WASC Cake (Cake Mix)
This easy White Almond Sour Cream Cake is so popular that it has long been referred to by its abbreviation, WASC, in the cake world.
It is a moist and flavorful layer cake recipe that is versatile enough for cupcakes, and sturdy enough to handle light carving or being covered with fondant.
WASC cake is a great example of a tried and true cake mix recipe that would please any crowd. Keep it in mind as a birthday cake, bridal shower cake, baby shower cake, and more!
Table of Contents
Why we Love WASC Cake
- It goes with just about any filling and frosting that you can think of, and you can easily change it up with add-ins and extracts to make it your own or create new variations.
- Super easy to make
- Has a from-scratch texture thanks to the sour cream in the recipe
- Is a great "base cake recipe" which can easily be transformed with add-ins and extracts.
How to Make WASC Cake
You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of the steps!
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Prepare the Cake Pans: Grease and flour two 8x2 round cake pans. (You could also divide the batter between three 8 inch cake layers if you would rather have an additional layer of filling).
- Dry ingredients: In the bowl of your mixer, combine dry ingredients and whisk at least 30 seconds to blend.
- Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, combine sour cream, water, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
- Combine: Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop after 1 minute to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl then continue to beat for the second minute.
- Pour into Pans and Bake: Pour into prepared cake pans and bake at 325 degrees....check at 35 minutes to see if middle of cake springs back when touched, a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake come out clean or with just a few crumbs attached, and the cake will be slightly pulled away from the pan.
Decorating the WASC Cake
The cake in our photo was frosted with our Classic Vanilla Buttercream. We used the beautiful piped buttercream technique which we teach in our free video tutorial for Cascading Rosettes of Buttercream!
There are infinite ways that this cake could be decorated, whether with a smooth finish, textured, or piped. If you are interested in cake decorating, please make sure to check out our collection of hundreds of free Cake Decorating Videos!
Recipe FAQs
More Doctored Cake Mix Recipes
We've made many doctored cake mix recipes over the years! These cakes are super moist, have wonderful flavor, and they taste like they were made from scratch.
Each of these cake mix recipes have been enhanced with additional ingredients to make them unique. Some have sour cream, some have instant pudding, fruit puree, jello, and more. There are so many creative ways to doctor up a simple cake mix!
Some of our favorites are our Easy Lemon Cake from cake mix, Easy Strawberry Cake, German Chocolate Cake from Cake Mix, and Italian Cream Bundt Cake!
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
WASC Cake (White Almond Sour Cream)
Ingredients
- 1 box white cake mix, sifted (15.25 oz) (we use cake mix without pudding in the mix) This recipe will work for yellow cake mix as well.
- 1 cup all purpose flour (121g)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- generous dash of salt
- 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (greek yogurt is fine also) (242g)
- ¼ Cup Canola Oil (54g)
- 1 cup water (240g)
- 3 whole eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla (8g)
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (If you don't want almond, you can substitute additional vanilla) (2g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Grease and flour two 8x2 round cake pans. (You could also divide the batter between three 8 inch cake layers if you would rather have an additional layer of filling).
- In the bowl of your mixer, combine dry ingredients and whisk at least 30 seconds to blend.
- In another bowl, combine sour cream, water, oil, eggs, & flavorings. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stop after 1 minute to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl then continue to beat for the second minute.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 degrees....check at 35 minutes to see if middle of cake springs back when touched, a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake come out clean or with just a few crumbs attached, and the cake will be slightly pulled away from the pan.
- We bake at 325 degrees to decrease the height of the dome on the cakes.
- Makes about 7 cups of batter.
Hi, it is almond extract
Hi Melissa/Bebe
Have either of you tried making this recipe with the smaller size Betty Crocker mix yet? I have 3 orders that I was about to make until I realized I had one box that was 510g (18.25oz) and the other 461g (sorry...don't know the oz conversion!)...one thing to note is the added ingredients (oil, eggs and water) amounts didn't change from the old mix to the new mix.
Will this change also affect the other doctored recipes (ie: one with mayo added)? So frustrating since we can only readily find Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker in Canada :(
Any help would be appreciated...
Thanks
Has anyone tried using fat free sour cream in this cake?
If this is a pretty dense cake, is it not easy to fill? We are planning a test run on a few versions for my sister's wedding this fall, and I was thinking of trying a filled cupcake like this... almond cake with maybe a raspberry filling...
Hi Courtney, it would be fine for a filled cupcake. Raspberry filling would be delicious
I've used this recipe several times for cupcakes and while they taste delicious, I find that the tops get sticky after they sit a little while. Have you had the same experience? Do you have a recipe that might work better for vanilla cupcakes? I like that the cupcakes are more dense but really dislike the sticky tops. Thanks!
yes what do you do if the top is sticky, also does how you mix the cake have anything to do with it getting air pockets or crumbing up. please if you dont mind say exactly how to mix the ingredients, and blending time
Hi -- I don't worry about the sticky tops. I haven't noticed them being excessively sticky with this recipe, but now and then I do notice a little bit of tackiness. Wrapping the cakes with plastic wrap and freezing, while still warm probably does add to the amount of moisture on the top. I don't know if you do this step, but we often do. When this happens, I just frost right over it--it doesn't effect a thing. (However you can simply trim off the tops with a serrated knife if you'd like.) --The important thing is that the cakes and cupcakes are fully baked.
We mix cake batter approx 2 minutes (stopping to scrape the sides after the first minute). The best cure for air pockets is to whack the batter filled pans on the countertop a time or two just before you place into the oven. This brings air pockets to the top.
I love this recipe! Used it tons, but am looking for a true white colored cake. Can i just use the egg whites in this recipe?
Thanks for your reply Melissa. Is this the recipe you'd recommend for cupcakes? I like it more for cakes than cupcakes, but am still searching for a good cupcake recipe that stays moist without those sticky tops! I find them a little messier to eat. They stick to your fingers. Any other suggestions?
Hi Karen- If you like doctored mixes, my favorite recipe is this one--the cupcakes bake up a little fluffier. I don't notice sticky tops :0) --
https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes-tutorials/white-cake/
Hi cakesbycolleen, actually I haven't made it with 4 egg whites instead of whole eggs, but I think it should be fine and you would have a whiter cake.