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 Tammy-- I'm posting Wilton's chart below which also includes batter amounts (per pan). Their serving sizes are based on a 2 layer cake. For a 12x18 sheet cake pan, they list 16 cups-but that is just for one pan. A double batch of this cake recipe was probably a little shy of that... probably between 14-15 cups.

    Although the batter amount was a little less, I'm surprised that it was only 1 inch! Do you think it was a batter issue or that something else went wrong? If the cake layer seems fine (other than being a little short), it may be that simply making a second layer to stack on top of it with filling in between would make things right.

  2. Hi Tammy, Your cake should have risen higher than 1 inch. Check the date on your baking powder, possibly it is out of date. Also make sure the butter moistens the dry ingredients in the first step of the mixing process plus making sure your beat the mixture 1 1/2 minutes after the first pouring of liquid ingredients. I agree with Melissa that at this point I would bake a second layer to have a 2 layer sheet cake. Hope all goes well

  3. Hello, my fiance and I are making our wedding cake using this recipe ( the practice cake was fantastic). We will be freezing it for our wedding next month. Would you recommend using moistening syrup before we freeze? Thank you.

  4. Hi Ann, We have frozen this cake many times and had great results without moistening syrup. We turn out each cake layer onto its own cake board (we cover our boards in aluminum foil so they can be reused). While the cakes are still warm to the touch, we wrap each one with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, then into the freezer. Freezing the cakes while still warm will make them even more moist. If you are freezing for only 7 to 10 days a double wrap of plastic wrap should be fine without the aluminum foil. However, with the importance of this event I would use it. When ready to decorate, take out of the freezer and let thaw on the countertop until condensation forms on the aluminum foil then unwrap and allow to thaw completely. Congratulations, and best wishes to you.

  5. Just wondering what the best frosting is with this cake? And where can I find how to make a raspberry filling to put between layers?

  6. Hi, I baked this cake today but put all the batter in one tin to make one high cake instead of 2 flatter ones. I had to cook it for 1hr 15min before it was cooked however when I cut it the cake was still raw in the middle. Do you have any advice what I did wrong. Should I have rather done 2 flatter cakes rather one tall one?

  7. Hi Michelle, Often it depends on the recipe, there are recipe sized for deep pans. When baking in a deeper pan you could reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and use a heating core https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=heating+core+for+baking+cakes&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8, this will help distribute heat to the center of the pan for more even baking. Always check for doneness by putting a toothpick in the center of the cake and if it comes out clean or only a few crumb it will be done. Also, when baking the cake over 45 minutes you may need to place a piece of aluminum foil over the cake so the top won't become too brown. I hope you will give the recipe a try another time using 8 or 9 inch pans.

  8. Hi Bebe and Melissa
    I've just made a lovely light batch of cupcakes using this recipe, which I've been wanting to try for a while! I live in the UK (so the conversions are so useful)and having seen it on cake central, just had to have a go.. They taste wonderful, thank you!

  9. Hi, I also forgot to mention that I substituted some of the flour for ground almonds (approx 30g)to enhance the almond flavour:-)

  10. HELP!!
    Hi, How long will this cake stay fresh when left at room temp covered in buttercream & fondant. I need to decorate my cake a week before a baby shower for a friend & have no other time to do it.
    Will it go rotten if left at room temp covered in fondant for a week?

    Thank you