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WASC Cake (Cake Mix)

Last Updated On: November 11, 2023 | Published: April 15, 2011 by Melissa Diamond | 486 Comments
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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!

WASC Cake, sliced. Frosted with pink buttercream.

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!

  1. Preheat: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. 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).
  3. Dry ingredients: In the bowl of your mixer, combine dry ingredients and whisk at least 30 seconds to blend.
  4. Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, combine sour cream, water, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
  5. 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.
  6. 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!

White Almond Sour Cream Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe

Recipe FAQs

We love almond desserts and so for us, the hint of almond in this cake recipe is delicious.

However, if you are not a fan of almond, no problem! Simply leave the almond flavoring out and you will have a fantastic White Sour Cream Cake recipe to serve your friends and family. You can substitute extra vanilla if you'd like!

Yes we do! Don't miss our White Almond Sour Cream Cake from Scratch!

We discovered this popular White Almond Sour Cream Cake from cake mix years ago on CakeCentral.com. If you hop over to their site, I'm sure it is still there, along with years worth of variations and conversations about it ;0)!

Some variations call for vegetable oil in addition to the sour cream, others don't.

We have changed our White Almond Sour Cream Recipe over the years to include canola oil just for a bit more moisture (although the additional fat from the sour cream in the recipe does a good job off this also!)

We love sour cream in both cake mix recipes and cake recipes from scratch! It is an ingredient that adds richness and softens the texture of the cake.

It also makes it slightly more dense. In the case of cake mix recipes, it gives the cake a from-scratch texture.

We've made many favorite cakes that contain sour cream. A few favorites are our easy Marble Cake from Cake Mix, easy Chocolate Mousse Cake, scratch Pineapple Pound Cake, and scratch Chocolate Sour Cream Cake!

No, this popular WASC cake is not a true white cake. Although it starts with a box of white cake mix, it uses whole eggs. The egg yolks add richness but also a yellow shade. I consider this recipe to be a vanilla cake. Still delicious! We hope that you enjoy it! (As a side note, our scratch White Velvet Cake is our lightest "white" cake.)

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!

White Almond Sour Cream Cake- A Doctored Cake Mix Recipe

WASC Cake (White Almond Sour Cream)

BY Melissa and Bebe
This delicious White Almond Sour Cream Cake is a great, flavorful go-to doctored cake mix recipe. Many of our doctored cake mix cakes are based on this popular recipe!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Course: Cakes and Cupcakes
Servings: 15 servings
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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.

Notes

Freezing: These WASC cake layers can be made ahead and frozen. When freezing, we like to wrap each layer individually with plastic wrap and then foil. (You can place each layer on a foil-wrapped cake cardboard before wrapping for extra stability).
Freeze up to 3 months. To thaw, place on the kitchen counter, still wrapped for 30-45 minutes. Then unwrap and continue thawing to desired amount. Some bakers prefer to decorate their cakes while still partially frozen, as they are less fragile and easier to handle.
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486 Comments

  1. Hi Patty, I have used milk in other cake mix recipes but I have not used it in this one because of the sour cream. Cake mixes are usually very forgiving so I think it could work. Let me know how things go.

    Reply

  2. I have not tried this recipe yet but. I am wanting to do the pure white and also want to do a yellow. Can you tell me if there is anything I would need to adjust on either? Also will be baking in 3 8 inch pans so should I adjust time and temperature?

    Reply

  3. Hi Traci, To make a white cake using this recipe. Begin with a white cake mix, use 4 egg whites instead of 3 whole eggs and use clear vanilla extract. We most often use Duncan Hines Classic cake mix. If you plan to use three 8 inch round pans, bake at 325 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Keep an eye on the cakes.

    Reply

  4. Hello! I tried this recipe last night and it was a touch too sweet for me. Could I half the sugar? Would that affect the moisteness?

    Reply

  5. Hi Lisa, Since this recipe begins with a cake mix, and they are very forgiving, I think you could try reducing to 3/4 cup of sugar.

    Reply

  11. Hi Carol, This recipe makes 7 cups of batter. A 12x18 sheet pan can hold 14 cups of batter so you will need to double the recipe. It will be fine to bake and freeze your cake now. Freezing while the cake is warm actually makes it more moist. Wrap in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. If the cake is wrapped airtight it can be frozen for up to 2 months with no problem. When you are ready to frost, remove from the freezer and allow to thaw on the countertop. When condensations forms on the aluminum foil, remove the foil and allow to continue to thaw. Below is a link to a Cake Batter Amounts Chart that you may find helpful.

    Reply

  12. Can you use cake flour (1 1/4 cups) in this recipe for a finer texture or would it be too fine to hold up?

    Reply