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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).
- Baking powder & baking soda – these leavening agents help the cake rise properly. Learn more about the differences between baking soda and powder here.
- 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.
You can also use my Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe to frost this cake instead.
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.
My Favorite Yellow Layer Cake Tools:
More Cake Recipes:
Science of Baking Articles:
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2 1/4
cups
(254 grams) bleached cake flour,
measured correctly
-
3
teaspoons
baking powder
-
1/4
teaspoon
baking soda
-
1/2
teaspoon
fine salt
-
2
sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter,
at cool room temperature
-
1 3/4
cups
(350 grams) granulated sugar
-
2
large eggs, room temperature
-
2
large egg yolks, room temperature
-
2
teaspoons
vanilla extract
-
1/4
cup
(57 grams) sour cream or plain full fat yogurt,
at room temperature
-
3/4
cup
whole milk,
at room temperature
-
1
Batch Best Chocolate American Buttercream
Make the cake:
-
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.
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.
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
I have made a couple of recipes of yours from your website and cookbook – including this cake. I appreciate that you focus on baking (only) and it shows in the quality of your recipes and advise based on science and your hard-earned trial/error…we all benefit from that.
This is a super solid cake recipe. As an aside – it worked a lot better for me the 2nd time when the cheap springfoam pans I bought (mine are in storage) leaked batter all over the oven. That hurt. The recipe is simple to follow and clear. I LOVE that you specify weights for all the major ingredients which really speeds things up and helps with precision. The choc frosting that you recommended complimented the cake perfectly.
Thanks, and well done.
Hi Matt! So happy to hear that you enjoy Tessa’s recipes and baking science approach to baking! I’m sorry to hear about your mishap with your springform pans (we’ve all been there! Oven cleanups are the worstttt) but so glad this cake worked for you the second time and that you enjoyed the frosting so much! I’ll be sure to pass along your kind words to Tessa! Happy baking 🙂
I recently bought 2 Fat Daddios baking tins,5″X2″. Can you please give me the ingredient amounts.
Hi Raymond! We haven’t tested this recipe using that size of pan, so I can’t say for sure the steps you’d need to take in order to reduce the recipe to fit that size. It’ll take a bit of experimenting on your part, but please let us know how it goes if you give it a try!
Question, i made the cake exact to the recipe but it didnt rise…..stayed kinda flat, almost a little sink in the middle…..any thoughts
Hi Timmy! I’m sorry to hear that this cake didn’t turn out as it should! There are a number of reasons why cakes may not rise properly or have issues with sinkage. Here are a few of the most common reasons this may occur:
– How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
– How old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
– Another thing could be how long you creamed your butter and sugars together for, and how warm your butter was at this time. Both have a huge impact on a cake’s outcome. Have a look at this article, where Tessa discusses both and the repercussions on the resulting baked goods!
– Finally, your altitude has a huge impact on baking, too. If you live at a higher altitude, the leavening agents, and sometimes the flour, need adjusting. this King Arthur Baking resource has some great tips on this.
I hope that something here helps! Happy baking 🙂
Very disappointed. Made it twice and both times it overflowed over the 8 in cake pans and sunk both times. I have made numerous cakes and never had had one sink like this. I should have read the reviews before I tried it a second time.
Hi Jill! There are so many reasons why a cake can collapse. The first reason might be pan size and type. I don’t recommend going less than 2 1/2 inches deep, I always use a 3″ for more flexibility, just to be safe. I’d also make sure you’re only filling the pans 3/4 full with batter. The most common reasons: expired baking powder/baking soda (Tessa has an article here on how to check), incorrect measurement of ingredients, overbeating the batter in the last stage, incorrect/inconsistent oven temperature, underbaking the cake, opening the oven door too early, etc. I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer to verify that your oven temperature is accurate (most home ovens aren’t – it’s very surprising!) as well as using a digital scale to measure your ingredients if you don’t already use one. I know this is a lot of information, but hopefully if one of these is tweaked, it’ll help next time. I really hope you give this recipe another try as it’s so delicious when it turns out!
Can a Bundt cake pan be used for this recipe?
Hi LaTonya! We haven’t tried that, sorry! This recipe was written for two 8-inch cake pans. Let us know if you give it a try!
hello! i love all of your recipes, guides, tips, tricks, and well you ofcourse!
would you be able to do a marble cake with this recipe, but splitting up batter and adding some cocoa powder to it? i know that you have to be careful as you don’t want to add too much dry ingredients as it affects the cake.
thanks so much for everything!
Hi Elyse! We haven’t tried that, and cocoa is a very drying ingredient, so it would take some tinkering to turn some of this batter into a chocolate cake. If you simply add cocoa without other adjustments, the resulting cake would be very dry. Instead, I suggest making a half batch of Tessa’s Best Yellow Cake recipe, and a half batch of Tessa’s Best Chocolate Cake? You could try mixing the batters, but we haven’t tried this ourselves, so I can’t tell you how well this will work! Alternatively, I recommend making a layer of each cake, so every bite will contain both vanilla and chocolate cakes – they just won’t be baked together (and pickier guests can just eat the top or bottom half of the cake!). I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes if you give any of these suggestions a try! 🙂
I wished I would have read the reviews prior to trying this recipe because these cakes did not come out moist and also collapsed…
Hi Candi! I’m sorry to hear that your cake didn’t turn out! I’d love to try to help you troubleshoot this issue and figure out what happened, so you can make the perfect cake next time! Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe? Do you live at a higher altitude? What kind/size of cake pan did you use? There are so many reasons why a cake can sink that Tessa actually wrote an article about How to Prevent Cakes and Loaves from Sinking. I’d highly recommend reading through the article linked, fingers crossed it was just a minor detail that was missed. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I really hope you give this recipe another try!
This was absolutely the best yellow cake I’ve ever made. I usually prefer white but,my friend had been begging so I caved.
This cake has the perfect crumb and the perfect crumb. I did use another buttercream chocolate recipe that I prefer.
Thanks for a wonderful recipe, Margie
Hola Chef tengo una consulta quiero hacer esta receta de pastel amarillo pero necesito que quede mucho más húmeda, podría sustituir una parte de mantequilla por aceite? Si es posible en que cantidad seria para no afectar la receta…gracias de antemano por tu respuesta
Hi Xiomara! This is already a super moist cake, with the extra egg yolks and sour cream in there! Give it a try – you won’t be disappointed 🙂
Hi, is it possible to halve this recipe?? It’s too much cake for the 2 of us
Hi Lyly! Yes, you can halve this recipe and just make one 8-inch cake! 🙂
Hands down my FAVOURITE recipe. It is amazing on its own, amazing assembled into a pretty cake with fresh cream, and it is truly a no-fail recipe. Comes out perfect every single time. Family and friends, colleagues and even strangers love it whenever I bake and bring anywhere! Thank you so much for this wonderful wonderful recipe!
Hi Juliana! So thrilled to hear that you love this cake so much! Your comment made our day!! 🙂
My son has an egg allergy. I made this cake in my 4 inch cake pans and substituted the eggs, yokes, and sour cream for 1 cup of full fat yogurt. The cakes came out delicious! Wonderful crumb, moist and great flavor.
So happy those substitutions worked for you, Bryan!
Can I use this receipe as a sheet cake if I doubled the receipe according to pan size
We haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work! Of course, you’ll need to adjust the bake time. Let us know how it goes if you give it a try.
I have made this recipe twice and both times the batter collapsed. I think the three teaspoons is waaayyy too much. Both batches expanded and collapsed. I have spent 50 dollars in ingredients and its going in the garbage. They taste great but they are unusable.
So sorry to hear of your collapsed cakes, Tori! Do you bake at high altitude? If so, and you find that you normally need to make adjustments to a recipe for it to turn out, then I would stick to whatever you normally do. You can also check out King Arthur Baking’s article here for more help. If you don’t bake at high altitude, there’s a multitude of reasons as to why a cake can collapse. The most common reasons include: expired baking powder/baking soda (we have an article here on how to check), overbeating the batter in the last stage, underbaking the cake, or opening the oven door too early. If you don’t have an oven thermometer to verify that your oven temperature is accurate (most home ovens aren’t), I’d recommend getting one, as well as using a digital scale to measure your ingredients if you don’t already use one. I hope that helps, please let me know if I can help troubleshoot further.
I loved the cake. It did not sink. The problem is I did not make your frosting because my grandson only likes vanilla everything and it was his birthday. I love Swiss meringue frosting so I made it from a Martha Stewart recipe. She said you could refrigerate it overnight and it would be ok the next day. We took it out and tried to mix it up but it turned to scrambled egg butter and separated liquid egg whites.
I know it’s not your recipe but you’re so good at responding that I thought I’d give it a try. I would appreciate your input because I don’t really like the sweetness of American Buttercream.
Hi Claire! I’m so sorry to hear that! Curdling is a common issue we’ve come across when refrigerating Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but it can easily be fixed! Try melting a little of the buttercream in the microwave next time, about 1/4 cup, and add it back to the remaining buttercream while mixing on high with the whisk attachment. Switch to the paddle attachment on low for about 5-7 minutes to smooth it out and get rid of any extra bubbles, but that should fix it right up! Also, we’re with you that American Buttercream is way too sweet, but I’d love for you to try our recipe! Tessa nailed it, I eat it straight from the bowl!
Made this yellow cake, along with Tessa’s ganache and a vanilla pudding recipe I found online for a Boston Cream Pie/cake. The cake and ganache were delicious and the three items worked wonderfully together!
Ooo that sounds delicious! So happy you loved this recipe!
Wish I would have read these comments prior to making the cake. Mine also sunk even though I followed the directions exactly and read the article on why a cake might sink. Like somebody else mentioned, this cake recipe is just not a good one for layered cakes. I think I will just have to find a different recipe. Flavor is wonderful, but everything else was a struggle.
The absolute best homemade Yellow butter cake ever! It rivals the yellow box cake but better. Moist, flavorful just plain delicious!
Yay! So happy to hear that!
I made this cake and it was a little dry. I did not over cook it. What can I do?
Hi Shelly! Dry cakes can also be from mis-measuring ingredients. Do you use a digital scale to measure? Since your cake is already made, feel free to brush a simple syrup on top as that will help to add moisture and a bit of sweetness to a dry cake. I hope that helps!
Both layers of this cake are caved in the middle and high on the sides? do you know why? It’s my first try at this recipe for my husband’s birthday today and it looks terrible! I just reviewed all the ingredients and instructions and I followed them exactly. It also smells strongly of baking powder. I haven’t cut into it but I’m tempted to toss it (and all the money I put into ingredients) and start with another recipe. I make all my cakes from scratch so I’m not a novice. Any ideas?
I’m so sorry to hear that, Lisa! It’s so frustrating when a recipe doesn’t turn out, especially on such a special day. Do you live at a higher altitude? What kind/size of cake pan did you use? There are so many reasons why a cake can sink that Tessa actually wrote an article about How to Prevent Cakes and Loaves from Sinking. I’d highly recommend reading through the article linked, fingers crossed it was just a minor detail that was missed. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I really hope you give this recipe another try!
So like everyone else, mine sunk ever so slightly and took a little longer to make sure the toothpick came out clean. I did everything as you said (and as I’ve learned from your other recipes). The only thing I’d say that could have been wrong was that I didn’t use a thermometer because all ours are currently broken lol But I don’t think it’s too far off since most things I make come out pretty accurate. I even have those same type pans just not that brand (I have Wilton). This cake though was still DELICIOUS and the texture was SPOT ON. The only problem I had was it sinking a little and being a little brown on top.
Hi this is my first time making this recipe. I have no idea what I did wrong…I would like to send you a picture of how the cake turned out of the oven. I made this cake and the cake sunk in very bad. I used everything that the recipe calls for and used the exact pan size. Please help
Hi Camiel! I’m so sorry that you had issues with your cake! While I don’t have a way for you to send me a picture through comment, hopefully I can still help. There are so many reasons why a cake can sink that Tessa actually wrote an article about How to Prevent Cakes and Loaves from Sinking. Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? How about your oven, do you have an oven thermometer to ensure your oven temperature is accurate? One of the biggest reasons why cakes sink is due to overmixing the dry and wet ingredients. When you add in the last amount of flour, you want to mix until just combined. It’s ok if there’s still a few flour pockets left. I’d highly recommend reading through the article linked. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I really hope you give this recipe another try!
I’m not sure what is up with this recipe but it isn’t quite right.
I’m an experienced baker, I make cakes from scratch all the time. I made this recipe twice. The first time the cakes sank in the middle. I made it again, with brand new baking powder and making sure to measure everything exactly and not to overmix…they sank again. I have a brand new oven and a thermometer inside to make sure it is properly calibrated, so I’ve accounted for all of the reasons a cake usually sinks.
I’m giving it three stars because the flavor and texture is good, but you can’t achieve an even layer cake with this recipe in my opinion.
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear your cake sunk, Kathy! It’s so tough figuring out what went wrong without having baked right along with you. You’ve answered my most common questions (scale, oven, leavener, over mixing) that I ask, so I’m going to link our article about How to Prevent Cakes and Loaves from Sinking. Fingers crossed there was a minor detail that was missed! Do you bake at high altitude?
Making it again!
Followed to the letter. Sunk in the middle and was so soft that it disintegrated when removing from pans… such a waste of ingredients and time. 🙁
I’m so sorry to hear of your issues with this recipe, Ali! Do you use a digital scale to measure your ingredients? Did you substitute any ingredients? I’m linking our article here about How to Prevent Cakes and Loaves from Sinking. Hopefully this will help!
What is bleached cake flour? I live in India we don’t use this flour here, can I use regular fine flour instead of this?
Hi there! Check out the pink tip box above this recipe for more details about cake flour, which includes a link to our Cake Flour 101 article. We haven’t tried this recipe with regular flour as this recipe works best with bleached cake flour.
The flavor and crumb of this cake are awesome! However, I tried baking the whole recipe in a 9×3″ pan and it sunk in the middle while it was still in the oven, the cake was cooked through and tasted great so I wasn’t that it was undercooked. I am guessing since I used a different size pan than was called for is the reason why it fell in the middle.
Since 3″ pans are very popular right now I figured I would try it. Any suggestions as to what to do differently so it doesn’t sink?
Hi Karen! Unfortunately, we haven’t tried baking this recipe in a 9×3 pan, so I can’t offer any advice! We always suggest following the size pan the author uses for best results.
How does this change if I only have all purpose flour?
Hi Giselle! Please check out the pink tip box above this recipe, we discuss the importance of using cake flour 🙂
Hi. How do I adjust the ingredients for 2 x 6 inch round pan?
Hi Valerie! We haven’t tried that but recommend using Wilton’s Cake Serving Guide. Let us know how it goes! You’re always welcome to use a 2 x 6 inch round pan but then make cupcakes with the leftover batter as an option as well. Check out the pink tip box above the recipe for more details 🙂
Followed the directions exactly, weighed everything. Had a crumb or two sticking to the toothpick, so I know it wasn’t overbaked, 25 minutes. Looks amazing, wrapped it up and refrigerated it to frost on Father’s Day. Just cut into it…dry! So bummed, at least I know my frosting is delicious.
I’m sorry to hear your cake was dry! As you said you weighed your ingredients accurately (too much flour can cause a dry cake) and I’m assuming didn’t substitute anything, dry cakes can come from overcreaming your butter and sugar or overmixing your ingredients in general. The biggest reasons though are overbaking or using a dark colored cake pan. I wish I could help more! It’d be so much easier if I could transport myself to your kitchen lol!
Hi,
I tried your cake full recipe today and divided the batter into 4 equal 4inches round tin along with some leftover batter which I further put into muffin pan.
My cake sunk in very badly, all the four tins along with the cupcakes. I am not sure what went so terribly wrong though I am a home baker and keeps baking basic vanilla sponge. Not sure if the moisture was too much in the batter or the fact that I filled my tins a little extra because it also over flowed. I am terribly disappointed as I was planning to bake these small 4 cakes and then frost them. I did everything carefully from the oven temp to avoid not over mixing the batter. This has happened with me for the first time! Very very disappointed !!!
This recipe calls for two 8-inch cake pans. I would recommend finding a recipe that specifically calls for smaller tins as that can drastically alter the outcome of any recipe. I’d love for you to try this recipe again, but with the recommended size pans, and I’m sure you’ll love it! 🙂
Delicious cake, but I wish you’d included the height of the 8″ pans you used — mine rose past the edges and made a huge mess. 🙁
I’m surprised that this recipe has so many five star ratings. I followed the recipe to the T. Mine only rose on the sides while the center did not. It crumbles when I cut into it this is going to be a problem when I frost it. It is also too greasy. I had high hopes for this. I hate when recipes don’t turn out as the blog writer says it will.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had issues with your cake, Marty! Crumbly cakes can happen from a variety of reasons like over mixing the batter or not using a digital scale to measure your ingredients, especially the flour. Did you substitute any ingredients? As for the issue with the center not rising, that could be from the same reasons I already discussed. It could also be from expired leavening agents or accidentally over measured leavening agents. If you’re baking at high altitude and didn’t adjust the recipe, that could also be the issue. Hope this helps!
I’m having a hard time with the measurements I’m using a scale and I used the 254g of cake flour but just to make sure I did the measuring cups n leveled 2 1/4 c. Of cake flour and got different grams when I put it on the scale what’s going on??
It is very easy for people to measure flour inaccurately, which is why it’s so incredibly important to measure with a digital scale 🙂 If you’re ever without a digital scale to measure, I highly recommend measuring your flour by using the Spoon & Level Method, which I talk about in my article all about How to Measure Flour. Hope this helps 🙂
nice buttery taste…Even though I can eat Irish butter, I had to substitute out the other dairy…and it still turned out great. Nice crumb texture & taste. Thank you.
I used almond/coconut milk and then 1/4 cup mayo
With the 2 egg whites left over, I made a 7-minute frosting…good as well.
Sadly I made this and it exploded EVERYWHERE. I’m thinking that maybe 3 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda was too much, but honestly I’m not sure. Bummed but glad it worked for other people!
Oh no, Mae, how incredibly frustrating! I haven’t heard of this issue yet, although I’m thinking it could be a couple different things. Did you substitute any ingredients, like using self-rising flour instead of cake flour? Do you measure ingredients with a digital scale? Also, how deep of a pan were you using? I’m wondering if your pan was too small or too shallow. Let me know, I’d love to help you figure out what went wrong!
Just made this cake – used 8” pans. The batter rose up and over the edge of the pans, and then collapsed. Total disaster. I’m super disappointed. I followed the recipe to the LETTER.
Oh no, Peggy, how frustrating! There are so many reasons why a cake can collapse, but it definitely shouldn’t rise over the pan! I’m glad you were using 8″ pans…how deep are they? I don’t recommend going less than 2 1/2 inches deep, I always use a 3″ for more flexibility and just to be safe. I’d also make sure you’re only filling the pans 3/4 full with batter. As for the collapse, these are the most common reasons: expired baking powder/baking soda (I have an article here on how to check), incorrect measurement of ingredients, overbeating the batter in the last stage, incorrect/inconsistent oven temperature, underbaking the cake, opening the oven door too early, etc… I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer to verify that your oven temperature is accurate (most home ovens aren’t–it’s very surprising!) as well as using a digital scale to measure your ingredients if you don’t already use one. I know this is a lot of information, but hopefully if one of these is tweaked, it’ll help next time. I really hope you give this recipe another try as it’s so delicious when it turns out!
Hi – is “bleached” cake flour necessary? I hate to use any bleached flour. I’d like to try this for a friend’s birthday cake, but not sure if that is detrimental to the recipe. Thanks!
Hi Toni! I would definitely recommend bleached cake flour. You can use unbleached cake flour, but your cake might not be as soft and tender. More info on Cake Flour here: https://handletheheat.com/cake-flour-101/
I made this recipe exactly as written. Fresh ingredients, oven thermometer for accurate temp, etc. Not a single substitution. Placed the rack in the middle. It burned on the top and was undercooked in the middle. Cooked it a bit longer but it was a little hollow in the middle. Ended up quite dense, not fluffy which is what I was going for. But the flavor was good.
Hi Chris, I’m sorry your cake didn’t turn out! What kind of cake pan did you bake in? Were all of your refrigerated ingredients at room temperature?
Hi and thanks for the help. Yes they were room temp with the butter slightly cool to the touch, like you’ve taught us. Used anodized pans. Had to cook a bit longer for toothpick to come clean. My son and I love boxed cake mixes but noticed the white cake tastes so much like chemicals. If you ever have a white cake, I’ll be the first to try, lol. I really am trying to decipher what went wrong. PS, love your red velvet crinkle cookies.
Hi again – were your cake pans dark or light colored?
Helllllo, they were just plain old fashioned pans, no color or finish. You’re very sweet to help me get to the bottom of this.
Okay got it! I think the type of pans used may have something to do with what went wrong. I’d recommend using the cake pans I linked to under the “best caking pans” in the pink box above the recipe!