White Cake from Scratch
Need a fantastic recipe for a White Cake from Scratch? This white layer cake is amazing.
It is delicious, very moist, has a wonderful flavor, and holds up well to fondant. This white cake has become a new favorite for us.
It has a very fine crumb, and compared to some of our other white cakes (homemade white cake and white velvet cake), it is slightly denser.
Table of Contents
The Perfect Scratch Cake Recipe
Many years ago, when I first began to experiment with cake decorating, I baked with doctored cake mix recipes exclusively. They taste great, are super moist, consistent, and simple.
I was convinced that scratch cakes-especially white cakes and chocolate scratch cakes were-underwhelming. There's nothing sadder than a gorgeous slice of cake that is dry when you take a bite of it.
Well, here we are, more than ten years later, and we have hundreds of cake recipes from scratch that we just love! This was one of the first.
How White is the Cake?
Some white cakes are snow white- these are the ones that use clear vanilla, no butter, and egg whites.
While this white cake is light in color, it does have a slight yellow tint from the butter and buttermilk. But we are okay with this because of the richness that it adds!
For an even whiter cake, we have a delicious White Velvet Cake recipe which uses softened cream cheese in the cake batter- this lightens the shade of the cake while also enhancing the texture and richness. It's another great one for you list!
The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing
Have you heard of the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing? With this mixing method, ingredients are added in a different order than with the conventional (aka creaming) method of mixing.
The results are a slightly denser cake with a finer crumb and a more velvety texture. You can see in the photo above that this cake as a fine crumb.
If you are unfamiliar with the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing and would like to learn more, you can find our link to a free to tutorial on the technique beneath the recipe!
*This recipe works well for cupcakes also, but as with most scratch recipes on our site, there is very little dome.
**For more information on the Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing, check out our post and video tutorial on the method! Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
Frostings that taste great with White Cakes
The buttercream frosting that we used in the photo is our Classic Vanilla Buttercream, however when it comes to pairing frosting flavors with this delicious homemade white cake, the options are endless! Here are other favorites to consider!:
More Vanilla Cakes!
We have more white cakes, vanilla cakes, and yellow cakes for you to try! You can find them all in our section of Vanilla Cakes.
Some of the most popular are our Homemade White Cake, Vanilla Velvet Cake, White Velvet Cake, and Buttermilk Pound Cake!
Enjoy the Recipe!
Thanks so much for stopping by. We hope that you'll come back again soon.
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 Cake from Scratch
This moist, delicious, and versatile white cake recipe is amazing!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups (350g) sugar
- 2 ½ cups (285g) cake flour
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
- 1Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (19 g) baking powder
- 5 egg whites ( you can separate egg white from whole eggs or use ⅔ cup from a carton of pasteurized egg whites found in the refrigerated section of grocery store)
- 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla
- 1 cup (242g) buttermilk
- ⅓ cup (72g) vegetable oil
- 10 Tablespoons (1 stick + 2T ) (141g) unsalted butter, slightly softened (do not microwave) I cut the butter into ½ inch slices onto waxed paper a short while before I need it. Mine is on the wax paper only 6 -7 minutes. It should still feel cold to the touch. If it becomes too soft, refrigerate for a few minutes.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
- Grease and flour two 8 x 2 inch round cake pans
- In the bowl of your mixer add the dry ingredients, sugar, flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk for at least 30 seconds so the ingredients are well combined.
- In a separate bowl, add the egg whites, buttermilk, vanilla and oil. Stir with a fork to combine.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the slices of butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat until the dry ingredients look crumbly and moistened by the butter. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add ½ of the egg mixture, increase to medium speed and mix for 1 ½ minutes, the batter will become thick and fluffy. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- Let the cakes cool in the pans 10 minutes, then turn out.
- 6 cups of batter
I have tried a number white cake recipes over the years and they all left me asking the same question...why bother? That is, until now. Fantastic recipe! The method used was very easy and my cake was so tender and moist. I think the use of oil and buttermilk makes a huge difference. None of the other white cakes I've made use oil or buttermilk and the always turn out too dry and crumbly. I like a little almond flavor in my white cake, so I used 1 & 3/4 tsp vanilla and 1/4 tsp almond. Delicious!
Hi Carol, I can see how that would be helpful, I'll try to work on that for you.
Hi Rebekah, Wonderful!! We are thrilled that you like the recipe! Thank you so much for posting your review and the addition of almond does sound good!
Hello, I was trying to bake this recipe but something I made wrong because at 325F was for an hour and when I came out of the pan the bread is sticky in the pan, please could you help me with any tip I grease the pan with shortening and flour, the recipe is so delicious!!
I forgot say that I always use my oven at 350F. Thanks
Hi Alma, I am sorry that you had a problem. Your cake should definitely have been done and not sticky before 1 hour of baking. Are you baking in two 8 inch pans that are 2 inches deep? You might need to buy an oven thermometer to check if your oven is heating to the correct temperature. You can bake this recipe at 350 degrees, check for the cake to be done at 30 to 35 minutes. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached, it is done.
I love baking and I would like to say I'm experienced in Pinterest {scratch} recipes. My mother's favorite cake is white w/ chocolate buttercream so, for her birthday, I stumbled upon this recipe and decided to give it a try. Sadly, the baking process to a horrid turn and the cakes decided to bubble over the 8" round pans and made a mess. I reread directions but could not find my mistake. I carefully redid the process (starting over obviously) and was careful to watch thicknesses, descriptions, measurements, etc. In hopes that another curious baker will attempt this I would like to give a little advice: The second time around I didn't use all of the egg white mixture and I added two more tablespoons of softened butter to the crumble mix. I also used two 9" round pans to prevent overflow.
Hi BeBe,
I divided the batter in two 6"x 2" and one 8"x3" because I needed a small cake for test I fill the 6" with less of two cup (464g) I tried two times, and the second time I increase the temperature to 350F when have 35 minutes and do not done and after 25 minute was done, tomorrow I will try again but with cupcake and I will try at 350F with the tip from Melissa and I let you know how it works. Thank you for your help!!
I hope all goes well.
I did it!! with the oven to 350F and 1/4 cup less the white batter and I used the butter with exactly 6 minutes out of the fridge, the time of cooking was 35 minutes and the white cake is so delicious!!! Thank you!
Hi Alma, Wonderful!! Thank you for letting us know. We are so happy that you like the cake!
Hi, thank you for sharing your recipes. But I have a question, you call this cake a white cake, can I may be call it a vanilla cake?
It sounds very interesting and would love to try it!!
If it isn't a vanilla cake, do you maybe have a vanilla cake recipe I can try out? Enough for three 8 inch pans?