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
Some of my customers want a white cake but are used to the WASC. Can I use all egg whites and if so how many???? Or would it be better to use the new white scratch recipe and just add almond?
Hi Dene, I am not sure how the texture of the WASC cake would be using all egg whites (2 egg whites equals 1 egg) so I would use the new white scratch recipe adding almond.
Hi BeBe...I have been using a doctored (by my instructor) recipe of the original WASC from kakeladi on cakecentral since 2012. It included a box of pudding for each box of cake. Without having the original before the doctoring in front of me, I can't say what else was changed. Was using the Duncan Hines cakes at 16.5 oz, which had just changed from 18.25 oz. just about the time I starting baking. At the 16.5 oz size, it was not a problem; however, when it changed to 15.25 oz., something I was not aware of until around October 2016, because I had been more concerned with the expiration dates, everything went wrong. Since discovering this, I have determined that is what has been the cause of several issues I've been having since around July 2015, the best I can determine. Of course, it may be earlier then that, not knowing when it was they actually changed it. I've spent a lot of time in the last 3 months testing and throwing out cake. Everything I tried, just trying to get away from the box mixes, turned out mostly like a pound cake. The last one was so tight, there was not a crumb when cut. It was actually good, but not what I wanted for my customers. So, with that said, is this one like a moist pound cake, or more like the original WASC recipe with a larger crumb and really moist?
Hi Fran, We think this is a moist cake recipe. It is a bit more dense than the WASC doctored cake mix recipe due to the Reverse Creaming method of mixing the cake batter. If you prefer a larger crumb less dense cake, you can use this recipe but use the conventional method of mixing. I suggest re-writing the recipe in the conventional method so you can be sure you don't leave out any ingredients, I count them to make sure. I hope you like it, let me know what you think.
Hello again BeBe...I am baking tomorrow for a baby shower cake, and hoping this will turn out like I want it. I will most definitely let you know how it goes. Thanks for your quite response. Have a great evening!...Fran
Hi BeBe...I just took the cake out of the oven (convection) after about 26 minutes. With that said, I'm pretty sure that this is a recipe I have already tried, and decided against it because, #1 - it's too thick and not as easy to pour into the pans. I used 8" square, 2" high pans with heating nails in the center, no baking strips because they are very hard to get around square pans, probably because the pans I have are not straight sided. They have a little angle to them. #2 - I'm pretty sure I put everything it called for in the mix. If I didn't, it must be that I used AP flower I turned into cake flour and sifted several times. It domed in the middle even with the nails.
Thanks anyway. I have a straight up scratch cake recipe that I used recently, which turned out really good. The only thing that I don't like is that I have to cut the shortening into the flour/sugar mixture, adding additional time to my prep and baking. Hoping to find something that is actually a little thinner and easier to pour into the pans like the original WASC recipe before the changes they made in the mixes. This mix didn't even fill the pans half full.
Any thoughts are welcome...Thanks, Fran
I baked this sour cream almond cake. it was tasty but dry what can I do to make it more moist?
Hi Peggy- I'm sorry that you had trouble with the recipe! It definitely should not be dry, this is a really moist cake. I'm wondering if you used a digital scale to measure your ingredients (especially flour) by weight? That is the best way to know for sure that you added the intended amount of ingredients. For instance, scooping your flour with a measuring cup can give you more flour than the recipe calls for. If you don't have a scale, we recommend spooning it into a measuring cup a leveling it off with the straight edge of a knife. Aside from that, common reasons for dryness could be over baking or leaving the unfrosted cake exposed to air for a long period before wrapping or frosting. Finally, the recipe calls for cake flour and so if you used all purpose that may have effected the moistness also. I hope this helps! I hope you will give the recipe another try.
What if I used two teaspoons almond and only one vanilla? Would this be too much almond flavor?
I think my previous comment somehow disappeared. You should let people know that there is a high chance that this will come out gummy. There are other people in the comments that stated this as well.
Hi Stacey, I'm sorry that you had trouble with this recipe. This is a popular recipe with our readers and one that we make often. In fact, it's one of my favorites.
Your trouble isn't the recipe so much as the mixing method. There can be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the Reverse Creaming Method as it is so different from the conventional method. For instance, over-mixing the butter into the dry ingredients (beyond the coarse sand stage) or pouring your egg mixture in too quickly can negatively effect how the cake turns out.
If you look above the recipe, you'll see a link to the "conventional method" version of this recipe which is also delicious, and will give a fluffier result. Since this is the mixing method you are used to, I think that you will really like it.
Hello! I'm looking forward to giving this recipe a shot. I was wondering what the height was for one cake layer after being baked in the 8" pans? I also only have 3" deep pans, not 2". Do you think that it will make a major difference in the finished results? I've actually been using Rose levy's golden luxury cake recipe for quite a long time but believe it's time for something new! Thanks much :)