White Almond Sour Cream Cake

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We LOVE this White Almond Sour Cream Cake! It is so moist and delicious with a velvety soft texture and fine crumb.

This cake has been one of our most popular cake recipes from scratch over the years, and is definitely one of my favorites! We have a cake mix version (WASC Cake) as well!

Delicious Scratch White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com

How to Make White Almond Sour Cream Cake

This delicious scratch White Almond Sour Cream Cake is a creamy and flavorful cake, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture.

This is thanks in part to the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing, which calls ingredients to be added in a different order than the traditional creaming method. The result is a slightly dense, velvety soft cake (as with our chocolate cake from scratch and orange dreamsicle cake).

You can find the full white almond sour cream cake recipe below, but here is a quick look at our steps!

  1. First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch pans.
  2. In a small bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, almond extract, milk, & sour cream. Whisk until blended & set aside.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients (cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt) in the mixer for 30 seconds so the baking powder and salt will be well incorporated into the flour and sugar.
  4. Slowly add the pieces of butter a few at a time while the mixer is on medium speed. Beat for approximately 1 minute or until the dry ingredients are crumbly and moistened by the butter, giving it the look of coarse sand. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
  5. Next, slowly add approx. half of the egg mixture with the mixer on very low speed then increasing to medium speed for 1½ minutes. The batter will be thick and fluffy. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in two pourings, scraping the bowl and beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
  6. Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake pans.
  7. Finally, bake the cake layers at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 minutes then turn out. Makes 7 cups batter

Recipe FAQs

You will notice in the photo that the white almond sour cream cake itself is not stark white, due to the fact that we use the whole eggs (rather than just the egg whites), and butter instead of shortening.  

This gives the cake a soft yellow shade. The egg yolks and butter add richness and flavor to the recipe, and so we do not mind the yellow crumb.

If you'd like to try a cake that is lighter in color, don't miss our delicious White Velvet Cake! It contains cream cheese which adds richness and seems to lighten the color as well! Our scratch White Cake is another great option too!

I just love the balance of vanilla with a hint of almond in this flavorful recipe. However, as subtle as the almond flavoring is, if you are truly not a fan of almond, you are going to notice it.

No worries! Simply leave out the almond flavoring and you will have an amazingly moist and flavorful White Sour Cream Cake! You can substitute additional vanilla for the almond extract if you'd like!

This White Almond Sour Cream Cake is amazing with so many different fillings and frostings. It is hard to pick a favorite! In the photo, we have frosted our cake with our Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe. 

You can find a listing of our favorite frostings in the Frostings and Glazes category of our Recipes section. Here are a few more ideas:

Yes! Just as with most of our cake recipes, from orange cake to lemon cake, pound cake, and more, these white almond sour cream layers freeze beautifully. Make life easier and work well in advance! They will stay fresh in the freezer for up to three months.

Once your cake layers have cooled (or almost cooled completely), wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap followed by foil. For more stability, we often freeze each layer on a foil-wrapped cardboard cake circle before wrapping. Into the freezer they go!

To Thaw: Move the wrapped layers from the freezer to the kitchen counter. Allow to sit, still wrapped, on the counter for 30-45 minutes before unwrapping. Thaw to desired amount for assembling the cake. (Some bakers like to assemble their cake layers while still partially frozen as they are less fragile.).

Sour cream adds a wonderful richness to cakes and it also enhances the texture. The boost of acidity softens strands of gluten in the cake batter, making for a more tender cake.

Some of our other favorite cakes that call for sour cream are: Chocolate Bundt Cake, Orange Dreamsicle Cake, Chocolate Cake from Scratch, and Pumpkin Spice Cake!

Amazing White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe from Scratch! Super moist and delicious! My Cake School Cake Recipes, Cake Tutorials, and More!

More Cakes with Almond Flavor

We've made several almond cakes over the years! While this White Almond Sour Cream Cake has a light almond flavor, others like our popular Almond Cake recipe have a rich almond flavor.

We also have an a great Almond Cream Cake, Almond Coconut Cake, Lemon Almond Cake, and many more!

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy this recipe. Make sure to check out our full collection of Vanilla Cakes (which also includes yellow cakes and white cakes)!

Our Vanilla Velvet Cake and Vanilla Buttermilk Cake are two more popular options!

Keep this White Almond Sour Cream cake in mind the next time you need a birthday cake recipe, potluck dessert, bridal or baby shower cake, holiday cake recipe, and more.

We have hundreds more cake recipes and free cake decorating tutorials to share with you!

Amazing White Almond Sour Cream Cake Recipe from Scratch! Super moist and delicious! My Cake School Cake Recipes, Cake Tutorials, and More!

White Almond Sour Cream Cake

This super moist and delicious scratch White Almond Sour Cream Cake is rich with a velvety soft texture. Perfect when paired fruity frostings, chocolate frostings, vanilla buttercream, and more.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 0
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Ingredients

  • 3 Large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract (8g)
  • 1 tsp. almond extract (4g)
  • c milk (73g)
  • 1 cup sour cream (242g)
  • 2 ½ c cake flour (285g)
  • 1 ½ c granulated sugar (300g)
  • 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder (12g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened (170g) unsalted butter, slightly softened (Do not soften in microwave). It shouldn't be overly soft, but soft enough to easily dent when pressed.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch pans.
  • This recipe uses the reverse creaming method of mixing- the order of ingredients is a bit different than the traditional method.
  • In a small bowl, combine eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, milk, & sour cream. Whisk until blended & set aside.
  • Mix the dry ingredients (cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt) in the mixer for 30 seconds so the baking powder and salt will be well incorporated into the flour and sugar.
  • Slowly add the pieces of butter a few at a time while the mixer is on medium speed. Beat for approximately 1 minute or until the dry ingredients are crumbly and moistened by the butter, giving it the look of coarse sand. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
  • It is important to SLOWLY add approx. ½ of the egg mixture with the mixer on very low speed then increasing to medium speed for 1½ minutes -- the batter will be thick and fluffy. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, scraping the bowl and beating for 20 seconds after each addition. It is now ready to pour into pans.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pans 10 minutes then turn out. Makes 7 cups batter
4.43 from 57 votes (57 ratings without comment)

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317 Comments

  1. Hi June, I think our all purpose flour is the same as the plain flour you have in the UK. Cake flour is made from soft winter wheat and has lower protein than all purpose flour, giving you a more tender cake. This is the formula for changing all-purpose flour to cake flour …..for each cup of all-purpose flour remove 2 Tablespoons flour and replace those 2 Tablespoons with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. This recipe has 2 1/2 cups cake flour so you will measure out 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour remove 5 Tablespoons and replace that flour with 5 Tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk to blend it all together and it is ready to use as cake flour. Hope this helps.

  2. I noticed that most of the recipes you publish call for a mixing of the dry ingredients and then an addition of the butter to create a crumb like substance. I just want to know the school of thought behind this mixing process. I'm not a "super baker" or anything, but i don't recall seeing this method before. I am more familiar with creaming butter and sugar together and then adding the eggs and finally the dry ingredients.

    thanks

  3. Hi Angla, We first read about the reverse creaming method in Rose Levy Beranbaum's book TheCake Bible. She uses it in all of her cakes. She thinks there is less chance of over beating the batter causing a tough cake. We like using both methods, reverse and conventional. The reverse creaming method blends the flour with the butter before liquid is added, the flour is coated with the fat and as a result less gluten is formed. This will give you a more tender cake. The cake layers usually do not rise quite as high and the cake will have a fine texture with a tight crumb. You will get the best results with this method using a highi-ratio recipe, that is one that has more sugar than flour by weight.
    The conventional creaming method is what most people are familiar with, beating the butter then creaming the butter and sugar. This will add a lot of air into the batter and give you a lighter less dense cake. We like and use both methods. You can use the conventional creaming method with any of the reverse creaming recipes on the site. Melissa will be making a video soon demonstrating the reverse creaming method.

  4. Wow! I love that you ladies are so professional and quick to respond to your messages. Keep up the great work. You have a fantastic system!

  5. Thanks for this fantastic recipe! I will be making this from now on whenever I need a white cake! It tastes amazing as is, or I may substitute vanilla extract for the almond extract for a more classic white cake flavor. Absolutely love this recipe!

  6. HI Liz, Thank you for leaving a comment, so glad you like this cake! I hope you will try leaving out the almond, you will have a great vanilla cake. Since I am not a fan of almond flavoring, that is what I do.

  7. Hi Whitney, we have the weight measurements right next to the cup measurements. 285g is the cake flour amount. Hope you enjoy the cake!! ;0)

  8. This cake was awesome! Just what I was looking for....I felt totally weird whipping the batter so much, but it definitely turned out to benefit the cake texture ;)

    It did shrink quite a bit, is that normal? Texture was great though.

    Thx!