for my daughter’s birthday but have 3 6×2 round cake pans. She wants a 3 tier so how could I make this recipe work for that? Thanks!
Hi Katy! Here’s our 6 inch vanilla cake recipe.
I’m thinking of making this cake and pairing it with the raspberry cake filling and peanut butter frosting for a PB & J cake. What do you think?
Hi JQ, sounds fantastic! Let us know how it turns out for you.
I made this cake for the first time it is in the oven as I type this. Wondering would a cream cheese frosting be good with this cake? Or would it be too rich or sweet?
Hi Hilary, cream cheese frosting would make an excellent pairing for this cake. It won’t be as sweet as the vanilla buttercream, because you get a little tang from the cream cheese.
I’ve made the recipe before and LOVE IT! I am wanting to bake a 9 x 13″ cake, then use a jar lid to cut circles of cake to put into a jar, frost the cake circles and ship. If I bake these on a Thursday, ship on Friday for a Sunday delivery will these hold up, freshness wise. Thanks, Michelle
Hi Michelle, we do recommend that the cake/frosting be refrigerated after about 24 hours, since there is butter in the frosting. If you have an overnight option, that may be your best bet—but use your best judgement!
Thank you for letting me know.
hi, (love your recipes) your FAQs say to comment below a recipe if you have a question, (as i dont see any email contact), but the recipe I have a question on has closed comments, so I am commenting here instead. (might be good to fix that) The question I have is for your strawberry cake recipe – the cake which uses this white cake recipe as a base. So my question is – can this application apply to other fruits/ berries? under your strawberry recipe, you mention your technique for first cooking the strawberries down to avoid a watery batter. So if i wanted to make a raspberry cake instead of a strawberry cake, would this be achievable? For Valentines day I would like to make a layer cake with the bottom layer being your red velvet cake recipe, and then for natural color variation, to do a raspberry cake layer and strawberry cake layer. Thoughts? thank you
Hi Sydney! We haven’t tested other fruits/berries in our strawberry cake recipe, but it should work for raspberries. Keep in mind that a lot of the flavor for the strawberry cake comes from the frosting, so we would consider adding another raspberry element to really let that flavor come through. You could try a raspberry version of strawberry buttercream if you can find freeze dried strawberries, or this raspberry cake filling would be a great option as well. Let us know what you try!
I have used this recipe to make two of my children’s birthday cakes. The taste is delicious, but even using cake flour both times the texture came out just a little tight and dense. Sally, do you have any recommendations for if I wanted to go for a slightly softer texture? Whole eggs maybe, or a combination? Thank you! I love your work!
Hi Celeste, over-mixing is often the culprit for overly dense cake, especially in recipes like this one that are light and fluffy. This post on how to prevent dry and dense cakes will be helpful to review before your next try!
I loved this recipe! I am curious though, I want to make a “rainbow” inside, so I’d like 4 smaller layers so I can colour them differently. Can I split the batter into 4 cake pans instead of 2? Will they burn before being fully cooked? Thank you
Hi Natalie, that should work fine, but I’m unsure of the bake time. Keep an eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Fabulous frosting! I added additional vanilla (clear, as you suggested) for that POP! Recipe allowed me to generously frost a two layer cake, and have some extra to smear on date/nut bread!
Sally, I’d like to make two of these recipes for a four-layer cake. My question: Is the cake sturdy enough to take the weight of four layers? Thanks so much!
Hi Diane, that should work just fine! You may want to use cake dowels for a little extra support, like we do when making homemade wedding cake. Hope you enjoy the cake!
Eager to make this. Any experience using Gluten Free Flour? Also, can this be made in 8×8 inch pans for a square shaped cake?
Thanks!
Hi Lyndsay, we have’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. This cake pan sizes and conversions guide will be helpful for scaling the recipe for different sized cake pans. Hope you enjoy it!
Your recipes are always my go-to ones. They have always been delicious and turned out awesome. This cake was amazing. I was going to substitute the cake flour by making my own, but bought the cake flour instead. The cake baked absolutely perfect. Came out of the pan so easily and was able to cut top off with no problem. The frosting was the exact amount I needed. Thank you for this recipe I will continue to make it over and over again!
I’ve made this cake twice now and it’s come out perfect each time! I saw other people in the comments had issues, but I can’t imagine why. Follow the instructions exactly- white cake is hard to get right, so being meticulous is crucial. Thanks Sally!
I love your recipes! I just started baking around March of 2023, and this cake comes out perfect for me every time! I always swap 1.5 T vanilla for 1.5 T of Almond extract because my husband loves the almond flavor. I also use a different frosting, but the cake is perfect.
I’ve tried so many recipes from you and they never fail. I baked this for 25 minutes at 350 using an oven thermometer and it was still soft in the centre. I eventually took it out around 40 minutes when a toothpick came out clean. However, I’ve now cut into it and while the flavour is amazing, the bottom looks very underbaked. If I try this again I’ll have to bake it in 3 pans instead.
This website is my go to for good baking recipes. Unfortunately this recipe was a disappointment. $34 on ingredients, hours wasted. I followed the recipe meticulously and the bottom of the cake was not cooked all the way and the top was soft, unlike any cake recipe I have ever made before. I do not recommend this recipe!
My daughter was so upset and hard on herself. She was trying to bake me a cake for my birthday and tried to make the cake twice. All fails. Spent 50$ in ingredients and all the ingredients were brand new from the store. She was upset and went to her room crying, because she wanted to do something nice.
Horrible instructions especially on the cake setting. Should’ve read all the comments first before baking.
I have never baked a cake from scratch before but I really wanted to make it for my daughter’s birthday. I followed all the steps. I baked it for about 40 mins and it had a nice golden color and I inserted a knife and came out clean. They came out of cake pans with no problem. I just went to cover them in plastic wrap for the night and noticed that they were stuck to the plate I had put them on. I had to use a knife to cut away so they’re still intact but now I’m thinking they were probably undercooked. Is there a way to salvage it?
Hi Sara, I’m seeing your comment/question now! The cake should fine; how did it turn out? It’s quite moist on the exterior, and it may not have been under-baked after all.
Love your recipes! My MIL turns 70 and wants an almond flavored wedding style cake. I’m planning to do 4 layers. I saw the post about using 1.5 almond flavor and 1.5 vanilla for the cake. For frosting do I sub almond for vanilla?
Hi Holly! We usually don’t find it necessary to add almond to the frosting as well as the cake, but you certainly can if desired. We would try 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond in the frosting.
I don’t bake cake much so I was nervous about trying any recipe but decided on this one and I’m so glad I gave it a shot.
I doubled the quantity and divided it to make 2 different cakes. I added cocoa powder and more milk to make one chocolate and was super nervous that I messed it up by winging it with the cocoa and milk, but it still turned out moist and fluffy. I think next time I’ll try a recipe for chocolate but good to know that this is forgiving enough to experiment with. Also, I live in a small town outside of the US and there isn’t any sour cream here, so I used Greek yogurt instead and it was perfect.
Your recipes never fail . This cake is perfection with a dollup of sprinkles.
Really, really good! Lovely soft crumb that held up perfectly to icing with your chocolate buttercream frosting. Testing for doneness was a little tricky. One pan took several minutes longer – maybe it was my oven- maybe should have rotated pans? That pan did deflate/ have a dip in the center that got filled with frosting :).
Hi Dianna, every oven is a bit different and can often have hot spots. Make sure you’re baking the pans on the same rack and rotating throughout bake time to promote even baking. So glad you enjoyed the cake!
I love this cake! I wanted a slightly almond flavor. How much almond extract would you recommend? And would you combine it with vanilla for a deep, nutty flavor, or just use the almond extract?
Hi Julie, We recommend using 1.5 teaspoons almond extract and 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract. Hope you enjoy it!
I love this recipe. How can I use this recipe to make 3 x 6 inch layers? If I don’t have enough baking pans to cook it all at once could I let tge recipe sit out until the first batch is done baking?
Hi Ash! We suggest following the recipe in this 6 inch cakes post for a three layer 6 inch vanilla cake instead. You can bake in batches, leave the batter covered at room temperature while you wait.
Can you use boxed egg whites?
Hi Ingrid, yes, you can use carton egg whites. The carton should give measurements for substituting for fresh egg whites.
My cake didn’t rise. I followed directions exactly but added 2 tbsp cake flour for high altitude. Haven’t tasted it yet as it’s for my sons birthday in two days. I’m so disappointed.
Hi Melanie, Are your baking soda and baking powder fresh? We find they lose their strength after about 3 months or so. The cake doesn’t have a ton of rise, but it shouldn’t be completely flat. It’s also possible it was slightly over mixed, causing it to be dense and squat. Let us know if we can help troubleshoot further, and thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
Hi Sally – My daughter would like a rainbow layered cake for her birthday. Thinking of using this as the base (as I love your recipes) and adding a gel food colouring to each layer. Do you think that will work and do I need to make any adjustments to the recipe? Or is there a different recipe you would recommend? Many thanks, Fiona
Hi Fiona! For a rainbow cake we recommend using this light and fluffy white cake or our vanilla cake. The vanilla cake makes a little more batter, which could be helpful for a rainbow cake. You can divide either batter into 5 or 6 layers to color and bake-– keeping in mind the layers will be thinner and require a shorter bake time. Or, for regular sized (thickness) layers, you can make several batches — keeping in mind that it’s best to make the batches separately rather than multiplying. Hope this helps!
Thanks Trina – Do I need to make any allowances for the food colouring gel?
You shouldn’t need to if using gel food coloring. Happy baking!
I’ve loved this as made, but now I need to make a large cake, with multiple emulsion flavors worked in–preferably a 3-layer 9-inch cake! But I’m struggling with the math. How should I go about adjusting the recipe for that?
Hi Angela, you can 1.5x this recipe for a 3 layer cake, or use our vanilla cake instead. Very similar recipe!