White Almond Sour Cream Cake
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!
Table of Contents
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!
- First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch pans.
- In a small bowl, combine eggs, vanilla, 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.
- 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.
- Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake pans.
- 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
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!
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White Almond Sour Cream Cake
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)
- ⅓ 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
Hi Rosa, If you only have all-purpose flour and want to make cake flour for this recipe. Measure out 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, remove 5 Tablespoons of the all purpose flour and replace it with 5 Tablespoons cornstarch. You do not need to make any changes to the salt or baking powder. When you have all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl, whisk to blend all together. Let me know if you have other questions.
Hi Lois, We never bake in 3 inch deep pans, just personal preference. This recipe makes 7 cups batter. According to the Wilton Cake Chart,
you would use 5 cups for one pan. We used 3 1/2 cups batter in our 2 inch deep pans (Wilton recommends 4 cups). So if you want to fill two 3inch pans 1/2 to 2/3's full you would need to double the recipe. Do you usually bake in 3 inch deep pans? With some deep pans the outside of the cake will be done before the center so you might need to use bake even strips as well as a rose nail in the center. Hope all goes well.
Would really appreciate if someone could help me out on my problem why my cakes are very wet & the cake has a very fine pudding like consistency.
If I need to make a white cake, can I sub 3-4 egg whites for the whole eggs?
@Lorraine- Hmm... I'm not sure why your cake has a pudding-like consistency. I'm assuming that you've ruled out that your cakes were not under baked. This cake has a very fine crumb and is very moist, and the reverse creaming method makes it slightly more dense. It may be that you aren't used to this method of mixing. For instance, when mixing the butter into the dry ingredients, you should stop while the mixture is too crumbly. If you mix for too long, it can change the texture of the cake. This is just a guess as to what may have gone wrong. You can find our tutorial on the Reverse Creaming Method here:
https://www.mycakeschool.com/reverse-creaming-method-of-mixing-a-cake-video-tutorial/
If you'd like to try this recipe using the traditional method of mixing, you can find that recipe here. It is the same ingredients, but with the more traditional order. The texture will be a bit fluffier.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/images/2015/11/White-Almond-Sour-Cream-Cake-.pdf
We actually prepare this recipe in our Bake a Cake from Start to Finish Video:
https://www.mycakeschool.com/video-tutorials/start-finish-tutorial/
I hope this helps!!
Hello I am using this recipe to make a half sheet cake, how many cups of batter would that take?
HI Shanell, The recipe makes 7 cups of batter. If your 1/2 sheet is 11 x 15 you will need 11 cups of batter. You will need to double the recipe, some batter will be left over for cupcakes or an 8" round. If your 1/2 sheet is 12 x 18, you will need 14 cups batter.
Hi there - my sister made this cake and it was absolutely amazing! I am going to be making it now as well, however am wondering if I need to change anything if I'm using 8-inch pans (also I use one so I have to let half the batter sit for a while before round 2)? I am pretty sure my sister just used the recipe as is but thought I'd check in seeing as you reply so quickly... Thanks!
Sorry one more question - can I substitute the almond extract for more vanilla extract if I want more of a vanilla flavour?
Hi Carmel, So happy you like the recipe! Baking the recipe in 8 inch pans is fine. It is always best to bake both layers at the same time, but if both cake pans will not fit your oven, you have no choice. The second pan may not rise as high as the first, but should be ok. If you would like to have a vanilla cake, just leave out the almond flavoring and keep the vanilla flavoring at 2 teaspoons. This is what I often do because I am not a fan of almond flavoring. Have you baked using the Reverse Creaming Method? If not, you might like to watch Melissa's video on the method. Here is a link to that video, https://www.mycakeschool.com/reverse-creaming-method-of-mixing-a-cake-video-tutorial/
Thanks for the quick reply! I actually just have only one of the pans. They are phenomenal pans from England that are no longer available in Canada so... one it is! I always do this and usually have no problem with the chocolate cake I do. It won't bother me if they are different heights. Thank you - I haven't (I don't think) so I will definitely watch the video.
Also what percent sour cream is best? I will be using Skim Milk so I assume a heavier sour cream then? Or am I wrong?
Yes, a heavier sour cream......not the reduced fat.